Rockcastler River Float trip

[cmac0206]

Anyone have information about floating the Rockcastle this weekend? We are planning to put in at I-75 just outside of Livingston and take out at the Billows area. We are not sure what water level we will find. Dont want to have alot of drag over/portages. We are hoping to spend a night camping somewhere along the route so that we have ample time to fish. Any help with what to expect would be greatly appreciated. I will post a report on how our trip and the fishing is once we return.

[know1]

Anyone have information about floating the Rockcastle this weekend? We are planning to put in at I-75 just outside of Livingston and take out at the Billows area. We are not sure what water level we will find. Dont want to have alot of drag over/portages. We are hoping to spend a night camping somewhere along the route so that we have ample time to fish. Any help with what to expect would be greatly appreciated. I will post a report on how our trip and the fishing is once we return.

I don't have much specifics to report, but I basically did that trip several years ago. We didn't have to do much dragging, but I'm not sure how the water level was in relation to how it is now. We didn't have too much luck fishing, but I did have a decent size walleye follow my crankbait back to the kayak.

[Bassinsince98]

I've never fished in a River like that but good luck I'm from the area and would like to know how the fishing is

[cmac0206]

Know1, when did you go? I can look back at the historical data on water guage web site and compare to now.

[mhall]

This trip sounds so cool, I want to do something like this next year. Man the camping and stuff after dark would be a blast then fishing the next day.

[ryan_ekubass]

look at a ky atlas and gazetter map online or buy one and u can follow the river on that map and see exactly where all the creeks come in at and you can about bet that there is some sort of shoal there and it should be deeper above and below the shoals. I always liked to fish below shoals in the slack water or current breaks. I grew up floating and fishing the cumberland river in whitley county i was fortunate enough that my parents house was right up from watts creek shoals growning up. My mom would drop me and my buddy off up the river above williamsburg where the cumberland river and clearfork confluence is and we would put in there and float down to the house 2 or 3 times a week during the summer. It was about an 8 hour float in my buddies jon boat. we had a blast. We had always wanted to and planned on floating from where i grew up on Croley Bend to the falls it would be atleast a 3 day float but i think that would be so much fun....

[cmac0206]

I will post how it goes. It looks like we will have plenty of water in the river after this rain. And we are gonna have a nice brisk morning on Sunday.

I used to fish sections of the Rockcastle when I was growing up, but never did a full float through. Should be interesting and fun.

[cmac0206]

Well, we got back from our trip. It was a great 2 days.

We left out at daylight from 75 bridge on Saturday and slow floated down a bit. The water level was perfect and gauge was showing around 500cfs

We fished the entire way, all day. Fishing was not great and we only manage a few small smallies. But the day was a good temperature and the area was beautiful. At around 5 pm we started looking for a campsite. We were slightly half way past the midpoint of our trip. We decided to go a bit farther to find a deep hole below some current to throw out a fat chub minnow in hopes i a walleye. No luck there, but a warm fire and some warm beef stew and a late night toddy was perfect

We woke Sunday morning to a heavy frost and our water in our cooler had frozen. We made coffee and has breakfast and then loaded up and off we went. The day warmed and we went on to catcha few more smallies, no size. At around 2pm we made it to the take out at billows bridge. The carry out was a bit steep but was a good location and not very far.

All in all, a great trip. Fishing was not good but was a really strong cold front. The area is secluded and remote, which we liked. Next time, gonna hope for better fishing.

[Mean Morone]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but is there any info on the efforts of the state to take Rockcastle walleye as brood stock for hatchery purposes? I know they wanted to re-establish them in Lake Cumberland?