Scott K.
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I spoke with some DNR guys on Saturday who were checking licenses, and they reported that they had made 7 busts of people fishing live bait over the preceding week
This is fantastic. Great.
I carry-on my 4 piece rods all of the time and have never had a problem getting on a plane with them. The TSA folks won’t stop you at the scanners with it (fishing rods are explicitly allowed), and the gate agents know that it will slip into the back of the overhead no problem, so they don’t hassle either.
I use a codura-covered case lashed to the side of my backpack, or sometimes carried in my hand. I don’t bring my aluminum tubes since I don’t think TSA would let them through.
Smith’s Techlite Glass. I have had a few pairs of these over the years and they are excellent. Really like them with a copper lens.
Take a look at the Redington Sonic-Pro waders. I’m about a year into a pair here in GA and they seem to be holding up well. And they are about the same price as the Simms Freestone.
If you will be on moving water / rapids from time to time, in my view, it is worth spending the coin on a good PFD. I’ve had the ones from the boat store – they tend to be uncomfortable and bulky to the point that I didn’t enjoy wearing them, so I don’t wear them. They also started to smell after not much time.
Now, I have this, which I barely notice when I am wearing it http://www.rei.com/product/767267/astral-v-eight-pfd
As stated above, I would look at the Tacoma with the shell. Long wheelbase for towing, and super reliability.
Also, consider the new F-150 – aluminum body and with getting something like 19-23MPG. My dad is a Ford dealer, as you are aware….
No personal experience with that bag, but experience with many others. Overall, these zippers are called water resistant for a reason – the teeth don’t create a watertight seal and the only protection you have is the gusset, or whatever its called, over the zipper. This bag will probably be mostly fine in heavy rain and maybe a quick submersion. Overall, don’t trust any zipper that is not a dry-suit zipper. There aren’t many companies that make legitimate zippable fishing bags. Patagonia has a one-compartment bag and Sagebursh Dry (which are fantastic bags based on using a friend’s) has multiple.
On Jacks River – If you start at Daly Gap and go to the JR trail, once you get there, there is a great campsite across the river (on the west side) 2 or 3 miles in and 2 or 3 river crossings in. Lots of other campsites as well. Lots of river crossings. Also likely to be somewhat crowded on Sunday, but you never know. There is a good map put out by the FS for the Cohutta/Big Frog wilderness that is essential to have if you are going to do some of the non-river based trails.
I completely agree Steve.
Shops that go that extra mile really do impress – especially because the extra mile in anything is so very rare these days. We have a couple of great examples in the Atlanta area – the Fish Hawk and Cohutta Fishing Co., and we are lucky to have them. Quite a few times I have pulled on my man pants and bought a rod or reel from them, even though I clearly could have bought it online and saved on tax, or even found it cheaper. It is my cost to have them, and it is worth it.
One thing that, I think, given the high price of top-end rods, that shops must really be fighting whether they know it or not is the used market, which seems to be everywhere these days. The equipment that was produced 5 years ago is so much better than the stuff 15 years ago – all of which you can get for a song used. There is no real reason to buy new. I am sure others strongly disagree, but all of the gains that rods have been making since maybe 2006-7 have been very incremental, and diminishing.
I thought bringing back this old thread was appropriate.
So the wife and I decided to hit up a favorite section of the river yesterday. A long shot for sure – it has been rainy and in the mid 60’s – about 20-30 degrees below normal for this time of year in Atlanta. In any case, we were not expecting much out of it – and I was mostly right (though, we ran into Jay and Mike at the takeout – congrats to Mr. Maylon on the double).
So we stop on the bank to relax for a bit (allowed when with the wife). On the way back to the canoe we see this white thing moving oddly in the water. Its sort of hanging there, but sort of not. We watch it and I think it is something held fast in the current wobbling back and forth.
It then moves upstream. Odd. We get in the canoe and move in for a closer look. We get near – it scoots away – unspeakably quickly. Its a big, white 6″ float – and I know exactly what it is.
You see, the live bait ban hasn’t exactly been embraced by the angling public on the hooch. A couple of weeks ago, I was floating a long slow section that ends with a big deep pool that just hums with fish. Parked in it were some dudes in a bote and with probably 5-6 floats out – each moving and jiggling. The hole is in a somewhat secluded part of the river, so they act cagey and I say nothing. This has all happened a couple of times – its probably only a handful of guys doing it too.
FFW back to the present. Anyway, we give chase to the float. Our initial plan of getting alongside and grabbing it plainly will not work – we can’t get within 10 feet of it. It moves and does so quickly. Pretty funny to see actually -fllooom and its gone 80, 90, 100ft upriver – all with white float parachuting behind. Clearly, it is a huge fish.
Plan B. With me standing and the wife admirably performing functions equivalent to a trolling motor, we ease back to it. At first, we think it will get away, then we realize we can take our time – it can’t hide. I re-up the fly with a big wire fast sinking steamer. 2 or 3 casts into it, I wrap my fly around the line coming off of the float and I come tight.
The float is Movin’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIMeLAHRN0c
The wife drops me off on a nearby rock with a little beach nearby to finish it off.
So anyway, I land the fish after a surprisingly brief fight – maybe 5-10 minutes – this i attributed to the fact the thing had been dragging a float around for at least a week since that was the last time the river was remotely close to fishable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yim-8U52124
The hook was as deep in the fish as it could get – caught up in some tissue where the muscle wall opens up to the gullet. Fortunately I had thrown in my old long shimano hemos into the bag, which Kim had been able to bring over from the canoe. And fortunately, it was just a small bit of tissue that was hooked. After a few minutes of wrangling and whole hand in fish action (fishting?), the hook was out, and the fish was gone. I didn’t take time to measure and I don’t carry a boga – but I’d say 18lb – quite a bit bigger than anything I’ve caught on that river. Crazy.
Also, I am pretty sure it was not cut bait – which isn’t normally fished below such a big float. I am not, in general, a fan of rules – but, when speaking about public resource allocation rules, they are something that I do follow. So, the question remains – the enforcement of the no live bait is pretty lax. What can be done?
Should I have said something to the two dudes sitting in that pool couple of weeks ago – probably, but I didn’t.
Should things be better signed? Yes. If you’re putting a boat in at any of the launches, no live bait isn’t there (or at least, its not as prominent as the American Alligator signs).
Should there be more enforcement? Probably. Or at least the rangers after noticing the large trailers should greet folks at the JF boat ramp when they are pulling back in and check out their rigs – its not hard to figure what they are doing out there by looking at their kit.
So, I’ll leave you with these videos and a photo. If the fish looks small, know that I’m 6’4″ .
Attachments:
Miles Noltes stories from the Alaska Chronicles,
Is that same AK Chronicles that was on the drake board a while back?
There were stripers stocked way back when – but those were atlantic strain (longer and skinnier). The newer ones are gulf strain (shorter and fatter, apparently). Also, note that, although the study says there is spawning, they weren’t able to find any young of the year fish in west point.
Some GON board posts from years and years ago reference stocking back in the 1990s.All that said, the old adage – there are no stripers in the hooch – holds. This isn’t for the faint of heart. Despite the pics above, the hooch is a really freaking hard fishery – there are 70 miles of river for the fish to inhabit and spread-out in.
We didn’t hit the tunnel this go-around. My wife and I have run it a couple of times, and a wild ride indeed!
The first time we did it was at around 180CFS – a couple of bumps, but nothing too crazy – in the end, we were left thinking that it was very Disney-ride-esque. Neat, sort of peaceful at the end.
The second time it was at about 400CFS – a completely different ride. Violent, huge standing waves within and very rough. I ran it in my open canoe and my wife got tossed from her kayak 1/2 way through (she caught it, got back in, and finished the ride) and much faster. Without question, a huge adrenaline kick.
It is sort of unbelievable to me that the tunnel is still open to run – in part, i think, because its existence is not well broadcast or well known.
And yes, the etowah is a gem – a really beautiful river.
Wow. Based on a reasonable sample size, stripers have been spending a lot of time staring at the tails of my flies without biting – probably because, from behind, most streamers don’t have the tail wiggle going on. This is a great idea – I’ve always stayed away from the articulated stuff, but I think it is time to start playing around with.
http://www.rockcitytimes.com/buffalo-river-extremely-high-levels-cheap-beer/
Wow. It is awesome that Arkansas has its own Onion. And one that looks pretty decent from clicking through it.
