####Creek Company ODC420 Float tube####

Sold.......

Pick up only? No ship?....

David still looking for a ODC 420 ?

Well... looking for something.

I went fishing today and got a reminder just how big my home lake is. At 56k acres, even the furthest backwaters are daunting, overgrown and
mysterious....


Back bay off Lake Murray, SC.

Standing in the rain today, I was casting my little Beetle Spin from the bank and generally loving the angling life. Then I spotted something swimming in the murky water. Like most of the East, we've had nothing but rain for weeks and the water is like chocolate milk.... visibility is one inch or less. No joke.

I rear back to cast and IT broke the surface. To be honest, I don't know what I saw. It was 30 yards out and both the rain and water conditions made it impossible to tell. it was big enough to make me question my sanity, though.

It had fins; I could see that much. At four feet, give or take, it was prowling along minding its own affairs. My guess is a large catfish. 75+ pounders are routinely taken from the main lake.... ten miles away. However, weeks of swollen creeks dumping into the lake could very well have brought one of the beasts into this back water.

It may have also been a *medium* sized gar, which is worse. I caught one last year from my kayak that had me pretty shook up. Again, I was flinging a Beetle Spin into some shallow structure and thought I had hung on a snag... until my "snag" swam off with me in tow. When I had reeled myself up to it - not the other way round - I saw what I had to contend with. Lets just say I was relieved when it spit my battered spinner back into my lap and sauntered off.

No kidding; it actually sauntered. I felt like I was no more than a bothersome little pimple on its @ss

If you've ever seen one of these long-nose gar, you'll know that having one at tubin' level cannot be for the faint of heart. If you've NEVER seen one, think barracuda with a longer, bigger mouth.

I recently sold a ten foot kayak so I could try tubing. Right now, I'm checking Craigslist for a bigger kayak...

Still available. .....

dayhut wrote:Pick up only? No ship?....

I can ship but you would have to pay for it.

Of course I would pay shipping. I had no other notions.
But Im still vacillating...

dayhut wrote:Of course I would pay shipping. I had no other notions.
But Im still vacillating...

Let me know.

WIll do Im out of town for a week.
WIll make some sort of decision when I return.

Gar + tubing = crinching ..
Gator + tubing = piss and poop in my shorts.

TheAsianGuy wrote:Gar + tubing = crinching ..
Gator + tubing = piss and poop in my shorts.

hmm well that maybe a defense mechanism against a Gator , who would want to eat that , Or it may make you taste better as now all the toxins are gone


WES

dayhut wrote:Well... looking for something.

I went fishing today and got a reminder just how big my home lake is. At 56k acres, even the furthest backwaters are daunting, overgrown and
mysterious....


Back bay off Lake Murray, SC.

Standing in the rain today, I was casting my little Beetle Spin from the bank and generally loving the angling life. Then I spotted something swimming in the murky water. Like most of the East, we've had nothing but rain for weeks and the water is like chocolate milk.... visibility is one inch or less. No joke.

I rear back to cast and IT broke the surface. To be honest, I don't know what I saw. It was 30 yards out and both the rain and water conditions made it impossible to tell. it was big enough to make me question my sanity, though.

It had fins; I could see that much. At four feet, give or take, it was prowling along minding its own affairs. My guess is a large catfish. 75+ pounders are routinely taken from the main lake.... ten miles away. However, weeks of swollen creeks dumping into the lake could very well have brought one of the beasts into this back water.

It may have also been a *medium* sized gar, which is worse. I caught one last year from my kayak that had me pretty shook up. Again, I was flinging a Beetle Spin into some shallow structure and thought I had hung on a snag... until my "snag" swam off with me in tow. When I had reeled myself up to it - not the other way round - I saw what I had to contend with. Lets just say I was relieved when it spit my battered spinner back into my lap and sauntered off.

No kidding; it actually sauntered. I felt like I was no more than a bothersome little pimple on its @ss

If you've ever seen one of these long-nose gar, you'll know that having one at tubin' level cannot be for the faint of heart. If you've NEVER seen one, think barracuda with a longer, bigger mouth.

I recently sold a ten foot kayak so I could try tubing. Right now, I'm checking Craigslist for a bigger kayak...

I've seen gar in the Cooper River that would scare a gator.... 

I've seen gar in the Cooper River that would scare a gator....

Oh yeah! I still recall my first monster.


My first gar in South Carolina, this particular "monster," was a total shock to me. I thought it was a log, idly drifting... until it moved.
I still have a vivid image of the thing. This was off the Deep Step section of the Savannah River in Stevens Creek, Augusta, GA. Those who know the area wont be surprised.

I know, I know; I can hear you now. It IS hard to talk about these without sounding like a "fishing lawyer." For those who haven't seen them it is hard to wrap your mind around.

When I'm afield in the summer, I routinely see 3-4 footers. Once in a while, I will find the carcass of a five footer some catfisherman got ahold of in the dark. They are prehistoric remnants of a vastly different time - they haven't changed/evolved in over 100 million years. Biologists tell us they cannot give them a definite size limit, because - in theory - they never stop growing.

If you watch Jeremy Wades' show, "River Monsters," you know the cousin of the long nose gar is the alligator gar. If you know THAT, then you probably know of the attacks on humans by these fish, too.

Now, I don't fear being assaulted by Ol' Long Nose, because I don't believe that has ever happened. I'm rarely BOTHERED by them, either, except when bad luck has me tossing a bait they take a liking to. We can say the risk is admittedly low.

It isn't me, but them, however, that initiates contact. I remember that I have CHOSEN to be there at that point. So, I err on the side of discretion with this adversary. Toothy, razor sharp "weapons" on big massive fish around a float tube seems like a recipe for trouble of SOME kind.   

Folks in my area kill every gar they catch as a trash fish that destroys fisheries. Of course, they are mistaken; that is nothing like the truth. As with all creatures on Earth, they have their place and their role.
I can't stop this wanton destruction, and I don't endorse it. So I'm not hating on the fish.... rather, I prefer to respect it  - - big time!

Bump. ......