Freeman River report (Pic Heavy)

[smitty9]

Well, 2 weeks after taking the kids fishing, dad, myself, and another friend went back to the Freeman River.
I had the grandiose idea of floating it, remembering the water levels looked good for a float on June 16th.
Only problem was this:

It is amazing how fast water levels can drop!
Now add in the factor of...misreading of a map. What is 10km as the Crow flies, I figured it would be 20 km of river.
Well, it really meant 25km to 30km...


1. So we start the day, and check this out:

We're the 2nd truck behind this idiot. That's right...he's decided to park right at the entrance of the gravel bar, blocking it for everyone. Cheers numbnut!
2. 2 weeks ago, most of this gravel bar was under water...



3. Miscellaneous pics of my dad and my buddy with several grayling....and pulling the boat through several shallow gravel bars. We had to jump out and do this 6-7 dozen times. It was...a bit of work. Numbers-wise, we caught over 100 grayling between us, with several pushing 13"-14". Check out the tracks in the mud!














Not surprisingly, the trip ended in darkness. We weren't planning to be home at 2am...


All in all, it was a fantastic, long, tiring, adventurous day! It's quite something to float along a northern AB boreal forest river, including some remote stretches that see few anglers. Would I do it again? Perhaps, but

I would need more water, more flow, and start earlier in the day (float began at 11:10am). An 11 hour float is pretty long....
Cheers,
Smitty

[Lefty-Canuck]

Nice pics! Thanks for sharing.

As for the guy who blocked access....grab a plate and call it in next time

LC

[BigRackLover]

nice pics and post, thanks for sharing.

[jackrabbit000]

Sounds like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing the pics. As for the guy who blocked the access, maybe he thought he rocks would hurt his tires.

[Geezle]

Despite a few hiccups it looks like a great trip!

[smitty9]

Originally Posted by jackrabbit000

Sounds like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing the pics. As for the guy who blocked the access, maybe he thought he rocks would hurt his tires.

Hmmm, not sure about that. You buy a 4x4 GMC Sierra, take it along gravel roads, and then you're afraid of a gravel bar of rocks worn smooth by the river?

Even if he was reluctant, there is plenty of parking back near the gravel road where you aren't blocking access (where we parked after we were done unloading our equipment, so we wouldn't block him)

Bottom line is that it was a totally inconsiderate place to park. Completely done without thought.

Wasn't a big deal in the end, just meant we had to carry everything an extra 100 feet or so...we laughed about it later, just shook our heads...

Cheers,
Smitty

[BGSH]

We drove on the rocks with a camper in hall and we were fine as we did not want to block the access like buddy did, caught a few by the bridge there, was a blast, looks like a great float,

did you catch any rocky mountain whitefish? we only landed 6 and they were all hugging bottom.

[smitty9]

No Rockies, 100% Grayling!

Cheers!
Smitty