SCLakes.com

This past weekend on the 1st of Sept. we made the journey down the Broad river this time launching out of Peak and coming in at the Harbison State Forest. We won't be doing that again in one day! We only got in a few good hours of fishing out of the entire 12 hour+ trip. This could have easily been a two day trip with a nice tent stay. This is NOT a trip for a Jon boat and is a canoe/kayak only trip. There are numerous shoals along the way that we had to navigate and some we had to walk and allow the canoe to do it's thing in the current. One shoal had a nice 1.5-2 foot or so drop off.

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Even with the limited fishing I was still able to catch the biggest small mouth of my life. Official Berkly weight once I got home was 6.3 pounds, a brute of a fighter. We also caught one that was 4.8 pounds and a 3.9 pounder.

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Here's my biggest catch of the day. This monster hit a top water plug that was longer than he was! His little mouth was barely big enough for the treble I snagged him on.

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The day was gorgeous! We saw numerous Bald Eagles and Hawks. We even saw the rare Spider Lillies right before Hickory Island. Out of a huge patch of lillies only one had an open bloom.

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Here is the only bummer of the day.
When we launched we heard what sounded like World War III being fought with 12 gauges down the river. As we got closer the shot also moved downstream. About an hour or two downstream we came to a section of river with a beachy area to the left and I noticed something on the bank. We rowed over and it was a what looks to be brand new Real Tree camo water proof jacket. Very nice jacket, laying on the bank. Also there on the bank was what had to be nearly 100 shell casings laying around from a freshly fired guns/guns. They were all over! Floating down the river, lodged in rocks, etc..
Further downstream we found another batch of shell casings.
Later on we came upon two guys in a Jon Boat that must have launched from a private launch. I noticed there were no fishing poles in their boat and determined they were the ones shooting up the place. We saw what they were after, a flock of easily 200 geese, I've never seen so many geese in one place! It was amazing. We rowed on past them, not saying anything as they had guns and all I could do is cast a heavy plug in their direction or try to make good shots with my crossbow! As we rowed we scared the goose downstream and kept them ahead of us the rest of the trip.
Further down stream we found one goose dead floating along side us AND we saw several others that were injured and couldn't fly.

Here's my message to you two pieces of trash if you read this board.

1. If you are going to hunt do so in a manner that compliments the sport!
2. Clean up your mess, don't kill our wonderful resources with your fat laziness!
3. Check your rules and regulations for seasons and where you can/can't hunt!
4. Take a bath!

Oh and by the way, thanks for the jacket! I'll enjoy it when hunting this fall!