Float Trip Day 2

[idahoron]

Sorry I am posting this late, better late than never. On Wednesday 8-24-11 we went to Swan Falls. I wanted to go from Swan Falls to Celebration park but my Uncle talked me into going to Walters ferry. I won’t do that again. That ride was way too long for a day that got over 100 degrees. Anyway back to the trip.



We, my son Jacob and I got in at 9:00 am and the water was 72 degrees. We headed for the island to see what going on. I was surprised to see that the river was very shallow there. We fished there for a little while and headed down stream.




We talked to some guys that were fishing Most were having bad days. I hoped that we were not going to have one too. We went into the first set of class II splashers as some one called them. I had never gone through “rough” water before. The anticipation was like being on the big ride at the fair. After it was over I was thinking WOW I want to do more of that. I didn’t get any good pictures of the big waves I had too much going on.




I did get a little video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh2iCi8rCvA


We fished a few deep holes for cats and sturgeon. I broke my new sturgeon boat rod right at the start. That was not good news. So we went on with the float. Jacob was the first one to hook up with a fish. I am sorry about this picture I had some water on the lens still for a video.



Here is some of the video of his big cat and the release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4GwwplpfJw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z0QSKXoPLo

Jacob caught his next fish in some very fast water. He actually fought the fish through some small splashers. It was a small fish but an interesting thing to see. You would expect to see him with a trout in that kind of water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gycTvShAtyE

After we got out of that set of waves I did manage to get a still pic but it was still covered in water.



Then back into more splashers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsPMot7xq8Q


We floated quite a ways farther before I got into a great fish. I came out of a small set of rapids and into a pool. The fish finder went to 70 foot and I thought I would try to pick up something on the drop off. I had both rods out when I got a nasty tug on the ultra light.





It took well over 15 minutes to land this fish. At one time I saw it down low in the water and I thought it was a very small sturgeon. It was VERY thin and long. Then I saw that fat head and knew it was a cat.








This video is very long and this was not even close to the whole fight. It took me forever to land this fish. This fish was over 30” long but it was so skinny it didn’t weigh much over 10 pounds. He fought well though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNDrnun0prk


Soon we were pulling up to another fast spot and I hooked a PIG. This fish was not as long and the last one but it was much fatter. It was 27” and I didn’t get the weight.





We kept on catching fish all along the route. It was funny that the upper end had nothing but the bottom end was great. We passed under a familiar landmark.



After this we floated a couple of mile farther and it was so hot, and we were tired. I hooked up to Jacobs boat and we headed for Walters Ferry. We were averaging 6 miles an hour with the flow and trolling motor.




It wasn’t long and we were pulling up to another familiar landmark.




This was the end of the second day of fishing. We were at 31 river miles ran at this point. We had covered from Swan Falls to just up river from Marsing. The next Day is Unity Lake Oregon for a day with some trout. Ron
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[JusJoshinYa]

Looks like you had a great time! That would be a long float for sure. Especially on a really hot day!

I am curious about your technique that you employ to catch catfish while drifting. Are you constantly watching your depth finder to find holes to drop your bait in, only stopping then to fish? Or are you continuously drifting with your bait out, feeling your bait hit the bottom and then adjusting your depth?
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[idahoron]

I look for drop off's, Current seams, and rocks. I constantly drag bait but I look ahead where I want to get my bait into. If I do see a deep hole on sonar I pound the drop off. I used bottom bouncers for this stretch of the river. I also used corkies to keep from hooking the bottom all the time. I had different rods set up for different techniques. I have really learned a lot about reading my FF for cats this year. I use raw sonar to get all the feed back. I also use BIG bait. The smaller one's have a harder time picking it up I think. Ron
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[MMDon]

Great trip Ron! Appreciate you taking us along!!![fishin]
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[Kodiak1]

I like Don's description...."thanks for taking us along"...of your post. You easily win the award for best posts, Ron. Thanks for the effort. Mike
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[hulapopper]

cool !
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[idahoron]

I sure enjoy taking you guys along. Ron
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