THE FULL AMISTAD REPORT

PROLOGUE

Fifteen years ago I had a dream of taking my young family to this large remote lake on the Texas/Mexico border. Back then, getting everybody and gear on the cat was no big deal as there were two adults and two preteens. I had wanted to put everything needed to camp on the boat and sail for a week. Over time I developed some items that would make it possible but the trip didnt happen. As I planned the vacation I researched and Amistad was at record lows. At full capacity, the lake is 130,000 acres but with the level down 40ft, it was less than half that in surface area. Down but not out, we changed the venue to another Texas lake not far from home. That lake was Possum Kingdom. We had a good time but camped in developed areas as there is development all around the lake.

Fast forward to Fall 06 and I became intrigued with Amistad again as I kept hearing of fishing reports that were fantasy like. I usually take a canoe trip in September on the Brazos River with a buddy of mine named Mark. Instead of the usual venue, I suggested we try Amistad and he agreed. We went, we caught fish, and enjoyed the solitude. Like on the Brazos, we were in a canoe. It went well, but while paddling in the breeze, I couldnt stop thinking of the original dream from long ago.

Now it is Spring 07 and Ive convinced myself that im taking the Hobie this trip. Ive got a lot of work to do on the boat as it has sit unused for a couple of years. I took up windsurfing a couple of years ago and my poor boat has rested in the backyard until now. Problem was that the boat needed lots of stuff to make her dependable for a trip of this magnitude. Hulls needed reglassing, inspection ports installed, standing rigging replaced, and a new tramp, not to mention a trailer overhaul. Over the summer, my paypal got a workout on ebay gathering items needed for the boat's refitting.

Its now late summer and the trip is going to happen. Im 42, and my dad is 62. I decide to offer the first mate position to him as I know time is never forever. My pop is a busy guy and had just came out of the backcountry in Wyoming. Turns out he had been gone for 6 weeks. He really wanted to go but he had to return to work. Mark was second on the list and he accepted.

The plan was simple. Take the boat and a pair of kayaks to Lake Amistad. Sail to where we wanted to fish/camp. We had 8 days of this ahead of this. I hope you enjoy the story and pictures.


THURSDAY NIGHT

The Thursday before I left was a busy one wrapping up things to be ready for Fridays early departure. There is that list of things to do that seems to get longer instead of shorter when doing expeditions of this nature. The clock always seems to run faster than checking things off the list. I managed to finish up at 10:00 or so and tried to lay down and get some sleep.

FRIDAY

Mark arrives right on time Friday morning and we hook up the boat. Its then I realize the trailer light plug in isnt going to reach. AAArg! I end up cutting off the end off my motorcycle trailer and splice it in. We are behind a bit but manage to leave by 5:30am. Its not long before we clear Ft Worth and are making time to Abilene. From there we take a left and head south for a couple of hundred miles. The land scape starts changing slowly and by the time we clear Sonora, the topography and general environment changes in a big way. We are most definetly in desert now. After a quick lunch in Sonora, we hop in the truck for the last time. Before we know it, the turn off to Rough Canyon is before us.



We make the boat ramp and get our permit. 28 bucks for all of the boating and camping we can handle. Now comes the boat assembly. It goes smoothly and in 45 min I have Banana on the water with her sails showing and a bunch of gear strapped on. Oh yes, she is dragging two kayaks too. Its later in the day and there isnt much breeze but you know how it is. If there is any wind at all, the boat will move albeit slowly.

We shove off and slowly make our way up the northern canyon of the lake which is where the Devil River used to be. Camp is 8 miles up and we end up chilling as the sailing was less than hairy. I was concerned about the wind because as you go up the lake there are some really tall (3-400ft) cliffs on one side of the lake. The wind was quartered at our back and they didnt present a problem going in. We made camp in 2.5 hours. It would of taken 5-6hours by canoe and our arms would of been too tired to fish. Camp is quickly made and we hop into the yaks and fish until last light. Night falls and we make sandwiches for dinner as lunch was still with us. Sleep comes easy.


heading up the lake


your captain


first landing



SATURDAY

I sleep in a bit but hunger and heat drive me from my tent by 8am. I grab a poptart and a paddle and go out to do battle with the bass. Mark is already out there and has worked around a point. Fishing was a little slow until I switched to a spinner and started catching some monster bream/bluegill. It goes like this most of the morning. The plan was to pack up and head up the river as far as we could go. Lunch came and went and we loaded Banana. Again there is a very slight breeze and its blowing directly into the small long cove we are in. It takes awhile but we wiggle our way out and around the point. The lake is getting very narrow. Probably 200 yards across and more tall vertical cliffs are on our left. That light breeze is killing me as the boat is really loaded. The wind is of course swhirling. Im about to pull in sails and paddle when a steady wind picks up. One and a half hours to cover 1/4mile turns into a nice 5mph ride.



wind robbing cliffs

We make progress and a mile passes under the hulls. I start to notice water current going the opposite direction but the boat is still making forward progress.


notice the water is getting shallow

Im starting to see the bottom more frequently now and I hear the rudders thunking on the bottom from time to time. I decide its time to pull up the rudders, drop the mainsail and walk her upriver. I let the wind push the jib but I am steering it by walking behind the back beam.


as you can tell, there are "holes"

We soon find that we cant go any farther.




So we decide to set up camp.





Same camp except at night


SUNDAY/MONDAY

The next couple of days find us spending our time fishing some really nice water. The water clarity is amazing....for Texas anyway. The river bed is limestone and there is an algae that grows on the really flat stuff and gives the water that blue green tinge. Pictures dont do it justice. It looks like the water at the beach in those Corona commercials. We are armed with light spinning tackle and assorted plastics and spinners. We are make contact early and often.


Did you see that fish jump?


It really was a fish!


Typical water




Another nice Smallie

THE BIG ONE

I am standing in a foot of water and water is rushing over a lip just in front of me. This lip goes from bank to bank. 60ft in front of me there is another lip that goes bank to bank. In essence, there is a 10ft deep trough in front of me. I just know the current is dropping stuff in here and there should be some fish. I take my time and catch a few nice ones on my drop shotted 4 inch lizard. I am using 6lb flourocarbon fishing line and a 5 1/2 foot ultra light rod. I am casting to the lip in front of me and letting the current wash it into the the trough. The current brings it back to the wall I am standing on and I pick it up to make another cast. This time it is different.....

I make a cast and the current brings it back to me and as I am picking my lure out of the water, a really big fish comes out of nowwhere as he has been following the lizard at a distance. The fish hangs in front of the wall in front of me literally under my feet. He slides with the current down the wall and into the depths. I look at what I have in my hand and just have to laugh. I am armed with a pocket knife when I should be in a tank for this one. What the hey? I lob my lure to where the fish should be and immediately my line goes tight. I set the hook and get ready to get the buttwhoopin' I deserve. The fish runs 20 yrds off my spool. I touch on the spool a bit to slow him down. He then breaks water......not good. The hook still holds as I jab my rod in the water in hopes of keeping him from jumping. The fish is 20 yards away and I can see him thrashing under water. Its a big flippin fish. Im yelling at Mark who has to be a quarter mile upriver and he never hears me. The fight goes on. I get some line and he takes more. This has gone one awhile and I know the longer it goes, the hook is gonna give it up. He makes runs all over and then does what I hoped he wouldnt. He comes over the edge that I am standing on and uses the current heading down stream. For some reason, he reverses course and gets back in the trough. Now I am shaking as I am starting to think I have a chance at touching this fish. Slowly but surely I gain ground. I have no net, so I have to lip him. I make a grab and I now have the thing in my hands. Amazing. Ill bet they could hear me yelling in San Antonio.



Self portrait


Aint she pretty

After a long revival period holding her in the current, I let her go.


TUESDAY

We decide to spend the day fishing upriver and make a new camp as we had been coming back to Banana camp every night. We work our stuff and the river gives it up all day. By this point, Im sunburned and happy. I have been catching the huge bream that live in this river and had a couple on the stringer as we needed some meat for dinner. We crank up the burner and add the peanut oil and fry up some fish right there on the spot.


Yaks resting




Dinner and Camp

WEDNSDAY

The plan was to get up and make our way back to the Banana, load up, and be at the boat ramp for lunch. We got off to a good start and paddled our way down river back to the boat. We had tied her up good as the river can jump 3-4ft in a hurry from rains as far as 100 miles away. Everything was as we left it. We loaded up and used the current to get us down into the "lake". It was like magic, as soon as I dropped the rudders, the wind QUIT. It got so bad that I pushed/paddled 1/4 mile. Worst part was what little wind we had was at 12'oclock and there wasnt enough room to point out of it. It took an hour to go 1/2 mile. Finally, the water widened, and we made better time. We had to travel a mile of water to clear 1/4 mile upwind. It was slow progress but we were moving until we got to the really big cliffs. I have never been so frustrated in a blow boat all my life. These cliffs are huge. The wind was intermitent. I could feel it blow on my face and the sail would swing and then all of the sudden the boat would stop. It was like the wind would blow and fill the canyon and then backfill the sail. I would have wind in my face but couldnt hook it up. It took hours to make the next 1.5 miles. We missed our lunch at the boat ramp goal and dinner wasnt looking good either. Eventually, we worked our way out and the wind picked up.


Headed towards the dreaded cliffs.


Escaping the river.


Before I was frustrated.

I was never so disgusted but as soon as I got a bit of wind, I calmed down and we headed down the lake. In the end it took 8.5 hours to go 10 miles. Not a good day on any kind of boat. We made the boat ramp around 6 and went to the marina establishment and had ourselves a pizza and ice cold refreshments. Fresh ice was added to the Coleman and we pushed off in the attempt to go further down the lake before making camp. As so common, the wind dies with the sun and we only made a mile or so down from the ramp. The Banana touched shore and we made camp. Camping on the upper portions of Amistad is difficult at best. There is rock everywhere and none of it is flat. Imagine trying to set up a tent on the rock riprap on the side of a dam. I brought a hammock along and found two trees willing to hold me up for the night. Oh yes, fire ants rule down here and they are ruthless as they are abundant. The previous year I had stepped on a raisin and it was crushed on the bottom of my sandals. One measley raisin. I brought that shoe in the tent along with two small brick sized rocks to hold the tent down. I woke up to 5000 ants that got in from a 1 inch opening in the door zipper. They really wanted that raisin and had already started building a mound under one of the rocks. It took me over an hour to shake out the tent and pick out stragglers.

There is still a couple of days left but Im tired. I will finish this thing as soon as I can.