dix river

I had the day off Monday for the holiday and me and the misses decided to load up the canoe and check out the dix. Never been and I have heard how nice of a trip it is and we weren't disappointed. Beautiful scenery and for being mostly a bassin kind of guy I kind of had fun with the different kind of bite even though my wife wouldn't let me cast until we reached the dam -- torture! We caught 20 or so small rainbows and browns while enjoying the scenery and cool waters. Slimy, slithering kind of suckers to unhook but they are pretty game on the end of your line. Although I didn't bass fish it looked pretty bassy in places on the way in. I don't imagine the bass frequent the same cooler waters that the trout do but some of the rocky, bluffy banks down a bit looked pretty inviting. I am sure we will be back again some time. Nice day trip, beautful river...

kc

Hey man, I was the guy with the two kids in the Alumicraft floating around at the dam with you guys. Glad you had a fun time. We ended up with 6 keeper rainbows, 3 decent hybrids and a bunch of throw back browns and little rainbows. I had several nice trout on that got off before I could land them. I think the hooks were too small on my crank bait. Speaking of bass, my son caught a 4" kentucky about 50 yards downstream from the dam, strange.

We usually like to do what your wife suggested and go all the way to the dam and then fish back down.

Did u put in at the highbridge ramp?

Good deal! It looked like your boys had fun too and you guys did well as we only caught smaller ones. I bet a decent sized trout would put up a pretty good tussle. Maybe next time I will find out.

The worst part of waiting for the dam to fish was as we were approaching the riffle I started seeing quite a few trout surfacing. It was tough not to pick up a rod and go for ones I could see!

kc

Sure did. That is an interesting place to say the least. As I was scouting out this possible trip my wife and I had gone to Shaker village last year and went down to the riverboat and I noted that you could launch a canoe there. But they close at 5 pm and we went past there on the way to highbridge Monday and it wasn't open so I don't think that is a very good option at all. We didn't get back to highbridge until about 6 so that would have been fun to find a locked gate. It was a little interesting finding the highbridge ramp but that is the way to go in that part of the river...

kc

Shhhhhhhhhhhh... don't tell anyone about the Dix. It's my hiding spot. :)

You'll find me there most Fridays during the summer in a green canoe with a mercury outboard.

The thing I find most amazing is how the river changes from year to year, especially with all the flooding we had this spring.

I gotta get me one of those, Flyfish (outboard that is). All I got is a teenager that thinks there is a manditory 3 minute rest period ever 5 paddle strokes!

Anybody know what's with all the dead gar up at the riffle? My theory was that they got up there and the cold water killed them but maybe I'm wrong. Good to see them dead anyway.

My theory is they came over the spillway during the flood and had a h311 of a ride down the hill. I've seen them in cold water like that before, so I'm not sure that is the issue.

[QUOTE=flyfish;420825]Shhhhhhhhhhhh... don't tell anyone about the Dix. It's my hiding spot. :)

You'll find me there most Fridays during the summer in a green canoe with a mercury outboard.[/QUOTE]

Hi from Muhlenberg County,
Could you tell me more about your canoe and an outboard motor. What type of motor mount, hp of your motor and how it handles on your canoe?
Thanks,
CC

I have a 17' Wenonah canoe. I think it's the Northfork model. It's pretty heavy duty, but I wanted it that way so I could bounce off rocks and such. Not to mention the added strain of a motor pushing it.

I'm running a 3.3hp Mercury 2 stroke that weighs right at 30 pounds wet. They are hard to find these days, but if you search the internet you can grab a few. I actually had mine shipped in from Idaho. You've got to keep the weight down or the boat will list bad to one side.

It handles pretty well, but you have to remember, you are in a canoe. No sudden movements while at speed, and try not to hit anything or you might get wet. When I'm running, there is enough squat to bring the freeboard down to about 5 inches, and then there is spray as high as the rails. But it sure beats paddling upstream. We use them on the Dix as well as the Cumberland when they aren't generating.

Go to the following link for some photos. A buddy of mine has the same setup, but with a 15.7 Old Town.

[URL]http://picasaweb.google.com/kennethkloeppel/Canoe?authkey=Gv1sRgCPK3p53b9-CLpAE&feat=directlink[/URL]

[QUOTE=flyfish;420951]I have a 17' Wenonah canoe. I think it's the Northfork model. It's pretty heavy duty, but I wanted it that way so I could bounce off rocks and such. Not to mention the added strain of a motor pushing it.

I'm running a 3.3hp Mercury 2 stroke that weighs right at 30 pounds wet. They are hard to find these days, but if you search the internet you can grab a few. I actually had mine shipped in from Idaho. You've got to keep the weight down or the boat will list bad to one side.

It handles pretty well, but you have to remember, you are in a canoe. No sudden movements while at speed, and try not to hit anything or you might get wet. When I'm running, there is enough squat to bring the freeboard down to about 5 inches, and then there is spray as high as the rails. But it sure beats paddling upstream. We use them on the Dix as well as the Cumberland when they aren't generating.

Go to the following link for some photos. A buddy of mine has the same setup, but with a 15.7 Old Town.

[URL]http://picasaweb.google.com/kennethkloeppel/Canoe?authkey=Gv1sRgCPK3p53b9-CLpAE&feat=directlink[/URL][/QUOTE]

Thanks for the great info! Do you know who makes the motor mount that your friend is using? Are you saying the a 3.3 is not enough motor to get you back up stream on the Cumberland when they are generating? I have a 4 hp evenrude that I wanted to try on the Cumberland.
Thanks again,
CC

A buddy of his made it for him. Mine is an old town mount, and works just fine. One thing that isn't optional is a splash guard behind the motor. He used a license plate, and Iade mine out of various junk around the house.