First time down the Trophy Section of Watauga River, Sunday, May 29, 2011

 

Jordan and I decided to head out early this morning and try kayaking down the trophy section of Watauga River.  We had wanted to give it a try all last summer after getting our kayaks but never did.  So just after 8:00 AM we were in the water along with several others in drift boats.

Right off we both started catching a few smaller trout.  They weren't the big ones were hoping for but we hadn't gotten into the trophy waters yet.  It didn't take long though and Jordan caught a few decent sized trout.  Again they weren't the big trophy ones but on the ultra lite tackle we use a 12 inch trout makes for a nice catch.

As we continued floating down river we leap frogged back and forth with the various drift boats from hole to hole.  From chatting with the guides none of them were catching much either.  Shortly after getting into the actual trophy section of the float we got into a shallower were most everyone stopped and did a little wade fishing.

It was here that Jordan and I was casting into a waste deep area right around a small island that I hooked a pretty nice rainbow.  It was a good 18-20 inch rainbow that gave an awesome fight.  Once I landed it we started to wade back up river to the kayaks to take a picture when I lost my grip on it and lost the fish.  I really hated not being able to get a picture of it as this was one of the most beautiful rainbows I had ever seen.  We stayed in the area wade fishing for a couple hours and Jordan wound up catching quite a few 10-14 inch trout.

The rest of the float was fairly uneventful aside from a massive trout I hooked in a hole farther down river.  Unfortunately I it came off before I landed it however Jordan and I both saw it surface and in the water.  It was at least 24-26 inches and gave up a very nice fight for the little bit that I had him on my line.  I would have loved to have actually landed this one and gotten a measurement of it to submit to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency for a trophy fish award.  I guess you can't win them all and there is always next time.

Watauga River Trophy Section

Here is a track of our trip. We put in at the River Bend boat ramp in Elizabethton, TN and put out at the CSX ramp in Watauga, TN. The trip was a total of 5.1 miles and took right at 8 hours.

Watauga River fishing trip Saturday, May 28, 2011

Got up Saturday morning to do a little fishing/kayaking down Watauga River. Jordan and I hit the water by about 8:30 AM with plans to be at our put out spot by about 2 or 3 PM. We would have liked to stay on the water a little longer but TVA's generation schedule was to start generation at noon.

Watauga River Trip

Here is a track from the Every Trail app for Android mobile. I decided to give it a try because it inserts pictures taken while it is tracking. I plan on doing a write up on what I think about it soon.

Fishing for the day wasn't the best we have seen, however the water was great. Any day out on the river is better than sitting at home watching TV or doing chores. Jordan did better catching fish than I did. I didn't keep exact track but I would say that he caught about three to my every one. One thing of note I noticed about today was the amount of rainbows caught. Normally we catch a lot more browns than anything else.

We did get the chance to chat with a few other kayakers which is something we don't normally do. With all the time we spent on the water last summer I don't recall a single time where we were on the river with other kayakers. Of the three we chatted with none of them were fishing but it was good to see others out there.

It being Memorial Day weekend the river was pretty loaded with people wade fishing. From what those we talked to while floating by said, we weren't the only ones who weren't catching much.

Overall we had a great day spending time as a father and son. I can't imagine a better way to spending the day.

Couple of trips from Saturday, May 21, 2011

Jordan and I left out Saturday morning to do some fishing on Watauga River.  We put in at our normal spot just below Siam Bridge at about 8:30 AM and planned to be at the park in Blackbottom by 3:00 - 3:30 PM.  We didnt get far however before we noticed the water levels rising.  I guess I should have checked the TVA Generation Schedule before heading out.  After only going about a half mile down river, with the water level rising we decided to just make a quick paddle of the river and not try any fishing.  We got to our put out by about 11:30 AM and called my wife to pick us up early.


View 2011-05-21 08:46 in a larger map

Here is a track of our trip.  I forgot to start the recording until we were about half a mile down river so it was a little further than it shows.

After leaving the river we decided to head back to the house and pick up my Flex Vertex kayak that was "injured" a few weeks earlier but had been repaired and take Colton, my youngest son to the lake for his first kayaking experience. We were on the water by about 1:00 PM. We put in from the swimming area on Watauga Lake and paddled along the shore for a ways before crossing the lake and then landing on a small island. After returning to the swimming area we played around with swamping the kayaks and recovering while still in the water. We had a good time and although Colton was a little nervous out on the water, he did pretty well.

I hope to do this more this summer and Jordan and I are thinking about paddling out to one of the larger islands and camping over night.


View 2011-05-21 12:58 in a larger map

Here is our track from Watauga Lake.

In all it was a little over 8 miles on the water for the day.

My Tracks for Google Android phones

I am currently using a Motorola Droid X as my mobile phone and carry it pretty much everywhere I go, including in my kayak while paddling and fishing the local rivers and lakes.  I got to thinking that it would be nice to have a way of tracking our routes while we are on the water and ran across My Tracks in the Android Market.  It is a free app and so far works great. 

Battery consumption is only slightly above normal for me but I don't normally have the GPS enabled on my phone if I am not using it.  It is fairly simple to use.  Just start the app, and select "Record Track" in the menu to start recording.  Select "Stop Recording" when you are done.

You can upload the tracks straight to your Google account and then export them to a KML file for use in Google Earth or simply view them in Google Maps from your account.  You can also send the tracks to friends via email. 

So far my only complaint is not having the ability to take photos while recording and have them linked to the coordinates within your track.  It does however allow you to place markers along your track with notes so you could mention in the notes that you took a photo.  Other than that it is a great app worth having. 

I will be using it a lot this summer while kayaking and hiking with the family.

Perception Rhythm 10 Kayak

I have owned the Perception Rhythm 10 Kayak for a couple of weeks now and have put 10-12 miles on the water with it.  I figured it was time to give a review for anyone interested. 

To start let me mention where I mainly run this kayak at.  The Watauga River is located in Western North Carolina and North Eastern Tennessee.  I float the NE TN section of the river below the Wilbur Dam.  During normal non-generation times the portions I float are made of mainly class I rapids.  When generating we go through class I and II rapids.  There are class III whitewater up river from where we normally put in but we have yet to hit these.  In the 6 miles of water that I normally float there are a few stretches of nice calm water where you can actually find yourself drifting back up river while fishing.

We also occasionally float Watauga Lake which is pretty calm and about the only thing you have to watch for there is the boat and other watercraft.

The Perception Rhythm 10 is a great little boat for what I use it for.  It is fairly easy to turn even in rapids.  The tracking is not the greatest in the world but suits my purposes well.  It tends to want to track at about a 45 degree angle while drifting down stream but again this is perfect for me as it faces me towards the shore where I can cast for trout.  While paddling the calmer stretches it does take a little more effort to keep her going straight but even for someone like myself it is not enough to become tiring.  Maybe on long extended stretches it might tire a person out but I have not had it happen yet.

It seems to be a fairly fast boat.  With my Flex Vertex 85 Kayak I had to really paddle hard to keep up with my son in his Waterquest 10' Kayak.  Now with the Perception Rhythm 10 it is no where near as difficult.  He still slowly pulls ahead of me but not by much.

The Zone seat is a major plus on this boat.  Coming from the hard plastic molded seats in the Flex and WaterQuest boats this padded seat is extremely comfortable.  I have little problems setting in it for 2 - 3 hours at a time and usually then its my legs that need stretching and not my bottom that is sore.  The backrest is adjustable and can be raised a good 6 inches from top to bottom.

This boat also comes equiped with foot rests which my flex did not.  At 6'4" I do need to have the pegs at their max but I am very comfortable once they are adjusted.  I have plenty of foot room and the can even slip my feet from the rests to stretch my legs a little when needed.  The larger cockpit is big enough even for someone my height to be able to pull my legs out and let them dangle from the sides of the kayak while paddling.  The drawback to the larger cockpit however is that even the smaller waves gets the inside of the kayak pretty wet.  I usually end up with 2-4 inches of water pooled in the bottom of the boat by the end of a trip unless I stop and drain it some.

Draining the boat brings up my only major complaint about this kayak.  It has a sealed rear bulkhead with a sealed hatch cover.  The only drain plug on the boat is located in the stern.  It is next to impossible to drain all the water from the cockpit area and a towel or sponge is a must to get the boat totally dry.  This can be remedied by purchasing and installing your own drain plug which I plan on doing soon.  I plan on purchasing the Harmony Drain Plug Kit from Colorado Kayak Supply unless I can find one local that is reasonably priced.

The last thing I will mention is the stability of the boat.  At first it seams a little less stable than my son's WaterQuest, however when you really put it to the test it is a pretty stable boat.  I can actually roll it a good 30-35 degrees, to the point that the cockpit will dip underwater, and still not tip the boat.  With a skirt I would imagine that the kayak could be rolled even further.  In my Flex I think the break over point for the boat was about 20-25 degrees before it would tip.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this kayak and would recommend it to anyone wanting to float smaller rivers and lakes while also being able to take on the smaller rapids.  It is great to fish from, has plenty of room for additional storage and is a pretty decent looking boat compared to some of them out there.

Starting this thing off

To start things off this blog is meant to be a way for me to chronicle the outdoor adventures my family has.  We don't currently get out to do as much as we used to and I hope that things will change this summer.  For the most part these "adventures" consist of my oldest son, Jordan, and I kayaking the local rivers and lakes while doing some fishing.  Or maybe it's fishing the local rivers and lakes while doing some kayaking...

Anyways we started out kayaking late last summer when I bought a Flex Vertex 85 Kayak from Dick's Sporting Goods in Johnson City, TN.  Our first time down was on the Watauga River from Hunter Bridge to the park in Blackbottom in Elizabethton, TN.  Jordan didn't have a kayak so I towed him on a tube.  Although it was a lot of fun, we both knew we needed more than just the tube for him.  Not to mention at some point the tube sprung a leak so he spent over half of the trip down river blowing air back into the tube while I towed him with my kayak.

That same weekend Jordan decided to take a little of the money he had earned over the summer at his job to buy a Kayak from Wal-Mart.  It is a WaterQuest 10 which he is pretty fond of and still using today.  We spent the rest of last summer kayaking down the Watauga River, putting in either at Siam Bridge or Hunter Bridge.  We had some great times and caught a ton of trout.  I would hate to even try and guess how many hours and miles we spent on the river last year.  It was worth every minute though.

This summer's kayaking season was kicked off with a bang.  As in the sound of my kayak going "bang" as it hit the ground after coming loose from the roof top carrier on my wife's Volvo wagon.  I just about cried when I saw the 3 inch gash down the aft rudder where it smacked the asphalt. 

Luckily I was already thinking about replacing the Flex Vertex with a new one.  The Flex was a great little kayak but lacked a few of the nicer things on most kayaks, such as foot pegs, thigh pads and a padded seat.  Also with my 6'4" frame it was a little tight to crawl in and out of.

I did a good bit of looking and came down to either the Perception Rhythm 10 or the Old Town Angler 10.  I really liked the Old Town but the $100 difference in price didn't justify the 2 rod holders and anchoring system which probably would never be used. I ended up purchasing the Perception Rhythm 10 and absolutely love it so far.

Hopefully we will be able to get back out on the water soon.