15Th Annual Holy Thursday/good Friday Trip

[Mark]

We're heading out tonight for our 15th annual trip to the Eleven Point for Easter weekend. Easter came early this year so weather hasn't had much of a chance to warm up. But we're troopers!! Our group of 7-8 in our mid 50s from Ste. Genevieve County, Cape Girardeau, and Memphis have been making this trip for quite a while. In the past 15 years, we have noticed an increase in jet boats, more people on the river, and better fishing. Two of our group has made the switch to jet boats. We started out floating/camping in the beginning but discretion overcame the better part of valor and now we rent cabins. A big thank you to Mike and Wendy Jones at Hufstedlers for all their help over the past 15 years since we became regulars at the Eleven Point. Great people who go out of their way to accommodate us on every trip.

Hope to report on a successful trip next week.

[Boz1]

Mark,

Good luck, have fun, be careful and save some fish for us. We are planning our annual trip next week. I can't wait, I need to get away for a while.

(At least you are still off school on Thursday!)

[snap]

...and we really appreciate helping to make that happen!!! .......know what you mean about getting away!!! good luck to you guys and don't venture too far this year, like other years!!!

[sooner_hunter]

Hey Mark, how about a trip report. We are heading up to the Eleven Point Thursday for a week and a heads up on the river and fishing would awesome.

[Mark]

REPORT: Seven of us made the trip this year and all arrived Wed. evening at the cabins. We awoke Thursday morning with overcast skies and temp. in the hi 40s. After some coffee, breakfast, and a little recovery time from Wed. night activities, we were on the river by 10am. Since we had 2 jet props, we decided to put in at Whitten and head upstream to Horseshoe Bend and set up a base camp with the group. The river is beautiful right now and flowing about 850 cfs. Great floating conditions.

We took turns going out in the jet boats heading upstream in pairs while the rest wade fished around Horseshoe Bend. Fishing was slim, as it was 2 weeks earlier on my previous trip. Obviously, no stocking in awhile. It remained cool most of the day with brief periods of sun. The group wading had very little luck, and the trips in the jet boats only produced a couple of fish. After a couple of hours, several of us pulled out the lawn chairs and hung out around the fire, starting happy hour. Our fishing enthusiasm waned as half the group were content to fish a little, sit a little. The jet boats stayed active with trips up and down the river, still not producing any fish to speak of. Maybe a couple of 14" fish, and the few other fish caught were in the 10-12" range. Late afternoon, as everyone was enjoying a beverage on the gravel bar, Jeremy was the only one fishing off our gravel bar. Sure enough, fish on! It soon became apparent that he had a nice one on the line. I grabbed a net to assist as he slowly reeled him in. The first sight of the fish, we knew he had a lunker. He played him in slowly and I got a net under him on the second swipe. Beautiful 23" rainbow. Quite exciting and everyone was back in the fishing mode. We decided to start making our way back, drift fishing along the way. Not much action the rest of the day as we were off the river by 6pm. On the day, maybe 9-10 fish for the entire group of seven.

Since we didn't have a scale, we stopped at the new bait shop on AA to get it weighed. It weighed in at 5.2. We debated on how much weight a fish loses in the hour or so it took to get to a scale. Before all you purists scold us for keeping the fish, Jeremy is getting it mounted. And I agree with him, if I ever caught a nice lunker like that, I don't want a replica on the wall, I want the fish I caught mounted. And it's our legal right to do so. It was a once in a lifetime fish. Congratulations Jeremy!

We found a wallet on the gravel bar with a driver's license and credit cards in it. I brought it home and found the owner's phone number. I called last night and talked to the young man's mom. She was amazed. He is a Mizzou student and lost it 3 years ago on a float trip. I'm sending it back to him today.

Day 2 on Good Friday - we awoke to rain and decided to chill at the cabins until the rain stopped around noon according to the forecast. Sure enough, the rain stopped and we were on the river by 12:30. We put in at Turner Mill. By the way, the boat ramps at Turner are less than ideal. Short ramps and it is necessary to get the vehicles back wheels in the gravel off the ramp, always a tricky proposition. Not sure the Forest Service really thought that thru when they made the new ramp. Low water will make it tough to put in a boat at Turner. Easy way to break an axle on the trailer, right Snappy? Only five of us went fishing, as Chip and Terry were content to go sight seeing. On the drift right off Turner, we were pleasantly surprised to start getting bites immediately. We landed a couple fish in the first 1/4mile, with both boats having a double going at the same time. The sun was out, and it turned into a beautiful day. We made base camp at Stinking Pond, a great place with lots of wading water for the group. The difference was night and day compared to Thursday. We consistently caught fish, several in the 14-15" range. Short excursions upstream and downstream proved profitable. The rapids just below Stinking Pond were consistent with action. Joel had a phenominal day fishing between the island above Stinking Pond and the camp area. He put on a fishing display worthy of a video, landing somewhere around 25 fish on the afternoon. Everyone had great success.

Why the difference between Day 1 and Day 2? We thought maybe they had stocked the Turner Mill area. But I really don't think so. Perhaps it was the overnight shower? Or a warmer sunny day? Our best conclusion was that fish are migrating down from the Blue Ribbon area. On my previous trip 2 weeks ago, we caught fish in the first mile down from Turner Mill, and then they just shut off. Same thing on this trip, downriver the fishing was slow, and just below the Blue Ribbon area, fishing was hot.

A great trip, a wonderful time to float, and the river is in the best shape it has been in a couple years. Lots of water, absolutely no dragging.

[Boz1]

Thanks for the report Mark. Do you think we would be okay to put in at Cane Bluff on Fri. and float to Turner without much problems? You could of left the lunker for us to catch.

[Mark]

No problem. The river is in great shape. Plenty of water but not too high. Good clear water. I would think the smallmouth fishing would be good right now at Cane Bluff. Give us a report when you get back.