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Did an overnight trip on the south branch,,
Big John and I with our 20 year old boys, They are 2nd cousins and have been going on river trips since they were 5,, but it has been a few years since they have been out together.
“River trips” were our big vacation for us,, it is what we did. When each kid got to be about 5 they would go with me in the canoe,, and the older one graduated to their own kayak.
We would pull off in National Forest and set up camp and spend a night or 2.
The big multi family river trips are a thing of the past,, all of our families kids have grown, and moved off. Only my youngest still runs the river with me,, mostly day trips.
We met at the put in Dropped the kayaks/gear and boys,, and shuttled one truck to the take out 13 miles down river and came back in the other truck.
Water level is SUPER low,, Clear 2.5-3’ visibility,, mostly sunny.
I was running 2 rods (with 2 spares in the hull) a 90 wopper plopper on one and a Rebel Wee Crawl on the other. My Son was running a wopper plopper and senko for the most part.
On the water by 8am,, 1st hour was slow and disappointing,, picked up a little throughout the day, We were catching 6-12” fish mostly, with a few 12-15”. I had a huge blowup on the popper than I totally missed the hook set. ,, Then it ramped up around 6pm as the sun was getting blocked by the deep canyon walls,, unfortunately we had to spend the last 2 hours of day light trying to locate a suitable camp.
Seems the sites we used years ago, have not been used in years and were beyond overgrown,, we attempted to clear one,, but it was no use,, in a panic loaded back up and headed down river,, found a site that looked like it had been used a few months back and had suitable trees to hang our hammocks. Got camp set up, a fire going, jump in the river for a bath and changed into dry sleeping cloths. Had steaks over the fire, a bourbon nightcap and cigar,, then off to bed.
We each caught about 12-16 fish on day 1.
My hammock was facing the river and had a beautiful view. At daybreak I heard some splashing of a fish up river,, 20 min later I heard something walking the gravel shore,, it was my son fishing. He had been up since before sun up fishing. 10 min later He had another one.
He caught a 20”, 16”, and 18” on top water at day break.
We cooked eggs/peppers/mushrooms/onions over the fire and lounged around till 11am
Day 2 was a day of 6-10” Small mouth,, a few of us caught some 12-14”
It was sunny and hot,, did not see the promised cloud cover.
It was a good time, my how time flies,, these boys were little tikes just a blink of the eye ago.
We hatched an idea, there is a 1.5 mile stretch that is deep and barely moving,, but TONS of boulders and tree cover both banks, it is good fishing early or late. , we are going to go up in the week and slip down to that section in a canoe with a saw, weed wacker, machete, etc and clear a camp site in that section. Then we will do a 3 day,, staying at that site,, fishing early and late, laying around camp in the mid day.
15 years ago -
IMGP0056.jpg
AND this weeked:
DSCN3317.jpg
DSCN3242.jpg
DSCN3256.jpg
DSCN3279.jpg
The boys reverted back to 5 year olds and were chasing crawfish for a 1/2 hour
DSCN3261.jpg
DSCN3270.jpg
DSCN3274.jpg
DSCN3284.jpg
DSCN3285.jpg
Big John and I with our 20 year old boys, They are 2nd cousins and have been going on river trips since they were 5,, but it has been a few years since they have been out together.
“River trips” were our big vacation for us,, it is what we did. When each kid got to be about 5 they would go with me in the canoe,, and the older one graduated to their own kayak.
We would pull off in National Forest and set up camp and spend a night or 2.
The big multi family river trips are a thing of the past,, all of our families kids have grown, and moved off. Only my youngest still runs the river with me,, mostly day trips.
We met at the put in Dropped the kayaks/gear and boys,, and shuttled one truck to the take out 13 miles down river and came back in the other truck.
Water level is SUPER low,, Clear 2.5-3’ visibility,, mostly sunny.
I was running 2 rods (with 2 spares in the hull) a 90 wopper plopper on one and a Rebel Wee Crawl on the other. My Son was running a wopper plopper and senko for the most part.
On the water by 8am,, 1st hour was slow and disappointing,, picked up a little throughout the day, We were catching 6-12” fish mostly, with a few 12-15”. I had a huge blowup on the popper than I totally missed the hook set. ,, Then it ramped up around 6pm as the sun was getting blocked by the deep canyon walls,, unfortunately we had to spend the last 2 hours of day light trying to locate a suitable camp.
Seems the sites we used years ago, have not been used in years and were beyond overgrown,, we attempted to clear one,, but it was no use,, in a panic loaded back up and headed down river,, found a site that looked like it had been used a few months back and had suitable trees to hang our hammocks. Got camp set up, a fire going, jump in the river for a bath and changed into dry sleeping cloths. Had steaks over the fire, a bourbon nightcap and cigar,, then off to bed.
We each caught about 12-16 fish on day 1.
My hammock was facing the river and had a beautiful view. At daybreak I heard some splashing of a fish up river,, 20 min later I heard something walking the gravel shore,, it was my son fishing. He had been up since before sun up fishing. 10 min later He had another one.
He caught a 20”, 16”, and 18” on top water at day break.
We cooked eggs/peppers/mushrooms/onions over the fire and lounged around till 11am
Day 2 was a day of 6-10” Small mouth,, a few of us caught some 12-14”
It was sunny and hot,, did not see the promised cloud cover.
It was a good time, my how time flies,, these boys were little tikes just a blink of the eye ago.
We hatched an idea, there is a 1.5 mile stretch that is deep and barely moving,, but TONS of boulders and tree cover both banks, it is good fishing early or late. , we are going to go up in the week and slip down to that section in a canoe with a saw, weed wacker, machete, etc and clear a camp site in that section. Then we will do a 3 day,, staying at that site,, fishing early and late, laying around camp in the mid day.
15 years ago -
IMGP0056.jpg
AND this weeked:
DSCN3317.jpg
DSCN3242.jpg
DSCN3256.jpg
DSCN3279.jpg
The boys reverted back to 5 year olds and were chasing crawfish for a 1/2 hour
DSCN3261.jpg
DSCN3270.jpg
DSCN3274.jpg
DSCN3284.jpg
DSCN3285.jpg
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