Up and down the river

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

Bored alot , take alot of pics so idk . People said they wanted updates so.

So last night was the first time this trip we had to wait on a lock. Had a pretty decent line in front of us so when just tied up on a piling and waited around

Lotta wildlife seems to congregate around these locks I noticed. Lots of deer and various birds on the banks. Some Canadian geese over here

Load of fish too.Been seeing a lot of trophy size common carp schooling on the surface last two locks we went though. Alot looked to be easily 30lbs and some real monsters too ! Whis I could have taken some pics but can't being my phone on the actual barges since it's not intrinsically safe and these barges after basically bombs that can go off with too much static electricity so I kept it on the boat lol.

But anyhow while tied up we had a lot of these little gar cruising around nothing bigger then maybe three foot long but man I love to watch them. Lotta folks consider them trash fish but I think their pretty cool.  Also a little miffed because the fist mate I work with told me if I had brought a rod I could have been fishing since we had to wait so long and I stay caught up on my duties never managed to catch a gar back home and have a feeling a chunk of hotdog from the galley under a float would have gotten me some action. O well what can you do

Also saw this . Big fin cam up and was moving around like whatever it was attached to was feeding near the top. Did that for a few minutes before it went back down. Was thinking I was crazy and was seeing a bull shark possibly but I think we're a little too far up river for them, though have have been caught as far in as Kansas I think. But then I remembered about paddle fish and figured it was probably just one of those.

[Councilestatekid 1,645]

Do alot of folk fish for carp there wolfdog? What size commons do you get in there do they go much over 30lb or is that classed as a big fish like over here?

[Daniel cain 42,903]

they used to be treated as a pest species...left on the bank to rot...but the yanks are slowly catching on

[fireman 10,774]

6 minutes ago, Daniel cain said:

they used to be treated as a pest species...left on the bank to rot...but the yanks are slowly catching on

If them yanks get into carp fishing just think of the cammo shit they could wear then......

Nice one wolfdog and recon you should have a rod tucked up somewhere just in case for the future,not such a boring job it seems after all eh.....

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

5 hours ago, Councilestatekid said:

Do alot of folk fish for carp there wolfdog? What size commons do you get in there do they go much over 30lb or is that classed as a big fish like over here?

 

Honestly it really  depends where your at. Here in the US you have 100's if not 1000's of hunting and fishing sub cultures and they all view stuff different. But as a general carp are still viewed for the most part as rough or trash fish.  Doing much more to catch one past threading some corn on a hook is really seen as pure lunacy to many and the carp themselves are usually views as nothing more then just some "shit eater". Most won't touch them because they've been told their whole lives that their too boney to eat , they ruin the water ect, and it's just easier to not question. I've asked people who routinely toss carp on the bank to rot why they think it's right and they'll just say " well we've always done it" . Then you also have bow fisherman who feels their doing good by getting rid of an invasive species. And to a degree their not wrong , depending where their at. Some place their wrecking alot and need to be eradicated or at least controlled, but in some places they've become" naturalized " and ant really a problem. In fact apparently they've become almost essential to the food chains of alot of places. Their also commercially netted in also of places for use in making fertilizer, pet food, and I think also sold to the Asian market.

On the flip side however their is a growing cult following of euro style crap guys and .. Jesus Christ I thought bass fisherman where bad Yeah more and more of these carp guys here are adopting all the toxicity I see in UK and European circles and bumping it up. Alot of insufferable pricks who will loser their minds if your put a wild carp you cough out of the back side of a water treatment plant on the grass to take a picture instead of in a $300 carp cradle . I'm in a few groups and I've seen them write literal essays on the evils and Immortality of bow fisherman "slaughtering" carp talking about sabotaging commercial fishing gear and bow shing boats ect.  And don't get me started on the f***ing gear snobs.  Like seriously is like some of these guys are just trying to make their role models in the UK please by being horrible fanatics ( and I know you guys know what I'm talking about when it comes to the type of pricks y'all have over there)

Me personally I'm in the middle. I look at it like this. Their carp. Their not rare at all in most places , they breed like crazy in the right conditions , they can cause problems but they can also be pretty important to an ecosystem. their also one of the toughest species of fish out there...at least the wild variety and not the Gucci hand raised trophy ones . So I don't really see the need for any excessive love or hate of them. If your wanna stick them with a bow when you have a lake with literal thousands then fine not like your gonna hurt the population at large. Wanna spend $10,000 on fancy euro style gear to spend 4daya camping out to catch trophies your gonna throw back? Hay man that awesome . Wanna commercial fish for them when their in large healthy numbers? Why friggen not ? No different then any other natural resource . Same if you wanna catch them to eat . Who cares as long as it's no some super special rare one or something. Like don't go to the 1 acre park lake that you know catch and release guys love or where people like to feed them and start bow fishing or taking them home for the pot. But people seem to have hard times graping the idea of things like that.

Anyhow enough of that rant. As far as weights 10-30lbs wild common carp are about the average in the US. Think most consider trophy weights to be more in the 45-60lbs range

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

So we've been tied up most of the day. Got a fleet boat to help us re arrange tow so where sitting 4 wide four long now and where just creeping on down the river

One of the anchors bargers we where tied up so had a bunch of bird life having around it. Swallows....well what I think are swallow I'm pretty sure where nested under the rake and inside of it there where a bunch of old stacked up damaged lids for the dry cargo barges and a flock of pigeons made it their little roost. Honestly I have to say it's pretty amazing how critters adapted and nature it's self has made little micro ecosystems out of all our junk and places we never really look.

But yeah other then that been pretty laxed day. Engineer had to do a oil change sor he started lunch and I tended to it for the most part. Some of they guys where complaining about beef roast vs pork roast but idk tasted good to me.

And just what I'm usually up to while waiting on call. Just taking in the view

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

Beautiful sunset last night

Went bay another barge that was sitting LOW looked about level with with water

And a nice sunrise this morning around 5:30a.m

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

So I've had next to no signal last two days but where floating down river and sould be round Natchez soon. Actually only like two hours from my house lol.Anyhow some stuff from the last few days. Thought alot of thes banks and cliffs looked cool with their striations ( think that's what their called.

Wonder what this is

Been seeing this pavement looking stuff along a lot of the banks reckon the corps of engineers did that for erosion control

Not sure about these though.. at least their purpose

Some grain getting moved . Should be some good fishing around those barges with all the corn and stuff spilling in the water and feeding the fish constantly

Some type of construction work going on here not sure what though

Those banks and cliffs I was talking about earlier

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

Some beautiful rollin hills up there

Check out this adorable lil push boat lol ! It's like 1/8 the size of my boat still has little engine smoke stacks though if it's horn doesn't go " TOOT TOOT" like a kids bike horn I'll be surprised

 

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

Also cruised by these two places the other night. Thought the first was a mosque at first but one of the other guy said he thinks is a little theme park

And think I did a half decent job shining the boats bell. Apparently I had just zoned out and was polishing it for two hours the mate said he thought I was dead because he didn't hear a peep out of me the whole time

And yesterday was Friday which means fish day so the mate cooke dup some shrimp and crawfish etouffee and it was great he added cream of mushroom to his with made it much lighter then when I'm used to but still

 

[Wolfdog91 6,276]

Not much to report today. Just cruised down stream for the most part yesterday . Went under the bridge in Natchez which is funny because I always would look down at barges while I was goin over and wonder what I was like on the water but other then have some boat ride up next to use for a mile or two for some reason pretty uneventful. 

Got to Baton Rouge last night and we're just waiting for a call rn to do something. Actually less then 45min from my house lol

Found this interesting looking little guy on the steps so took some pictures

And the pilot is grilling up some duck up for lunch he harvested last season. Never had duck so this should be neat. Seem to cook it up like dove

O and had a beautiful sunrise this morning

[Daniel cain 42,903]

some sort of mayfly Wolfie?

[Jonjon79 13,344]

It's good to see you enjoying it mate

 

You changed career earlier than me - I was a retail store manager for 15yrs, then I joined the railway when I was 40 - best thing I ever did. I love working out in the countryside with big kit, I wish I'd done it years ago - so it's good to see you move over

 

retail is shite - the employees get hammered by wanker bosses and arsehole customers. Your new life on the river looks ideal

[fireman 10,774]

That's some river your on and how many miles do you travel along it before turning back?, interesting thread this and keep it coming please....

That duck looks looks mighty good to...

[Lenmcharristar 9,183]

On 10/06/2023 at 15:25, Wolfdog91 said:

Some beautiful rollin hills up there

Check out this adorable lil push boat lol ! It's like 1/8 the size of my boat still has little engine smoke stacks though if it's horn doesn't go " TOOT TOOT" like a kids bike horn I'll be surprised

 

Class pics mate, those cliffs are what was laid down during noahs flood, each layer was cast during each wave that washed over the land and receded again after it was done, some great inspiration for a bluegrass song or rhythm and blues