Floating the Upper River This Weekend

[WestCentralFisher]

Last minute trip coming together for this weekend. Looking to float and fish for trout. Is it completely nuts to try to float Baptist to Cedar Grove in fall low water in minimally loaded down kayaks? I know we'll drag a lot, but trying to figure out where we might end up on the scale from "a little annoying" to "hiking trip with kayak in tow". 

Also considering Cedar Grove to Akers since at least ~half will for sure have solid flow below Welch Spring. 

[trouty mouth]

I kayaked upstream from Cedar Grove 3.5 miles (and back down) earlier in the summer.  

Cedar grove was a mad house. It was so dang busy with people it made the huzzah look tame & it was a Friday. I expect there are still some people getting out and floating, but expect that section to be popping with people & the fish might be hidden away (more than usual) if you're fishing in the crowds. 

Upstream from Cedar grove we saw fewer floaters/kayakers, but still we passed probably 15 to 20 groups upstream from Cedar Grove. I was surprised to see how busy it was with floaters coming down from Baptist. 

The water was at 1.39ft on the USGS water gauge above Akers that day. We had to walk 80% of the riffles in some fashion. The water is more skinny up near Baptist camp, too, so you'd definitely be scraping runs and maybe walking more than you'd think. 

The fishing wasn't the best and we spooked more fish than we could catch. Most of the pools were cleared out before we got a look/cast into them. The fish we could see were usually because they were zooming out of their pools to get away from us. The boats scraping in the gravel give the fish a huge heads up, so focus on stealthy paddling and rest the runs you're planning on fishing as much as you can. There are fish there, but they get pestered all day everyday and your kayak isn't going to do you any favors in being quiet. 

If I had your choice to float either, I would hit Cedar Grove first and make my choice depending on how many rental boats are stacked up/being put in. Cedar Grove is a white ribbon section, too, so maybe it got stocked up recently?

Good luck  I hope I helped out some

[WestCentralFisher]

1 minute ago, trouty mouth said:

I kayaked upstream from Cedar Grove 3.5 miles (and back down) earlier in the summer.  

Cedar grove was a mad house. It was so dang busy with people it made the huzzah look tame & it was a Friday. I expect there are still some people getting out and floating, but expect that section to be popping with people & the fish might be hidden away (more than usual) if you're fishing in the crowds. 

Upstream from Cedar grove we saw fewer floaters/kayakers, but still we passed probably 15 to 20 groups upstream from Cedar Grove. I was surprised to see how busy it was with floaters coming down from Baptist. 

The water was at 1.39ft on the USGS water gauge above Akers that day. We had to walk 80% of the riffles in some fashion. The water is more skinny up near Baptist camp, too, so you'd definitely be scraping runs and maybe walking more than you'd think. 

The fishing wasn't the best and we spooked more fish than we could catch. Most of the pools were cleared out before we got a look/cast into them. The fish we could see were usually because they were zooming out of their pools to get away from us. The boats scraping in the gravel give the fish a huge heads up, so focus on stealthy paddling and rest the runs you're planning on fishing as much as you can. There are fish there, but they get pestered all day everyday and your kayak isn't going to do you any favors in being quiet. 

If I had your choice to float either, I would hit Cedar Grove first and make my choice depending on how many rental boats are stacked up/being put in. Cedar Grove is a white ribbon section, too, so maybe it got stocked up recently?

Good luck  I hope I helped out some

Thanks! This does help. I am really hoping for the summer crowds to be thinned out considerably, but we'll have to see.

[WestCentralFisher]

Did some wade fishing this evening. The Blue Ribbon section was predictably low and slow, but did ok for medium sized brown trout with the rebel craw right around dusk/ a little after. None that would have been legal sized, not that we would have kept them anyway, but good enough to be real fun. Will try again in the AM. Looks too low to float without immense difficulty so its probably gonna be a wading trip. River and scenery sure is pretty, though. 

More to come after tomorrow, hopefully.