Another Brazos Blast

[Darrells]

Ron and I decided it was time for a little over night Trip. We headed to the Brazos Saturday morning ready for a relaxing time. We carry entirely too much stuff.

But it all fit.

The water level was pretty low so we had to do some walking below the Falls but quickly made our way about seven miles downstream. We saw all kinds of wildlife Saturday.

Must have seen 10,000 Ducks on the way down.

Two Hogs swimming across the River. No, we didn't chase them, they were too far away. :mrgreen:

A little eight point buck that had swam across the river.

We made our way down to the sandbar we planned on staying at, set up camp and got to relaxing. We built a nice fire and had our Salty Dog fixings as always.

As the night cooled off the fire got bigger.

Couple of pics of the sandbar we stayed on.

Smallest YellowCat I have ever caught.

Nothing like a breakfast cooked on a fire.

Ended up catching a couple of nice Channel Cats and a pretty big BlueCat.

View headed back upstream.

The Nortwinds performed very well. We paddled seven miles upstream in about 2.5 hours against a pretty strong current at times. The boats were loaded heavy but performance was exceptional. Can't wait to do it again because we found a spot that is holding some good fish just did not have time to fish on the return trip.

 

[oldsparkey]

You should rename the Brazos to the "Grocery Store River"......

There is everything there a person needs or would want for meals , a wide assortment of all the goodies.
It is a shame that you did not have a lot of Bacon for your Breakfast and only had to survive on one pan full for the meal. As far as later with all that bacon , chops and hams swimming the river there could of been a lot more. :roll:

Those are sure two nice boats.
I always get a tickle when I see a picture of Ron's boat , there are more things (fishing Rods ) sticking up then the quills on a mad porcupine.
Thank's for sharing the trip and all of the wildlife with us , it appears that a good time was had by all.

Chuck.

 

[tx river rat]

We always have a blast .
This was a test run for the North Winds yaks , it would be the first time we really loaded them
and saw how they handled the varied conditions on the Brazos.
Loaded and ready to start

These boats have more cargo space ,wow , the front deck had very little in it.
Off we went ,the boats didnt even know they had a load .
We drifted fish and just enjoyed the ducks ,wildlife and a fish now and then . Weather was cool but one nice surprise the wind was light ,so it was an awesome day. Got to our location and set up camp ,built a fire put a couple rods out. It was 5 oclock some where so we broke out the salty dogs in our red solo cups :lol: .
I think my buddy is relaxed and soaking it in.

Darrel and I had not had any lunch so it was time to start the groceries ,

and it gets better

and better

full bellies , a warm fire good friend and another good drink was as good as it gets.

The river was falling so the fishing was slow ,but we caught a few. my problem was all I could catch was these.

Dang they fight , but Darrel was the catfish man this weekend.

After a breakfast on the bar we slowly started breaking camp.
Loaded and ready to head upstream

We were 7 miles down river and the North winds were awesome , we came up the river in just a hair over 2 hours , these are the dang est boats I have ever paddled .
This trip was a blast
Ron

I did miss the photo chance of the trip, I straddle my boat and then drop into my seat , well I am a little longer legged than Darell , I heard him holler I am stuck , :lol: I looked and he was straddle of his boat but was on a muddy bottom and couldnt get his feet loose from the bottom ,I grabbed for my camera but was laughing so hard I missed the shot.

 

[shikeswithcanoe]

These trip reports and photos from other posters always leave me with mixed feelings. First I feel bad because their boats are way prettier than my old beat up commercial boat or my unfinished SOF kayak. But then I realize there are some folks that actually carry even more junk than me, so thats nice. Then I notice that I look WAY better than all you guys so then I feel pretty good about myself

 

[oldsparkey]

Ron & Darrells.......

A question for you.
What , if any , camping gear did you use on this trip. Tents , Cots with the little tent over it or just sleeping out in the open. I remember on one trip when someone just rolled up in a tarp and sleep , or tried to , and not be blown into the river. :wink:
Providing you did get any sleep and did not fish all night long.
YEP... I know you guys do stay up really late fishing or just stay up all night fishing.

 

[Darrells]

What we had:
2 cots
2 sleeping bags
1 8x10 tent
1 12x18 tarp
2 coolers
1lantern
1 grill
12 fishing poles
1 seine
couple of buckets
blankets
pillows
each had a personal bag
ron had 2 backpacks
2 tackle boxes
food bag
several firearms
coffe pot
propane burner
several spare propane bottles
my little aluminum camping table
each had waders and rubber boots

I amsure Imissed some stuff and Ron will chime in.

 

[tx river rat]

2 chairs
3 gallons of water
2 machetes
cokes and beer six pack each
skillet
fifth of alcohol
1/2 gallon of grape fruit juice
weather radio
2 cameras
million powered spot light
I am sure we are missing a few items but that is the biggest part.
Funny we were talking paddling up river and we couldnt think of a thing we needed , but we used everything we had

 

[catfish]

darrel and ron dang if yal didn,t have a load i must have missed some of it ? where did yal have it strapped underneath. :shock: :? 12 fishing poles? :shock: :? :lol: yep i don,t believe you could need much more looks like you were self sufishtent. looks like yal had a great time wish i could have been there . :wink: i believe i would have had to put one of them ducklings on the grill too if season was in? looking at pics and reading makes me want to call in sick tommorrow and go my self. :roll: :mrgreen: thanks for sharing report and pics.

heck chuck i know why they didn,t want any more bacon looks like they were eating high on the hog i mean cow (steak) :lol:

 

[Darrells]

That little cheap grill is probably one of the best investments I have made. It started off a little bigger but I cut about 10" off of it.

 

[ezwater]

What section was that? I don't want to re-read "Goodbye to a River" just to figure out where "The Falls" is located.

 

[tx river rat]

EZ
This is below Waco , not in the book you mentioned.
Ron

 

[ezwater]

My grandmother died in Waco, though not in the final assault and conflagration. :|

 

[Darrells]

I'm ready to go again.

 

[woodman]

Great pics. as usual for you 2 guys...

On the day trips I have taken I always like to paddle up stream and fish along the way so by the end of the day and being tired the float back is easier..

Darrel.. with such small minnows for bait did you just load you're hook up with em?

 

[Darrells]

yep, three or four per cast.

 

[rpecot]

Well, I drove OVER the Brazos last weekend. The San Marco, too. Finally starting to get settled over here. Getting used to the Texas lifestyle. Biggest difference I've noticed so far... the good ole boys are Country Boys vs Bayou Boys where I come from. And yall have rocks here. I'm not used to that. Looking forward to getting my boat wet in Texas.

 

[Wannabe]

Hey Russill,
Somehow or other I missed this last post until this bottom feeder dredged it up. I think this idiot has been smking a LOT of what he's talking about. Anyway if you want it to feel a little like home and have mud instead rocks find a place to paddle on the East side of Houston. But that would be a Longgg drive.
Bob