What's The Wading Like From Tan Vat To Cedargrove?

[plland]

Maybe I'm just inexperienced at wading, but a lot of times I decide to wade, rather than float, on a fishing trip, I end up getting to something like a bend in the river where the deep side switches from left to right... where I either have to get out of the stream and smash my way through tangles of streamside weeds, or swim for it. Some rivers have a trail along one or both sides, making it easier to avoid swimming. I have always floated the upper Current, and haven't been fished it in years. Could someone comment on what I can expect if I fish this area by wading/walking? Particularly the area around Baptist. Is there a trail alongside the stream? Could I conceivably stay "in the water" most of the time and not have to swim very much?

[BKB]

I waded and fished the Current for the first time last month. I waded from Tan Vat to Baptist during normal water conditions (according to the charts) and rarely got my waders wet above the knees. I think as long as the water is not up, there is no problem wading this stretch. The only stretch that required anything above waist deep was right at Baptist where I crossed to the other side.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Its very wadeable this time of year, in fact I'd leave the waders at home and wet-wade it. Tan Vat to Cedargrove is a LONG way though, and no way you could go there and back in a day and spend any real time fishing, even ONE-way is a stretch. There is a horsetrail that follows the river down, but it meanders from side to side, can be hard to follow as it does, and be prepared for jungle-like conditions.

[3wt]

Don't do it, not in one day. It's not really worth going all the way to cedar anyway. Look at a post a couple down from this. I explained how to find the trail from Baptist down to Ashley Creek.

[Project Healing Waters]

95% of the time, if you back-track just a bit from the "decision-point" you will find a shallow spot where you can cross without swimming. The shallow side is mostly on the inside bends. So it switches back and forth. But on that stretch of the Current, you won't have this problem. None of it is more than waist deep except for a few structural holes behind boulders and one shoot I can think of. But that shoot is shallow down both sides.

[Gavin]

You can follow the fisherman's foot trail down from Baptist close to Ashley Creek, but the trail starts to peter out as you get closer to Ashley..Ashley is only about a mile and half from Baptist, but most folks dont walk down that far. Minor bush wacking is usually required. The main horse trail is an easy way to get around between Ashley and Parker. I use it a lot when I camp down there..You can find the horse trail across the river from the access at Parker, or river left looking downstream a couple hundred yards below Ashley. Look around in the woods behind the gravel bar just below the second bluff downstream from Ashley, really deep hole on the upstream side of that gravel bar.

The powerline cut is about a mile below Ashley..its easy to spot...and its pretty close to the half way point between Baptist & Parker..The trail crosses the river three or four times between the powerlines and Parker and I've never had trouble crossing at normal water levels. It's usually pretty easy to spot a crossing from the river..look for eroded spots on the bank, hoof prints, and horse feces...Cheers.

[plland]

Thanks for the feedback. I know it's way too far to go out and back in one day, but that's a large section of river that I'd like to fish in smaller chunks. Also, I'm trying to figure out a minimalist overnight backpack to do a 2 day wading trip, spending a night on the river and so I wouldn't bother carrying a backpack and doing something like that if it would make wading very frustrating.

[3wt]

I like the way you think. If it were me (and i have done this, but not so minimalist) I would pack in from Baptist -best parking lot, easy walk-in access. Wade down with your gear until you find the nice gravel bars, it's not too far. Set up camp. From here you could feasibly fish up to Tan Vat and back in a day, and a could fish down to cedar (I really wouldn't bother going too far past Ashley) and back another day.

The downside is your stuff is sitting there on a sandbar alone with drunken idiots floating by. Actually, they're not too bad this far up, not enough time to get blitzed yet. If you shoot for after labor day, it will be much less floated.

[plland]

Actually what I had in mind was using something like a hybrid backpack/chestpack and carrying my gear all day. For an overnighter, I can get the weight fairly low--excluding food and fishing gear, my overnighter camping gear weighs about 7 pounds, including the backpack--but the bulk of having all that on my back would not be ideal in terms of comfort throughout the day. Also, I wouldn't really want to do something like that in any season but summer, when I can definitely get away with barely any extra clothes. I can use a lightweight dry bag to keep my sleeping bag dry, but dry bags are heavy and so is clothing and I think even a 12 pound total backpack (once loaded with food, water, fishing gear), would be pushing it. OTOH, in the off-season, it would be as you say, and setting up camp on a gravel bar, or even in the woods out of sight from passersby, would be less worrisome in regards to people finding my camp--or rather, I could just stash my backpack full of my gear in a certain spot and then unpack it only when I return from fishing that day. I guess the only problem with that would be animals chewing a hole in my backpack to get the food inside.

[3wt]

Yeah man, I wouldn't want to drag everything around all day. You could camp relatively close to baptist Camp (I think there's a gravel bar just up and across that could handle a small tent, but it's pretty rocky). But, if you were close enough, you could break camp, and stash your stuff in your car, swing by before the evening, head down stream and set up camp somewhere else. I wouldn't expect too many floaters after 4 or 5.

If you set up a camp and leave it for the whole time, there are sandbars that have some real estate hidden behind that stream willow stuff that grows pretty heavy.