Canoeing Hatchett Creek

Day One After the February trip down Hatchett Creek, Bill decided that he would bring along some full-time help. Andrew is Bill's youngest of three sons. He would be paddling tandem with Bill for the duration of this trip. Stephen and I spent the night with George and were up early the next morning for coffee, sausage and biscuits. Meg and William drove down about 7:00 AM and helped ferry some of us and our gear to the Short's Bridge. This year the county was replacing the old bridge, so we put in on this side of the creek. It was actually a better put in place than the one on the other side of the creek. Stephen and I were in Bob Willis's green Coleman, George and Dick were in Dick's new red Coleman, Steve C. & Charlie C. were in their green Mohawk, Steve G. was in his green Coleman, and Bill and Andrew were in their Blue Hole. A few pictures were made, and we were all off on the first leg of our annual 3-day canoe camping trip. The weather was perfect. Crysta...

George had sausage, biscuits, eggs, and coffee fixed at 7:00 AM at his house where we all gathered to eat before hitting the creek. Uncle Bob Willis joined us for breakfast but since he was still recovering from by-pass surgery, he decided to sit this one out and be ready for the 3-day trip coming up in April. We planned to do some fishing but since the water was so muddy and receding we decided to just paddle and not worry with fishing gear. This trip was planned in advance by watching the weather forecast that called for a couple of days of rain then clearing skies by the week end, perfect conditions for a one-day trip. The creek was running just over full and stained like creamed coffee. The water level had gone down about 2 or 3 feet during the night as indicated by a stake that marked the water level the previous day. Four canoes were loaded onto the canoe trailer at George's house. Since Charlie's (Charlie Cornelius) boat was already fixed on his truck to his new can...

Day One This year was special because I was taking my son Stephen with me for the first time. We would paddle the usual stretch from Short’s bridge to Uncle Joe’s Cat Den and spend the night. The fact that Stephen was going added an extra element of excitement. I remember when my Daddy would take me on camping or hunting trips and how excited I was. I remember anticipating the trip days before we started and thinking that the day would never get here when we would leave. Well, the day was here, and Stephen was ready. He was about to turn 6 years old and was a fair swimmer. We ate the traditional breakfast feast at "Pa Pa’s" house and drove to the put in. Stephen and I were in my old red Coleman, George was in his new blue 119 Old Town, Bob was in his green Coleman, Steve was in his green Coleman, Bill was in his new Blue Hole, Charlie was in his brand new green Mohawk, and Dick was in George's red Mohawk. Charlie and Bill were childhood friends. They used to spend ...

Day One We put in at the usual spot on the Brownsville Rd. Mr. "X" was back for another trip. I guess since Hatchett Creek soundly defeated him last year, it was time to try it again. It was interesting to see the different gear Mr. "X" had this year. He had purchased a new green Coleman canoe and had less "survival" gear this time. It was ironic how similar his gear was to ours. George used his Mohawk, Steve was in his green Coleman, Bob was in his green Coleman, and I was in my red Coleman. We were all going solo this year on the first day, so fishing was going to be interesting. Trying to steer a canoe with one hand and fish with the other requires extraordinary coordination. We had to contend with the usual trees that crisscrossed the creek for the first half-mile or so. The fish were biting but the number of casts per hour was probably cut in half. This was due to the solo fishing/paddling we were dealing with. Mr. "X" has yet to figu...

If fishing was good on the upper end of Hatchett Creek then it must be even better in the waters between US-280 and US-231 Bridges. George, Bob, Steve and I decided to try it since there was a good chance no one had attempted it lately and we would be fishing in virtually virgin waters. Mr. "X" found out about it and tagged along. He had just purchased a new Coleman canoe and was anxious to get it wet. He had educated himself on his last trip the hard way. Our goal was to catch a mess of fish and have a fish fry that night at the house. The best way to catch the most fish was to paddle tandem and hit every foot of the creek along each bank with a lure. George and I were in his red Mohawk, Steve and Bob were in Steve’s green Coleman and Mr. "X" went in his new red Coleman. Mr. "X" started first and stayed well ahead of everyone and out of the way. Fish were being caught almost as soon as the rods began flipping. I was paddling our boat and Steve was padd...