It's Doing the Limbo

I'm talking, of course, about the North Landing River. How low can she go? That's anybody's guess. However, at one point yesterday afternoon, the river scale read minus 1.09, and at 1245 p.m. today, it stood at minus 1.15.

This much I can tell you with certainty. You know it's bad when even my "Energizer Bunny" fishin' friend Ron can't get out in his kayak. In his own words, "Nowhere to launch today." Then he added, "I guess the fish would all be in the holes, but it's too windy to chase them."

Despite not being able to get the pedals on his kayak wet today, Ron ventured down to the area at the end of Old Pungo Ferry Road, where that old boat stays moored all the time. Kayakers also frequently use this site for launching. While there, he snapped the top right photo, which gives you a pretty clear glimpse of just how dismal the current water conditions are.

For the sake of comparison, take a look at the photo directly above left of the same general area, which my friend Charlie took Nov. 2, 2014, apparently before the old boat came on the scene. There's a little more water in this photo, but the difference is miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

It's times like this I've often remarked, "I wish I had an airboat--one like they use so much down in the Florida Everglades (see photo right)."

An airboat is an excellent tool for locating spring spawning beds, as well as anytime you have low water. You can get to places bass boats wouldn't have a prayer of reaching--places where the fish may never have seen a lure before.

I don't know about you, but that thought alone sends chills up and down my spine.