Big Piney 5/18-5/20

[caseysmith14]

Returned mid day Sunday from floating the BP Mason Bridge to Rich's Last Resort. We rolled into Rich's Thursday evening. Appeared like we may have been some of the only ones there and had our choice of camping sites. Guess they got their place in shape for the floating season because we were greeted with mowed grass, ice for sale, and even a decent restroom/shower facility. They told us to be ready to go around 8am and sure enough they were ready to help shuttle us up to Mason Bridge right at 8. For one of them to hop in our truck with us and then shuttle it back the charge was $50; not too painful to divvy up among 4 guys.

Friday with the late start we floated down to just below Slabtown and called it a night. Saturday we were moving at a good pace and actually had to slow down so as not to roll into Rich's early. Overall we had a great float, minimal dragging, and optimal temp's to stay cool at night but hot enough for the occasional dip in the water.

The fishing was so-so. Fish were few and far between, except for 1 spot that yielded a number of fish. Most fish were taken on zoom finesse worms, a few early in the day on Rebel craws. Wish we could have kept floating past Rich's as it seemed like the fishing really got better the further down river we floated.

I'd guess we boated 15-20 fish total; only a few goggle-eyes, the rest smallies. This was the biggest, I'd guess a 13" smallie caught on a finesse jig just upstream from Rich's.

Thank you guys for all the pointers and other info. Was a great float. Looking forward to the next trip!

[Stoneroller]

$50! that's more than it would cost me in gas to drive down there. These shuttle fees are out of hand. Using YOUR car, and YOUR gas and still charging you half a bill?! insane and greedy imo.

sounds like you had a lot of fun though. nothing beats getting out on the water and enjoying nature. except maybe, well that's for a different forum.

[caseysmith14]

Oh I figure that he spent a solid hour between driving there, waiting for us to unload, then driving back; as well as provided a private access point on the river that was safe to store our truck. Sure he's not out gas $ but his time is worth something. Luckily 1 of my friends dropped out last minute, if not there would have been no room in the truck for the shuttle guy and thus he'd have to drive his own car, meaning they'd need 2 people to help shuttle and then it woulda been $100..... I woulda had a different point of view if that had happened;)

[eric1978]

Yeah, $50 is excessive for what he did. How much do they charge for rentals? Geez. But it was still probably worth it just to avoid the couple hours you'd lose on the river. I hate shuttling.

[caseysmith14]

Brought our own 2 canoes and 1 yak. According to their website it would have been over $100 for a canoe rental for Fri-Sun....! $50 for the first day then a lil cheaper each additional day.

[eric1978]

Wow. Well, hopefully the prices keep going up and it keeps more people off the rivers. I always say, if you don't own your own canoe, you don't wanna be out there that badly.

[Gavin]

$50 isnt bad for 3 boats...Akers Ferry will charge you $55 or so to move a vehicle from Cedar to Akers. Glad you had a nice trip.

[awhuber]

Those prices are not out of line. There are several canoe rentals for sale. I would love one of you guys buy one so we could get $20.00 shuttles.