Pacemaker Fishing Forum

The tale of two rivers, as best as I can recall.

We got a late start due to some trailer wiring issues, but we all got meet up in front royal around 10PM I think, and off we head to the west.  As we discuss alternate routes, we end up winding our way through Winchester after totally missing the bypass and we’re back on track. 

So airedrifter is rolling on along and decides he’s ready for a nap, so Johnny takes the wheel.  Toms out like bellbottom leisure suits and I’m navigating from the back while we dig on some prine on the radio.

We got a twinkling of an idea where we are going, so we don’t bother with directions until we get close.  Exit 4, that’s it.  So we get off and I check the directions, which tell us exit 28, so we’re bummed b/c its after 1 AM and we gotta backtrack 25 miles to the exit.  So back we go, and there  is no 28.  so we take 29 and know that aint right…..soon we think, exit 4 is close the state line and 28 aint far into the WV….sunuva!!!

So back we go, again, to the west.  Find the right exit and work away through what can only be describes as BFEWV.    There’s deer by the dozens, rabbits, possums and kids jumping into ditches at almost 3 AM. We come to a ‘t’ in the road and the directions say to go over the hill…well I’ll be, it don’t matter which direction you go around here, its gonna be over a hill and dang soon.  So we head right, and it works out. 

We roll into daggers place about 3 AM and they are up from their naps with a campfire waiting on us.   So bed time rolls around I string up my hammock and roll in.  for the first time ever, I don’t sleep well.  Nothing to do with the hammock, but the seemingly constant flow of traffic, down a dirt road in the middle of nothing  keeping me up. Unbelievable.

So the net morning rolls around and we get stuff together and head for the yough.   We had some issues getting on the water, but we got them resolved, and I’m pretty sure that jonny, dan and I are semi-certified lower yough raft guides now.

Beautiful run, and all went well for us.  Great day of rafting, shredding and rowing.   We stopped below Railroad for a break and AD notices three people and a shredder floating along and springs into action.  The rest of us follow suit as quick as we can, but by the time we are there, AD has em on the shore and straightened out.  As we move on down a little in the raft, I look over behind the bridge foundation as a nice rainbow trout rises, not 18” from the raft and takes something off the top.  Very cool.

We’re nearing the end, and we do some musical chairs.  Dan and tom switch places in the raft/shredder, and AD calls for me to man the oars on the cat.  I hope on shore to make the switch and as AD is getting out, the cat decides its ready to go on down river.  So we got an empty cat, a 3 man shredder and a 2 man raft, moving down the river as I follow on foot, slowly.   Dave holds the raft, I get back in and the shredder catches up to the cat and AD gets back at the helm.  We did make the switch fro the last rapid and away we went.  I follow Johnny and the shredder down the river left line that calls for some back-ferrying to the right to avoid the rocks and the wind decides its time to gust and push me back to the right.  I give it all I got and get make my line and to the takeout, with and awful cramp in my left hand that has it looking like some sort of contorted claw. 

Day one is done, and its time to for some grub, we roll into town looking like we just come off the river, or the farm, depending on our outfits, and roll the middle of a restaurant hosting what must be some sort of prom festivities as dresses and tuxes are the norm. Amazing they let us in without hesitation and we drink and eat with much recalling of the days activities by voice and picture.

Back to the cabin and we’re all crashed by midnight.  The next morning we awaken sore and tired, but mildly refreshed with a hint of anxiety as we plan the day.  Plan is to hit the cheat canyon, and after checking the gauges, we’re off down the road. 

We get the boats and gear unloaded while AD and dagger run shuttle. I’m not saying they got lost on the way, but it took them a fair bit longer than was expected, but we finally got shoved off about 11.  We start off with on problems and Decision finds us all wanting more.  And we continue down the river.  With a few more smaller IIIs behind us, we come to Big Nasty, so called for the Big Nasty hole that awaiting the tired and weary.

We were both tired and weary in the raft, and while AD and Johnny/Tom made clean runs, we found ourselves punching the raft right through the middle of the hole, and emerged to cheers from the onlookers on the rocks.

From then on, the rapids kinda build up to a peak, and then you’ve got some cool downs before reaching the takout.  We make our way on down to the meat of the trip and grab a eddie left to scout High Falls.  We scout our lines, grab some drinks and get ready for the run.  AD heads down first, sets up shop on some rocks and get the camera ready, and down we got, good fun ride with no problems, we eddie out behind the rocks, watch Johnny and tom come through and we’re down the river again.

Next is the a series of IV(+)s,  Colliseum/lower coliseum/pete morgan, pretty much stacked back to back.  We know the plan, left left left, to avoid the first hole(recyclotron), and then, as soon as we get by it, a hard right to avoid the next hole (particle accelerator).  So off we got in the raft, we pass the first hole and we’re heading right, but not far enough. The rear of the raft, clips the pour over, spinning the front of the raft in the subsequent hole.  I’ve got a front row view as we drop into the slice and I remember thinking, it doesn’t look that bad.  Next thing I know,  I’m under the raft and the fish are staring at me funny.  I kick out from under the raft and see Dans got ahold of the strap, dave makes his way in beside him and gets the strap and I’m just in line, but cant get a hold to anything.   I hit a hole, get sucked down, try to find the bottom to kick up, but no dice.  I finally resurface and continue floating.   AD yells for me to get to him, and I start to swim, but it wasn’t but a second before I’m getting sucked down a rocky mess of a drop.  I go back to my feet up position, and catch a break, riding right up on a rock with about  3 inches of water pouring over that catches me in a seat position, mostly dry and pretty stable. I catch some breath, and look around to survey my position and decide I’m perfectly content to stay where I am until somebody can get me up and to the right.  AD slides the cat down and wedges on a rock to my right and grabs a rope, then puts it back and grabs a bigger rope.  Puzzled, I turn around and see the shredder riding a hole about 10’ from my left.  About the time AD goes to throw a rope to them, they come loose, right side up and make there way down and catch an eddy left.  At the time, I didn’t know it, but dave and dan had managed to get their bodies and the raft into the same eddy and safely on shore.  Shortly after I see Johnny, tom and dagger on the bluff surveying the situation.

So its my and Airedrifter, rocked up in the middle of this mess, with a one man cat some rope and two small eddies to save my biscuits.  Mike is off to my right about 10 ft and just every so slightly downstream. About half way between us, and upstream a few feet of me is a rock with a small eddy behind it.  Mike gets me the rope and tells me to jump to the eddy.  I’m triple checking his directions to make sure we are on the same page, b/c I don’t wanna be on any other page but his at this point and time, and I give a mighty leap.  Well, as mighty as I could anyways, and AD handlines in the catch of the day.  Now wtf do we do.  We got two people and a one man cat.  Mike tells me I’m to sit on top of the soft cooler in the rear cargo basket, facing backwards, hold on to whatever I can and put my feet up on the toon.  Then he looks at me, and serious as can be, says “Aww, you’re gonna mash my cookies.” 

The say, in comedy timing is everything.  That was timed perfectly, and was good for a laugh or 2, before getting back to the task at hand, and that’s reuniting my butt with the raft.  AD gets us down the next little bit of rocky, skinny water, drops, and pour-overy mess and into the other small eddy below.  Turns us around, back ferry across the channel the river left of  the big rock in the way and down we go.  But now, he’s got 250+ lbs of soggy man, gear, and mashed cookies weighing down the back of his toon and hangs up a little in a small hole.. I know he wants leverage to power through, so I lean forward a bit so were not back to back, to give him some room to lean back. and he powers us out, down and into the eddy and to the shore.

Its time for a break.  We drink, snack and palaver over our next moves, lick our wounds (all minor), and ponder the lack of paddles.  We decide to line the raft through Pete Morgan and take what we can get the rest of the way out.  The worst is done, and we are beat.  We get the bottom, snag the spare paddle from the shredder, and borrow one from another shredder that came around just a minute late to view the carnage. 
Armed with weak bodies, a full compliment of paddles and desire of cold beer we head for back down the river.  We pick up a paddle along the way and make the rest of the run with no more situations arising. 

As we pull into the takeout, dan notices a guy on shore twirling the lost guide paddle and we  are back in possession of the lost paddle, with only one that didn’t make the return trip back to VA. 

The rest is pretty uneventful, consisting of shuttle, see ya’s and driving, and not lacking in good conversation.

I’ve had a lot of fun on a lot of rivers, fishing, kayaking, rafting, etc and so on…but this one tops many a lists as one of the best…