River Rat Trip..

[Hog Wally]

That hole where u dumped it is known as shofners big hole. The gravel diggers are the same company that dredged 30 bridge stretch. Word is they ran out of dredge room so they are hauling it by truck from the bruns farm which is where u seen all that I love that stretch u guys floated. Where u put in at 30 my office overlooks the boat ramp.

[Smalliebigs]

Man I would have liked to gone with you guys...... really wanted to float with big Larry again....oh well possibly sooner than later. I'm glad Larry handled the canoe solo well.....that stretch doesn't get floated much due to the length.....get a new phone

I plan on doing some serious trespassing this weekend and will have a nice report for you guys........might even go try to get Al's alleged 22 incher tomorrow

[LarrySTL]

Thanks Gavin !

I wouldnt say I floated it well...but yes I floated it....once I got in the canoe. I forgot that the underwater end of the concrete ramp where we started was probably slick as could be so I landed on my butt in the water ( twice..argh..) til I managed to slide around and get into the canoe. After that yeah I did better.

I've got some pics of the 18". Once I figure out how to make the pics smaller I will get em from my cell phone to the computer and up here. 18...maybe 18.5... LM....big head, kinda skinny. I obviously need to learn how to take a decent pic of a fish with my cell phone. Ned rig with half of a green Zinker on a 1/8 head in about 2 feet of water in some wood on a LM-ish looking bank. Yes that means I was desperate by then.

I could get the occasional poke at a WTD, but nothing big enuf to matter and I threw several kinds of them in a variety of sizes. The *$%@# Dolphin walks wierd.. I think they have the hooks hung backwards; I need to play with it. If that doesnt fix it I can always blame Scott. By the time we got to a high bridge a couple miles from the end I told Gavin I was ready to hitchhike with a jetboat. Despite the heat I enjoyed the float !

[LarrySTL]

OK, lets try this picture thing. As you will see, I need to practice some with the cell phone camera too. This was the best I could do holding the fish, keeping the canoe from doing anything too wierd, and taking 4 pictures. In the one with my foot, I am not squishing the fish, but I had one hand thumbing his jaw, one holding the phone camera and ended up doing this to keep him from flopping. In the tape measure pics I am thumbing his lower jaw and I figure his mouth open that much and where I had him on the tape made him about an inch longer on the tape than reality. I'm calling it a legit 18.

[Mitch f]

Nice fish Larry!

[stlfisher]

Nice report and looks like a good time despite the heat. Horseflies...freaking hate them. 2 weeks ago I got dived bombed bad on the Mineral Fork. Had one land on my cheek. My escape was less than graceful...ate it bad. Bastards.

[Haris122]

I went to Johnson Shut ins several weeks ago, and while there those darn things (the horseflies) kept driving me insane. Only thing I really didn't enjoy while down there. Anyways, at one point I decided to make a stand and with the towel I had draped over my back and head to protect me, I started to swat at them, when they would land on this boulder near me. I didn't take out a lot of them, but the few I did, I ended up tossing in the water sadistically waiting for the little sunfish/bluegill to hammer them and drag them into the abyss (abyss being a relative term in this case). A few of them didn't disappoint me, though most were too small to do much more than hit at them on the surface and then back off.

[Al Agnew]

On my three day trip last week, the only time I had any horsefly encounters was while setting up camp the second night, when a half dozen or so kept buzzing me and landing on the tent for some reason. Guess I was lucky it was no worse. It was probably because there weren't any livestock near much of the river. Gotta wonder how horses and cows can stand it...but at least they have tails to swish at them.

[Mitch f]

You guys got me really thinking about this. I read up on this repellant and it looks pretty good.

http://genesisreliefproducts.webs.com/bitingflyfacts.htm

[bfishn]

Nice report and looks like a good time despite the heat. Horseflies...freaking hate them. 2 weeks ago I got dived bombed bad on the Mineral Fork. Had one land on my cheek. My escape was less than graceful...ate it bad. Bastards.

ROFL! I can feel your pain