Slave Canal 9-20-14

[red_yakker]

My buddy Seth came to town to do some bow-hunting this weekend. I asked him to bring his kayak, because I had a little adventure in mind I'd been wanting to go on. We put in at Goose Pasture, took the Slave Canal to the Aucilla River and got out at Nutall Rise.
First thing, about 200 yards from the ramp, the cleat that my backrest clips to broke. Fortunately, I had a screwdriver in my truck and was able to replace it with a spare and we were back on the water. We paddled towards the Slave Canal and were almost 1/4 mile beyond it when we realized we had passed it. We paddled back against the current, again, and found the entrance. Some bushes had grown up blocking the sign.
Once we got into the canal, we decided it was time to start fishing. I was throwing a black beetle-spin and caught one on my 1st and 2nd cast. Seth was using a green beetle-spin & was also catching nearly every cast. We fished for about 30 minutes, bouncing from hole to hole, and ended up with 27 redbellies and stumpnockers. We decided that since we had had a couple of setbacks, we needed to get on with it because it was our goal to make it back home in time to sit in the stand that evening.
The water is a little low in the canal, so it was rough going. We had to get out and drag the yaks over several logs. I haven't been kayaking much lately, so needless to say, I was beat. Paddling up-stream in the Aucilla was tougher than I expected, I guess I didn't time it quite right with the tides, but we had an awesome time despite the hard work. Some of the most fun I've had in a while, and I guess it goes without saying, I had no trouble sleeping that night.

[bman]

Sweet trip.. that is a beautiful paddle!

[kenfly]

Sounds like fun!! Yeah went down there last weekend to the head and the water had dropped about a foot or 2 over last couple weeks. Bet it got pretty shallow in that trail


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[SS-342]

Good report and beautiful redbellies.

[MudDucker]

Suweet! I can't believe the air boaters haven't kept the canal clear.

[red_yakker]

Suweet! I can't believe the air boaters haven't kept the canal clear.

It'd take 2 guys, a come-along and a chainsaw 2 days to get an air boat through there right now. I like it like that. Helps keep it reserved for paddlers.

[bpac]

Very interested in this paddle. Where would I put in?

Also what should I be looking for as far as places to catch redbellys?

[red_yakker]

Very interested in this paddle. Where would I put in?

Also what should I be looking for as far as places to catch redbellys?

Here is the map I made to explain to my buddy what the plans were. We put in at Goose Pasture on the Wacissa.
The redbellies were stacked up in every hole we cast to, and would probably bite anything. They bit beetle spins for us cause that's all we threw at em.
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/de ... _guide.pdf This gives a pretty detailed description too. I'd recommend taking a GPS pre-loaded with coordinates, not just to keep from getting lost, but to keep track of your time.

[bpac]

Thank you! I can find that in my GPS.