I’m going on a two-day outing this weekend and I am SO stoked that I can’t barely stand it.
Going to be putting the rowing Scanoe to test - only boat I’m taking. If it fails, I’m going to be a slow-moving, solo-paddling a great big barge of a boat, sorry son-of-a-gun. It’s not going to fail. So I’m stoked, stoked, stoked.
Two days of fishing and rivers. And then I celebrate Monday by paying thick wads of cash to have a camera shoved down my throat before going to bed for a couple days.
-Big D
The camera going down the
esophagus? Hope everything is ok there.
The trip sounds neat. I expect its in the mid-70’s there, we hit 94 today. A cold front is expected Friday…it will take the highs to the mid-80’s. I assume you are hiting the Shenendoah. Have fun, catch lots of fish, and hope the barge works out for you.
BTW, I posted a thread about seeing a fishing eagle (bald type) on paddler’s place. Thought about doing it on B&B for fun, but the PP folks get excited about wildlife sightings…its like they almost never get into the outdoors, at least not unless in those little bathtub boats on whitewater.
Camera thing
I’ve lost track of how many times this will be on that. Getting to be annoying rather than worrisome. I just don’t like the anesthesia. They are working to find one for me that whacks me out less than valium to start and whatever they follow up with afterwards. I can’t understand how people take/took valium recreationally. Horrible stuff.
As far as the trip, we WERE in the low-80’s but have had a cold front accompanied by a lot of rain. We’re 48 right now with highs expected in the low 60’s. Rained all night last night. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the river levels and take appropriate decisions last minute.
- Big D
I’d love to have rivers like that and
parts of the Potomac to paddle. Wish I’d had a kayak when I lived in South Carolina, would have enjoyed the blackwater rivers there, or the one just a few hudred feet from my home, though I never saw anyone on it with a canoe or kayak.
Big D
When we were on the New river 2 weeks ago they called for Thunderstorms and cold front each day but it only rained hard at night. the river was up and the fishing slow but I did manage to catch a monster smallmouth. Caught is on a pumkin colored rooster tail. His twin brother tried to take the spinner out of his mouth while I was playing him in. It was pretty cool to see 2 huge fish fighting for my lure!
Unfortunatly we did not scout the next rapid and the river was up and hid a rock in the middle of our line just before a 2 ft waterfall and I yelled hard right to my brother but we did not make it. Everything in the canoe was secure except our fishing rods. I miss that old pole. Lucky I had another one strapped down.
Have a great time,
Chris
Glad you had fun
Weather down that way can be tough to predict with those hollows as deep as they are. Glad the thunderstorms missed you. Sorry you lost your rod. Glad you got out on one of my favorite all time rivers. That place just can’t be beat.
- Big D
Update on trip
It was a Secret Double Probation trip because the guys we were showing off our rivers are in the music industry and have some fans. Out of courtesy, we didn’t want to broadcast on the net who it was or where we were going to be.
We got a cold front and 2" of rain two days in a row, mostly up from the south. It passed through by late Friday night with some remnant rain on Saturday, but not enough to stop a fishing trip. We had planned the Shenandoah, but the gauges at the locations we considered were shooting straight up. The level was fine, and could have handled more volume to make it unsafe for paddling, but there was no point in pushing it because the Potomac drains mostly a northern area and had risen less than a foot before tapering off. It was still eminently fishable. However, by slightly doubling in volume from a cold rain, the water temperature had dropped close to ten degrees overnight. We put the guys into prime fishing water, but the fish had lockjaw. They were beating the heck out of the lures with smacks, but no strikes.
Sunday, back to the Potomac. The Shenandoah converges with the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry, so it had taken another bump in level, and another “slug” of water was expected when the Shenandoah tributaries caught up to us, but it was still at a safe and appropriate level for fishing. The fish were more cooperative and we had a slow, but still fun day on the river. Someone else was doing the work by rowing the WW raft with a fishing frame we had borrowed. I took the back seat to let our guest have the first casts to new water. This fellow had excellent water reading and casting skills. Far superior to my own. However, I had local knowledge of the river and was able to shout out some local knowledge of good ledges and eddies and other things to pay attention to and get us positioned for. Fish were again beating the lures rather than striking, but at least we got a few to the boat. It was tough fishing, but still fishing and beats the heck out of cutting the grass.
The Scanoe itself did excellently. On Saturday, our guest was standing in the front while I was rowing him upriver and holding positions so he could get three or four casts to likely spots.
- Big D
So ‘D’…
when do you start your guide service for headliners at Nissan? 
You guys made the right call to head up to the P-mac…THe Doah was lookin real good about 11:00am on Sat…but was up 3 feet by 5pm. By Sunday AM, it was a complete blow-out. River needs a good flushing anyway with all the grass doing it’s usual Fall thing and letting go of the bottom. Hopefully levels will be back to a fishable levels for Sat’s gathering at Andy Guest. You gonna make it?
Can’t make it
– Last Updated: Oct-09-06 8:20 PM EST –
I'm on Daddy Duty this weekend. Will be having fun with the kids while my wife takes a much deserved weekend away with her friends.
I'll tell you what, though. Those boys could fish as well as they could play. And they play awfully well. I'd love to have the casting accuracy of the fellow in my boat. Daggone he was good.
- Big D
Sounds like, even with the conditions,
it was a fun trip. I thought about your trip Big D when I heard about all the nasty weather in No. Virginia. Wondered if you were rained out.
rowing scanoe
What is it? Do you have a pic? Now that the secret trip is over are you OK?
Attempted answers
– Last Updated: Oct-10-06 8:55 PM EST –
I do have pictures. Unfortunately, there is no means to post pictures on this site and I have a personal distaste for linking to another site with similar interests where the pictures are viewable. Just doesn't seem right somehow.
A Scanoe's just a big, ol' flatback Coleman canoe. Monster of a thing. It's (I think) Royalex, and weights in at 110lbs. Seriously. It's 16 feet long and dang near 4' wide at its widest point. It has an aluminum interior frame, three tracking channels in the hull design, and a real thick transom. It's meant for use with a 2hp engine or a trolling motor. But I chose not to do the normal thing. I got the boat free, so took it as a personal challenge to put in a middle seat to use as a rowing station and spend less than $50 overall. I went just a hair over $50, but that includes two sets of oarlock sockets because the first design had catastrophic failure during a test where ShenandoahRiverRat was my safety paddler (God help me). I now have probably the comfiest smallmouth fishing vehicle second only to a WW raft with a rowing frame.
I took it upcurrent about 1/2 mile with the level rising, and the front fisherman was standing and casting. I was able to hold it in position so he could get several casts at particularly "fishy-looking" water. Even ferried it across a little Class I (maybe a Class I - about 8" standing waves with two strong current seams from a chute) and eddied out with the front passenger standing and casting. Now THAT's stable. I must admit that the fisherman had exceptional sealegs - it wasn't all just the boat. I'd have been a swimmer three or four times doing what he did.
Thanks for asking, but I am not quite OK. But that has nothing to do with the trip and will soon pass. As far as the trip, we were very cautious to check gauges and prediction sites for both the water we'd be on and the major tributaries. We took an educated decision based on data and personal experience. The water we paddled was perfectly safe (or as safe as this sport gets) when we were on the river. The water was so low to start and the section of river can handle so much volume before getting squirrelly that we were in real good shape even with the rising water. It could have risen another foot and we'd have still been in good shape. Lots of leeway. We did scrub our intended trip and went with Plan B. Glad we did, because the intended trip rose 2.5' in the six hours we'd have been on that much smaller river. That would have been decidedly NOT OK.
Hope that answers your questions. E-mail me if you want me to reply with some pictures of the craft. Fair warning that you'll also have to put up with seeing my ugly mug in the pictures.
- Big D
Let me know if you get up this way
ShenandoahRiverRat and I will take care of you. Between us, I think we’ve got seven boats suited to these rivers. One of them’s bound to suit you.
- Big D
I wish I could, but it doesn’t seem to
be in the cards. Raising this grandchild kees grandma and me strapped for cash and with limited cash. You know how it is when you have a three year old. I’ve paddled some on our Hill Country rivers, wade fished many or them, and done the same on the Buffalo in Arkasas. From your descriptions of the Doah, it sounds much like them, except with more volume and faster current. Being in the woodlands of and a water of the Appalachian, I know its beautiful. Lived in Northwest South Carolina a few years and got to explore the mountains of Tennessee and N. Carolina a bit, have driven the Blue Ridge and Skyline Drive from the Smokeys to outside DC and couldn’t get enough.
Yeah, but the photgraphy
is first rate! And you were definately right to appeal to a higher power…especially when I’m along!
‘D’ I’ve got a mental plan for a rack that will bolt to the hitch hole in my Bumper and allow me to carry a 16ft “something” on my Tacoma. Think it’s gonna be a project for over the winter. I’d like to see how the green monster rides sometime.
OK
Sounds like we’re gearing up for another New Year’s Eve float.
I was thinking of hanging it up early this year and working on selling a few boats, but could probably be convinced to pull out the paddles another time or two. If it’ll help out a friend. You know, not for me or anything.
- Big D