One for the Books (part 2)

Where were we at now?

Oh yeah, we just finished watching a brand new drift boat plunge over a waterfall while simultaneously portaging hundreds of pounds of gear only to be told we'll have to do it all over again in a couple hours.

Got it.

Seriously though, that was a shot to the gut. When I planned this trip, I was accounting for a couple of short portages, but this was out of hand already. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be that bad. But here we were, no place to go but forward, and we had to figure out a way to do it. After a 5 mile paddle through what would best be described as a lake (aka zero flow), and miraculously recovering some lost gear from earlier in the day, we arrived at our second obstacle: The Dam.

Getting around this proved to be a doozy

As I was paddling up, you could see the sign up ahead on the bank that said "Portage here". It was immediately evident that this portage route had not been used for quite some time. It was so grown up with weeds and small trees, that I could not even find the trail at first. After finding the trail, I started walking it off just to see how long it would be. I walked, and walked, and walked for what seemed like forever until I finally came to the other side. It was pretty remarkable how long it actually was. Not only was it a great distance, but the first half was basically a 1/2 mile long hill. The second half was another 1/2 mile of gravel road, and thank God, was downhill. I knew once we got all of our equipment to the top of the hill it would be a coast the rest of the way. I timed myself as I walked back to the rest of the guys just to see how long it would take. At a fairly brisk walk/slow jog, it took me nearly 12 minutes. Now, they still don't know this as I told them it was only about 7:00. Let's just say they needed some optimism at the time. I felt justified in stretching the truth a little to make them feel better about the brutal work ahead. Sorry guys.

First, we used what little tools we had to clear the trail as much as possible. We probably cut down 20 small trees before it was even somewhat passable. After doing some planning we took 1 trip per person with as much heavy gear as we could carry to the other side. After completeing this, we used 2-man teams to drag the kayaks with the rest of our gear attached. Let me tell you something: I have done some really physically hard things in my life, and this ranks right up there with the most arduous. This was the equivalent of sled training in football practice, only it was for a 1/2 mile uphill, and we had to do it three times over. After the first 1/2 mile the kayaks were smooth as butter. That's when you topped the hill and hit the gravel road. Now onto the drift boat. This was most definitely the hardest part of our task, but the most simple. There was no dragging the behemouth. It was a straight carry the whole way. Luckily we have a group of guys that doesn't back down from a challenge, and we were able to get it done. Total time: 3 hours.

By the time we finished, we were all basically walking zombies, drenched in sweat, and covered with mosquito bites and ticks. At this point we had all been up for 36 hours. After a very refreshing bathing session in the river, and a warm meal, we all passed out in our hammocks dreaming of topwater takes.

Day 2:

As the sun peaked over the horizon we all rolled out of our hammocks one by one. I can't speak for everyone in the group, but I slept like a baby. For me, hammock sleeping can be really good or really bad. This night was the former. We cooked up an pre-mixed breakfast scramble, chugged some coffee and took off for the second day of our adventure.

This day would prove to be our most productive from a fishing standpoint. We started under a dam, so there was plenty of current. This continued throughout our entire route for the day, and was the main reason for our success. I started the day throwing a walk-the-dog topwater lure, and was catching fish, but they were on short strikes. I was catching the majority of the fish with the rear-treble, and missing twice as many. This was telling me that I needed to make a change. After a short break, I discussed with the Vaughan bros. about their patterns on the fly. They had been getting a consistent bite on a streamer style fly, which told me one thing: throw a Fluke. The Fluke and I have a long history. I started learning to use a Fluke when I was only 10 years old or so, and have mastered this technique more than any in my arsenal. In a time where 8-inch, $80 swim baits are common, some look at a soft jerkbait as sort of a "beginner" technique. They couldn't be more wrong. In my opinion, the soft jerkbait is THE most versatile lure for river smallmouth. You can use it so many different ways, and can have success in all four seasons. I have caught fish in Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter with it.

After dialing in the fluke bite, it. was. on. Not long after the break and switching to a soft jerkbait, I landed the first 18+ of the trip. The fish came out of a small current break adjacent to a seam and absolutely crushed the Fluke. After a quick photo sesh, I let her swim away and back to her feeding spot. It wasn't just me, we were all on the fish. When you're doing these sorts of trips we get kinda spread out, so an obligatory "Wooohoo!" is heard echoing off the water everytime one of us catches a nice fish. Every half-hour or so we could hear one of us yell. We all fished our brains out for the entire day.

As the day was wrapping up we were going through some real nice stuff. It was a section that had several islands breaking up the river into smaller chutes. The Fly Guys were up in front at this point and got first shot at a real nice eddy on the back side of a large rock. I could hear the guys yelling, but it was extra loud and long. I could tell it was a nice one. After catching up to the group, it was confirmed that we finally had a 20-incher on the board. This wasn't just any 20-incher though, it was Jeremiah's first 20 on the fly. This was a long time goal of his and he had worked his butt off to get it. Congrats again Miah! (On a side note he has a blog entry coming soon dedicated to the story of this fish.)

I ended the day with 43 fish myself with 2 fish over 18. As a group we had at least 2 other 18's on the day plus Miah's 20. I'd guess we were around the 130 mark for total fish landed this day.

The elusive 20-inch river smallmouth #onthefly

After a long day of successful fishing, we were approaching our next obstacle, a class 2+ rapid. We had figured to camp here and tackle the rapid in the morning. We found a badass camp spot right at the top of the rapid on a rocky overlook. With thunder and a black cloud approaching we set up camp quickly. While we were all still very tired like the night before, this one was a bit more relaxing. We had some good food, some good conversation, and hit the sack right before the storm rolled in. Under the protection of our tarps we were able to sleep through the thunderstorm and stay fairly dry.

Day 3:

Upon waking up we needed to make a decision. Portage the rapid or try to run it. I was initially in favor of running it, but after discovering that a portage trail was just behind our camp, we all decided portaging was the smart thing to do. We had already dumped 2 kayaks at this point, and wanted to avoid any unnecessary risk. The drift boat brothers decided to run it as that drift boat can obviously handle whitewater pretty well. After spending about 45 min on a portage, the drift boat made it safely through and we were all safely on the other side of the rapid. This part of the river was very cool. It was similar to the section we did the previous night contining with small islands breaking up the river. I immediately took a path to one the smaller chutes and got bit by a chunky 17-incher. Derek and I decided to take this smaller chute all the way around. The current was really moving through this smaller chute and I attempted to make a cast at a current break I spotted as my kayak was jetting past. Wham! The fish took it at full force. I could immediately tell it was a nice one. With my kayak flowing dowstream and the fish pulling upstream, I knew I had to make an evasive manuever. I jumped out of my kayak into the river and grabbed my kayak to a stop. I was able to wedge it between a couple rocks with one hand while I was fighting the fish with the other. By some stroke of luck the fish stayed on and I was able to scoop it up in the net. A healthy 18.75 inch smallmouth bass was my reward. Today was gonna be a good day....or was it?

After some pretty good fishing for 3-4 hours we started to hit the slack water, and this is where fishing started to slow. We could see there was some moving water on the map a few miles up, so we decided to take a break during the middle of the day and recharge. We found a nice spot with a clearing, strung out a couple hammocks and took a break.

After an afternoon nap, we continued fishing, and caught a few nice ones in a section of moving water. It was only a couple more miles until we encountered next (and thankfully last) obstacle: Pemene Falls. This was an old dam that had been torn down, and a class IV rapid lie in it's path. We could hear the roar of the water ahead as we approaced. I had accounted on portaging this, but lack of information once again came to bite us in the butt. We pulled over to river right and started scouting out the area. The falls were really cool/powerful. There was a trail that led to an overlook so we all went over and checked it out. I looked at the falls, but didn't stay long as I was trying to figure out how to get around them. The trail that went to the outlook was very narrow, and after walking about 3/4 of a mile, I was convinced this was not the best route. At this point I was getting really annoyed. I had nothing to go on, and I could tell the rest of the gang was getting really down. I had seen some other people on the other side of the river, so I decided to paddle over there and check it out. I could tell there was a more direct route around the falls immediately, but it was treacherous. Rock piles, and exposed roots dotted the trail that followed directly beside the river. I felt like if I could drag my kayak myself, then everyone would be on board. I took off down the trail, kayak in tow. It was tough, but I managed. The worst part was the end when I took the wrong fork and nearly lost my kayak off the side of a cliff. I was able to complete the portage, then went back and helped the guys do the rest of the boats. We ended up separating the drift boat frame from the inflated part, which made it exponentially easier to manage. Note for future long/rough portages to do this every time.

We reached the other side, and started calculating distance left vs time left. We all decided that hitching a ride to our car and leaving tonight was the best idea. A couple dudes were gracious enough to give us a ride in the back of their pickup and take us back to the car. Only other casualty of the trip was Chris losing his brand new Iphone X while waiting on us to get back with the cars. It now lies at the bottom of the Menominee River. Luckily he was smart enough to Airdrop the pics to his brother's phone earlier in the trip. We loaded up and decided to stop in a nearby home and get a good nights sleep before the drive home. Got to meet some cool people in Wausaukee, WI that night, and ate some really good late-night pizza. Shout out to Hoovers and their amazing Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza! After catching some zzz's in the local motel, we headed home.

This trip was truly one we will all remember for a long time. Ideally we look for things to go smoothly, catch a bunch of big fish, (which is fun), but nothing creates memories like pushing through some adversity. In the end we were all in it together, and created some bonds that will last a lifetime. I wouldn't trade it for any other kind of trip. Ok, maybe other than one where we catch a 23"....

Can't wait for next year!

If you would like to see a different perspective on the trip, check out one of our crew's YouTube vid below. He has a 3-part series documenting our trip!