December 28-29 Th Fishing Report

[snap]

My 17 year-old son, Todd, and I left at our usual time, 8:00AM, for our first December fishing trip on the Eleven Point River.We crossed the St Francis,the Black,the Current, and the Eleven Point rivers to get where we were going. The St Francis and Black were up and moving real fast. The Current looked normal and we were worried about the water level for the Eleven Point. Crossing the 160 bridge, Todd was looking upriver and thought it looked high. I looked downriver and had no idea. We arrived at our cottage and waited for Del, who was coming from the other direction, to arrive. The plans were to drive to Whiten and wade across the river at one of my favorite and familiar fishing spots. When Del arrived, we loaded up my Dakota and headed for the river. In ten minutes, we were at Whiten. We crossed the river and left Todd at the top of the hole. Del and I went downstream and set up at a place where when we camp and where I always catch fish. We were not camping and I was not catching fish! The rock that always seemed to produce fish was not. The river was moving fast but seemed to be at the level I am most familiar with. The fish were biting softly...more like nibbling...but not taking the egg pattern I use most. I started thinking that this December trip might have been a mistake. I left Del at the rock and moved to the bend in the river where the river gets deeper and is considerably slower. I changed weights to allow the pattern to bounce the bottom. The fish were still only nibbling but the slower water must have allowed the fish to stay with the pattern easier. The first two casts netted two nice 15 inch rainbows. I moved up and down the hole and had caught plenty of fish within the hour. At this point, the hands were numb, so I turned th hole over to Todd and Del and they continued to catch fish. Todd had caught a couple of small ones at the top of the hole. He has been at it since he was 7 year old and has learned a few tricks. He went with 4 weights to get it to the bottom and keep it there. Any time I ever went with that many weights I was standing in the river putting a new hook on. I worked at getting a fire started but the wood was too wet. I had a little gas heater that worked well enough to thaw the hands. While we were fishing, a beagle pup followed us around. It had a collar but would not let us get close to it. After a couple of hours of good fishing, we started to leave. The pup followed us but would/could not cross the river. There were some locals hanging out near our truck who had been rabbit hunting. Del asked them if they had lost a dog. They had not but were interested in seeing the pup thinking it might have belonged to a guy right up the road. Del crossed the river again and got the dog to come to him. He carried it across the river and handed it to the hunters. That dog was way lost. The owner was from Birch Tree! Del said his wife would have killed him if he hadn't went back for the pup!!! I think he should get a medal from the humane Society!!!

The next day we headed north of Whiten to an area we had never been but thought was there. It was a good thing I took the 4 wheel drive vehicle because we needed it. We came across some campers(brave souls). We pulled up to the river. The sun was shining but the truck said it was 37 degrees. Del caught two nice rainbows while I was piddling around trying to get a fire going. We got the fire going but by that time the fish had shut down. The sun was shining over the water and was right over the top of us. There was no shade on the water and to me that means nothing but exercising my right arm. The fire was burning nicely but since this was just going to be a quick trip and Todd and I needed to get back home, we packed up and luckily made it out of the river bottom. We probably fished a total of three hours between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning but all agreed it was a another good trip on the Eleven Point River.

[Brian Sloss]

Nice report. I have not gotten out on the river in a couple of weeks. Good to hear she is fishing fine. I might float a lower section when I get my boat back from its biannual reconditioning. Did you do better above or below Whitten? Trying to decide whether to run Truner to Whitten or Whitten to Riverton or stick to the blue ribbon area. I've heard good things lately around stinking pond, but have not gone out myself.

[snap]

We did better below Whiten, but, it was walking in. The group camping at the first shoals above Whiten were wading in also and had been catching fish also by wading up river as far as possible. Stinking Pond upriver to the first shoals below Turner has always been good for us.

[Matt Tucker]

Brian:

I am looking to come down and float again in maybe two weeks (at somepoint in January for sure). Will keep you posted as my schedule clears up. We could take my boat if yours isn't back yet.

--Tucker

[Brian Sloss]

Matt,

That might be doable. Let me know.