Owen's River Ground Hogs Day

[Iceman]

9 of us met at the HWY 6 bridge at 8:30 am to float and fish our way down to Line St. That is 3 miles as the crow flies, but nearly 8 squiggly miles of river. We had it all too ourselves unless you count the cows. Steveo pulled in a fish from the bank while the rest of us were still getting ready.

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This was my first trip to the Owens and I had a blast. More than one person made sacrifices to this river, the faster water into curves with lots of growth meant, no rods sticking up and paddle hard to maintain control! I was expecting it to be a little more of a "lazy" flow and opted to bring the SUP. There is no way that was going to work with the fin on, so fin-less I went which made it wander just a bit, but I stayed dry. Every body caught fish and Eagle Eye John took the jack pot with a beauty. There were some good ones lost too. We timed our landing just around sunset and headed into Bishop for steak dinners all around. Great trip, great guys to fish with and a helluva an adventure.

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Thanks to Steve, Steve O, Ron, Grego, Naoki, Yoshi, John and Paul for joining me on this adventure. Steve and I bombed it! We left Seal Beach at 3 am, got to Bishop around 8am, hit the return road home after dinner at 7:30 and got home right around midnight. Everyone else stayed over for the spa treatment.

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[joker63]

Looks like good times

[Wayne_R]

Thanks for report. Me and a buddy thought bout doing this early summer, but didn't know where to start/end and how would work out.

[paintnfish]

It doesn't get much better than this, thanks for everything !

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w60/paintnfish/f90dd073-6802-4e37-9333-5154d8e68991_zps71d254bc.jpg

[lamb]

Stellar! :cheers1:

[mrJB]

You guys are TOUGH! Had to be cold! Also, 395 can be dangerous with tired, hung-over skiiers heading home late at night...

[Grego]

Thanks again for hauling the yaks Andy! That Moken was pretty impressive...that seat was rock'n. Enjoyed seeing some long time friends.....been too many years since we've fished together.

Trademark Iceman with the stogie

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Steveooo giving his Fonz impression

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Ron and a rainbow....finally@!

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Me showing off a brownie

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[bus kid]

Quality right there.

[JeffB]

Looked like that was a fun trip. That's what I wanna do for sure one day is a float trip. Very nice scenery too.

[roby]

Very cool...

:luxhello:

[steveooo]

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Iceman’s Kayak Delivery Service

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Paul & Grego at our Hwy 6 launch spot

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John is one fishy dude

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Ron in his sit inside

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I could do this all day

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Andy getting ready for a section of rapids

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Sup Andy

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Steve in the Moken

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The man that took our Jackpot money…

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The yaks were a pretty cool way to explore the river.

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Paul

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Lots of cows sharing the river with us

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Rainbow

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The Sierras

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Grego hooked up

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My best hookup of the day

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Steve

[Iceman]

SUP perspective video :D

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[bigbarrels]

Looks like a great trip.......first SUP down the Owens river?:D

[ericko]

A few years back stinky matt and i made a few 24 hour trips ...so much fun but you do need atleast two people to carpool with...looks like you all had fun even if the fish is only 1 lb.

[seaquinn]

Hah! I have been planning to do this for several months now.... just didn't think to post here to set up a group to do it. Several guides market this trip, but they say 12-16" fish...... looks a bit smaller.

Looks like you need at least two vehicles.

Congrats on a fun trip. I'll do this soon..... anyone wanting to set one up, pm me. But I am sleeping over night on both ends in Bishop...... a nice comfy bed, nice breakfast, dinner, etc....!

[PAL]

^There were larger fish. Eagle Eye's jackpot was a 20-inch rainbow, most likely an Alpers. He had a second that size. Someone else did too. My brown was right at a foot.

Epic trip, next time I'm doing the whole thing from the upper Owens all the way to Big Pine, at least 100 miles (yeah right). Some day.

[Siebler]

Looks like a blast. Paul when you want to do a long trip let me know, I am all in. Think the Commander would be good for that trip probably.

[PAL]

Looks like a blast. Paul when you want to do a long trip let me know, I am all in. Think the Commander would be good for that trip probably.

I'll hold you to it. I'm more serious than not. I'd like to do it all in one go, but figure it may take several sessions, at least 2-3. The Commander would be fine so long as it's the shorty.

[Siebler]

Ive got a Commander 12 Plus its so nice to stand on or sit a little higher.

I am all in, just have to plan it around the other trips this year and such. Would be a great trip. Maybe we could convince some of the other old school guys to come like LouDog and Pierpont or even CaboJohn (although that tends to make a fun trip into a rowdy fun trip haha)

[blitzburgh]

Absolutely beautiful. Love the video Andy and great song choice!

[Iparker]

That golden panther martin is the ticket up there. Any ducks on the river?

[sanjuancapokayak]

what a fantastic trip. Would love doing something like that! Looks like y'all had a blast. Thanks for sharing!

[YakMedic]

Looks like an amazing trip boys. Thats one hell of a day trip Andy.

[PAL]

We saw a few ducks - the day we pulled out was the youth season closer.

CJ, I'll give you a call. You're not far off the mark with your name-dropping.

[Siebler]

Paul, Cabo says he is old and not Rowdy anymore but emailed me about doing a Colorado River trip (been trying for last few years).

Cant wait to hear who you have in mind to go, this could be a lot of fun!

[Baja_Traveler]

So tell me - when you do it again, would you still take the SUP, or change back to the yak?

That looks like a trip worth doing with the fly rod.

[jbaker]

Paul, Cabo says he is old and not Rowdy anymore but emailed me about doing a Colorado River trip (been trying for last few years).

Cant wait to hear who you have in mind to go, this could be a lot of fun!

Check out the california 100. non stop 100 mile race from Redding to Chico down the Sacramento River.

[Iceman]

So tell me - when you do it again, would you still take the SUP, or change back to the yak?

No regrets on the SUP, but this river was made for small kayaks 12 foot max. Leave your mirage drive home! Steve in the Sport never used the drive.

[mtnbykr2]

I know that place well, haven't got a chance to do it that way yet, would love to know when you do that again...very well done video Andy, thanks for sharin' :paddleersmilie:

[Iceman]

I figured they would get snow yesterday along the river as the weatherman was saying down to 2500 feet. Looks like the mountains got a fresh coat.

http://bishopweather.com/

[Poxy Boggards]

Sweet pics! Would love to make that trip sometime.

[30lbbg2299]

Awesome beautiful cant get much better than that

[Handymansd]

So THIS is where everyone went... Steve, Andy, Paul, Greg, Ron... Once upon a time you could find all these guys all at the Jewell launching a 4:30am... Great times and another great adventure!