kevthebassman

I'm planning on doing a float the last weekend in July, chose the 11 point because I hear it's not as crowded and is stunningly beautiful, though I know we will have company on a weekend. I am thinking we'll put in at Greer's and take out at Whitten, camping overnight along the way. My thinking is this will let us poke along, fishing and sightseeing without having to worry too much about our speed. If anybody has any input on that plan, I'd appreciate it. I will be bringing down my brother and my wife's two younger cousins, I've never been on the 11 point before and neither of them have ever been in a canoe before. The plan is for my brother and myself to sit the back of one canoe each and have the boys riding front. I'm not terribly excited by the idea but I figure we'll keep the boys in life jackets and tie the gear to the canoes. I've heard tell of a few snags along the way that I'm thinking it would be best to not try and stumble blind into with novices in the boat. If anybody had GPS coordinates for them, I'd be much obliged. If I knew there was one coming up we could scout it and formulate a plan to get past it in good order without dumping. I am going to fly fish, the rest of the party will be using spinning gear. My plan is basically to nymph deep under an indicator or dry and try a streamer or two, thought I'm not very good at streamer fishing. Any information about how to catch them on a dry fly early or late in the day would be helpful, as I do like fishing on top when I can catch fish that way. From what I read, I'm going to have the others using rooster tails (1/4 oz?) and rebel craws and maybe a jig (what size?) as well. I'm guessing they'll need to tie on a tippet if they show up with 6-8 pound line, but it'd be helpful to know if they'll need to go with 6-7X or if 4-5X would work. Many thanks.

No problem, thank you!

On the 11 point river maps page, the link to the lower river map takes you to the upper river map, and the upper river map takes me to a wordpress login page, where my OA login doesn't work.

Can never have too many boats. Where's the big grin?

Like I said, I'm still mulling the idea, I hadn't really thought about the clamp-on idea, they always looked fairly awkward, have you guys used it for a gas motor? Mixermarkb, there are one or two on craigslist for that price, but you're talking about boats and motors that are closing in on 20 years old. I think when you really sit down and look at the time you would have to invest in keeping a 20 year old outboard and boat running, and time spent learning to canoe efficiently, the canoe would probably come out ahead. Not to mention the fact that you learn to handle a canoe out on the water. Fixing a broken boat/motor/trailer generally involves time spent laying on hot cement.

I had a big long reply typed out to this and lost it, but I was basically just adding to what stoneroller said. He's got good advise, and one is always wise to take heed to what Al says. I am thinking about a flatback canoe with a small gasoline motor of some kind, possibly one of the longtail mudmotor/sampan types. They've got kits that you add your own motor to, looks like you could bring it in for around $700 for the motor and whatever you pay for the boat. I've also seen a fairly detailed write-up on turning a heavy duty weed eater (the kind with a straight shaft) into a longtail rig, with gear reduction for the motor and a prop from an RC boat supplier. Something along those lines is in my future.

I can see the scenario now. Federal prosecutor throws all kinds of scary charges with long sentences at him that he knows will never stick, tells him we'll have your farm and your money too while you rot in prison. Then he offers him a "great deal" where he pleads out to a lesser charge and keeps the money but loses the farm. To Protect and Serve. I know I feel safer.

This post needs a "here here!" If MDC could promise me that everybody would get checked, say 10% of the time, so that any given poacher has a 10% chance of getting busted every single time they violate, and they get serious about enforcing the rules regarding littering, dumping, and erosion control, I'd gladly pay $100 to fish my own state. I truly believe the fishing would be that much better.

The place belongs to the taxpayers now, free camping as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure some alphabet agency out there would beg to differ, but piss on them. If they'd wanted the festival cleaned up, they had probable cause to go in there and clean it up. Instead they waited until they had a case to seize the entire property. More than likely it'll get sold to somebody's brother-in-law for pennies on the dollar.

I think they ought to put a $3-$5 tax on every canoe/raft rental from a canoe livery. There's got to be millions of dollars to be made with a modest fee on such a huge business. According to Huzzah Valley Resort's website, there isn't even sales tax on a canoe rental. This is coming from someone who doesn't take the suggestion of a new tax lightly.

Here's your report Phil. Saturday as I said was a good start to the weekend, but Sunday was a bit of a disappointment. The day started out chilly and rainy with no generation, we had a boat sunday, and fished from the Narrows down, and could not buy a bite the whole morning. At 5pm they turned some water on and when the algae cleared out towards evening the fishing got better and I caught three in a short amount of time before momma declared it dinner time and called me home. All the fish were caught on deep, deep bead head nymphs between Fall creek and Lilley's. Monday I only got a little bit of time on the water, caught one in the trophy area by the boat ramp, looking around me I saw a whole lot of fishing going on but not a whole lot of catching. It was very foggy at times. They weren't running any water early in the morning when I was there, and that's not a fishing condition that I've ever had to deal with. Part of my problem Monday was that I ran out of 6x tippet right as I got there, so I didn't have anything smaller than 5x, which killed me I think. I packed it in and went and took the wife and boy down to Moonshine beach and out shopping and eating, etc. Tuesday we had to pack it up and leave town, and were very sad to go. I think next year I may spring for a guide on the lake, I had planned on one this year as it's my first time on Taney, but we had a few unplanned expenses that darn near killed the whole vacation and a guide was the first thing to get cut. We've already booked the first week of June for next year, and I'll give it a shot again next year.

Just all settled in at Lilley's Landing, did some fishing up by the dam before we checked in with good results, 10 or so fairly decent rainbows in just a couple of hours, all caught on various nymphs. Now I'm waiting on the wife to shower then we'll be going to dinner. Got a boat reserved tomorrow, hoping to hook into quite a few more! Pics will be posted when we get home late Tuesday.

Civil Asset Forfeiture. Google that term and be afraid. It's widely abused, and it CAN happen to you.

Crap, I spent all weekend wanting to get out fishing, but had to run around to parties where I'm always expected to BBQ. Didn't even get to drink much beer and I got a sunburn.

I can tell you this, I've shelved my plans to go chasing those wily little wild rainbows on Mill Creek. They're going to have a tough summer ahead of them, I think. No need to add to their troubles unless and until we get some significant, sustained rains.

Thank you all for the congratulations, truly still stunned with this fish, I've been floating on air ever since I caught it. The boat I don't know much about, it came with the house my buddy bought, it leaks a little bit but it's a good, stable fishing platform.

Length guessed at 23" by measuring of my arm at home, weight I'm thinking is north of 8 pounds, anybody want to make a better guess at that, please feel free. I weighed one smaller than this a few years ago and it was 7 1/2 pounds and 21" and this one dwarfs it, much fatter. Caught this girl on a black and pink curly tail worm, texas rigged, water was muddy. This was the only fish we caught on a short trip today, but oh MAN what a fish! Let her go right after the pictures, she recovered quick and swam off quick too. Wish I had a scale and tape, but I don't wanna jinx myself by getting one. Need to look into getting a replica made.

X3 A good canoe is about as good as it gets on the water we're talking about. And for sure a shuttle is necessary.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings if we got one more really cold snap. I have a bad feeling that if it keeps up like this it's going to be a banner year for ticks, chiggers, and skeeters.

You're going to miss me by a day, my brother and I are going to be on the current the 25th.

Kayser, that area is my stomping grounds. Not for fishing, mind you, though I have certainly fished most of that stretch of river, but if you'd like a shuttle or something and can let me know a week or so in advance, I'm sure we could hook that up.

Looks appealing, momma says no though.

Would be ideal for some place like Mill Creek. Probably something I'll try, someday.

I can dig it.