Boating proscpects good for St. Clair, Great Lakes by Doug Guthrie/The Detroit News.?

Avery Armstrong leaned over the edge of the gas dock at St. Clair Boat Harbor and took his annual April measurement of the distance from the deck to the water?s surface.

Avery Armstrong leaned over the edge of the gas dock at St. Clair Boat Harbor and took his annual April measurement of the distance from the deck to the water?s surface.

For the first time in the four years Armstrong has served as the city?s harbormaster, the water was higher than the previous spring ? 10 inches higher.

That?s good news for Great Lakes boaters who have suffered through years of low water levels that exposed rock beaches and created navigational hazards.

"It looks like we are going back up on the pendulum swing,? Armstrong said. ?Now, if gas prices would stop going up too, this could be a great boating season.?