Lake Talquin - My Last Trip

One Saturday in March 1973, my Cuz Joe Wilson and I got up and drove from Oglethorpe, Ga to Lake Talquin to fish. We took a death trap boat in the back of a pickup truck and drove the 3 hours to Talquin and fished all day in the pads and drove back that day. It was my first trip and I was hooked for life. This was one of the best trips of my young fishing life.

Over the next 40 years I have been every year at different times with mixed results but ALL were good trips to this wonderful fishery. Many years, I would go down many times and for several years kept a camper down at Mack Gainey's place. The second largest crappie of my life came from down there fishing Freeman Creek in February. That day Jr Wealot and I caught many 2 pound specs with one 18" and 1 19". Those were some good days. One cold windy day in March, many years ago, Fred Hill and I only caught 9 specs but they pushed 27 pounds on Mack's scales. The best day over the years for number of quality fish was on a May trip when Fred, Mike Stanley, and I went down for Shell Crackers. Lord did we find the beds around Williams Landing and caught the heck out of them Crackers(My favorite fish to catch). On the last day of that trip we went down to the dock and could not see the other end of the dock because of the fog. We all three got a good pull off the LC bottle and headed out. We followed the right bank out toward Goat Island and eased across the water toward Goat island. We ended up in front of Harvey Creek and it was just too foggy to run the engine so we decided to tie on some jigs on bream poles and pull up the flats toward the channel point. We could not see 30 yards. Before we all could get poles out the big specs started and they did not stop until the sun burned the fog off around 1030AM. We ended up with a limit of very good fish. We tried to duplicate it the next year but we did not get any fog.

On November 10th after the Crappie get together was over, I turned the Ram pulling the War Eagle toward Quincy for the last time. I am having some health issues and my wife has many more and I know it is time to fish more around home. The best Crappie Lake in the SE is only 65 miles from me and I think I can handle day trips. It has been a blast down at Talquin and I am glad I got to know Mack and now Pat and I love her place so much with more memories than I can recall. I will miss this but the memories will always be with me and the folks I have carried down their all these years.

I will make my Astor trip in the spring but that will be a good bye trip also. The St Johns river and Lake George is hard to beat.

May the force be with all of you as you chase those Talquin Specs.

Danbo

Danbo, I sure am sad to hear about the health issues. It sounds as though you have many great memories of Talquin anf Florida in general. Cuz and I had a great time at The SuperSlabfest also. You have my number is I can ever help with anything! Hope to see you at Oconee or Sinclair soon.

Good post Dando. Don't think we've ever meet but I wish u an your wife the best. Thanks for sharing. I love hearing fishing stories from long ago. I can only imagine what Talquin was like in 1973....wow

Danbo: Nelms "big fish heads" and I were telling that story about you and him the other day!!!! Look at that stupid SOB...wait daddy...his peeps are pulling up big slabs in 4 ft of water in Feb!!! HAHAH....makes me laugh thinking about you telling it at Slabfest!!!! Say the word if you need anything and hope that you and ur wife live kick those health issues to the curb! There's still fish to catch man!!!!

Danbo, it has been a pleasure knowing you for the past years and this is a result of meeting at Talquin. I always looked forwared to seeing you and your group. Hope for the best for you and your family. I'm at the stage in life, I enjoy fishing and viewing the scenery as much as catching fish. Made a resulution to post pictures of the outdoor life with limited pictures of caught fish. Taking my neighbor later this week and he will be like a 12 year old on the lake.......look forward to seeing him catch a few fish. Good Luck my friend........Curtis

Well Danbo let me first say from a current phone man if you or your wife needs anything contact me it will happen,if you ever want to come to talquin III will come get you and we will go,don't ever forget crappie.com,or bell

Always good to read about a fishing trip when a person was young and it turned into a place to go for many years to come. You have indeed caught a lot of fish at Talquin and created even more memories that are priceless. It may have been your Last Hoorah at Talquin, and I hope you are wrong, but certainly not your Last Hoorah. I have enjoyed your friendship over the years and plan to continue that friendship in the future. You have my number and I am just down the road...Holler if you need anything or just wanna go fishing...Hope to see you on the water somewhere soon!!

i can understand it Danbo i also will not be going on long trips . my back and legs will not let me do as i have don in the past . i now have a camper at Blackshear only 60 mile away . guess i will do my fishing there . only 10 miles to the ocmulgee river but stays low or high most of the time . Blackshear is always full or close to full pool . anyway i can help let me know.
there is a nice camper for sale across the road from my camper if anyone is interested in a camper at Blackshear . it is just across the road from the boat ramp .will git info this weekend if any one is interested .just PM me

Danbo, you're a great guy, it's always a pleasure. If you can't come to us, we can come to you and fish, don't forget that. An heck, let me know when you're going to Astor, if I'm in town down there maybe we can meet up and wet a line. My place is not that far from there. We will pray that both you and your wife can beat down some of these health issues and get back on top the world.

What a great post. Love to hear of the old days and the good memories. We all have your road to travel and hopefully we can do it with grace and humility as you are doing. Andy-1Cove

Thanks for all these special words folks. I will continue to fish until my last cast but I will be limited on my extended trips in the future. Heck, I may take several day trips each week. I live so close to the Hill, Sinclair, and Oconee. I also am only 15 minutes from the Ogeechee, 1 hour from the Altamaha, and 45 minutes to the Oconee. I will fish and often.

Slab, I will be down at Astor from April 13th to he 17th. This could change but if all is well we will ride. I had to cancel my January trip to Crescent Lake but should make the April trip.

Thanks and tight lines folks. Take a kid fishing or hunting and they will be better adults.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Danbo

Slab, I will be down at Astor from April 13th to he 17th. This could change but if all is well we will ride. I had to cancel my January trip to Crescent Lake but should make the April trip.

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Darn it Danbo, looks like I'll be North then. I plan to stop at GA camp at Blackshear on the 5th, on my drive North. But I'll keep that in mind. Plans change, you never know.

Wow. Reading this was a gut check moment for me. Danbo, hang in there and we will be praying for ya'll. Let me know if you want to fish Blackshear some time. You got a seat in my boat anytime. Maybe we get on some big crackers and specks in the trees this spring.

That was a good story about the past Danbo.I only got too meet you one time at the Blackshear get together last year and kind of felt like I knowed you for a long time. I was just going to say to everyone else if they run in to you somewhere bring the man a peanut butter pie. Hope to see you again sometime and all health issues get straightened out.