Date: 10/23/10 - 10/24/10
Water Level: Low and slow
Difficulty: Low, I would not be afraid to take young children.
We put in on the SE side of the 69 bridge. There is an access road that leads to a weather? box and from there it is on foot down the concrete embankment to a small field to the waterline. We had no problems carrying our gear down and getting the boats in the water. We then drove all our trucks to the takeout at the 255 bridge, left 2 of them there and came back to 69 embark.
This was an enjoyable trip despite a few negatives, the major one being we didn't get so much as a nibble.
We threw all colors of spinner-bait, worm, top-water and I even did some fly fishing. Nada! The other annoyance was a persistent headwind on the last 1/2 of the trip that made paddling and fishing a losing combo. The scenery was great, we saw the only waterfall on the Neches, a deer swimming across the river, a solitary duck, beautiful bluffs, an old railroad track, and large cypress trees. I found the first 5 or so miles to be the most enjoyable, aside from the small falls (31.0297,-94.3798) we stopped at a restriction and swam/sat in the swifter current. The water was nice and cool and there were very few mosquitoes. We spent most of the the first day leisurely paddling and fishing and were able to find a decent sandy beach to set up camp. The next morning we were all business and made a real push to get to the takeout. The wind was really taking it out of us and we were pretty tired and ready to get in a nice comfy chair.The take out at 255 was much easier to access. There is a public boat ramp so loading up while tired was not bad at all.
All-in-All I call it a success! Wish that the fish were biting, but glad the mosquitoes weren't!
