[ParrotHead]

I'm trying to convince the wife that my 7 year old and I NEED a short canoe trip. I'm trying to put a float together for this Sunday, 3/12. We would be canoeing at a sloooow pace, more floating/fishing than paddling. I don't expect to catch much, as the only thing I have heard caught in the area is some cats and that was night fishing from the shore. But thought it'd be fun on the water.

We'll be putting in under the Hwy 42 bridge at the Castleberry intersection and taking out at the Brown Jug in Smithfield where Hwy 70 crosses the river. There is a small gravel boat ramp and park down the hill behind the pub. We'll probably put in around 8 or 9 after the sun/son gets up.

The river flows about 2.5 to 3 mph in that area and the whole float is about 14.5 miles on the river. So, I figure we'll pull out after 1:00 and before 3:00. If anyone's interested, let me know and I'll get you directions and help you work out logistics for the put-in/take-out.

 

[ParrotHead]

Waterman-In-Training

Well we got the blessing from Mama and made the trip. The river was much lower and slower than I expected. The average float speed was around 1.2 mph, so there was a lot of paddling. We fished with no luck with lures, night crawlers and gulp earthworms. We came across a group of guys that had caught 4 nice cats (5-8 lbs) while camping over night and a local grandpa and granddaughter at the pull out showed us how to catch a small cat and decent bream using the nightcrawlers we gave 'em . They had been fishing with old frozen shrimp with no luck.

There we several very and short very minor rapids (8 or 9), that proved to be a good time for me and the boy. When we came up on the first one, we could hear it roaring long before we saw it. My 7 year old turned around with a very serious look on his face and said, "Dad......I think I hear a WATERFALL !" I had to explain what rapids were before we could go on. After that we could get through one before he was asking where the next one was.

It as slower than I expected, 7 1/2 hours with a half dozen stops including breakfast and lunch and 3 or 4 drift fishing sessions. A couple of yak'er pulled out 45 minutes after us and said they had put in 3+ hours after us. I guess they made the trip in around 5 hours.

We had a good time and for a short while I had my son's attention and even managed to make an impression on him, I think, when it came to teaching him a little about the river, wildlife and a canoe. The picture below is paddling lessons. I'll post the rest of the photos in my album.
with a he photos in my album. http://www.ncangler.com/photopost/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/749

 

[lefty]

Glad you had a good time. Too bad you couldn't catch any sticks.

That had to be something when those folks at the takeout used your own bait to catch more than. Sheesh, some people!

BTW, I just found out some friends of mine are moving to your cary-like area. They still haven't spent enough time in Apex to hide their NJ accents -- they'll fit right in.