So who else went to the river today?

_John_

I know these "hand painted" bluegill come from the Apalachocola drainage (the river OP mentioned is part of it) , but have you ever caught some of these guys?

All throughout the south pond owners stock coppernose bluegill (native to south Florida with a similar evolutionary history to the Florida bass), but I'd love to get some of those for a pond stocking if it was legal.

sdereski

Beautiful pictures Larro. Thanks for taking us along on your paddle. :happy:

Emmalusmom

Larro - As always your pictures are very impressive and inspiring! It lloks like you had a wonderful day on the river even if you did have a little walk at the end. I really loved the picture of the deer, that was an AWE moment. Thanks for sharing!:flowerforyou:

leadslinger17

Couldn't resist.

larrodarro

Nice looking bass, John. I didn't do much fishing yesterday, but last week when I was on the river, I caught a hand sized red breast bream {using a bit of cucumber for bait}. I have never seen the hand painted bream in the Chipola, but have seen some caught on the Florida River. The really good fishing is a little more south of me. From Clarksville on down there are a lot more sloughs and swamps, going all the way to the Dead Lakes.

We have a Flathead catfish problem in the Apalachicola River. They eat tons of bream everyday, and folks come down from Alabama and Georgia to bream fish here, so it's hurting the tax base.

larrodarro

Here are a couple more. This bird was fishing at Ring Jaw. I was so focused on getting the picture, I got the canoe hung up on the rocks and had to step out and walk it over the shoals.

valkaree

Beautiful. I am blessed with a river in my back yard.

larrodarro

The tree with the swing is about 8 feet from the corner of our land. When the St Joe Timber Co land wasn't leased, lots of people came here to swim. We were always worried about someone getting hurt and wanting to sue.

larrodarro

This is the approach to the mouth of 10 Mile Creek. The mouth of the creek is on St Joe land, but the creek does cross our land.

CindyMarcuzAdams

Gorgeous shots.

larrodarro

Looking down on the mouth of the creek. I took this picture after I had walked home and called my sister to come pick me up. See how red the creek is compared to the river. That is because the river is mostly spring fed.

larrodarro

If you want to cross over to the other side of the creek and don't want to get your feet wet, but are willing to get wet all over, this tree is how you would do it.

larrodarro

This is just down from the mouth of the creek. We don't have a lot of river land, but thanks to how far this point reaches out into the river, we have twice the riverfront we would if it was in a straight line. The last flood left all the white sand.

_John_

neat to see that tannic acid stained creek running into the limestone spring fed river water.

Is that confluence a good place to fish? I was just curious if the fish like that (guessing higher pH) spring fed water vs. the acidic water in the creek.

larrodarro

neat to see that tannic acid stained creek running into the limestone spring fed river water.

Is that confluence a good place to fish? I was just curious if the fish like that (guessing higher pH) spring fed water vs. the acidic water in the creek.

We saw 6 or 8 bream and a couple of bass right at the bar. When I was a kid, me and my Daddy would wade the creek and fish. Always caught fish that way. But I would say there are more per cubic yard in the river. There are a few big springs on the creek too. Because the sun doesn't reach the creek, it is way colder than the river.

Have you ever heard of Red Horse Sucker Fish? They are a bottom feeding fish that goes up the creeks on bright nights in February and March to spawn. It is legal to gig, snatch hook or catch them in gill nets or pens. We make a pen with chicken or dog wire. You leave a gap in the downstream wire and when the pen gets full of fish you ease in the water and close the gap. Then everyone gets in the creek and catches the fish by hand. It is easier with waders. Even though this is Florida, we do have a winter.

We have caught over a hundred on a good night. But since we have the first wire up from the mouth, we never fish late. All the folks upstream from us would be cut off if we kept our wire up too long.

Suckers are full of soft bones. You have to gash them {cut the flesh every 1/4", leaving the fillet attached to the skin to hold it together}, then cook them in hot grease until the bones are edible.

Larro

jacques57

From one river-canoeing enthusiast to another: That was a photographic essay worthy of National Geographic. Wonderful. Thank you.

_John_

we have those fish here, but I haven't heard anything about people doing that with them. You see some everytime you float down a river of the Edwards Plateau (Texas hill country), but we don't really trap them like that to my knowledge.

larrodarro

we have those fish here, but I haven't heard anything about people doing that with them. You see some everytime you float down a river of the Edwards Plateau (Texas hill country), but we don't really trap them like that to my knowledge.

Some people here put a few in their man made ponds to help keep the algae down. But I think sucker fishing with the older folks was so popular because you could stock up on fish in a short period. My grandmother used to make canned fish balls with them. {before refrigeration} These days a lot of people will let the kids go in the creek to do the actual catching. If there isn't a lot of fish in the pen, you keep slipping the caught fish back in the water so they can catch them again.

larrodarro

From one river-canoeing enthusiast to another: That was a photographic essay worthy of National Geographic. Wonderful. Thank you.

Thanks. I took over 200 pictures, so there should be a few good ones in the bunch. Glad you enjoyed them.

Larro