FishinCricket

Ah, thanks.. Their website shows that they only put in at Two Rivers... Is that right? Edited to add: I called and was informed that they'd do it, but I wouldn't like the price... Don't suppose there's anyone down that way that'd be willing to come pick the wife and I (and our canoe and gear) up at LOg Yard and take us up to Powder Mill, is there? I'd be willing to pay $40.... Any takers?

My wife has a hankerin for the Current river.. I dunno why, exactly, but she does... She's decided that it's necessary for us to float the entire thing, at least down to Van Buren. We've already done all the stretches from Baptist all the way to powder mill at one point or another.. This next trip is Powder mill down.. Ten miles would cover both the springs as well as two creeks flowing in, and would put us down by Log Yard (according to the Paddlers guide)... I am WHOLEY unfamiliar with that stretch... Is ten miles too much? Could I cover more in one day? My other questions to you fellas would be: Who do we call to rent a decent canoe? Its a long enough drive that I can save enough in fuel (by taking the T/A) to pay for a rental, so no use banging up my own.. Any suggestions? Thoughts?

Yet again you are exceedingly gracious with your statements, I'm blushing... Oh, and I'm very happy to hear that you were able to get a new phone, I truly was very bummed for you....

Friday night was a blast... My first jet boat trip!!! Also had a really good time jammin with Gavin, we'll need to write a set list.. You can start by learning ANYTHING by matchbox 20 (I know em all).. Might I also suggest we work out an Eagles set? Plenty of good songs to chose from.. Saturday was busy at work (my bank account is super glad I didn't bail on that) but I still managed to have all my stuff loaded and down to the campground around 7pm (including a stop off for firewood). The boys were ready for steaks and Mitch freakin' delivered! He brought a whole side of beef and we cut our own steak! Awesome! He's a pretty good charcoal cook, too I might add. Three guys from MSA had also showed up but I can only remember one name at the moment. We shot the bull and started a fire and at some point someone said "We need a group photo! But who will take it?" So I took the liberty and asked one of the nice young ladies that were playing beer pong at the camp next door if she would oblige, explaining that we had a "famous artist in our camp who was going to paint the photo for us"... She happily obliged and then ventured back to her camp. The MSA boys said their goodbyes and went to go check into their motel (along with mitch, who had had his fill of camping in his trailblazer), which left myself, Al and Jeremy (fishinSWMO) to finish off my 12 pack of bud light by a rolling campfire.. This is when the girls next door ventured back over and invited us to play a round or two.. After FishinSWMO and I won two rounds Al finally got tired of sitting next to the campfire alone so he ventured on over and was properly introduced, though with the attire he had on he needed little introduction.. (you're awesome, Al!!) Anyway... Hope, Geanie, Amber and Sara were very gracious hosts ( there wouldn't be all this "what happens at boiling springs/wink-wink stuff if these girls hadn't been very attractive) and taught us all about beer pong.. Al and Jeremy decided to hit the hay at around 1am after three straight victories and left me to continue my winning streak, and continue I did.. (despite not having team One-and-dones oldest member and Lesterville Flip champion around to help) This is when the girls really opened up and started talking about their own stuff.. I learned about their jobs, their husbands, kids, etc... Finally the girls lost interest in losing (I am apparently a beer pong GOD, lol.. Musta been all the darts when I was a kid) and switched to one of those pull-a-card-and-drink-this-many-drinks games.. I lost at that one... lol Hit the hay at 3am and was up at 6am to stoke the fire.. Mitch showed on time and we were off to see the river, the wonderful river of GNade.. (to the tune of "Off to see the Wizard") Jetboated around and ended up in front of the mouth of the Big Piney, which yielded a few smallies, but the biggest ones spit the hooks.. Here's one that Jeremy got to hand: Just as I was thinking to myself "The big piney looks aweful small to be running up with a jet, too bad mitch said it's a short trip" mitch pipes up and says "you fellas wanna make a quick run up the BP just to say we did it?" Uhm, hell yeah!! We ran all the freakin way up to the 44 bridges!! By the end of that run my butt was so puckered it was suctioned to the seat!!! One of those riffles ended up being Mitchs undoing... So the fishing up there was pretty good once we established that a X-RAP was what they wanted.. (go figure) BUT, we didn't get anything to the doggone boat! The biggest one we hooked was prolly 14 or better but he had another PIG following him, so I ended up playing the smaller fish while mitch and Jeremy pitched to the bigger one.. Suddenly my trusty x-rap let go.. Anyway, as we headed down through the riffles I commented that floating down these riffles is twice as difficult as running up them, eh? Not five minutes later were zipping that trolling motor around trying to slide through a set of rocks when we make sudden and abrupt contact.. And Mitch takes a full freakin header right off the front of the boat! Jeremy and I scramble to catch his hat and rod and he popped up and immediately stated "My iPhone is in my pocket!"... but he didn't even notice that his glasses came off.. And the gracious host didn't even confirm that until later, when he couldn't cast or see the obstructions in the water because"I'm not blind, everything's just blurry!"... I'm just bustin his chops, of course... he was very gracious the entire weekend and I just feel really bad that I couldn't think of something to do to save his glasses and keep his iphone dry... I would have happily dredged that hole he fell into until I found his glasses.. I have found earrings on the bottom before, surely I could have found some glasses! Anyway, so that was the crazy part of the trip.. That morning we ended up only boating about 10 fish, but we did have a lot of fun and now I am convinced that my next boat will be a jet just like Mitch's... We buzzed on back down to the ramp and said our goodbyes to a half blind and suddenly technologically challenged Mitch and headed out, agreeing that we should just stop and eat a full meal somewhere and dedicate the hot day strictly to fishing.. We stopped at the Waffle house and then headed out to Hazelgreen.. On the water by noon, it was hotter than blue blazes! We had very few floaters come by and we had virtual solitude compared to our other local options.. It was here that Jeremy demonstrated his love of the sport of fishing.. I learned quite a bit from him as he proceeded to drag at least one gogglie out of each and every root wad from Gnade Hills to Hazelgreen! The man is a jiggin' fool! I managed to get a few strikes in the few deep holes with the x-rap, this was the best one: Mainly we jigged those root wads though, and that kept us very occupied... We did also find one root wad that had some respectable Smallies in it.. It was here that Jeremy reminded me of the one thing I forgot to get at Wally World.. A NET!!! (I don't think he needed a net, but you could tell by the look on his face that he was fully expecting that I would have one! His first words were 'bigger fish, get the net!" and my only response was "ain't got one"... LOL, he kinda freaked! He ended up bellying the fish, but he was excited! Claimed it was his big fish of the trip and that "Cricket had put him on em".. so I was uber-proud) Anyway, it was a hell of a trip and you guys are all pretty cool.... in person.

Guffaw!!

I understand your request completely!! The best way to fish/float is to put on earlier than the outfitters are willing as well as at accesses that the outfitters don't go to.. I tell ya what ya do.. You buddy up to one of these guys that lives close to the river and owns the type of craft you want access to.. And I don't mean wine em and dine em, I mean actually befriend them. Then present them with this same request... Without a solid friendship I wouldn't be willing to loan my (kinda nice) canoe or John boat to anyone, even if they seem like good folk... Just too much responsibility and I'd feel like a jerk if something happened and I had to hold your feet to the fire to repair the problem.. All this could be overcome with a good friendship, even an online friendship... So where are you from, BM?

lol, indeed... Some folks find fault as if it were treasure...

+1 x2

Hey, I'll take what I can get! lol

Yeah, I hate sharing too.. Betcha they won't be there this winter though!!!

Looks like a heck of a party... Glad to see you managed to get in some fishin while you were at it!

So where's the official list of folks who will be attending this shindig? (I tried to find it on the first thread, but got lost in the beer discussion and tail chasing)

darn, that was good Thom! :slowly_backs_away:

How is Jupiter these days, boys? Colder than Uranus?

X2 on all three counts...

No, I just thought you were being funny.... Alright, alright!! I was crackin' chubby chuckles, so sue me! lol (Dat boy don't even miss a photo of a meal, do he?)

:chuckles_at_Ronnie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJGksvSzXzs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Agreed, however if that landowner decided to actually open fire on me I just don't see how my first move would be to reach for my paddle... But I'm dying to know how someone differentiates between someone shooting at you and someone shooting at your bobber/boat/etc... I'm sure there's a way to test this...

Some folks just like to argue... (mainly me, though) I can't say how calm I would stay if someone opened fire on me, even if their aim was off... I certainly wouldn't think I'd chose to make myself a sitting target, but I certainly can't say I wouldnt fear for my life... I'm sure one of the forum lawyers will see it differently.. As I said, some find fault in a discussion/idea as if it were treasure.

you have NO idea, man... lol You just keep your jackplate away from my uglystick and we'll be fine...

Let's hope, cause this story is ridiculous!! I wonder: if the fishermen had felt threatened and had opened fire in return, would the be in trouble?

Hmm, I night trip in a jet boat with a stranger on unfamiliar waters... Sounds fun!!

Uhm, you mis-read... I am doing the "Airing of Water balloons"..

Sadly I'd say that someone not only saw these folks but offered to help, assuming they were just yokels who didn't know how to use a jack! Bummer...