Eleven Point River Trip, Dedicated to Brandon Roach

 

    I took a 3 day, 2 night trip to the Eleven Point River on my new kayak last week.  I had Eleven Point River Canoe Co. take my car down river.  It was $35 for the service but the car was there and not broken into!  If you check out there map, I started at Greer Spring on Day One in the morning: http://www.11pointcanoe.com

    The trout fishing on that first stretch was a blue ribbon area and it had recently been stocked.  The fishing was excellent.  I only posted one trout that I caught but I was happy with it.  They ate any bead headed nymph that had rubbery legs, and they liked them big!  Some guy gave me a beaded Prince Nymph, with rubbery legs that was a huge fly and they liked it.  They also ate Stone Fly's with legs.  The night ended well with another local cigar and a little scotch I brought that was oh so awesome underneath a dark night full of stars!

     The second day was a little slower with the fishing.  I found them just one at a time in big holes behind rocks in deep holes.  I did have a little surprise as I came around a corner on the yak and got to close to a fallen tree wad.  I hit it on the right and fell in on the left.  I lost everything in the yak but most of it was in dry bags and boxes that I collected down river.  I had tied my ultra light to the boat.  The only thing that drifted away below the surface was my fly rod!  As I gathered my stuff up floating down river I luckily saw my fly rod sitting in the shallows!  So, I lost nothing- which was a theme for this trip.  A theme I like.  The second night I found a nice bank that had a sand area off in the woods a ways.  I really enjoyed setting my solo tent up on the sand instead of the rocks.  I slept really well that night.  I also brought a little, battery operated fan that offered some nice breeze as the temps were in the upper 90's.

The third day was a pretty wide stretch of the river.  I think I caught one trout but received a surprise at the end.  While fishing with my ultra light at the end of a strong white water section, I caught a small small mouth bass.  I changed to a little rapalla and then caught a large small mouth bass.  I caught a few more hear and there until the last 1/4 mile before the bridge.  There was a riffle section where I caught a bunch of great fighting smallies!  I fished it for another hour pulling somewhere between 6-10 of them. Caught about 3 that shook the hook and I lost them.  Overall, it was a great trip with very few people on the river.  I stayed on my own each night and saw 8-20 people on the river each day.  Most of the time I was on my own.  Great trip!  When you get back we will have to do it together!  Hope things are going well in India!

No Goose, only Goos Stories:)

Well, there was a lot of fog out this morning. By 10am it was still foggy so I packed it up. There were recent goose tracks everywhere. By the indention in the mud I would guess a bunch of geese landed on the place in the last few days when it warmed up and then when it dropped below freezing again their tracks were frozen in the mud. They were everywhere! On my way out I had four geese fly very low out in front of me. Had they come right over the top of me they would have been shootable'. They actually flew another hundred yards and landed in the corn field I was hunting. They weren't reachable from where the blind was however. They actually got up again while I was walking down the path and almost flew right over my head. They flared about 50 yards out. On my way home I saw another small group on a field at Iatan and another medium size group in the air (around 10:40am). So, maybe goose hunting isn't done- it's just a later hunt. We'll see:)

Duck Hunting at Nodaway Valley

So here's the story. I stayed at my mom and dad's house in St. Joseph last night so I could get some extra sleep this morning. The duck drawing at Bob Brown Conservation Area is 4:45am and I would have had to leave around 3am to get there from Weston. Turns out, I woke up at 2:30am out of excitement. Good thing I stayed in St. Joe- not! I decided to go to Perkins at 3am to catch an early breakfast. After that I headed to my old huntin' buddy Tim's house at 4am. We headed to Bob Brown and made it just in time to not draw in at Bob Brown. There were a ton of hunters! So after we didn't make the cut, we headed over to Nodaway Valley.

We went to a public, walk-in hunting area and set up near the refuge and did pretty well. Most of the action happened early, though I did shoot the teal later. I actually plugged him from 40 yards, straight up. It was amazing- of course, the BB shells helped give me some extra reach (though I won't mention the 2 ducks that I missed within 15 yards).

I ended up killing a drake mallard, a green wing teal and what might be a dark colored wood duck?? Tim shot the other two drake mallards and . . . hold on - there's a duck missing?? I would have sworn we had 6 ducks, but I only see 5?? I hope it's not in the back of my car! Mmm, I'm pretty sure 5 ducks means that Tim got 3 and I got 2- but I'm stickin' to my original story! More duck stories later:)

Duck Migration Widget

Turkey Hunting

I've been out turkey hunting twice, once the first week of season and today, the last week of season. The first week I made my typical mistake- got out of my blind. I scared up two flocks of turkeys walking around and never fired a shot. Today I didn't see a single bird. I stayed in my blind until 11am and then got up and looked around. I did see a deer first thing in the morning. It was too dark so the picture didn't come out. I think he actually kissed my turkey decoy! Weird things going on in the woods these days:) I think I'll have time to get out one more time before the season ends on Saturday. Then its time for duck hunting!

New Columbia Titanium Backpack

Above are pictures of the New Columbia Titanium Backpack. I've taken it out a few times on a hike and a bike ride. It's a very impressive day pack and I think I'm going to enjoy many more trips with it. Let me hit it's highs and lows:

Highs

• Highly accessible. There are convenient pockets on the outside of the bag along with a (dare I say) fanny pack attached to the belt. The zippers on the bottom and top of the bag can hold small objects like a map, compass or snacks and are even accessible with the bag on!
  
• Incredibly comfortable. It's a very light bag and the belt takes most of the pressure off of the shoulders.
• Well compartmentalized. Pockets, pockets, pockets; they are everywhere on the inside and the out. This bag is excellent for day trips where you may have a lot of gadgets, snacks and loose clothes for layering. There is a place for everything!
• Super stylish. It's a good looking bag, especially with the dome like appearance created by the aqua blue poles. The material is light, resilient and attractive.

Lows

• Very small. This is a day pack only. There is not a lot of room in the bag outside of the pocketed areas. When I took it on a camping trip I was able to fit my sandals, a shirt, rain pants and some loose gear in it and it was full.
• High belt. The belt clips around my stomach. It's a small bag so it isn't a problem, just a little awkward at first.
• Pole endurance. The poles on the outside of the bag are working well, but I am concerned about their longevity. As long as they continue to stay soft and pliable the bag will be fine.

I can't find the Titanium Backpack online anywhere, so I do believe this pack is currently in the test market. I think Bass Pro would do well to add this pack to their line up when it comes out on the market. It's a great pack for day hikes and I think you'll enjoy it.

Niangua Camping Trip

I just finished three days and two night at the Niangua River in Lebanon, Missouri. It was a good trip. Pat, Ben and I stayed at the NRO Camp Ground and rented kayaks through them. It was a good deal. The kayaks were $30 and two nights camping came with it.
The trout fishing was tough! We found one really good section on the river. We caught two trout there and another one a ways down. I believe it was at least a mile and a half from the Bennett Springs entrance into the river. Pat was using an ultra light with a tiny Rapalla and he only caught one small bass. If fishing was the primary focus, than the trip was a bust. Thank goodness there were other benefits! The weather was gorgeous, the river was beautiful and the company was excellent.
In retrospect, I should have begged NRO to drop us off at Bennett. They took us three miles up which, even in kayaks, was a haul to the Bennett area. You won't find any trout up from that area as the water is too warm. I also think I would have fished the sweet spots harder and pushed through everything else without fishing it. The riffles, eddies and deep pools are trout feeding areas- not long stretches of calm water.
Later this week I'm going to post a critique of the Columbia Titanium Daypack. A friend from Bass Pro sent it to me and asked for some feedback. I'll include some pictures and initial observations. For more Niangua pictures check out my facebook feed: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=318568&id=527555092&l=6a7aff7e56