Duck River Trip

“Just got back from a 4 and a half day, 112 mile canoe trip down the Duck River in Tennessee. Lots of good wildlife, good water, good food and more heat than you can believe!!”

“where can one pick up some information on put ins...are there gravel bars to camp on...current, flatwater...I've wanted to do this river. Thanks for postin.”

“stikmon, check out this link
http://members.aol.com/Mmcbs3/duck.html”

“lets DO IT!!!

sometimes it is nice to go somewhere else...I mean, the Points is great. One of the bestest, but I'd like to go to other places too...never know, a hot kayak chic could float into my life. I'll leave it in your court to see if you want to do a float a weekend.”

“Did you go upstream or downstream of Columbia? I have only gone upstream of Columbia, mostly near Chapel Hill, TN. I know Ernie Stewart form River Rats. He hikes with us at our local Tenn Trails Chapter. I even think he has it for sale. There are two outfitters in Chapel Hill and when we went with the Gooses' last year we went with the other guys. It is a great River to canoe as is the Elk just south of there. I go on an annual trip to the Elk and actually have a trip scheduled in August for TTA. Yall are welcome to go along. You may have to arrange for more canoes tho, most of ours are spoken for right now. Stikky come on over and join us!”

“http://members.aol.com/Mmcbs/index.html I found this site last night. It seems to have some relevant information about a lot of different rivers. It has the Duck river listed and some information about it. I live very near the Elk River, but only purchased a canoe a couple of months ago and haven't made the trip yet, but from what I can tell it should be a good trip as well, but from what I read it seems like the Duck River Trip can be stretched up to 5 or 8 days.”

“thanks for the invite..when is the August trip. I've got a few obligations for work in August, but this could be a "must do". Do your TTA members mind a free running/swimming dog? Khatru hates the boat. He prefers to swim and run. send me some information. thanks.”

“I'm on vacation this week so I just now got back online. I'll try to answer some of the questions for y'all. I plan on posting a "trip report" and photo's as soon as I can.

Stikmon, there is very little info on the Duck west of Columbia. It's reputed to be "undeveloped" and I can definately vouch for that. There are lots of gravel bars and such to camp on, but they are not very comfortable. It's all private land down to the low water mark so any campsite should be chosen with that in mind. We only met one landowner and he had no problem with our camping, building a fire, etc. Because it's not developed for canoeing you won't meet much of anyone on the river except a few local fishermen. Most are very nice, however, one boatload had us hearing banjos in the distance (ha).

Karo, we left from Columbia and went downstream (west) towards Kentucky lake. I tried to get some info from the folks at River Rats, but never got a reply from them. I've never canoed the Elk, but I've done a lot of flyfishing there. The rivers are very simular, but the Duck has more current. In fact, in places the current is a #&%!$ due to the sweepers and other stuff in the water.

BBill knox, you're right. The trip would be better as a 5 - 8 day trip. We cut ours down to 4.5 due to reports of bad weather coming as a result of the hurricane. We paddled 34 miles on the last day. Never did get the weather and I'm still sore.

The Duck also has a reputation for having more than it's share of water mocc's, but I have to say, thankfully, we only saw one. (and it was only about 5 inches long). The river is also very shallow in places. So shallow in fact, I'm gonna have to refinish the bottom of my canoe. Wood strippers are tough though, she never let me down.

Hope this answers your questions. If you have more, I'll be happy to help.

Canoeman”

“Canoeman: I look forward to hearing your trip report. I am also (when my life settles down a bit) looking forward to testing out any of the runnable rivers around here, so I might definitely have some questions for you.

Stikmon: I took my relatively new puppy out in the canoe for the first time a couple of weeks ago and he did admirably with a little coaxing and a little holding so maybe one day I will have a dog that seems to enjoy himself in the backcountry as much as your's does. We just put in at the lake and did a little paddling up the river:) I am looking for him a PFD right now. Definitely want to get that before I get him on the river.

There was a trip posted some time ago with MDS Hiker and a few others canoeing the Elk, but due to the expectation of bad weather everybody didn't show up but he and a couple others made it and apparently had a good time. So if you are ever down this way I am sure that some of us would show up to canoe with you. Isn't that right Ewker?
last edited: 7/14/05 12:26:18 AM”

“lol....I just realized that Ewker posted the same site that I did but earlier....darnit....I got to starts reading more thoroughly:)”

“Sounds good. Like I said, I've never paddled the elk but I've done a lot of flyfishing there. Maybe we can get together in a few weeks and put in some miles.”

“BBKnox, yeah I think MDShiker and another person did it.

I would like to do it just don't know when I could.”

“I put some of the pictures in a new album. Check them out.”

“Good pictures Canoeman. When I get some time for an extended trip, I'll need to ask you a few questions about the logistics of where to put in etc. about the Duck. Hopefully pretty soon I will have some spare time to start exploring the Elk. What is the fishing in the Duck River like? As you yourself mentioned the trout fishing is pretty good in the Elk and supposed to be for some distance from the dam until far enough away for the water temperature to go up too much for them.”

“I have fished the Elk at Lexie's crossroads and a place I only know as "the Colonol's place", as well as right at the foot of the dam. There aren't any monsters there, but there are some good fighters. I've caught rainbows and browns there. My best 2 days were 19 on a Friday and 16 on a Saturday. We went up there and spent the night. I've never caught one on a dry fly, everything was on either a black or green woolybugger.

As for trip info, I'll be happy to help any way I can. Put-in, take-out, campsites, whatever.”

“set up a trip for Aug 20/21 or 27/28 or Sept 17/18 or 24/25 or Oct 1/2. for either the elk or Duck. I'll be there. Preferably someone like one of you guys that knows what we need to know, like directions, shuttle details, etc...

I'm all for traveling east...also...Dave and I are considering a trip to the Big South Fork...maybe. Any interested persons? I did it last year, when she was raging...what FUN!!!”

“Stikky...when are you going to be on the "Current" River???.....I would love to do it in warm weather when I can play in my boat...get wet and not freeze!!!”

“I'll be there all next week. monday thru friday. Next weekend gig will be like the 30/31st of July. Hot enough to cook an egg on a rock.”

“"One of the bestest"

people who say "bestest" really annoy me and have no reason to live.”

“so,, but how do you really feel about it CB?”

“antagonize me. When you can keep up, let alone surpass, then give me a shout. LOL...

you really are the bestest, 2s. bestest bestest bestest.”

“Stickmon,

I'll check on the dates you mentioned and let you know. I haven't been to the office in 2 weeks so I don't have a clue how my schedule will look.

I'll be in touch.”

“just give me a shout.”