Fishing with Frank and Dave:
First and foremost I couldn’t be more pleased to report that Anthracite Outfitter’s streak of high quality clientele continues. This weekend Dan (Eddy Rider) and I (Fish Tank) guided Frank (Tom Sawyer) and his business client and good friend Dave on a kayak fishing/camping excursion down a section of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. From the moment we greeted Frank and Dave it was readily apparent to Dan and I that we were taking out low maintenance clients, as well business professionals. It was even more apparent that these two gentlemen were there eager to fish, go with the flow, and enjoy the experience. Attitude makes a huge difference and theirs couldn’t be beat right from the get go!
We were on the water, and they were pedaling by 9am. Dan and I were eager to have Frank and Dave out for a number of reasons, but one of those reasons is that they both have HOBIE kayaks with mirage drives. Dave brought his Outback, and Frank has a Revolution however, Frank wanted to demo an Outback so we had him bring his Mirage Drive and we let him use our Hobie Outback kayak on the river. While Dan and I have experience fishing from these platforms, neither of us have had a chance to use the mirage drive on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. The Mirage Drive can be a fantastic tool for the kayak angler in many situations on the Susquehanna River. However, there are areas where extreme care must be taken with the Mirage Drive.
We often drift through areas of river where boulder tops are inches from the surface of the water and only show themselves with a slight V-wake on the surface. The water has been a bit turbid so one doesn’t see the actual boulder. They see the wrinkled water they create. Keep in mind that the boulders are often 6’ or more upstream from the wrinkled water that shows their presence. To a neophyte river angler, not versed in the use of the mirage drive, pulling it, raising the rudder, and knowing what to look for, these boulders are potential hazards.
We were only fishing a short time before Dan and I were convinced that our two clients had their acts together with the Mirage Drive.
I wish I could report that the catching was as stellar as the caliber of clients we had with us, however it wasn’t. The fishing has been quite labor intensive lately. We have had above normal air and water temps for the season and everyone we talk to in our area has been having a tough go of finding the smallies. Frank and Dave caught a few and earned every one they released. The channel catfish on the other hand have been downright aggressive lately.
Dave earned every bit of that 6# channel cat. Dave and Frank both fished their tails off all day, working a slow bite with not much to show for their efforts. We had been pulled up on the island for a bit, as camp was set and our dinner was being prepared by Dan. The menu being worked by Dan was slow roasted red potatoes with olive oil, butter, onions, topped off by a few secret ingredients, wrapped up in a foil packet, and cheeseburgers , on fresh buns, with an option for fresh sliced onion and tomato and ones choice of ketchup as well a lightly spiced, yet robust deli mustard, for condiments.
About 10 yards from the camp table is a sweet looking eddy pocket tight to shore. Some of my best fish have come from that mini vortex of swirling water, while eagerly awaiting a cooked meal. I was working on a lure selection to go into my plug bag to carry for Dave as he wanted to do some dark time fishing and range out on the island. He asked me about what the best lure is for our pet eddy. I asked him “what’s your favorite lure?” He replied “Senkos”. I said “Cool! What’s your next favorite lure?” He said “Tubes.” I said “Do it up!” He went to his gear and put on a “coffe” colored tube. We spent a good portion of the day discussing current, seams, and ambush positions on flowing water. So he showed me the tube, I smelled it, and saw it to be a deep hued amber/brown color with a red fleck with salt on it, and said “work the seams.” Dave fishes and knows what’s up and went to it. After a bit of time casting he developed a few wind loops in his brand new braid running line. The potatoes where doing their thing in foil and Dan was right there to help Dave with braid maintenance. They had it sorted out in no time, no worse for the wear. Dan had Dave make a long cast and immediately reseat the braid under moderate tension. Dave goes back to fishing. About two casts later Dave says “Am I snagged?” and with that his drag starts vocalizing and his line starts cutting water downstream! Dan and I saw and heard that and we knew he was gonna’ have a tussel ahead of him, given the light tackle. Dan hopped in to assist and I turned the camera on, so did Frank.
Dan stood by to help with drag adjustment if need.
After a few surging runs the fish started to come home.
Eventually Dave beached the cat and we got the bogas on it and secure.
It was a solid fish. It pulled the bogas to 6# even. We kicked around eating it but Dave made the call that it would be better karma to release it and so we did.
We ate plenty of food, the fire was supported by a deep bed of coals, as rain was forecast. We made some fire wood forays and were stocked up for the night. Eventually dark set in and Dave and I hit a good length of shoreline. There was no bite.
We all bedded down and got some much appreciated sleep. We woke to rain pelting the tent in the morning. It was steady off and on then eventually lightened up. Breakfast consisted of pancakes and sausage links with a rich bodied coffee. Frank and Dave got loaded up and were off to hit some moving water across the river. Dan and I proceeded to pack up and load the yaks with the remainder of our camp gear, all under building, blackening clouds and gusting wind. I pushed off and Dan checked his phone messages because he received unusually early calls from both John Oast (Toast) and Dan’s mom. Both messages were warning calls alerting us to a tornado warning issued for our vicinity. I checked the weather report on my VHF the night before and it was by no means as severe as it was when we launched. I turned on the VHF after Dan got the calls and sure enough we were in the Southern range of the tornado warning.
Dan and I got together with Frank and Dave and appraised them of the weather alert. We game planned to try and out run the oncoming weather. As we got on the paddle and pedal the booming of thunder was getting louder. Fortunately as the weather started closing in we were just up stream from a Fish Commission launch ramp. The launch ramp has a port-a-jon which is handi-capped accessible which makes it pretty wide. None of us really like lightening, however Frank and Dave are married and have young children. Neither Dan nor I wanted either of them on the water when the heavy stuff hit. Aside from electricity, Frank and Dave were never on the stretch of water we were about to run to get to the take out vehicle which was about 5miles away, by kayak. They were in HOBIE Outbacks, and we were going to have to sprint rapids, some quite shallow. Dan was in a HOBIE Quest and I was paddling an Ocean Kayak Trident 15 ruddered. Dan and I had the lines about our yaks and while the Outback is extremely stable, it is not a fast yak to paddle. The decision was agreed upon that we leave Frank and Dave at the near by launch. There was the double wide porta-jon there and they could duck in that to get out of electricity and or hail. I have heard of people getting hit by lightening while on the toilet in their houses, but have never heard of anyone getting struck in a porta-jon. Meanwhile Dan and I would get on the paddles and sprint the next 5 miles to where the take out vehicle was parked. Dan and I have the same take on lightening in this situation and that is; we’re not lucky enough to get hit by lightening and killed instantly. We might get struck, but we aint getting out of life so easily.
Right as Frank and Dave pulled their kayaks and Dan and I got on the paddle, the rain hit and hit hard. I looked over my shoulder and just saw a milky grey haze of water in the mountains and the river surface boiling with large heavy raindrops. Dan and I stayed on the paddle and at one point the water was falling so hard we could barely make out the bows of our kayaks, visibility had been reduced so much. We were paddling so steady that the rain was driving into our eyes. Thankfully no hail developed and the wind gusts were at our backs, gusting to only 35mph. We were hit by a few more bands of rain on the way out. Dan and I were joking about the weather warning saying to seek shelter indoors when we pulled up to drain the water out of our respective SOTs. We stayed on the paddle and got to the take out vehicle with the trailer. We unloaded the yaks and headed to pick up Frank and Dave.
Dan and I were pleased to see that they were in awesome spirits and joking about what we just dealt with. Once loaded they treated us to lunch which was uncalled for but so greatly appreciated.
At one point in the truck ride back to the shuttle vehicle, Dan and I lamented how much the bite sucked. Dave brought it home for us when he said “Don’t worry. We had an awesome time and we made new friends…” I said to Dan during post trip maintenance after Frank and Dave left, “ Ya’ know dude, we started the trip with clients and ended it with new friends.” Dan said “We got lucky they were so F*&^%ing COOL!!!”
Dan and I will be hitting the river Sunday as we are getting a bounce in water level and flow rate.
Report to follow.
Tightlines and safe paddlin’!!!
Hank