Upcoming 3-Day Trip

[darbwa]

I will be heading out for a 3-day fishing trip down the Kings next Wednesday with 3 or 4 others. I think our plan is to float from Marshall Ford down to King's River Outfitters at Trigger Gap. None of us has ever had the pleasure of floating the Kings before so I am looking for any advise/tips that you might have for me (fishing or otherwise), a fishing report, or anything else that might be helpful. I promise to report back after our trip. Thanks in advance!

[slayer of lunkers]

So I just called the outfitter with a few questions, and here's what he told me - I didn't want to email this stuff to the group in case it gave Bobby a reason to back out b/c we're camping on the river.

Anyway - no concerns with private property really, all sandbars are fair game for camping. He suggested packing 1 or 2 good coolers with just ice only because there is no where to get any on the stretch we're doing. With water levels where they're at and expected to be, no concerns with running into any white water stretches. He said we need to make reservations with them so they are ready for us.

What time do you want to meet on Wed morning? Is 8-9am too early? I'd love to get as much time on the water as possible so we aren't having a big stretch to knock out on Friday. Looking to be finished at 2-ish on Fri afternoon?

Looking forward to it! Let's hope there's no real cold nights that tend to shut down the bite.

Cheers Darbwa!

Dino

[Al Agnew]

As far as coolers...what I do is pack two coolers. In one, I put all the stuff I'll be eating and drinking the first day, and what I'll be drinking and eating until after lunch the second day. In the other one, I put the stuff I'll be eating and drinking for the rest of the trip. The second cooler stays closed, and ideally covered with something like a white towel, until the evening of the second day, and it should be fine through the third day. It's opening and closing coolers that eats up the ice. And for ice, I like to freeze water in big plastic soda bottles after rinsing them out thoroughly. Bags of ice don't last long but freezing a solid chunk of ice like that makes it last a lot longer, and by freezing the water in the soda bottles, as they melt you have drinking water, too.

[darbwa]

Al, Thank you for the cooler wisdom. Any thoughts on the stretch of river that we are looking at? Anything we should know? Are there better stretches for fishing?

On a separate note, I was looking for an old post of yours that I remember reading regarding paddling techniques. I think you were referring specifically to ferrying? If I remember correctly you even had illustrations. Any chance you could direct me to that again? Thanks.

[Ham]

I'd take a real hard look at the water guages and think about the amount of rain overnight that might be hitting that watershed.

[hoglaw]

Guess they've already started. The water came up fast and is dropping out quickly. Here's my prediction.

They finish in two days rather than three. Day 1 is tough fishing by Kings standards with the high water. They make it all the way to Rockhouse by dinner time. Day 2 the fishing gets a little better, but they're done floating by lunch. A lot of beer is had by all and they have a great time. Maybe they even go back up and do it again for day 3.

If they remembered to pack the big spinnerbaits and warts, they catch some personal best smallmouth.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Guess they've already started. The water came up fast and is dropping out quickly. Here's my prediction.

They finish in two days rather than three. Day 1 is tough fishing by Kings standards with the high water. They make it all the way to Rockhouse by dinner time. Day 2 the fishing gets a little better, but they're done floating by lunch. A lot of beer is had by all and they have a great time. Maybe they even go back up and do it again for day 3.

If they remembered to pack the big spinnerbaits and warts, they catch some personal best smallmouth.

You don't think they went over the low water.

[darbwa]

We were watching the water levels close on every river anywhere close. The water was rising quickly everywhere so we made a last-minute change in plans and headed over to the Buffalo. My thinking was that the Buffalo had been a little drier than most so it would soak up a little more of the rain. Also, it is a much larger river that would be able to handle the rain with less muddying (is that a word - muddying?). I think we made the right choice. I will post a report under the Buffalo page.