Overnight Trip 5/12

[jdavis]

It will be my first time on the river Saturday. Myself and three others will be doing an overnight trip. We plan to put in fairly early at 17 bridge and float to Alley Spring. Being unfamiliar with the water levels, is this a reasonable two day trip if we plan to fish?

Where in this stretch would you suggest to camp? Idealy we would leave a shorter portion to do on Sunday so we can get home at a decent time.

[Turns]

It will be my first time on the river Saturday. Myself and three others will be doing an overnight trip. We plan to put in fairly early at 17 bridge and float to Alley Spring. Being unfamiliar with the water levels, is this a reasonable two day trip if we plan to fish?

Where in this stretch would you suggest to camp? Idealy we would leave a shorter portion to do on Sunday so we can get home at a decent time.

That will be a fun trip. What is your paddling experience? What kind of craft will you be in? If you are less experienced paddlers or in any case you should be careful with any blind corners when the river spits off. The high water will have setup a lot of new strainers out of trees. With rain predicted most days between now(Monday)and Saturday you will have to watch the level carefully. Go to the USGS Real time water data site and set the timeline to 60 days so you can see those spikes in the level. You don't want to be there then so consider high ground escape when camping. Maybe someone else can confirm this with more experience, I have found somewhere between 3.5 to 5 feet at Mountain view to be fun class II with trees sometimes making it ugly. Above that it gets dangerous with a lot of unpredictable dynamics but it never stays there long. I have a feeling the level this weekend will probably be perfect for you guys around 2.5-2.8. I think the fishing will be good too.

I usually paddle it at 1.1 in the heat of the summer with a light load. I do Rymers to Bay Creek, which is 8 miles in two slow comfy days with a lot of fishing and some side hikes. You guys are doing 24 miles. If you'd like to hike and play around in the riffles maybe consider taking out at Bay Creek and camp just passed Teachers camp or you'd probably want to get at least as far as Chalk Bluff to camp if you go all the way to Alley. It's going to awesome. Have fun.

[joeD]

Reasonable? Not for me. 24 miles in two days. I wouldn't plan on fishing too much. Float as long as possible the first day. You should be setting up camp when it's almost dark. There are gravel bars around just about every corner. Get up early the next day and start paddling. When you get to Alley Spring late, you'll realize you didn't fish as much as you wanted, and maybe 24 miles on an unknown (to you) river in two days wasn't the trip you had envisioned.

Or maybe it will be. So what? Find out for yourself.

[eric1978]

I've done that float in two days, and with the water up and moving, it'll be easy to make it as long as you don't stop for long periods. Stay in the canoe and hit the best spots and move on.

That said, I would also recommend taking out at Bay Creek. IMO the stretch between Bay and Alley isn't all that great anyway, and it'll give you a little more time to fish.

And that said, I would consider doing a different river altogether this weekend. Rain is forecast, the water is already up, the ground is already saturated, and JF is a river prone to flash flooding in a major way. I would think long and hard about floating and camping on that river this weekend. It's extremely dangerous down there under these conditions.

Good luck and have fun, but be careful.

[Mike77]

I am planning on doing nearly the same float but with an extra day on the water. I agree with the other posters about watching the weather and gauges. That being said 30% chance of isolated showers = 70% chance it wont rain. The levels are near or at normal levels now. I dont see a 1/2" rain event blowing that river out. Just play it smart and always have an escape route planned in case of rising water.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Eh, keep an eye on the weather and go, you'll be fine. Just check the gauge before you leave and make sure you camp on high ground, not on gravel bars especially if there are thunderstorms in the forecast. I'd do Prongs to Rhymers (16.2 miles), or Prongs to Bay Creek. The upper stretch cruises along pretty good and its pretty up there.

I've done Prongs to 2 Rivers in 2 days. About 45 miles. It didn't leave much time for fishing, but it can be done.

Have fun.

[Al Agnew]

Can't stress enough to camp where you have an EASY escape route. JF didn't get as much rain as a lot of areas (only came up about 8 feet, which is a mild rise for the JF). So it's getting back down close to normal for this time of year, which still means some fast water and tricky spots with strainers. But...the ground is still saturated. A half inch rain could raise it a little bit, but a localized 2 inch rain on the upper end could raise it way too much. If you camp on a gravel bar, make sure it's a high one and make sure it's not high in the middle and lower toward the back end. You want to be able to get from the gravel bar to higher ground in a hurry, so scout it out in the daylight and if possible park your canoe higher, and closer to high ground, than your tent, and put everything in the canoe except what you have in your tent.

As others have said, you can do that float in two days if you don't stop a whole lot, but if you want a short day the second day, that really doesn't leave you a whole lot of time to fish the first day. As Turns said, you have to go at least to Chalk Bluff the first day, and that's 13-14 miles, leaving you 10-11 miles the second day. As I remember, there's a big high gravel bar at Chalk Bluff, but I also remember it being a little lower on the back end. You might want to go on to Bee Bluff, which is the next really huge bluff on river left, with a huge gravel bar across from it. It's about two miles or so below Chalk Bluff and about two miles or so above Bay Creek.

If you're renting canoes and shuttle, the outfitter will probably let you know if it's unsafe, and not rent you canoes. They err on the side of caution on the Riverways. I know the outfitter prefers putting people in at Hwy. 17, but putting in at Blue Spring Access would cut off about 2.5 miles and give you a little more time. It's a longer, more pain in the rear shuttle for the outfitter, though.

[GloryDaze]

I think it sounds like a great trip, minus the ending point at Alley. No doubt in my mind you should take out at Bay Creek, not only does the fishing slow down after that but the scenery is not much better in my opinion. I also second the idea of utting in at the Prongs... remote stretch, narrow twisty water, no people, decent fishing.....)

I'm saying this as a fellow floater who would always float to Alley until someone on this forum (can't remember who it was) suggested taking out at Bay Creek, and it was the best advice I had gotten on this river.

Other than that, have fun- but watch out for what I call "chainsaw jungle" it's a really nasty s curve with a lot of stumps and wood to avoid and it's not too far downstream from Jam Up cave. When the water is up it becomes even more challenging. Othe than that, there will be a few strainers and "pucker" moments, but you should have a blast! I wouldn't put on that river if the gauge is over 5' in Mountainview.

[jdavis]

What would you expect the cold front to do to the fishing?

[GloryDaze]

Well, sitting here looking at the radar, I'm thinking the cool weather may be the least of you're concerns. I'm thinking the fishing may be a little on the tough side if the gauge is 8'.