Whitetail Ridge COE (March 29-April 4)

We enjoyed the 129 mile drive here thru rolling hills and densely wooded forests, with light traffic. We got set up, had dinner, then fished from shore until dark. Joan caught two nice spotted bass, which John filleted for dinner tomorrow. The weather was perfect with 73 deg. temp and we have a beautiful spot in a nice cove on West Point Lake.
Saturday - We launched the kayaks after a late breakfast and fished mostly in the coves. John had the only action, with a spotted bass about the same size as Joan's yesterday. We had the three for dinner and the were delicious. We launched again in the evening and Joan lost one bass before we got rained out.
Sunday - We got up early and drove over to R. Schaefer Heard COE Campground, where the West Point, Ga. First UM Church Youth Group put on an excellent Sonrise Service. We fished between showers and caught two nice crappie that we kept and a couple bluegill that we released.
Monday - It turned into a gorgeous day today, with bright sun, a nice breeze, and perfect temp. We got the kayaks out from shore here and fished a likely bay for two hours, but only caught one bream. The sun should warm things up some and get the fish biting again. We got out again after supper, and for quite some time saw no action. We were close to calling it quits, when just before sunset, we began seeing some action. We ended up catching one nice bass and several crappie. We kept the bass and the two biggest crappie which were very nice. We continued to use small Clouser Minnow flies John ties on a size 10 streamer hook. Color did not seem too important. We fished again in the evening and caught several crappie and one very large bream, but releases all of them. We've had two fish dinners and will have one more tomorrow. That's enough.
Wednesday - Rainy day today, so we cleaned pollen off the First-Up and awning and put them away so we don't have to do them wet when we leave. The weather is supposed to be rainy and windy on Friday when we planned on our final leg to Trackrock, so we extended our stay for one more day so we could travel with better weather and open up the fifth wheel when it is not raining.

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Cotton hill COE (Mar 27-28)

We made the 245 miles here in five hours. It was a good trip with light traffic and trucks only on the I-10 stretch, which was short. It was less windy and warmer here than yesterday. We have a nice site (37), with a beautiful view of the lake.
Thursday - We stayed around camp and relaxed.

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Manatee Springs SP (March 25-26)

The Zephyrhills house is closed and we are beginning our return to Trackrock. We drove about 125 miles and pulled into Manatee Springs SP. The trip was windy, but thankfully uneventful. Our site (#7), is quite nice, especially since it was the only one left and was unknown to us. We got set up and took a walk around the loops and down to the springs and the river.
Tuesday - It was too windy and chilly to kayak, so we did an explore instead. We went towards the gulf to Shell Mound. This is a really pretty area, and would be a great area to kayak and fish if the wind weren't blowing at 40 mph. We were going to meet Trackrock friends in High Springs, so we checked out Oleno SP, which is nearby. It is on the Santa Fe River and is very nice. We were going to camp there, but it was full. We met the family for dinner at Alice's Rest. We had a great time catching up with this wonderful family.

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