snap

thanks....gotta fess up, one of my 16 year old daughters took the pics, I just told her what to snap!!! She also did all the work loading them on here.

Pictures taken early June 2011. The first 8 are pictures of Greer Spring. The last 3 are pictures of Turner Mill. Turner Spring

Pictures taken early June 2011. The first 8 are pictures of Greer Spring. The last 3 are pictures of Turner Mill. Turner Spring

I was at greer last weekend. It would be a very difficult paddle to get up there as high as the river is and as fast as it is moving. You want a long float on Saturday.....7 miles, turner to whiten, or 14, turner to riverton. Sunday, 5 miles, greer to turner...blue ribbon. It won't take long to float any part, depending on how much time you want to leave for fishing!!! I also would suggest you leave your boats at home...the self shuttle is a real clock killer. And while you are shuttling, you are missing the best fishing times,IMO!!! Your best chance for lodging Saturday nite may be camping at turner....or on the river..great gravel bars. Get some cicada flys from Brian for blue ribbon. BTW, the fishing was great last week.

The river needed some water, do not know about this much though!!! Thursday was about perfect, unfortunately for some of us, we did not make it on the river until Friday. Thursday's evening and night rains rose it nearly a foot and murked it up. Fishing was tough but floating would have been great!!! Found there to be more moss than ever before. Found ourselves constantly peeling it off. Depending on how much higher it goes in the next few days, the next two to three weeks are probably out...IMO!!!...Brian is right, you never know!!! My thinking is kind of along the lines of the Easter flood a few years back!!! If I remember, it took 6-8 weeks, but then for the Summer, it was great!!!..hoping for some of the same this time around.

...That makes sense....guess I warn't thinking!!!

This is a great thread you got started here ...a couple more suggestions for you Mark!!! Take the cajun red line off...I know it works well in the bayou, but this river is clear!...a second suggestion....instead of sitting in the lawn chair and casting, wade out a bit. The water only looks COLD......

I agree with you Brian....over the winter, I caught some at stinking pond and whites creek. Neat that they spawned up and down the river.

Not us....pullled out of Turner around 3. The camo john with the "little" 25 merc. Thx...hard not to have a good trip it seems!!!!

Rolled into the Alton area early Friday evening, yet later than wanting to due to a few "bumps in the road". Got the grill going and feasted with a great looking full moon shining down on the three of us. The three being myself, "the drifter", and Mark...but not the Mark we often see on this forum. Also had a healthy campfire going and between that and the moon led to the cocktails sliding nicely. Before we knew it, 2:00 AM was staring us in the face!!! After a small debate of staying up the rest of the night to assure getting on the river early, we gambled and took what was a long nap. 8:00 seemed early enough and two of the three of us were ready to hit the road for the river within 15 minutes, but Mark, a newbie to the drifter and my routine, had decided a breakfast spread was in order to start the day. Getting to Whiten later than we wanted, yet, before anyone else, we launched the Della Mae and scooted up the river. The truck showed 51 degrees but there was a chill in the air that made me feel that wasn't the true temp! Looking at the other two, I doubt they would have disagreed!!! We searched for "the drifter's" perfect water for him to do his thing. We found the water, but the fishing started out a bit slow. We would hit and get as we continued up the river repeating the drift. We quickly realized in most places that drifting would be difficult because the wind blowing up the river was stronger than the current moving us down the river.It just didn't seem natural to have your bait bounce backwards. We had some luck but it also didn't take long to figure out that with three in the boat bumping into each other, and the backwards drift, that it might be a good idea to pull over and do some wading. So, we did!!! For the day, we probably landed 15-20 fish with the largest pushing 18 inches, a couple around 16, and most in the 12 inch range. We did catch a 6 inch stream bred....pretty little guy....!!! BTW, had a caught a few earlier in the winter down around whites creek. Good to know they are up and down the river!!! River traffic was scarce. WE saw one guy sitting at Bliss, one other boat, and one canoe. The eagles were also sitting over the river and flying high in the sky!! On Sunday, we ran into a few more canoes and boats, but not that many for a 70 degree day. All found fishing slow, and the float even slower. Ran into a couple at Turner around 2:00 that was supposed to be off the river by 4:00 ...at Whiten!!! I thought I had them convinced they would not make it and we would let Brian know as we pulled out of town, but when I returned from down river with a shuttle of "the drifter", they were stuck on the rocks at Stinking Pond. It may have been dark before they made it in. Overall, it was another great two day trip to the Eleven Point! The fishing for us on Sunday was very similar to the day before. Being white ribbon specialist like we are, we threw all kinds of "stuff" at 'em. Egg patterns, white jigs, naturals, and homemade recipes all worked at times. The key was having enough weight to get the drift, but not too much as to get hung up or stopped on the bottom. This was often a fine line at 300 CFS.

c'mon Mark....you know me!!!! With the levels this low, the wade fishing is SO much easier. I am worried about getting 4-5 of us in the canoe, especially with the winter weight some of you put on!!!

Thanks Brian,.....that is what I was afraid you were going to say!

Was wondering if there is any snow/ice to melt to raise the river??? With the CFS hovering around 300, way below the norm of nearly 700 for this time of the year, it kind of scares me!!!

we have tried them all over the years, and you are right, 160 is a slow way to go. (and in the early years, that was our main route...young and dumb!!!!) 67 to 60 may be the easiest in the future but have decided won't be going through Piedmont in the meantime...have also found some nice smallmouth in the forks of the Black...esp the middle...if not in a hurry to get there or get back home!!! I agree with others, GREAT READ!!!!...

Al, glad to see you made it down to the 11 point after so long of a time...and to hear you had much better fishing compared to ??? ...30 years ago....??? We see eagles every trip and it seems like some of them are tame as close as one can get to them. Don't get tired of the other scenery either!!! Also, sounds like you had the river to yourself, unlike the Current. What route did you take to get there? We have found that going to Ironton and hitting 21 down to 60 is the best/easiest drive.

nightly poker games??? what happened to you and One Shoe with them thar geeetars playing that ozark mountain daredevil stuff.....???...sure ain't like you to be so modest!!!

At one time, I was 100% in favor of stocking browns because, I agree, it would be a great river to produce some real hogs. But over the last few years, I have changed my mind. The reason is because of some of the rainbow hogs I have seen or heard about...eg....the 14 lber that 16 year old from Birch Tree caught (pic was posted on here a year or two back) and my last two trips produced 20+ inchers for a member in my group. I have witnessed more bigger rainbow over the last 5 or so years and I believe the rainbow fishing is getting better...making me fear the additions of browns would have a negative effect on what is already taking place!!! Those big deep holes work well for huge bows also!!!!

Good one Al!!! I think he is just getting shorter!!!...

IMAO....I just reeled in a world record sucker!!! 6'6"...270+....told you he would fall for it Delvis, so you owe me $100.00 !!!...since he only posted 1/2 the fish story, I will let you off the hook for $50.00!!!...!!!

c'mon cullaby, am anxiously awaiting a report...lol...hope to make a trip between xmas and new years.

I flagged it also....knew the first one and my email address, Thought it was going to be easy! Dead wrong! Have pretty good luck casting in the right places...where trout seem to hang out...don't know much about bugs or chars though.

Not familiar with those roads....FR 3152 will get you to turner north and you can access Mcdowell off 161 through Wilderness off hwy J. Otherwise, IMO, you would be best off putting in at the regular accesses. Since this river runs pretty much through the forest, there are not a lot of choices of places to put in.

...something like that!!!..amazing, ain't it????

...and one of them hogs got hit by a car this week right in front of my house!!! and I live in the middle of town!!! Could not believe it when I saw it splattered there. First one ever seen in the middle of town!!!

I am going to be the optimist here!!!As low as the river is, it is still above the average for this time of the year. It also looks like rain is on the way and will make it even better for the weekend!!! I ain't scared to fish for those trout!!!