duckydoty

Sorry, i forgot all about your shin dig this weekend. Was going to come. Taking off from the lodge we had a rudder cable break and pilot could not steer the plane while on water. He shut her down, but we stilled plowed into the trees on the other bank. Luckily no prop strike. Had to get a boat to pull us out then pulled all the tree branches and leaves out of the flaps, fixed the cable and were on our way. Been on one plane that while step taxiing down the Moraine, hit a shallow gravel bar. It caught the float and slammed us right up on the gravel bar. Took almost 2 hours to dig and push us off that one…..Kinda like a Big Creek incident I seem to remember…LOL!

I've ended up in the trees one time with the pilot trying to abort take off. No damage to aircraft or passengers. Pretty exciting event.

LOL! I'll have the grill out there as usual.....

6 wt would be ok. 7wt probably better. I would think about going with a 9 ft rod and you will probably do better with a 150 to 200 grain sinking line. I fish for them a lot on the James River, Beaver Creek, and Swan Creek in the Spring. Clouser Minnows and small jigs. Do a search on white bass reports and you will get a lot of tips.

You guys were killing me today. Laughed all the way home about that. Nice to finally meet your brother and to see Jeff again

Lots of hunters out this morning. Had the pleasure of helping a young man get his 1st ducks ever. I'm sure I'll be seeing those boys on the water in the future. Had a bobcat steal a bird that I sailed behind me. Bird was only on the ground or edge of the water for 5 minutes. Really nice morning to be out there

ah, just messing with you….you were still about a mile or so down stream of the danger zone. Has to do with Michael Kyles post about hunting Taney and the 5/0

Glad you got into some PAT92B. Good looking ring necks! You were getting dangerously close to the AR15 encountering zone…LOL!

Thanks for the responses guys

Maybe….

Thanks Ronnie…….

Found open water at Eagle Rock yesterday and boated down to the state line. Pretty dismal that direction too. Had one duck try and land in what was left of our spread as we were picking up. Did see a number of geese flying high towards the border though. On the drive back, did notice that the ice had left the Bridgeport area of the James River Arm.

A disease to which there is no cure……only therapy

Thanks Wayne SW/MO. I was gonna ask about Rivermeade Loop Road off of Hwy V. Does anyone know if that is a private or public access?

Is there any public river access between Hooten Town and Kerr access off Horse Creek Rd?

Good read Scott. Thanks for sharing. Some day when I grow up, I might start fishing for bass again.

You should take some coffee and donuts for the visitors your gonna get….LOL!

Working on some ideas for this weekend with you and Corn Dog. We will see what happens tomorrow.

It has been a good season Marty. I can not complain one bit. There's still some birds to play with on Taney, just wanting a change of scenery.

If it would stay warm a few days, I would not mind chasing some crappie.

Hope you find them JohnP

Got another search and seek mission tomorrow…..we will see how it turns out….

Instead of hunting today I decided to drive around scouting and checking on hard water conditions. Headed over to Rockaway Beach and noticed some hard water below the bridge over Bull Creek. The roads to Rockaway were in good shape and the launch was OK. Some ice near the launch about 10 feet wide before there was open water. Drove back to boy scout road and nothing but ice back there. Few ducks and geese along the beach front of Rockaway and all the sloughs and coves down the gauntlet were solid. 3 swans hanging out down by Cedar Point but not much else. Pulled off at the scenic over look just inside Forsythe and did not see much there either. Could still see the swans from up there. Took the loop out of Forsythe to Empire. Pull off at the next over look and could see a few ducks just down from Cockleburr cove. Some guys hunting the next cove down and getting some shooting in but could not see the ducks myself. Went on down to empire and it was loaded with ducks and geese....no place to hunt there.... Headed on down to swan creek and it was froze solid with a small group of geese at the mouth. Decided to head over to Galena and see what the James looked like. When I got there I was surprised. Flowing ice! No way to put a boat in that. Ran on over to Crane Creek for a look see. Got to the lower wire road access and started walking down stream. Did not have my waders but did bring the shot gun. About half way down the stream in the public use area I jumped about 50 ducks. 2 mallards swung close and I flat out missed. Sat there about an hour and had 3 more swing by. I dropped one and the wind blew it across the creek. Wet waded over grabbed it and headed on out of there. Drove over to flat creek where it dumps into the James River arm. It too was froze solid. Crossed the Rock at Bridge port and again nothing but ice. Drove from there over to TableRock dam and that is open water but no rafting ducks. If we picked some up the last couple of days, I sure could not find them except a small number over at Crane.

Really cool pic Scott

You've been on them this year MK. Nice job!