Tuesday, December 2 - We left home at 8:20 AM with a temperature of 56 degrees and arrived at Oscar Scherer State Park near Osprey, FL (south of Sarasota) at 10:26 AM after driving 108.6 miles and two hours and six minutes. It was a relaxing trip with light traffic and a nice tail wind. After getting set up (orienting the satellite dish was a real challenge) we had some lunch and took the fly rods down to the lake. John caught a small bass and we saw some nice fish, but with very clear water a bright sun, and a cold front last night, the bite was slow. The temps dropped quickly when the sun set. We then had supper and retreated to the inside. John forgot the Verizon air card, so we have to take our laptops to the nature center to update this blog. It may not get done every day, but it will get updated. He also forgot the cable for the camera. He did remember everything for setting up the satellite dish and that is working well. Thankfully, friends are bringing down the forgotten items next week.
Wednesday, December 3 – We woke up to quite cool temps, but thankfully, stayed nice and toasty all night. After a nice coffee walk down along the South Creek Trail to the picnic area, we had oatmeal for breakfast and went over to the nature center to update this blog. We then drove to Walmart to get some necessities, then to Blackburn Point to fish a little. We tried from shore at a park there with no success, so we crossed the swinging bridge over to the other side of the channel and put on waders to try the adjacent areas. We each caught a needle fish, but other fish did not seem to be active. We returned to camp for dinner and John tied some flies we think will be successful tomorrow. At least that is the hope. It warmed up nicely in the afternoon and predictions are for a warm day tomorrow.
Thursday, December 4 – This morning we took our coffee walk to the nature center where the park volunteers were serving a sausage and pancake breakfast. We enjoyed a nice meal as well as talking with other campers there. Afterwards we showered, and then drove down to North Jetty Park in Venice and launched the kayaks for some fishing. Sadly, the fishing was good, but the catching was not. We enjoyed being out anyway. The park is really great with a nice launch and ample parking. Many use the area to just be out near the water. There is also good beach access there. On the way home we stopped at Pops Restaurant on the Inter-Costal-Waterway and enjoyed hamburgers while watching the boats pass by. There was a night heron and many gulls that wanted to be fed. Even though one diner couldn’t resist, we refused to feed them.
Friday, December 5 – This morning we returned to the nature center to check e-mail and update the blog. We met a couple there (Connie and Dennis from Wisconsin) and talked with them until nearly lunch time. We also got signed up to go on a kayak outing tomorrow with a naturalist. In the afternoon, we launched our kayaks by the park office and actually caught fish. John caught a small snook and Joan caught a mangrove snapper and two snook. They were really fun on the fly rod, but even if the snook would have been big enough, they are out of season now.
Saturday, December 06 – We drove to Bayfront Park on Sarasota Bay early and met a group of kayakers to go on an outing with Dr. Jack Taylor, who is a marine biologist and a wealth of information about the ecology of the area. We took several water samples in the bay and Hudson Bayou which showed there is work to do to return the environment to an acceptable state. After the outing we had a snack and took the kayaks back out and fished in the area around the marina. We saw considerable action, with birds hitting the water after bait and fish crashing the surface, but could not get anything to hit. We put the kayaks back on the truck and walked over to O’Leary’s Tiki Hut for lunch. We both had excellent sandwiches and enjoyed sitting outside to eat. On the way back to camp, we stopped and launched again in the park, but the fish were not as active as yesterday at the same time. Joan managed a mangrove snapper, and had a large snook on, but lost it on the retrieve. John caught a small snook and lost another.
Sunday, December 07 – Back in April we enjoyed a contemporary service at Christ United Methodist Church in Venice so we decided to return there this morning. Again, we really enjoyed the service which featured Christmas music done in a lively, worshipful style. Folks were friendly and welcoming. We went back to camp and watched football while fixing an early dinner. After dinner, we took a walk around the now mostly empty campground, and then headed back to the same church for their annual Christmas concert. The music was very enjoyable with large member participation.
Monday, December 08 – This morning we updated the blog at the visitor’s center and met a couple (Jose and Pam), then drove into South Sarasota to take advantage of our extra discount to buy some more fishing shirts at Beall’s Outlet store and then picked up some needed items at Walmart. After lunch we drove back to Blackburn Point and wade fished until dark. John missed a fish and Joan caught another needle fish.
Tuesday, December 09 – Today we drove over to North Jetty Park and met Jose and Pam for a day of kayaking. John fished while Jose observed and Pam took pictures of local flora and fauna. John had one fish on, but lost it. It was beautiful out and we saw many birds including an immature bald eagle. Afterwards we stopped at Buddy’s Pizza for an excellent dinner.
Wednesday, December 10 – We met Cheryl and Bruce at North Jetty Park, but it was too windy there to launch. We drove up Casey Key, million dollar houses on the ocean and checked out Blackburn Point, but it also was too windy. We ended up launching at Oscar Scherer by the office, where there was more protection. John & Bruce fished while the ladies paddled around. Cheryl and Bruce have Hobie Kayaks that are very nice. The kayaks have paddles under them that you peddle with your feet. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the picnic area. Fishing was very slow again today and it wasn’t until the end of the day that John caught a nice sized snook. It gave a good fight and swam all around John’s kayak before submitting to being lipped. This is one of the few saltwater fish that you can actually grab by the lips like a bass.
Thursday, December 11 – A cold front came through early this morning bringing strong winds and heavy rains. We battened down the hatches and drove over to the nature center for the weekly pancake breakfast and waited out the storm. When things quieted down, we went to Beall’s Clearance Store to see if they had any bargains. Joan picked up a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts real cheap. We drove back to North Jetty Park and fished from shore for a while, but nothing was biting. Later in the evening John walked over to the lake in the park and caught a couple of small Largemouth Bass on a popper fly he tied.
Friday, December 12 – Today was very windy and much cooler. It struggled to get into the 60s, but the sun felt great. John tied four flies, two poppers and two Clouser minnows, using synthetic material purchased at the local fly shop yesterday. We took the kayaks out here in the creek and John caught three snook and a mangrove snapper using each kind. We have new neighbors for the weekend and the volume has been turned up some. We will probably find some place to go tomorrow.
Saturday, December 13 - I won't tell you what time we got up this morning but after our coffee walk and breakfast it was getting pretty close to noon!! We checked out a few parks in Venice this afternoon. Started at the boat ramp near the old railroad station along the inland waterway. Not as much action as when we were there in April. Then on to Venice beach and Pier where we cast into the surf for awhile without any hits. Then to Casperson Park which has its own little lake and canoe launch which looks very inviting. Our last stop was Shamrock Park which is also along the inland waterway. We fished from the bank for a bit; thought it would be good for the kayaks till we saw a big boat go thru which would have swamped us!!
Sunday, December 14 – We went back to Christ U.M. Church this morning and enjoyed carols done in a contemporary style. We really like two pastors, but the senior pastor is retiring this year, so we said good bye to him. He gave an excellent message that focused on the shepherds, and why they were picked by God to first receive the Good News. He explained that it was because they “needed it more.” We stopped by Walmart on the way home and after lunch we put the kayaks in at the park and fished for awhile around the Intercostal Waterway. John managed one small snook that hit on a topwater fly that he tied.
Monday, December 15 – After our coffee walk around the lake and breakfast, we drove back to Casperson Park and fished from the bridge, fished the Inter-costal, had a picnic lunch, and then fished the beach. All the fishing produced nothing, but the day was beautiful, despite intermittent showers. In the evening we got a few things ready for our departure to Ft. Desoto tomorrow.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/OscarSchererStateParkOspreyFLDec2152008
East Bank COE Campground - Chattahoochee, FL (October 27 - 31)
Monday, October 27 – We left Cotton Hill at 9:53 AM at 60 degrees and arrived at East Bank at 12:50 at 66 degrees after driving 120.8 miles. We were going to stay until next Monday, but are disappointed in the campground and lake. It is very open, with no vegetation between sites. We are surrounded by big rigs and the fishing is difficult due to heavy weed cover. The lake lacks character with no coves, and is very large. Instead we are planning on leaving on Friday and our next stop will be home. It is going to be cold the next few days.
Tuesday, October 28 – We finally got up enough nerve to get out of bed about 9AM and had pancakes for breakfast. We then drove down to check out the tailwater of the dam and see if fishing there would be a possibility. There were several people fishing there and some fish were caught. You have to get down on the bottom, which requires considerable weight. Not easy with fly rods. We moved further down river and found a park and boat launch. This will be doable in the kayaks when they are not generating and the wind finally dies down. It was quite cool today due to the wind. We fished there from shore for a short time and John caught a sardine sized bass. For supper, we enjoyed pork chops on the grill. (11 pictures added)
Wednesday, October 29 - We had breakfast, took a walk, then headed to Bainbridge to meet friends at Golden Corral for lunch. Pete and Sybil live nearby and Joan worked with Sybil at Walmart for several years. Friends of theirs also joined us and we had a nice time with them over lunch. Afterwards, we stopped at a few places on the way back and fished with zero results. When we got back to camp, we fished again and caught a few bluegills, one being nice sized. John tied a few flies, then took one behind our camper about dusk and caught three more nice bluegills.
Thursday, October 30 – We had breakfast and afterwards John noticed puddles under the truck. He checked it out and discovered that it was oil. Checking further determined that it was leaking around the oil filter and that it was loose. We got a loan of a quart of oil from the host and John was able to tighten the filter with a large pair of channel lock pliers. We drove into Chattahoochee and got a couple quarts of oil and put them in. We checked for further dripping and there was none. We felt it was safe to go check out Three Rivers State Park about 10 miles away. It is much more wooded and the shore line more interesting. We will most likely stop there next year in the spring on the way up. We enjoyed talking to the host (Ron) there and getting first-hand information. This is the final night of our seven month trip. We have totally enjoyed it and Lord willing will repeat beginning in March next year.
Friday, October 31 – We got up early this morning and packed up. We were on the road at 8:52, drove 280 miles, and arrive home at 3:45. The time includes about an hour and a half lunch in Homosassa Springs, where we met our friends Paul and Janet. During the trip, John looked down at the speedometer which was registering 75 mph and cars were passing us like we were going the other way. Well we found out that when we stopped at a stoplight, it was still reading 30 mph, so it looks like we need a new speedometer. It feels strange to be home and even thought the place made it through our absence in good shape, we still have a lot of work to do before we leave on a 3 week trip in December. This will be the last entry on the blog until then. So long and God Bless. It has been good reconnecting with friends here.
View Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/EastBankCOECampgroundChattahoocheeFLOctober2731
Tuesday, October 28 – We finally got up enough nerve to get out of bed about 9AM and had pancakes for breakfast. We then drove down to check out the tailwater of the dam and see if fishing there would be a possibility. There were several people fishing there and some fish were caught. You have to get down on the bottom, which requires considerable weight. Not easy with fly rods. We moved further down river and found a park and boat launch. This will be doable in the kayaks when they are not generating and the wind finally dies down. It was quite cool today due to the wind. We fished there from shore for a short time and John caught a sardine sized bass. For supper, we enjoyed pork chops on the grill. (11 pictures added)
Wednesday, October 29 - We had breakfast, took a walk, then headed to Bainbridge to meet friends at Golden Corral for lunch. Pete and Sybil live nearby and Joan worked with Sybil at Walmart for several years. Friends of theirs also joined us and we had a nice time with them over lunch. Afterwards, we stopped at a few places on the way back and fished with zero results. When we got back to camp, we fished again and caught a few bluegills, one being nice sized. John tied a few flies, then took one behind our camper about dusk and caught three more nice bluegills.
Thursday, October 30 – We had breakfast and afterwards John noticed puddles under the truck. He checked it out and discovered that it was oil. Checking further determined that it was leaking around the oil filter and that it was loose. We got a loan of a quart of oil from the host and John was able to tighten the filter with a large pair of channel lock pliers. We drove into Chattahoochee and got a couple quarts of oil and put them in. We checked for further dripping and there was none. We felt it was safe to go check out Three Rivers State Park about 10 miles away. It is much more wooded and the shore line more interesting. We will most likely stop there next year in the spring on the way up. We enjoyed talking to the host (Ron) there and getting first-hand information. This is the final night of our seven month trip. We have totally enjoyed it and Lord willing will repeat beginning in March next year.
Friday, October 31 – We got up early this morning and packed up. We were on the road at 8:52, drove 280 miles, and arrive home at 3:45. The time includes about an hour and a half lunch in Homosassa Springs, where we met our friends Paul and Janet. During the trip, John looked down at the speedometer which was registering 75 mph and cars were passing us like we were going the other way. Well we found out that when we stopped at a stoplight, it was still reading 30 mph, so it looks like we need a new speedometer. It feels strange to be home and even thought the place made it through our absence in good shape, we still have a lot of work to do before we leave on a 3 week trip in December. This will be the last entry on the blog until then. So long and God Bless. It has been good reconnecting with friends here.
View Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/EastBankCOECampgroundChattahoocheeFLOctober2731
Cotton Hill Corps of Engineers Campground Ft. Gaines, FL (October 20-27, 2008)
Monday, October 20 - We left Whitetail Ridge at 9:53 AM and arrived at Cotton Hill at 12:41 after driving 141.5 miles. We got the same site we had in June and got set up in beautiful, sunny, cool weather. We fly fished for awhile and caught a few bluegills. After dinner we got our showers, then fished for awhile until dark. John had one on that he lost and Joan had one take a good swipe at the mouse patterns that John tied.
Tuesday, October 21 – It was another cool one last night, probably the coolest yet, but we stayed nice and warm, even without the heater. We got up early and Joan took laundry over to the laundry room while John made coffee. After pancake breakfast, we took a nice bike ride around the campground and sat over by the beach for awhile. We enjoyed the warm sunshine there. After our crock-pot, BBQ pork dinner (yum!) we took the kayaks out and fished for awhile before dark. John caught a 2 pound catfish on a fucia-tailed fly he tied. It took a long time to land it on the 4wt fly rod. After our experience with the muddy catfish back in June, we decided to let him go. (4 pictures added)
Wednesday, October 22 – Joan brought the camera and John brought the fly rod on our coffee walk down to the far end of the campground along the water. No catches. After breakfast, we packed up our fly rods and bags in back packs and biked over to the beach area by Pine Island and fished there. Nothing hitting. After dinner, we drove over to Sandy Branch Day Use Area and fished for awhile. Nothing. We came back to our area and fished along the bank and Joan caught two nice bluegills. John got a good hit on a topwater, but didn’t connect.
Thursday, October 23 – We did a lot of walking today around the campground and enjoyed the cool fall air. We talked to a couple of locals and got fishing tips. John needs to tie cricket flies. We fished a little and caught very little. We had a visitor a few feet from our camper. John looked him up and thinks it was a juvenile red-shouldered hawk that was digging in the pine straw litter looking for insects. Joan tried to take his picture, but the beeping of the camera alerted him and he flew off. It began raining about 4PM and is supposed to rain all night and all day tomorrow. (updated)
Friday, October 24 – We got rain all through the night that amounted to about two inches. However, we stayed nice and dry inside. It is supposed to end this afternoon and clear up overnight. (5 pictures added) (update) We drove into Ft. Gaines to gas up and fill up our tummies too. We had hamburgers at the Big Bad Wolf Saloon – hamburgers were great, fries not so good. We stopped at the East Bank Recreation Area and fished for awhile and each caught a nice bluegill. Not much action otherwise. It started to rain again about 5PM, which was not predicted. Hopefully, it will still clear off tomorrow.
Saturday, October 25 – We woke up this morning to sunshine, so we hung up rain jackets and tarps that covered the kayaks and firewood to get them dry. We cleaned the camper then took a coffee walk. We didn’t get very far, because we found people to talk to. She was fishing, but not doing much catching. After dinner, we launched the kayaks for a little fishing ourselves. We used our heavier rods and put on Clouser Minnow flies that John tied. About sundown, John connected with a couple of small bass. One was really small, but the other respectable, but not keeper sized (14”). While we were fishing we saw a shape against the bank that looked like a gator, but the head seemed way too big. John’s curiosity got the better of him, so he got a little closer (about 300 yards) to see, and the head disappeared beneath the water. This is one big gator. Discretion took over and we decided to fish somewhere else.
Sunday, October 26 – We went to church service here at the campground which was conducted by Ft. Gaines Baptist Church again. There were two other couples there as well as the two men from the church. It was a nice service with a good message about patience. We got things ready to leave tomorrow including taking everything out of the truck because we had a slight leak from the sun roof that got things damp. John cleaned the tracks on the roof so it would seal better (we hope.) We fished in the early evening, but not even a hit. We are hoping for better fishing at Lake Seminole.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/CottonHillCorpsOfEngineersCampgroundFtGainesFLOctober20272008
Tuesday, October 21 – It was another cool one last night, probably the coolest yet, but we stayed nice and warm, even without the heater. We got up early and Joan took laundry over to the laundry room while John made coffee. After pancake breakfast, we took a nice bike ride around the campground and sat over by the beach for awhile. We enjoyed the warm sunshine there. After our crock-pot, BBQ pork dinner (yum!) we took the kayaks out and fished for awhile before dark. John caught a 2 pound catfish on a fucia-tailed fly he tied. It took a long time to land it on the 4wt fly rod. After our experience with the muddy catfish back in June, we decided to let him go. (4 pictures added)
Wednesday, October 22 – Joan brought the camera and John brought the fly rod on our coffee walk down to the far end of the campground along the water. No catches. After breakfast, we packed up our fly rods and bags in back packs and biked over to the beach area by Pine Island and fished there. Nothing hitting. After dinner, we drove over to Sandy Branch Day Use Area and fished for awhile. Nothing. We came back to our area and fished along the bank and Joan caught two nice bluegills. John got a good hit on a topwater, but didn’t connect.
Thursday, October 23 – We did a lot of walking today around the campground and enjoyed the cool fall air. We talked to a couple of locals and got fishing tips. John needs to tie cricket flies. We fished a little and caught very little. We had a visitor a few feet from our camper. John looked him up and thinks it was a juvenile red-shouldered hawk that was digging in the pine straw litter looking for insects. Joan tried to take his picture, but the beeping of the camera alerted him and he flew off. It began raining about 4PM and is supposed to rain all night and all day tomorrow. (updated)
Friday, October 24 – We got rain all through the night that amounted to about two inches. However, we stayed nice and dry inside. It is supposed to end this afternoon and clear up overnight. (5 pictures added) (update) We drove into Ft. Gaines to gas up and fill up our tummies too. We had hamburgers at the Big Bad Wolf Saloon – hamburgers were great, fries not so good. We stopped at the East Bank Recreation Area and fished for awhile and each caught a nice bluegill. Not much action otherwise. It started to rain again about 5PM, which was not predicted. Hopefully, it will still clear off tomorrow.
Saturday, October 25 – We woke up this morning to sunshine, so we hung up rain jackets and tarps that covered the kayaks and firewood to get them dry. We cleaned the camper then took a coffee walk. We didn’t get very far, because we found people to talk to. She was fishing, but not doing much catching. After dinner, we launched the kayaks for a little fishing ourselves. We used our heavier rods and put on Clouser Minnow flies that John tied. About sundown, John connected with a couple of small bass. One was really small, but the other respectable, but not keeper sized (14”). While we were fishing we saw a shape against the bank that looked like a gator, but the head seemed way too big. John’s curiosity got the better of him, so he got a little closer (about 300 yards) to see, and the head disappeared beneath the water. This is one big gator. Discretion took over and we decided to fish somewhere else.
Sunday, October 26 – We went to church service here at the campground which was conducted by Ft. Gaines Baptist Church again. There were two other couples there as well as the two men from the church. It was a nice service with a good message about patience. We got things ready to leave tomorrow including taking everything out of the truck because we had a slight leak from the sun roof that got things damp. John cleaned the tracks on the roof so it would seal better (we hope.) We fished in the early evening, but not even a hit. We are hoping for better fishing at Lake Seminole.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/CottonHillCorpsOfEngineersCampgroundFtGainesFLOctober20272008
Whitetail Ridge COE Campground Lagrange, Ga (October 13 - 20, 2008)
Monday, October 13 - It rained this morning, so we slept in and got started packing up at 8:30 AM. The tarp really saved the camper from a lot of dirt from the trees that the rain loosened up. We were on the road at 11:11 AM and arrived at Whitetail Ridge Campground at 12:30 after driving 60 miles. The reservable sites were mostly taken for the weekend, but we got a nice walk-in site (#54) on the water. It is very large and has nice access for the kayaks. There is a good distance to the neighbor sites and is one that we had marked as a preferred one. We got set up, had dinner, and then fished for awhile from shore. We both caught a few small bluegill, but were unable to connect with any bass.
Tuesday, October 14 – We took our coffee walk around a few of the loops and checked out who was here. After a pancake breakfast, we took the kayaks out and fished for awhile. We each caught several bluegill, but all were too small to keep. We had dinner and went out again, this time using flies more suited for bass, but did not get a hit. The mosquitoes drove us off the lake at dusk. We need a fishing report for this lake to see what we need to do differently. (8 pictures added)
Wednesday, October 15 – We saw several turkeys along the road while taking our coffee walk. Fishing in the morning and evening brought limited results with only bluegill to the boats. Fishing reports online told of very slow bass fishing. The kayaking is awesome, however with gorgeous weather and leaves beginning to turn. We visited with our neighbors, Manning and Faye, for awhile this afternoon. They live about 160 miles from here. (3 pictures added)
Thursday, October 16 – We took our coffee walk around the campground and saw deer that crossed the roads in front of us. We also saw hundreds of spider webs that showed up because of the heavy fog and dew that came during the night. (pictures tomorrow) We had breakfast and then biked over to Holiday Campground, which is also an Army Corps of Engineers Campground, and is just down the road. It is closed now and is about three times as large as this one. It was wonderful to have it all to ourselves to bike through. We made note of campsites that we could stay in next year. We fished after dinner from the boat launch and Joan caught a small, but nice 9” bass on a fly that John tied from chenille yarn. It was a good fish to catch on the new 4wt fly rod. We forgot to mention yesterday that we saw a bald eagle that was flying through the area.
Friday, October 17 – It began raining early in the morning and continued all day. We slept in and took our coffee and umbrellas around the main loop. Our neighbors, Manning and Fay, invited us to join them as they drove into Alabama for a buffet lunch. It was real basic, but good southern cooking. We enjoyed their company and appreciate being asked. John tied some flies when we returned and were glad we had some TV stations that worked.
Saturday, October 18 – The rain stopped during the night and we woke up to sunshine and cooler/drier weather. The lakes around the camper soon dried out. We drove into LaGrange to Walmart to do our last major shopping before being home. When we got back to camp, we cooked up the 5 pounds of chicken legs we bought. After skinning and separating the legs from thighs, John cooked 16 pieces on the grill while Joan did the rest in the crock pot for use in an apple salad. We had a fire in the late afternoon and evening and Manning and Faye joined us for awhile. The temps will drop tonight.
Sunday, October 19 – No frost, but it was cool last night. We stayed warm, however. We got up, got showered, and headed to Cracker Barrel for a nice breakfast before church. We went to First United Methodist of LaGrange where we went in June. Again, they had a good contemporary service and folks were welcoming and friendly. We stopped at a campground and recreation area to check them out for future kayaking, fishing, etc. They are beautiful and will make great alternative places to launch the kayaks and fish. When we got back to camp we got some things ready to leave in the morning. After dinner, we took fly rods loaded with two new fly creations that John tied and we wore the bluegill out. Most were small, but a few were respectable.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/WhitetailRidgeCOECampgroundLagrangeGaOctober13202008
Tuesday, October 14 – We took our coffee walk around a few of the loops and checked out who was here. After a pancake breakfast, we took the kayaks out and fished for awhile. We each caught several bluegill, but all were too small to keep. We had dinner and went out again, this time using flies more suited for bass, but did not get a hit. The mosquitoes drove us off the lake at dusk. We need a fishing report for this lake to see what we need to do differently. (8 pictures added)
Wednesday, October 15 – We saw several turkeys along the road while taking our coffee walk. Fishing in the morning and evening brought limited results with only bluegill to the boats. Fishing reports online told of very slow bass fishing. The kayaking is awesome, however with gorgeous weather and leaves beginning to turn. We visited with our neighbors, Manning and Faye, for awhile this afternoon. They live about 160 miles from here. (3 pictures added)
Thursday, October 16 – We took our coffee walk around the campground and saw deer that crossed the roads in front of us. We also saw hundreds of spider webs that showed up because of the heavy fog and dew that came during the night. (pictures tomorrow) We had breakfast and then biked over to Holiday Campground, which is also an Army Corps of Engineers Campground, and is just down the road. It is closed now and is about three times as large as this one. It was wonderful to have it all to ourselves to bike through. We made note of campsites that we could stay in next year. We fished after dinner from the boat launch and Joan caught a small, but nice 9” bass on a fly that John tied from chenille yarn. It was a good fish to catch on the new 4wt fly rod. We forgot to mention yesterday that we saw a bald eagle that was flying through the area.
Friday, October 17 – It began raining early in the morning and continued all day. We slept in and took our coffee and umbrellas around the main loop. Our neighbors, Manning and Fay, invited us to join them as they drove into Alabama for a buffet lunch. It was real basic, but good southern cooking. We enjoyed their company and appreciate being asked. John tied some flies when we returned and were glad we had some TV stations that worked.
Saturday, October 18 – The rain stopped during the night and we woke up to sunshine and cooler/drier weather. The lakes around the camper soon dried out. We drove into LaGrange to Walmart to do our last major shopping before being home. When we got back to camp, we cooked up the 5 pounds of chicken legs we bought. After skinning and separating the legs from thighs, John cooked 16 pieces on the grill while Joan did the rest in the crock pot for use in an apple salad. We had a fire in the late afternoon and evening and Manning and Faye joined us for awhile. The temps will drop tonight.
Sunday, October 19 – No frost, but it was cool last night. We stayed warm, however. We got up, got showered, and headed to Cracker Barrel for a nice breakfast before church. We went to First United Methodist of LaGrange where we went in June. Again, they had a good contemporary service and folks were welcoming and friendly. We stopped at a campground and recreation area to check them out for future kayaking, fishing, etc. They are beautiful and will make great alternative places to launch the kayaks and fish. When we got back to camp we got some things ready to leave in the morning. After dinner, we took fly rods loaded with two new fly creations that John tied and we wore the bluegill out. Most were small, but a few were respectable.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/WhitetailRidgeCOECampgroundLagrangeGaOctober13202008
John Tanner State Park - Carrollton, Ga (October 06-13)
Monday, October 06 - We got up at 6:30 and broke camp and were on the road at 8:52. We traveled 179 miles, stopped at Walmart for an hour in Rome, Ga and arrived at John Tanner at 1:55. We got set up on site 28 (which is nice, large, and not to close to neighbors) had dinner, then fished for a little while until dark. Joan caught the only fish, two bluegills on the fly rod. We have cable here, so tv reception is good, but we seem to have no cell phone reception. (Pictures soon)
Tuesday, October 07 - We took our coffee walk to the office and talked to our neighbor (Dave and Debbie), had breakfast, and did wash. We hiked around the lower lake and planned where we would take the kayaks. There is good access from shore on the upper lake, but not much on the lower. We unloaded the kayaks and had every intention on taking them out, but after having supper, we realized that we would only have about 45 minutes to fish before it would be dark. We took plan B and fished from shore on the upper lake, however, other than Joan getting some hits on a topwater grasshopper she was using, we caught nothing. Also, we encountered mosquitoes, which have not been a concern since we left the Everglades last April. Also, we are missing the mountains. (Added 10 Pictures)
Wednesday, October 08 – Rain, rain, rain. It rained all day, which folks around here welcomed. It has been over a month since the last rain here. We took our coffee walk in the morning down to one of the shelters overlooking the lake and enjoyed the rain and view. John tied some flies and Joan was online getting caught up on e-mails and checking for open sites in Florida for February. The rain finally let up in the evening so we fished, starting on the lower lake. Joan caught a nice bluegill on a tan foam hopper than John had tied earlier. John had bass follow a Clouser Minnow that he had tied, but they would not take it. It was nice to be able to get out after the rain.
Thursday, October 09 – It was cloudy in the morning and rained a little. We went down to the lake when it looked like the rain would wait and fished for awhile. Joan caught a small bass and John caught a very nice bluegill. The campground is getting more campers, including a family with a unit like ours. We talked to them for awhile. They are a busy family and struggle to find time to camp. John tied a few more flies and is getting proficient at tying Clousers. They work well in saltwater as well as fresh. We fished again in the evening and Joan did all the catching with three bluegill on an elk hair popper. John had to settle for a few good hits.
Friday, October 10 – We got the kayaks out after breakfast for a few hours, and put them in on the lower lake. We caught (Joan 3, John 2) nice bluegills on John tied flies and really enjoyed our outing. After dinner, we took a coffee walk around the lake and then walked around the campground and checked out all the rigs that have just pulled in. There are still sites available, but because of school days off, the place is hopping.
Saturday, October 11 – We took our coffee walk around the lake, had breakfast, and then headed into Carrollton to their flea market. John got a gooseneck lamp to use while fly tying in the camper and a tote bag to replace one that is wearing out for holding the cords, bungies, and stakes. We then went to Walmart to pick up a few food items. In the evening, after dinner, we had a fire and were joined by our neighbors, Ted and Mary.
Sunday, October 12 – We looked up a restaurant on the internet to go to for breakfast, but it turned out to be fast food. Actually, not too bad, but not what we were after. We got to First United Methodist early and sat in on a Sunday School Class. The group was very welcoming and friendly. One of the leaders talked about a recent trip to Africa, where we took well drilling equipment and drilled wells for a boy’s home in Kenya. We were quite impressed with the efforts going on there to help out folks who have so little. The contemporary service was excellent as was the message. We got some things ready to go in the morning and watched the Bears lose a heartbreaker to Atlanta. John had to remember where he was and not get too loud when the Bears nearly won it. We sat by a fire in the evening and enjoyed our last evening here. It has been quite windy and spitted a few drops of rain.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/JohnTannerStateParkCarrolltonGaOctober0613
Tuesday, October 07 - We took our coffee walk to the office and talked to our neighbor (Dave and Debbie), had breakfast, and did wash. We hiked around the lower lake and planned where we would take the kayaks. There is good access from shore on the upper lake, but not much on the lower. We unloaded the kayaks and had every intention on taking them out, but after having supper, we realized that we would only have about 45 minutes to fish before it would be dark. We took plan B and fished from shore on the upper lake, however, other than Joan getting some hits on a topwater grasshopper she was using, we caught nothing. Also, we encountered mosquitoes, which have not been a concern since we left the Everglades last April. Also, we are missing the mountains. (Added 10 Pictures)
Wednesday, October 08 – Rain, rain, rain. It rained all day, which folks around here welcomed. It has been over a month since the last rain here. We took our coffee walk in the morning down to one of the shelters overlooking the lake and enjoyed the rain and view. John tied some flies and Joan was online getting caught up on e-mails and checking for open sites in Florida for February. The rain finally let up in the evening so we fished, starting on the lower lake. Joan caught a nice bluegill on a tan foam hopper than John had tied earlier. John had bass follow a Clouser Minnow that he had tied, but they would not take it. It was nice to be able to get out after the rain.
Thursday, October 09 – It was cloudy in the morning and rained a little. We went down to the lake when it looked like the rain would wait and fished for awhile. Joan caught a small bass and John caught a very nice bluegill. The campground is getting more campers, including a family with a unit like ours. We talked to them for awhile. They are a busy family and struggle to find time to camp. John tied a few more flies and is getting proficient at tying Clousers. They work well in saltwater as well as fresh. We fished again in the evening and Joan did all the catching with three bluegill on an elk hair popper. John had to settle for a few good hits.
Friday, October 10 – We got the kayaks out after breakfast for a few hours, and put them in on the lower lake. We caught (Joan 3, John 2) nice bluegills on John tied flies and really enjoyed our outing. After dinner, we took a coffee walk around the lake and then walked around the campground and checked out all the rigs that have just pulled in. There are still sites available, but because of school days off, the place is hopping.
Saturday, October 11 – We took our coffee walk around the lake, had breakfast, and then headed into Carrollton to their flea market. John got a gooseneck lamp to use while fly tying in the camper and a tote bag to replace one that is wearing out for holding the cords, bungies, and stakes. We then went to Walmart to pick up a few food items. In the evening, after dinner, we had a fire and were joined by our neighbors, Ted and Mary.
Sunday, October 12 – We looked up a restaurant on the internet to go to for breakfast, but it turned out to be fast food. Actually, not too bad, but not what we were after. We got to First United Methodist early and sat in on a Sunday School Class. The group was very welcoming and friendly. One of the leaders talked about a recent trip to Africa, where we took well drilling equipment and drilled wells for a boy’s home in Kenya. We were quite impressed with the efforts going on there to help out folks who have so little. The contemporary service was excellent as was the message. We got some things ready to go in the morning and watched the Bears lose a heartbreaker to Atlanta. John had to remember where he was and not get too loud when the Bears nearly won it. We sat by a fire in the evening and enjoyed our last evening here. It has been quite windy and spitted a few drops of rain.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/JohnTannerStateParkCarrolltonGaOctober0613
Track Rock Campground - Blairesville, Ga (Sept. 08 - Oct 06)
Monday, September 08 - We left Moccasin Creek SP at the usual time, 9:36 am, and arrived here at 10:35 am after driving 34.2 miles. It was a very pretty, although short, drive. If we didn't know we were at a private campground we would think this was in a national forest. Actually, there is national forest on three sides of this 300 acre property. It is really beautiful and the sites are well separated and private. It is very hilly and the sites are very shady. The staff is very nice and the facilities are immaculate. There is a riding stable on the property as well. After getting set up, walking around, and having dinner, we took the fly rods down to the lake and fished. After a couple of casts a thunderstorm came in and chased us back to the campsite. John had a small something on, but it got off. We'll try again in the morning. We are trying to figure out how to come back here again this fall before we head back to Florida.
Tuesday, September 09 – It rained off and on all night and has looked like rain all day. We snuck down to the lake a couple of times today between rains and fished, and John caught a very large bream. Two like him would have been dinner. We let him go, however. We have seen big bass, but they are not eating. John used a woolly bugger he tied, which we thought looked quite good in the water, but the bass did not agree. At least he didn’t lose this one. We talked to Debbie, one of the managers here about staying on, and she thought they could figure something out. There is so much to see and do in this area, we are thinking about staying three more weeks. Also, we really like the campground and are very comfortable here. Their website is:
http://www.trackrock.com/
Wednesday, September 10 – We could hear drops on the top of the camper all night, but it began clearing in the morning and our barometer moved upwards. We decided to make this a tour day and headed towards Helen. On the way we stopped at Unicoi State Park and checked out the campground and lake. The campground looked very nice with some very good sites that were spacious and set apart. They also have a nice beach and access for our kayaks by the dam. The fishing seems to be pretty good also. We stopped at the trading post and bought books on hiking waterfalls and trout fishing. We talked to the lady in the store (Virginia) and she said she was from the Tampa area. Upon further inquiry, we found out, she and her husband live two blocks from us in Florida. We then went into Helen and had lunch on the river at International Café. Very nice! We then stopped at the Visitors Center in Helen and picked up many brochures about the area. Finally, we stopped at Unicoi Outfitters and picked up some fly tying materials and some information about fishing in the area. He was not very positive about fishing the creeks (as we have experienced), due to the three-year drought that has taken its toll. He recommended Lake Unicoi and Lake Nottley.
Thursday, September 11 – We took a nice hike this morning after breakfast on a trail that climbs a ridge on the edge of the campground. This was a moderately difficult trail of about 1.5 miles and climbed about 700 feet in elevation. We saw turkeys and signs of bear (poop). After that, Joan began talking to the bears telling them to go away and that we were coming. Later in the afternoon, John tied two black woolly buggers with the materials we bought yesterday. Joan’s had an extra long tail and when we went down to fish, she casted a few times and landed a nice L.M. Bass. John was thrilled to have a fish caught on one of his flies. He will tie all of them with a 3 ½ inch tail in the future.
Friday, September 12 – After John called his daughter to wish her a happy birthday, we drove into Blairsville and stopped at the Historical Society where the concert would be in the evening and enjoyed the museum there. We then stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and got information about the area, then drove to Lake Nottley and Poteete Creek Campground to check them out. We were not very impressed with the campground. It is a county park that appears to have many permanent sites and would be hard to get a good one. The lake is nice and would be accessible to kayak at launches closer to Blairsville. We drove back into Blairsville and found Meets Community Park and hiked around along the Nottley River and then had lunch at Cook’s Restaurant. The burgers there were excellent, as was the service. We stopped at a five and dime store in town and John found materials to add to his fly tying collection including a bag of feathers, much cheaper than at a fly shop. In the evening, we went back to the Historical Society building for a gospel concert featuring Ken and Elaine Young. Ken has written many gospel songs and they were very enjoyable.
Saturday, September 13 – In keeping with tradition, today was stick around day. We have really needed to do some cleaning on the camper. Joan found some mildew above us on the bed ends from our three days of solid rain in the forest at Rock Creek. She was able with Clorox Cleanup and a lot of scrubbing to get rid of it. Meanwhile, John scrubbed the front and back where road stuff gets on the outside, and applied a coat of wax. There are a lot of barking dogs here this weekend. Folks left their dog in their camper for a few hours while they went into town for groceries and it barked the whole time they were gone. It seems as though places that have liberal dog policies get all the obnoxious dogs. We will be moving on Monday to another site further up on the hill. Hopefully, it will be quieter.
Sunday, September 14 – This morning we headed into Hiawassee and attended Hiawassee United Methodist Church. We went here last year when we camped at Jackrabbit Campground on Lake Chatuge. We stopped for breakfast on the way at Shoney’s, then attended Sunday School. The first person we encountered, Irene, remembered us from last year. She made us feel right at home. The SS class was wonderful, with meaningful sharing on the lesson. The service included both praise songs and hymns and was very appropriate to the pastor’s lesson. It was great to see Hope again, who is the lady who came down to our Florida church to do a concert. She has a wonderful testimony about how God intervened in her life through an abusive situation.
Monday, September 15 – This was moving day, despite a little rain in the night. We could have put it off, but decided to make the switch to site 26, which is further up the hill. There is a reunion group coming in this weekend and they have all of the pop-up/tent sites reserved. This is a full hookup site, so we have sewer too. We are enjoying the change of view, even though we didn’t change campgrounds. We have been fishing every day, but it turns into casting practice. We have the only two fish caught from this lake all week, however. We talked to a nice couple this morning (Wilbur and Rebecca) who have three children, who were very nice. They were here all weekend and left today. They live in Cleveland, which is not far from here. They were very interested in pop-up campers, so we showed them ours. They left us their unused firewood, which we really appreciate.
Tuesday, September 16 – It rained during the night and the morning was damp and rather dreary. We made a fire and sat by it most of the day and caught up with our reading, mostly area information that we have been collecting. We got a couple of drops of rain during the day, but never enough to make us give up our fireside seating. Even though the weather was less than ideal, it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.
Wednesday, September 17 – We got up late this morning and took our coffee walk around the campground, and then went down to the office and chatted with folks there until almost noon. Joan did some cleaning inside the camper while John brought back some more firewood that he found in another site. John then built a fire and Joan read by the fire while John tied a few flies. Late afternoon we took veggies we cooked on the RVQ down to a campground potluck. There was a good turnout there with excellent food. We especially liked the homemade pecan pie that a couple brought. John said that it was the best he has ever tasted. We had another evening of “casting practice” down by the lake. Even though we are not catching fish, we are both improving greatly. John measured his cast at 75 feet, and figured Joan must be casting about 60 feet.
Thursday, September 18 – Today was another stay close to camp day. We are trying to conserve gas, especially while the prices are up again. We will be doing some running around over the weekend, going to various local festivals and church, so we decided to enjoy the campfire and read about the area. Joan jotted down various activities while John read about trout streams in the area. John made up a fly consisting entirely of yarn that we purchased in Blairsville. He carefully separated the fibers and combed it out to be real fluffy and used that for the tail. It looked really good swimming in the water, but no bass did more than look at it. But then, they have treated store-bought flies the same way.
Friday, September 19 – We took our coffee down by the lake and practiced fly casting for awhile. We could see bass near shore on the far side, so John cast towards them, but they just swam away. Later John had one follow his yarn fly for about ten feet, but then was so close to shore that he swam away. Another bass came right up to the fly and gave it a good look-see, but he wouldn’t take it. We went to the office and talked to the host for a while. We got ourselves penciled in for next May and September here on the site we have now. After a late breakfast, we drove towards Blairsville and checked out a boat ramp on Lake Nottley. It looked real nice there, but was very windy. We will come back there and launch the kayaks when we have more time and its not so windy. We again practiced fly casting there, and can say we are steadily improving. We drove into Blairsville and had pizza for lunch (about 3:30) and then went to the old courthouse for the bluegrass concert. We stayed for a couple of hours and really enjoyed listening to three groups perform. When we got back to our campsite, we had been surrounded by other campers in for the weekend.
Saturday, September 20 – After breakfast, we drove over to Blue Ridge, Ga for their annual fall festival, which included an art show and fly fishing demonstrations, guides, and outfitters. We stopped at a store that sold everything “Bear” and found some decorative pillows to use on our dining slide when we are watching TV. We have been looking for these for a long time. The store is awesome with a definitely Christian message. We then got some pointers at the fly fishing demo and had the guides critique our form. They had only a few minor suggestions for improvement. We then went over to the outfitters and bought new Sage 4-piece, 7.5 ft. 4 weight fly rods that we have been looking for. These are excellent rods that were being sold at 40% off retail. We stopped and had ice cream before leaving and heading for a cookout at Hiawassee U.M. Church. We had a great time there and got a chance to talk with folks we had met there on Sunday. We are feeling more connected here all the time.
Sunday, September 21 – We got up early this morning (7:00AM) to beat the rush for showers. It was still quite dark. We headed into Hiawassee and stopped for buffet breakfast before going to church. Again, we enjoyed the service and are getting to know more people. After church we had lunch at Crossroads Restaurant with Irene and Bob. It was wonderful to get to know them better and share a meal with them. We practiced fly casting for about an hour when we got back to camp, and sat and read some of the information we got yesterday at the Blue Ridge Fair.
Monday, September 22 – Today was shopping day. We drove up into Murphy, NC to Walmart to stock up on much needed supplies. While we were there John picked up materials, like high density foam and feathers, from the craft department for fly tying. We also got a reel for one of the new rods (they only had one), line for both and backing. While we were there, Unicoi Outfitters called and told John that he won the free raffle for a half day of fishing for two on the Trout Trophy Waters that they manage on the Chattahoochee River just south of Helen, Ga. This will give us at least a chance at a trophy sized trout.
Tuesday, September 23 – We needed to find a reel for the other fly rod and a case that Walmart in Murphy didn’t have and John wanted to pick up fly tying materials that we also couldn’t get at Walmart, and we needed to pick up the other rod and the certificate for the trophy water fishing at Unicoi in Helen, so we made it a major outing. We started by heading into Hiawassee and stopping at Buckhead House. They had fly tying materials at 50% off and a fly rod case for 30% off. Next, we drove to Helen and stopped at Unicoi Outfitters. They had our certificate waiting for us and gave us hearty congratulations. They told us jokingly that they had fixed the drawing so we would win and we suspect that they very well may have, since we spent $$$$ at their booth. With tourism being down so much, we suspect that these places are hurting financially. Locals for the most part do not fly fish. They are putting fresh trout in the freezer. We then returned to the International Café in Helen and had lunch on the river again. We still had not found a reel (we didn’t want to pay the price that the outfitters were asking) so we drove into Dahlonega to the Walmart there and found one more in our price range. We then drove back towards Blairsville looking for a gas station that did not have bags over the pump handles, filled up at $3.99, and stopped for an ice cream cone. We got our Moose Tracks fix, and then returned home.
Wednesday, September 24 – Laundry day today. We then practiced with our new fly rods and had some trouble getting used to them. Again, we suspect this will take time. We helped set up for a luncheon reception because of the recent death of the man who originally started the campground here. In the evening we practiced again with our new rods with a little better success. No fish, however.
Thursday, September 25 – Brother, did we sleep in today. It got down to 42 degrees, and felt so good to stay under the covers. We had a fire today and Joan read information that we picked up in Murphy, NC while John tied some flies. We discovered that the flies we were using yesterday were to big for those lighter rods, so John tied a few smaller ones. It was nice staying around camp and enjoying a fire. We practiced fly casting again in the evening and the smaller flies worked great, except the material John used didn’t hold up well. Back to the drawing board.
Friday, September 26 – We had every intention of taking the kayaks out this morning, but the weatherman had other ideas by having it rain. Instead, we took a coffee walk and hung around until afternoon. We then went back to the Buckhead House so John could pick up some hooks that he figures he will need to tie smaller flies. Later, we went to the theater to watch a movie that the church helped sponsor. The name of it is “Fireproof,” which is a Christian movie about a couple who are contemplating divorce and how they work through it. It is really very well done and we highly recommend it even if your marriage is not in trouble. For more information, click: http://www.fireproofyourmarriage.com/ . Finally, we stopped and fly fished from shore on Lake Chatuge and (mostly Joan) caught many fairly small blue gill.
Saturday, September 27 – This morning we met a couple, Joy and Brian, from Chipley, Florida and talked to them for some time. They have camped in many of the same places we have and know of others for us to try. Today we drove back to Unicoi State Park for their Great Outdoor Days. They had opportunities for folks to canoe, try fly casting, and learn about snakes, falconry, police canine training, fly tying, and stream fishing for stocked trout. We really enjoyed it all, but John especially enjoyed talking to the fly tier, from Trout Unlimited. He also gets much of his supplies from Walmart Craft Department and other places. Joan especially enjoyed the K9 demonstration and the hawks, but not the snakes, so much. Later, we fly fished from the piers on Unicoi Lake and caught several bluegills each. John caught a few on small poppers he tied. That was fun. Before heading home, we had dinner at the Unicoi State Park Restaurant. They have a nice buffet there and of course we ate too much.
Sunday, September 28 – We enjoyed another great day at Hiawassee UMC this morning and went out for lunch afterwards with Hope (the music director who came to Florida to give a concert at our church), her husband John, her mother, and her sister, Dawn. The conversation was quite lively and fun. We then stopped and fished from shore on Lake Chatuge and caught several bluegill on the fly rods, then picked up a few groceries before heading home. We enjoyed a fire until well after dark, then went inside to catch up on computer stuff.
Monday, September 29 – We took a long coffee walk and then Joan put some chicken parts in the crock pot with BBQ sauce. Yum! We called our new friends Joy and Brian, who are now at Vogel State Park to see if they wanted to try the kayaks, but could not reach them. We decided to drive over and put the kayaks in anyway. We got there and found their campsite, but they were not there. When we went down to launch, we could not find the key that is supposed to be on the extra key ring that we keep in the truck, so we fished from shore. They must have had a major bug hatch there, as there were thousands of dead bugs floating on the water. Well, this really killed the bluegill fishing, so we rigged for bass. We saw some and got a few to follow the lure, but none hit. A storm came up, so we headed home. We drove through rain on the way back, but it only sprinkled lightly here at the campground. We fished again in the evening for a little while, but nothing. The popper that John was using was made with “permanent” glue, but sadly “permanent” did not mean “waterproof,” so it came apart.
Tuesday, September 30 – We took our coffee walk up on the hill to the campsites there and talked for quite a while with John and Jean who were sitting by their campfire. We compared notes on campgrounds we have visited and enjoyed our chat with them. We had breakfast, then sat by our fire and read and John tied a few more flies. We drove into Hiawassee and fished on the Chatuge from a town park and beach area. We caught several bluegills on flies that John tied and saw a few bass, but could not interest them. We then drove to Ken’s and Carol’s house for a chili dinner with several others from church. We had a very nice time visiting with them.
Wednesday, October 1 – Joan put a pork roast on the crock pot, and then came back to bed. When we finally got up, we took a very brisk coffee walk and returned to build a campfire. We enjoyed the warmth it offered today. We picked up a mess of chestnuts that were scattered around an empty campsite and John roasted them by the fire. He tried a couple, which were very good, but then noticed one that he opened was full of worms. Checking the rest of them revealed worms in nearly all. We decided to pass on “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.” We read today and John tied a few more flies in preparation for fishing the “Unicoi Outfitter’s Trophy Trout Waters” near Helen, Ga. on Friday. For dinner, we took the pork roast down to the weekly potluck supper. It was a big hit and made a good addition to the excellent offerings for the evening. We sat with John and Jan and enjoyed their company. John has a rather bizarre sense of humor which is fun.
Thursday, October 02 – It got quite frosty last night. It was in the low 40s when we finally extricated ourselves from bed. We were thankful for our little electric heater. We took our coffee walk, tightly holding onto the mugs for warmth and were able to talk to Bob (of Bob and Carolyn) who are the other hosts. We have talked to Carolyn, but had not had the chance to talk to Bob, except to say hi. They will be heading south in early November. Today was outside camper cleaning day. We also needed to get the fly rods ready for tomorrow’s trip to Unicoi. John tied a couple of popper flies to take the place of the ones that fell apart due to using non-waterproof glue. This time he used Gorilla Glue, which says 100% waterproof right on the bottle. You can’t beat that! We practiced fly casting down by the pond again. We’re continuing to improve.
Friday, October 03 – We got up early this morning (6:00 am) and 42 degrees, which this time of year seems like the middle of the night, to head over to Helen to take our opportunity to fish the “Trophy Waters.” It was still quite chilly when we started fishing at 8:30 and we became somewhat concerned when we were able to see fish, but not get them to eat anything. This pattern became the theme for the day and changing flies and techniques proved futile. We cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it can be to see hundreds of 2, 3, and 4 pound fish totally ignore anything we put in front of them. The high point of the day was seeing deer come to the water to get a drink. They obviously did not expect us to be there as they spooked and quickly ran away. Finally, John tied on a fly he tied as a joke that consisted of a gumball sized chartreuse pom-pom. The trout immediately stormed towards it and would just for an instant take it in their mouths, but spit it out before John had a chance to set the hook. After a few minutes, they quickly tired of this game, and our time on the water was over. We had fun, but must say that it was very disappointing not to catch anything. The only consolation was that it did not cost us anything except the gas to get there. It shows also that we have a lot to learn. To console ourselves, we stopped at International Café in Helen for a sandwich.
Saturday, October 04 – Today was a stick around day so we had a fire most of the day and enjoyed its warmth. John got some things ready to leave Monday like checking tires and fixing travel mirrors on the truck while Joan cleaned the inside of the screens. We had Bob and Carolyn (the other hosts) over for peach cobbler that John fixed on the RVQ. He thinks it was fairly good.
Sunday, October 05 – We got up early and got our showers before the other campers got a chance. We stopped for breakfast before church and had a great one at Mary’s Southern Grill. It was difficult to say good bye to all the wonderful people we got to know at Hiawassee UMC. It was nice to know, however, that we will be back in the spring. We came back to camp and did some more cleaning. The awning had not been done in a long time and really needed it. We had dinner, and then took one last hike around the campground. Surprisingly, although the tenting area was empty, the area on top of the hill was still full. Everything is just about ready to head out in the morning.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TrackRockCampgroundBlairesvilleGaSept0815#
Tuesday, September 09 – It rained off and on all night and has looked like rain all day. We snuck down to the lake a couple of times today between rains and fished, and John caught a very large bream. Two like him would have been dinner. We let him go, however. We have seen big bass, but they are not eating. John used a woolly bugger he tied, which we thought looked quite good in the water, but the bass did not agree. At least he didn’t lose this one. We talked to Debbie, one of the managers here about staying on, and she thought they could figure something out. There is so much to see and do in this area, we are thinking about staying three more weeks. Also, we really like the campground and are very comfortable here. Their website is:
http://www.trackrock.com/
Wednesday, September 10 – We could hear drops on the top of the camper all night, but it began clearing in the morning and our barometer moved upwards. We decided to make this a tour day and headed towards Helen. On the way we stopped at Unicoi State Park and checked out the campground and lake. The campground looked very nice with some very good sites that were spacious and set apart. They also have a nice beach and access for our kayaks by the dam. The fishing seems to be pretty good also. We stopped at the trading post and bought books on hiking waterfalls and trout fishing. We talked to the lady in the store (Virginia) and she said she was from the Tampa area. Upon further inquiry, we found out, she and her husband live two blocks from us in Florida. We then went into Helen and had lunch on the river at International Café. Very nice! We then stopped at the Visitors Center in Helen and picked up many brochures about the area. Finally, we stopped at Unicoi Outfitters and picked up some fly tying materials and some information about fishing in the area. He was not very positive about fishing the creeks (as we have experienced), due to the three-year drought that has taken its toll. He recommended Lake Unicoi and Lake Nottley.
Thursday, September 11 – We took a nice hike this morning after breakfast on a trail that climbs a ridge on the edge of the campground. This was a moderately difficult trail of about 1.5 miles and climbed about 700 feet in elevation. We saw turkeys and signs of bear (poop). After that, Joan began talking to the bears telling them to go away and that we were coming. Later in the afternoon, John tied two black woolly buggers with the materials we bought yesterday. Joan’s had an extra long tail and when we went down to fish, she casted a few times and landed a nice L.M. Bass. John was thrilled to have a fish caught on one of his flies. He will tie all of them with a 3 ½ inch tail in the future.
Friday, September 12 – After John called his daughter to wish her a happy birthday, we drove into Blairsville and stopped at the Historical Society where the concert would be in the evening and enjoyed the museum there. We then stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and got information about the area, then drove to Lake Nottley and Poteete Creek Campground to check them out. We were not very impressed with the campground. It is a county park that appears to have many permanent sites and would be hard to get a good one. The lake is nice and would be accessible to kayak at launches closer to Blairsville. We drove back into Blairsville and found Meets Community Park and hiked around along the Nottley River and then had lunch at Cook’s Restaurant. The burgers there were excellent, as was the service. We stopped at a five and dime store in town and John found materials to add to his fly tying collection including a bag of feathers, much cheaper than at a fly shop. In the evening, we went back to the Historical Society building for a gospel concert featuring Ken and Elaine Young. Ken has written many gospel songs and they were very enjoyable.
Saturday, September 13 – In keeping with tradition, today was stick around day. We have really needed to do some cleaning on the camper. Joan found some mildew above us on the bed ends from our three days of solid rain in the forest at Rock Creek. She was able with Clorox Cleanup and a lot of scrubbing to get rid of it. Meanwhile, John scrubbed the front and back where road stuff gets on the outside, and applied a coat of wax. There are a lot of barking dogs here this weekend. Folks left their dog in their camper for a few hours while they went into town for groceries and it barked the whole time they were gone. It seems as though places that have liberal dog policies get all the obnoxious dogs. We will be moving on Monday to another site further up on the hill. Hopefully, it will be quieter.
Sunday, September 14 – This morning we headed into Hiawassee and attended Hiawassee United Methodist Church. We went here last year when we camped at Jackrabbit Campground on Lake Chatuge. We stopped for breakfast on the way at Shoney’s, then attended Sunday School. The first person we encountered, Irene, remembered us from last year. She made us feel right at home. The SS class was wonderful, with meaningful sharing on the lesson. The service included both praise songs and hymns and was very appropriate to the pastor’s lesson. It was great to see Hope again, who is the lady who came down to our Florida church to do a concert. She has a wonderful testimony about how God intervened in her life through an abusive situation.
Monday, September 15 – This was moving day, despite a little rain in the night. We could have put it off, but decided to make the switch to site 26, which is further up the hill. There is a reunion group coming in this weekend and they have all of the pop-up/tent sites reserved. This is a full hookup site, so we have sewer too. We are enjoying the change of view, even though we didn’t change campgrounds. We have been fishing every day, but it turns into casting practice. We have the only two fish caught from this lake all week, however. We talked to a nice couple this morning (Wilbur and Rebecca) who have three children, who were very nice. They were here all weekend and left today. They live in Cleveland, which is not far from here. They were very interested in pop-up campers, so we showed them ours. They left us their unused firewood, which we really appreciate.
Tuesday, September 16 – It rained during the night and the morning was damp and rather dreary. We made a fire and sat by it most of the day and caught up with our reading, mostly area information that we have been collecting. We got a couple of drops of rain during the day, but never enough to make us give up our fireside seating. Even though the weather was less than ideal, it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.
Wednesday, September 17 – We got up late this morning and took our coffee walk around the campground, and then went down to the office and chatted with folks there until almost noon. Joan did some cleaning inside the camper while John brought back some more firewood that he found in another site. John then built a fire and Joan read by the fire while John tied a few flies. Late afternoon we took veggies we cooked on the RVQ down to a campground potluck. There was a good turnout there with excellent food. We especially liked the homemade pecan pie that a couple brought. John said that it was the best he has ever tasted. We had another evening of “casting practice” down by the lake. Even though we are not catching fish, we are both improving greatly. John measured his cast at 75 feet, and figured Joan must be casting about 60 feet.
Thursday, September 18 – Today was another stay close to camp day. We are trying to conserve gas, especially while the prices are up again. We will be doing some running around over the weekend, going to various local festivals and church, so we decided to enjoy the campfire and read about the area. Joan jotted down various activities while John read about trout streams in the area. John made up a fly consisting entirely of yarn that we purchased in Blairsville. He carefully separated the fibers and combed it out to be real fluffy and used that for the tail. It looked really good swimming in the water, but no bass did more than look at it. But then, they have treated store-bought flies the same way.
Friday, September 19 – We took our coffee down by the lake and practiced fly casting for awhile. We could see bass near shore on the far side, so John cast towards them, but they just swam away. Later John had one follow his yarn fly for about ten feet, but then was so close to shore that he swam away. Another bass came right up to the fly and gave it a good look-see, but he wouldn’t take it. We went to the office and talked to the host for a while. We got ourselves penciled in for next May and September here on the site we have now. After a late breakfast, we drove towards Blairsville and checked out a boat ramp on Lake Nottley. It looked real nice there, but was very windy. We will come back there and launch the kayaks when we have more time and its not so windy. We again practiced fly casting there, and can say we are steadily improving. We drove into Blairsville and had pizza for lunch (about 3:30) and then went to the old courthouse for the bluegrass concert. We stayed for a couple of hours and really enjoyed listening to three groups perform. When we got back to our campsite, we had been surrounded by other campers in for the weekend.
Saturday, September 20 – After breakfast, we drove over to Blue Ridge, Ga for their annual fall festival, which included an art show and fly fishing demonstrations, guides, and outfitters. We stopped at a store that sold everything “Bear” and found some decorative pillows to use on our dining slide when we are watching TV. We have been looking for these for a long time. The store is awesome with a definitely Christian message. We then got some pointers at the fly fishing demo and had the guides critique our form. They had only a few minor suggestions for improvement. We then went over to the outfitters and bought new Sage 4-piece, 7.5 ft. 4 weight fly rods that we have been looking for. These are excellent rods that were being sold at 40% off retail. We stopped and had ice cream before leaving and heading for a cookout at Hiawassee U.M. Church. We had a great time there and got a chance to talk with folks we had met there on Sunday. We are feeling more connected here all the time.
Sunday, September 21 – We got up early this morning (7:00AM) to beat the rush for showers. It was still quite dark. We headed into Hiawassee and stopped for buffet breakfast before going to church. Again, we enjoyed the service and are getting to know more people. After church we had lunch at Crossroads Restaurant with Irene and Bob. It was wonderful to get to know them better and share a meal with them. We practiced fly casting for about an hour when we got back to camp, and sat and read some of the information we got yesterday at the Blue Ridge Fair.
Monday, September 22 – Today was shopping day. We drove up into Murphy, NC to Walmart to stock up on much needed supplies. While we were there John picked up materials, like high density foam and feathers, from the craft department for fly tying. We also got a reel for one of the new rods (they only had one), line for both and backing. While we were there, Unicoi Outfitters called and told John that he won the free raffle for a half day of fishing for two on the Trout Trophy Waters that they manage on the Chattahoochee River just south of Helen, Ga. This will give us at least a chance at a trophy sized trout.
Tuesday, September 23 – We needed to find a reel for the other fly rod and a case that Walmart in Murphy didn’t have and John wanted to pick up fly tying materials that we also couldn’t get at Walmart, and we needed to pick up the other rod and the certificate for the trophy water fishing at Unicoi in Helen, so we made it a major outing. We started by heading into Hiawassee and stopping at Buckhead House. They had fly tying materials at 50% off and a fly rod case for 30% off. Next, we drove to Helen and stopped at Unicoi Outfitters. They had our certificate waiting for us and gave us hearty congratulations. They told us jokingly that they had fixed the drawing so we would win and we suspect that they very well may have, since we spent $$$$ at their booth. With tourism being down so much, we suspect that these places are hurting financially. Locals for the most part do not fly fish. They are putting fresh trout in the freezer. We then returned to the International Café in Helen and had lunch on the river again. We still had not found a reel (we didn’t want to pay the price that the outfitters were asking) so we drove into Dahlonega to the Walmart there and found one more in our price range. We then drove back towards Blairsville looking for a gas station that did not have bags over the pump handles, filled up at $3.99, and stopped for an ice cream cone. We got our Moose Tracks fix, and then returned home.
Wednesday, September 24 – Laundry day today. We then practiced with our new fly rods and had some trouble getting used to them. Again, we suspect this will take time. We helped set up for a luncheon reception because of the recent death of the man who originally started the campground here. In the evening we practiced again with our new rods with a little better success. No fish, however.
Thursday, September 25 – Brother, did we sleep in today. It got down to 42 degrees, and felt so good to stay under the covers. We had a fire today and Joan read information that we picked up in Murphy, NC while John tied some flies. We discovered that the flies we were using yesterday were to big for those lighter rods, so John tied a few smaller ones. It was nice staying around camp and enjoying a fire. We practiced fly casting again in the evening and the smaller flies worked great, except the material John used didn’t hold up well. Back to the drawing board.
Friday, September 26 – We had every intention of taking the kayaks out this morning, but the weatherman had other ideas by having it rain. Instead, we took a coffee walk and hung around until afternoon. We then went back to the Buckhead House so John could pick up some hooks that he figures he will need to tie smaller flies. Later, we went to the theater to watch a movie that the church helped sponsor. The name of it is “Fireproof,” which is a Christian movie about a couple who are contemplating divorce and how they work through it. It is really very well done and we highly recommend it even if your marriage is not in trouble. For more information, click: http://www.fireproofyourmarriage.com/ . Finally, we stopped and fly fished from shore on Lake Chatuge and (mostly Joan) caught many fairly small blue gill.
Saturday, September 27 – This morning we met a couple, Joy and Brian, from Chipley, Florida and talked to them for some time. They have camped in many of the same places we have and know of others for us to try. Today we drove back to Unicoi State Park for their Great Outdoor Days. They had opportunities for folks to canoe, try fly casting, and learn about snakes, falconry, police canine training, fly tying, and stream fishing for stocked trout. We really enjoyed it all, but John especially enjoyed talking to the fly tier, from Trout Unlimited. He also gets much of his supplies from Walmart Craft Department and other places. Joan especially enjoyed the K9 demonstration and the hawks, but not the snakes, so much. Later, we fly fished from the piers on Unicoi Lake and caught several bluegills each. John caught a few on small poppers he tied. That was fun. Before heading home, we had dinner at the Unicoi State Park Restaurant. They have a nice buffet there and of course we ate too much.
Sunday, September 28 – We enjoyed another great day at Hiawassee UMC this morning and went out for lunch afterwards with Hope (the music director who came to Florida to give a concert at our church), her husband John, her mother, and her sister, Dawn. The conversation was quite lively and fun. We then stopped and fished from shore on Lake Chatuge and caught several bluegill on the fly rods, then picked up a few groceries before heading home. We enjoyed a fire until well after dark, then went inside to catch up on computer stuff.
Monday, September 29 – We took a long coffee walk and then Joan put some chicken parts in the crock pot with BBQ sauce. Yum! We called our new friends Joy and Brian, who are now at Vogel State Park to see if they wanted to try the kayaks, but could not reach them. We decided to drive over and put the kayaks in anyway. We got there and found their campsite, but they were not there. When we went down to launch, we could not find the key that is supposed to be on the extra key ring that we keep in the truck, so we fished from shore. They must have had a major bug hatch there, as there were thousands of dead bugs floating on the water. Well, this really killed the bluegill fishing, so we rigged for bass. We saw some and got a few to follow the lure, but none hit. A storm came up, so we headed home. We drove through rain on the way back, but it only sprinkled lightly here at the campground. We fished again in the evening for a little while, but nothing. The popper that John was using was made with “permanent” glue, but sadly “permanent” did not mean “waterproof,” so it came apart.
Tuesday, September 30 – We took our coffee walk up on the hill to the campsites there and talked for quite a while with John and Jean who were sitting by their campfire. We compared notes on campgrounds we have visited and enjoyed our chat with them. We had breakfast, then sat by our fire and read and John tied a few more flies. We drove into Hiawassee and fished on the Chatuge from a town park and beach area. We caught several bluegills on flies that John tied and saw a few bass, but could not interest them. We then drove to Ken’s and Carol’s house for a chili dinner with several others from church. We had a very nice time visiting with them.
Wednesday, October 1 – Joan put a pork roast on the crock pot, and then came back to bed. When we finally got up, we took a very brisk coffee walk and returned to build a campfire. We enjoyed the warmth it offered today. We picked up a mess of chestnuts that were scattered around an empty campsite and John roasted them by the fire. He tried a couple, which were very good, but then noticed one that he opened was full of worms. Checking the rest of them revealed worms in nearly all. We decided to pass on “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.” We read today and John tied a few more flies in preparation for fishing the “Unicoi Outfitter’s Trophy Trout Waters” near Helen, Ga. on Friday. For dinner, we took the pork roast down to the weekly potluck supper. It was a big hit and made a good addition to the excellent offerings for the evening. We sat with John and Jan and enjoyed their company. John has a rather bizarre sense of humor which is fun.
Thursday, October 02 – It got quite frosty last night. It was in the low 40s when we finally extricated ourselves from bed. We were thankful for our little electric heater. We took our coffee walk, tightly holding onto the mugs for warmth and were able to talk to Bob (of Bob and Carolyn) who are the other hosts. We have talked to Carolyn, but had not had the chance to talk to Bob, except to say hi. They will be heading south in early November. Today was outside camper cleaning day. We also needed to get the fly rods ready for tomorrow’s trip to Unicoi. John tied a couple of popper flies to take the place of the ones that fell apart due to using non-waterproof glue. This time he used Gorilla Glue, which says 100% waterproof right on the bottle. You can’t beat that! We practiced fly casting down by the pond again. We’re continuing to improve.
Friday, October 03 – We got up early this morning (6:00 am) and 42 degrees, which this time of year seems like the middle of the night, to head over to Helen to take our opportunity to fish the “Trophy Waters.” It was still quite chilly when we started fishing at 8:30 and we became somewhat concerned when we were able to see fish, but not get them to eat anything. This pattern became the theme for the day and changing flies and techniques proved futile. We cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it can be to see hundreds of 2, 3, and 4 pound fish totally ignore anything we put in front of them. The high point of the day was seeing deer come to the water to get a drink. They obviously did not expect us to be there as they spooked and quickly ran away. Finally, John tied on a fly he tied as a joke that consisted of a gumball sized chartreuse pom-pom. The trout immediately stormed towards it and would just for an instant take it in their mouths, but spit it out before John had a chance to set the hook. After a few minutes, they quickly tired of this game, and our time on the water was over. We had fun, but must say that it was very disappointing not to catch anything. The only consolation was that it did not cost us anything except the gas to get there. It shows also that we have a lot to learn. To console ourselves, we stopped at International Café in Helen for a sandwich.
Saturday, October 04 – Today was a stick around day so we had a fire most of the day and enjoyed its warmth. John got some things ready to leave Monday like checking tires and fixing travel mirrors on the truck while Joan cleaned the inside of the screens. We had Bob and Carolyn (the other hosts) over for peach cobbler that John fixed on the RVQ. He thinks it was fairly good.
Sunday, October 05 – We got up early and got our showers before the other campers got a chance. We stopped for breakfast before church and had a great one at Mary’s Southern Grill. It was difficult to say good bye to all the wonderful people we got to know at Hiawassee UMC. It was nice to know, however, that we will be back in the spring. We came back to camp and did some more cleaning. The awning had not been done in a long time and really needed it. We had dinner, and then took one last hike around the campground. Surprisingly, although the tenting area was empty, the area on top of the hill was still full. Everything is just about ready to head out in the morning.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TrackRockCampgroundBlairesvilleGaSept0815#
Moccasin Creek State Park - Clarkesville, Ga (Sept. 2 - 8)
Tuesday, September 02 - We left this morning at 9:20 after saying goodbye to our friends. This place was definately harder to leave than some. We arrived at Moccasin Creek at 1:18 after driving 158 miles of mountain highways. We got set up, had dinner, took a walk around the campground, then John fly fished from shore until dark. He caught a few nice bluegills, but the bass were not to be found. Several people were fishing the trout stream, but did not see anything caught. We are not sure if we will buy trout stamps or not. The trout fishing has not been very good we are hearing. We have cell service here, but no tv reception. We will have to keep up with the hurricanes with the computers.
Wednesday, September 03 – It was a very quiet night last night, but we heard that a large bear had passed through the campground in the evening while we were down by the lake. It did not cause any trouble, though. While taking our coffee walk down by the creek, we met a couple, John and Susan, who live nearby in Dillard. John part-time pastors a non-denominational church nearby, which we plan to attend on Sunday. We did some cleaning today on the camper and truck. In the evening we launched the kayaks and fished on the lake until dark. John brought in a huge bream on the fly rod using a black wooly bugger. Joan had one take a swipe on her WB, but missed it.
Thursday, September 04 – Today was explore and Walmart day. We drove to the Chattahoochee National Forest to check out a couple of campgrounds and creeks and rivers that run by them. We looked at Tallulah River Campground which was fairly full and looked very nice. There are no hookups, but it has flush toilets and there is a host on site. The river on the way there (Tallulah) is beautiful. There were many fishing along the road on the river and one man had a few trout on a stringer. We did not see any fly rods, but only conventional tackle with spinners or bait. We also checked out Tate Branch Campground, but it was nearly empty, seemed isolated and did not have a host. The same was true of Sandy Bottom Campground. There were some “Deliverance” looking characters there, so we made a hasty retreat. We also drove up the steep climb to Black Rock State Park and on the way back down stopped and fished at Big Rock Lake. The bluegill were too smart for us from much training. We did our Walmart stop in Clayton and returned to camp. We bought a fly-tying kit and a new fly reel for the rod we got Joan in Kodak, TN. We fished in the evening with a few hits, but no fish.
Friday, September 05 – We had our coffee and breakfast and headed out to hike the Hemlock Falls Trail. It is 1.5 miles and about 400 feet rise in elevation to the falls, but as we found out not nearly as challenging as the Rock Creek Falls Trail last week. It however is a beautiful trail and closely follows Moccasin Creek. The book we have, “Trout Streams of Southern Appalachia,” and the campground host recommend it for fishing, so we decided to buy our trout stamp and fish it tomorrow. There are many places we can get down to the water and cast a line. In the evening, after a wonderful BBQ pork dinner that Joan did in the crock pot, we launched the kayaks for about an hour and a half of fishing. Joan landed two very large bream on a green woolly bugger fly. John only got one good hit on a black woolly bugger. The campground has filled up for the weekend. We are hoping for a quiet night. We like that the campground is locked up at night, so no one can come in late and set up.
Saturday, September 06 – John tied his first fly this morning, a black/red woolly bugger. It was not too ugly for a first attempt. We hiked up to the falls again, this time with fly rods in hand. We went down to the creek from the trail where it was not so steep that emergency crews would have to come and get us out. It is such a beautiful creek and we really enjoyed seeing it again, even though we did not catch anything and John lost his woolly bugger. In the evening we got caught up on phone calls. It is quite busy here in the park today, and noisy as well, with folks listening to the Georgia Bulldog game with volume levels set to accommodate the deaf. It will quieter tomorrow when nearly everyone leaves.
Sunday, September 07 – We drove about 28 miles to go to church today in Sky Valley. It is a beautiful, Alpine-like community over 3000 feet elevation. We were in N. Carolina at least three times on the way there, but it is actually still in Ga. The minister there is the man we met here in the campground shortly after we arrived. John and Susan seemed genuinely pleased that we came. He introduced us to the congregation during the service, which was very full with good music and a great message on our need to forgive. We were able to talk with him for quite a while after the service. Folks there were very welcoming and friendly, and made us feel right at home. We returned to camp and started getting things ready to leave in the morning. It was warmer here today, and a little more humid. In the evening we drove a couple of miles up Wildcat Creek road to check out a NF campground there, but it turned out to be a little more primitive than we prefer.
See pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/MoccasinCreekStateParkClarkesvilleGaSept28
Wednesday, September 03 – It was a very quiet night last night, but we heard that a large bear had passed through the campground in the evening while we were down by the lake. It did not cause any trouble, though. While taking our coffee walk down by the creek, we met a couple, John and Susan, who live nearby in Dillard. John part-time pastors a non-denominational church nearby, which we plan to attend on Sunday. We did some cleaning today on the camper and truck. In the evening we launched the kayaks and fished on the lake until dark. John brought in a huge bream on the fly rod using a black wooly bugger. Joan had one take a swipe on her WB, but missed it.
Thursday, September 04 – Today was explore and Walmart day. We drove to the Chattahoochee National Forest to check out a couple of campgrounds and creeks and rivers that run by them. We looked at Tallulah River Campground which was fairly full and looked very nice. There are no hookups, but it has flush toilets and there is a host on site. The river on the way there (Tallulah) is beautiful. There were many fishing along the road on the river and one man had a few trout on a stringer. We did not see any fly rods, but only conventional tackle with spinners or bait. We also checked out Tate Branch Campground, but it was nearly empty, seemed isolated and did not have a host. The same was true of Sandy Bottom Campground. There were some “Deliverance” looking characters there, so we made a hasty retreat. We also drove up the steep climb to Black Rock State Park and on the way back down stopped and fished at Big Rock Lake. The bluegill were too smart for us from much training. We did our Walmart stop in Clayton and returned to camp. We bought a fly-tying kit and a new fly reel for the rod we got Joan in Kodak, TN. We fished in the evening with a few hits, but no fish.
Friday, September 05 – We had our coffee and breakfast and headed out to hike the Hemlock Falls Trail. It is 1.5 miles and about 400 feet rise in elevation to the falls, but as we found out not nearly as challenging as the Rock Creek Falls Trail last week. It however is a beautiful trail and closely follows Moccasin Creek. The book we have, “Trout Streams of Southern Appalachia,” and the campground host recommend it for fishing, so we decided to buy our trout stamp and fish it tomorrow. There are many places we can get down to the water and cast a line. In the evening, after a wonderful BBQ pork dinner that Joan did in the crock pot, we launched the kayaks for about an hour and a half of fishing. Joan landed two very large bream on a green woolly bugger fly. John only got one good hit on a black woolly bugger. The campground has filled up for the weekend. We are hoping for a quiet night. We like that the campground is locked up at night, so no one can come in late and set up.
Saturday, September 06 – John tied his first fly this morning, a black/red woolly bugger. It was not too ugly for a first attempt. We hiked up to the falls again, this time with fly rods in hand. We went down to the creek from the trail where it was not so steep that emergency crews would have to come and get us out. It is such a beautiful creek and we really enjoyed seeing it again, even though we did not catch anything and John lost his woolly bugger. In the evening we got caught up on phone calls. It is quite busy here in the park today, and noisy as well, with folks listening to the Georgia Bulldog game with volume levels set to accommodate the deaf. It will quieter tomorrow when nearly everyone leaves.
Sunday, September 07 – We drove about 28 miles to go to church today in Sky Valley. It is a beautiful, Alpine-like community over 3000 feet elevation. We were in N. Carolina at least three times on the way there, but it is actually still in Ga. The minister there is the man we met here in the campground shortly after we arrived. John and Susan seemed genuinely pleased that we came. He introduced us to the congregation during the service, which was very full with good music and a great message on our need to forgive. We were able to talk with him for quite a while after the service. Folks there were very welcoming and friendly, and made us feel right at home. We returned to camp and started getting things ready to leave in the morning. It was warmer here today, and a little more humid. In the evening we drove a couple of miles up Wildcat Creek road to check out a NF campground there, but it turned out to be a little more primitive than we prefer.
See pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/MoccasinCreekStateParkClarkesvilleGaSept28
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
