Feb 19-20Th On The River......

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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.

[Brian Sloss]

Was that you guys pulling out of Whitten on Sunday around 3:30 in the John boat? Glad you had a good trip.

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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!!!!

[Trout Commander]

Thanks for sharing your outing. The Eleven Point is pretty high up on my list of places to hit.

[Mark]

Sounds like a good time!!

But I'm sure if you took it easy on the cocktails at night, it would be easier to get up in the morning and catch the bus to the river.