2 Days Solo Canoe Camping the St. Marys River | A Fish Took My Brand New Rod

In short: This is my first solo trip out, paddling the St. Marys by myself, fishing beetle spins for red breast on the way and setting up on a sandbar for the night. The catfish bit steady after dark on the curve. Then in the morning, while I stepped away for a second, something snatched my brand new Zebco 33 off the bank and pulled it into a deep hole over my head, gone before I could reach it.

A solo night and steady catfish

I put in with a gator right there at the landing and headed down the dead lake toward the main river, throwing a beetle spin and picking at red breast along the way. I like to fish catfish on a curve, where the current digs a deeper hole and the fish hold, so I found my sandbar on a bend with good trees for the hammock. After supper, fresh fajitas cooked over the open fire, I set the old Zebco with a worm on it down at the water and the catfish came one after another. Good ones, too, one swallowed it to the gills. I turned them all loose that night, practicing up for when Tina brought the fish fry fixings the next day.

The rod that disappeared

Come morning I was down cleaning my pan, and I threw a fresh worm out on my brand new Zebco 33 and laid it on the bank. I turned to walk back up and heard a splash. There went my reel. Right out there about ten yards the bottom drops off into a hole over my head, and whatever hit it took the whole outfit straight down. I waded out looking for it, got over my head, and had to chalk it up as a loss. Lesson learned the hard way, never leave a baited rod loose on the bank next to a deep hole. Stake it, tie it, or hold it.

History along the bank

Paddling on toward my meet up spot, I pulled over to show a couple things most folks float right past. On one catfaced pine hung the busted clay pots they used to catch turpentine, back when the naval stores industry was big all through this country. That solid old pine is fat lighter now, enough to start fires for years. Further down, poles stand up out of the water on both sides, the pilings of a bridge that once crossed between Georgia and Florida right there. One time a man stood chopping that tree and hanging those pots. What a different time it is now.

Questions about fishing the St. Marys

When is the best time to catch catfish here?

Fish the curves after dark, that is where the St. Marys gives it up. I like to target catfish on a bend because the current digs a deeper hole there and the fish hold in it, so on this solo trip I picked my sandbar on a curve with good trees for the hammock for exactly that reason. After a supper of fresh fajitas cooked over the open fire, I set an old Zebco with a plain worm down at the water's edge and let it sit. The catfish bit steady through the night, one after another, some of them good sized, one swallowed the hook clean to the gills. I turned every one of them loose that night since I was only practicing for the next day, when Tina was bringing the fixings for a real fish fry. A simple rig, a bend in the river, and patience after dark is really all it takes out here.

What are the old pots and poles along the river?

They are pieces of real history if you know what you are looking at. On one catfaced pine along the bank hang busted clay pots, leftovers from the old naval stores industry when workers chopped into pines like that one and caught the sap running out to make turpentine. That same tree is solid fat lighter now, the kind that will start fires for years to come. Further down the river, poles stand up out of the water on both sides, and those are the old pilings of a bridge that once crossed the St. Marys between Georgia and Florida. I like pulling over to point that stuff out, because most folks paddle right past it without a second look. At one time there was a man standing right there chopping that tree and hanging those pots for a living, and it is a different world now. The river remembers even when we do not.