Up the Joe

We drove up the St. Joe river Sunday afternoon and found a great camp sight at Huckleberry Campground. Tomorrow the Burches will arrive and set up next to us. They wanted to stay in a public campground because they are new to the camping game. That's not a problem for us, we enjoy watching all the people at the National Forest campgrounds.

After we got our camper set up we drove up river and checked out the fishing accesses.  I plan to float down to our camp tomorrow morning and fish for the big ones. Once we found the put in, we drove back and took a bit of a jaunt up a dirt road to the top of the ridge where we could get cell coverage. We contacted the Burches and let them know that we have a spot for them and explained where we were located.  They should have no problems finding us.  We also caught up on other messages we hare received. Isn't technology wonderful!

Back at camp we had a wonderful dinner of hot dogs and various salads.  Kobi checked out our site and we played a few games of cribbage.  The hot day moved off with the sun and we settled in for the night.

Day 2

Linda got up about 6 am and I was up just before the half hour.  We ate breakfast aunt had coffee as I loaded the kick boat full of fishing gear. Linda drove me up to just above Marble Creek and I put on for a little fish and float.  We were five miles above camp And I figured it would be about four hours back to camp.  As it turned out it took me six hours for the five mike adventure.

I caught my first fish in the first swift water section just after I started. It hit on my dropper and fought a good fight. I learned quite a bit on that first fish. It turns out that I think it would be better fishing and controlling the boat if I had my fins on. I brought them with me but opted to use my fishing shoes only. If I go again I will wear the fins with a pair of tennis shoes.  It will give me better control of the boat.

The rest of the five hours were filled with fishing and slightly out of control floating.  I got real good at using the oars with my fly pole stuck in my mouth.  I did well considering that it was the first time in my fishing cat in about five years.  

I caught a lot of small fish, two good sized ones and I lost a bunch of flys due to stupidity.

I got back to camp and about fifteen minutes later, Teri and Bill arrived. 

Dinner was on the Bennett's this evening so we had pulled BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. The pork was left over from our retirement party. We had enough pork left over that we could serve pulled pork for every camp diner for the next ten years.

Rain, our morning was filled with showers and thunder storms.  At one point we even had hail, but that didn't dampen our spirits.  The storms move through quickly and the only one who didn't enjoy the break from the heat was Kobi.  Kobi sat in the truck shivering because he was afraid of the thunder. Yes, our brave dog cowers at the sound of thunder, fireworks, guns, loud pops, and even paper hitting the floor.

We decided to take a drive up to Avery and explore.  I was looking for some tippet for my fly line, yesterday had taken a toll on my equipment. Everyone loaded into the two rigs and we drove the fifteen or so miles to the little town.  We did the tourist thing of feeding the fish in the city pond. Explored the museum and the railroad car that they had on display.   I took several photos of the train car for my brother-in-law Al Dee and Kenyon.  They would love to explore this display.  

We all piled into a gift store to see what they had on their shelves.  Bill had a bunch of questions and so he asked the proprietor for a bit of info.  All I can say is that her people skills leave a bit to be desired.  We did get some of the questions answered, but we had to dig through a bit of eye rolling and grumpy remarks.  "Here, I'll have to draw you a map." became a phrase that echoed the rest of the stay.

The next stop was in the general store where we met a nice fellow who was helpful and happy.  It was a big difference from our first stop.  Walked across the street and I found some tippet at a fly shop.  While we were there I started talking to a fellow fly fisherman about the area.  He was a retired principal from Oregon.  After talking fish he mentioned that his friend was the former Cd'A School Superintendent Wally Pfeiffer, he introduced Wally and then we introduced everyone in our group. Bill and Teri knew Wally from years back. As we talked I found out that I know his son Chris.  Chris worked with me at NIC.  It really is a small world.

After a little more exploration Linda and I drove back to camp and the Burches continued on up river.

We had a great dinner of Pisoli, prepared by Teri and Bill.   Talked around the fire and then went to bed.

In the morning we loaded up the truck and drove up to the boat launch above Marble Creek.  Bill and Teri launched their kayaks and floated back down to camp.  I fished my way back, this time using the force fins for propulsion. I had to get used to the fins, but once I got control, I found that I liked them better then not having the fins.

I caught more fish, but I also used the fins much more and at the end of the day I was tired.