What is very shallow? What kind of speed in the current are we looking at. You’ll need more weight and some kind of river stick. I use an old large Phillips screw driver with a hole in the handle for a lanyard. Typically the current will be slightly slower near the bottom or closer to shore depending on the river topography. If there isn’t an exit down river to use I’ll work my way upstream closer to shore then drift back down to where I entered. The best thing to do is to see if you can get hooked up with somebody that may have dove the area or has more experience.