Great post and pictures man you guy caught a lot of small mouths that makes me want to pack up and head out this weekend! Thanks for sharing and congrats on a great four days of fishing and floating!
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Great post and pictures man you guy caught a lot of small mouths that makes me want to pack up and head out this weekend! Thanks for sharing and congrats on a great four days of fishing and floating!
I used to float those creeks you mentioned and few others (South Fourche Lafave, Illinois Bayou, Piney, etc...) pre back injury. Now a 4 day easy float, lays me up for a few days. I miss that thrill. Since you brought up the topic of whitewater, I will tell on myself. At 6' Claber Shoals below Rush Creek on the lower Buffalo is no joke. I have floated this stretch 5 times. Some was at a higher level and the others were lower. This rapid at 6' results is 4' haystackers (rolling waves). As were we heading toward it, I confidently told Matt to stay low and calm in the boat and I'll handle this. Wrong! We tried to stay to the left but were sucked into the middle of the rapid and got swamped within seconds. We rode out the rapid in the swamped canoe until all of our stuff started floating out. I he'll on the the Yeti and Matt held onto the canoe. Luckily my uncle was in a canoe by himself and was lighter and made it through no problem. I grabbed most of our stuff. I lost my tackle box full of lures, a new rod and reel. Matt smashed up his canoe seat and broke a new rod. No one was hurt. Luckily we has extra poles and tackle. I pouted the rest of the day because of losing my fishing gear. My Dad and godfather did the same thing. The moral of this story is, if you are loaded down in a canoe with 4 days of gear and the River is BIG, don't be a hero. Walk the boat down or around the rapid! We still had a blast and it is a great memory.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Parker
I got the pleasure of catching a bunch of smallmouth while off at work here in OK a couple days ago since we didn't work and had nothing else to do. Now it wasn't river fishing but it was lake Arbuckle and it was a bunch of smallmouths on spinning gear. I've always wanted to do a float trip like that, looks like yall had a blast. We caught catfish, drum, large, spots, and smallmouths over here while fishing tubes so they are pretty versatile.
back in the day you wouldn't believe the smallies we caught in the caddo upstream from degray. saw a video of Homer Circle on Spring River just below Hardy. He claimed it was about the best stream in America for brownies. Crooked Creek has always been on my bucket list but when I was more able the controversy was brewing. Still has me scared off.
Dang ole, dang ole...can't hide some of that AGFC biologist money.Quote:
Originally Posted by D10
AGFC biologist are grossly underpayed for the amount of work and hours they put in. Also I hate the "can't hide money" comments...it should be "can't hide hard work and initiative"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geagle81
Then please write/call/harass your state representatives stating such, as it does take an act of legislature. Furthermore, are you or any others willing to pay higher taxes to pay our salaries?
Yes I'm all for higher taxes because none of the money that comes from our taxes is wasted...
Actually I have had that canoe for 15 years, while I was still in college. I had to sell the old boat I had to pay for it. Also, the Yeti cooler was borrow from a friend who does make a lot of money. I was giving it a trial run for him. He had never really tested it out over an extended period like that. I would never pay $400 for a cooler. Not ever a Yeti. Just don't care to spend that kind of money on one. However, it did keep ice through the entire trip. I can attest to state employees salaries. They aren't great but are better than when I first started. I'm not complaining about it because I have one of the best jobs a person could have.Quote:
Originally Posted by garguy
Dang Jeremy, you beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing. I have fished with these guys several times and I have never seen them use state property for personal use. They really love their jobs and they are never truly off the clock. Last time I went with them, we were right in the middle of catching some big ole Hybrids, and the next thing I knew they were leaving the fishing hole to go wade through 4 feet of mud to rescue Bass that got stuck in the nursery pond.Quote:
Originally Posted by Geagle81