I finally got a few minutes, so time to sit down and write a quick blog entry about my trip on Monday. The original plan was to meet up with Philippe and the gang, and then head to Paw Paw Mound, but with temps in the high 80’s making the big lizards active, and the amount of wading required to fish at Paw Paw, we decided to play it safe and head back to 7 Palms where there is easier access to good current from dry land.
We set out a bit after 10:00am, and made the 2.5 mile walk down to the river. The trip was much easier than it was the month prior, with the access road basically bone dry except for one spot closer to the river. We arrived to find the river in great shape, the water levels had dropped, there was plenty of high and dry land to fish from, and plenty more water easily fishable by wading in less than knee deep. While several guys eventually waded in maybe waist deep, I never bothered to put on my waders. The alligators were definitely more active, so I opted to keep the water knee high or below.
Before we made the hike, Philippe collected 10 dollars from each of us that wanted in on a friendly competition, first shad caught won the pot. I am pretty sure it was Keith that hooked up shortly after we arrived, caught the first shad and won the pot. Soon after, Anthony caught two fish on a tandem rig at once, a nice shad and a blueback herring! I fished the same pool with Anthony for a while but had no takers.
Philippe and I spotted a lot of surface activity at the junction upstream of the shelter and made our way up to fish it. I hooked up with what felt like a nice shad, but lost it before getting it to hand. Shortly after I caught a blueback.
After a quick lunch in the shelter, Ray and I went back up to the junction and stumbled across a large alligator that had slid up on the north bank while we were eating. It took off quickly, well before we got too close, but it did not yield the spot. As Ray and I fished just upstream of it, we noticed the gator stuck just twenty or so feet off shore, popping up occasionally for some air. Eric, not realizing the alligator had staked his claim to the spot, waded in
just 30 feet or so downstream from where we saw the gator come up for air. I walked over and invited him to come upstream and fish with us. Alligators are very stealthy in the water, and he had not even realized the gator had surfaced so close. That’s a good reminder to us all to keep your head on a swivel, and fish with a buddy when it is hot and they are active.
Ray landed a nice shad late in the day, but it was a slow day of fishing for me, even with all of the surface activity. I caught just one more panfish the entire day. That said several others caught shad, bluebacks, bass, and panfish so they are indeed there, it just was not my day. In all, it was a great trip and a great group of guys. Thanks again to Philippe for organizing!