Fenholloway River - 2-17-2018

[SRAces]

Met Tim at Rocky's at 6:45am. We were going to go exploring the upper reaches of the Richardson River. Tim wanted to catch some crappie for his mom, so he packed fresh and saltwater gear. The plan was to explore the upper reaches of the Richardson River and then meet Buddy and Ed at the mouth of the Fenholloway at 10:30am and head to one of the creeks away from the Fenholloway.

Conditions weren't too bad starting out. Low tide was at 9:06am, so we knew we would have low water to work with, but figured once we got into the Richardson River after our upper reaches exploring, we would be good.

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Tim managed to catch 2 mudfish (bowfins). The one pictured fought pretty hard.

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Then we found a stretch that had bass in it. Tim landed 6 bass with the one below being the largest.

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The water in the creek started to get pretty skinny in spots as we navigated the backwaters. Saw a lot of baby alligators that were about 2 feet long. Luckily no adults.

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We crossed over these rocks when we had started out. No way to get back over them to go back the way we came. So we went the other direction only to encounter a large tree all the way across the creek blocking our way. After carefully getting out of each kayak and using the tree and the kayaks as support to keep from sinking into knee deep mud, we managed to straddle the tree and then haul both loaded kayaks across the tree to the other side.

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We finally met up with Buddy and Ed out in the Gulf outside of the mouth of the Fenholloway. We then decide don a creek and headed to it.

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This was my biggest fish of the day. Threw about 10 feet behind Tim in a narrow creek arm and hooked the red.

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It appeared that a lot of the fish had moved out of the back areas of the creek and closer to the Gulf. We didn't slay them this trip, but had a great time. Ed caught 8 trout. Buddy ended up with 4 trout, 1 flounder and 1 snook. I caught 8 trout, 1 bass and 1 red. Tim had the best day an dmore variety with 5 trout, 6 bass, 2 musfish, 2 reds and 3 snook!

[zeke392]

Looks like another good trip Steve, thanks for sharing. I noticed the 180 drive in your Compass, I didn't realized you got that option. How do you like it?

[SRAces]

Looks like another good trip Steve, thanks for sharing. I noticed the 180 drive in your Compass, I didn't realized you got that option. How do you like it?

I find I use the MD180 more than I thought I would. It has been helpful in some of the creeks when I have wind or current and want to back off or out of a spot. My main goal of getting it was so I could use it in the PA14 I have. So far I really like it.