Mile 932.5 LBD — Wolf Island Chute

The top end of the back channel is cut off by a long wall dike angled upstream which reaches halfway across the channel and forcefully shoves the majority of the river away from its old channel into what used to be the back channel of the island. Due to several notches in the dike, the back channel is always open except in extreme low waters. You can follow the flowing waters into the back channel to reach a giant plateau of sand that forms topend in medium water below, but be forewarned there is a second dike another half mile downstream that runs side to side, and you will have to go over it to continue downstream. This middle of this dike has a two low spots (or is notched) which makes them the best route at low to medium water levels. A nice blue hole forms below 2nd dike in low/med water levels, best at 15CG. Watch for where most of the water is going, and then look for the tell-tale V-pattern in the tongue of water, and follow the “V” through the notch. One of the notches is situated closer to the island, and one closer to the Kentucky shoreline LBD near the Chalk Cliffs (3rd Kentucky Bluff).

First Order (Big) Islands on the Lower Mississippi River

In the scale of the Lower Mississippi the “first order” (big) islands average 1-2,000 acres. Some islands boast 4,000+ acres (such as Island No 8 and Montgomery Island). And some 8,000+ acres (Choctaw Island).   The single biggest island on the Lower Mississippi River is appropriately named Big Island, and sprawls over approximately 20,000 acres. It is created by three rivers, the Arkansas, the White and the Mississippi. Big Island is said to be the biggest island between the coasts in the continental United States. First order islands are so big they create their own environments, and often provide habitat for unique species not found on the shore in the batture, and not found on any other nearby smaller islands.  First order islands on the Mississippi are those with 1,000 acres of forest or more, and typically exceed 2,000 acres of dry land in medium water (adding sandbars and gravel bars to the forests). Like most big islands on the Lower Mississippi, Wolf Island is privately owned. Best protocol is to respect private property and stay on the sandbars. Avoid the woods, especially during hunting season.