I’ve had a few lousy canoe trips in my time. Especially in my early days of canoeing when I didn’t have the money to purchase decent gear yet was stupid enough to go canoeing in the cold rain and snow. But this recent canoe trip definitely tops my list of lousy canoe trips. In fact it was such a lousy canoe trip I actually turned around and headed back to base camp only a few minutes into the trip.

It was simple. I planned on paddling upriver through a deep channel of the Delaware River for about an hour then slowly float down river, fishing on the way. I figured I was facing about a three hour trip. Well it didn’t turn out that way. In fact I was back to camp in less than one hour from when I left camp.

It started easy; I loaded the canoe and gear with no problems, I then drove to the canoe launch and unloaded my canoe, I parked the car and prepared to launch. But as I pushed my canoe in the river I managed to stub my toe in a mangled piece of concrete that had broken off from the boat launch. Now the best part of this is that I never wear sandals while canoeing because I don’t feel sandals protect my feet as well as paddling shoes. Well this one time that I decided to wear the sandals I proved my theory right as there I was laying on the ground, swearing, gripping my poor stubbed toe. Luckily there were no other boaters at the launch to witness my momentary stupidity.

Ok, after a few minutes of rolling on the ground at the rivers edge the pain and swelling subsided and I decided to launch. It was all good. The sun was shining, there was a nice cool morning breeze gently blowing the rivers mist, and after a few minutes of paddling I even took a moment to cast my rod into a small cove and managed to catch a small mouth bass on my second cast. It was like a paddlers dream. I knew it would be a good day. But suddenly I realized I forgot to apply my sunblock, so I pulled over at the nearest convenient location and began to apply sunblock on my body. Once finished applying my sunblock I begin to paddle back out to the channel when I decided to cast one more line before committing myself to the grueling upstream challenge. As I gripped my fishing rod by the handle I was unexpectedly zapped in the hand with a very sharp pain, and in my reaction to the unexpected sharp pain I dropped the fishing rod into the river. My first thought was that I had hooked myself but then noticed the bee stinger dangling from my hand. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to cast my rod after the painful sting but it didn’t really matter as my recently purchased fishing rod was at the bottom of the deep channel of the Delaware River.

Did you ever get so disgusted while pursuing your passion that you decide to give it up for a while? Well on this day I did. I actually turned the boat around and paddled back to the car. I arrived back to camp within the same hour of leaving camp and crawled into the tent to sleep off my frustration. The only good thing about this day was that it was only a cheap Cabelas fishing rod I had lost in the Delaware River.

Now I’m basically a river paddler, but last summer I spent a good portion of my paddling hours canoe fishing on Lake Nockamixon at the Nockamixon State Park. Most of that canoe fishing occurred at night and turned out to be some awesome times spent on the water. Putting a canoe on a lake usually isn’t very thrilling to me. But do it at night and suddenly things change. Things come to life at night. Things that you normally won’t see or hear during the daylight hours. The night offers quiet water, wildlife sights and sounds, fireflies, cooler weather, moonlight and bright stars.

Tonight’s paddle started out at around 7:00pm and lasted until 10:30pm. That’s not long at all compared to last summers canoe fishing trips, but I wasn’t fishing tonight. I was just taking my Mad River Legend out for a paddle in the dark. And I almost always take my camera with me when I go paddling, but I’ve probably taken my camera out to Nockamixon a dozen times and never captured a decent moment yet, so tonight I decided to let the camera at home and just go for that paddle. What a mistake that was. First thing, a hot air balloon floats over Lake Nockamixon for around an hour, several times decending to just feet above the waters surface offering the perfect camera subject so near to me. It would’ve been the first real photo opportunity I ever had on Nockamixon. Only a few minutes after this balloon faded over the hillside I decided to paddle along the shoreline and spot something interesting, and I did. There was a muskrat swimming to shore and within 20 ft of my canoe. This was actually my first sighting on a live muskrat and would’ve been another great photo opportunity, if I had brought my camera.

Aside from the missed photos, everything else went well, bright stars, sounds of wildlife, cool temperatures, and plenty of fish jumping around my canoe, but no photos for this boring blog post. From tonight forward, the camera goes everywhere I go. I think a waterproof camera might be in the future.

Many Pennsylvania residents think the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is only responsible for stocking our rivers, lakes and streams with trout. But the Commission provides us with services and information beyond trout fishing. For example, the Pennsylvania Water Trail Guides are guides of Pennsylvania’s most popular canoeing destinations, and several trails like the West Branch Susquehanna Water Trail are even recommeded by the American Canoe Association.

There are other guides available like the boat access ramp guide, approved trout water guide, baoting laws, safety tips for paddlers, Pennsylvania snakes guides and more.  

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/watertrails/trailindex.htm

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/promo/form/pubs_free.htm

Fall is in the air and that means it’s time for a change in my paddling habits. This summer I mostly did canoe fishing trips on local lakes such as Nockamixon and Beltsville. And I really neglected my kayaking this year, but that’s alright because I generally do slow down on the kayaking throughout the dog days of summer, then pick it up again in the fall. And that time is here again.

One of my favorite fall kayak trips is through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. There are several sections on the river where you can paddle around the boat access and enjoy fall colors without having to paddle with the flow downriver. Poxono Boat Access is one of those areas. But if you are looking for a lengthy fall foliage kayak trip on the Delaware River then you might want to consider beginning at Dingmans Ferry Bridge and paddling to Smithfield Beach or beyond to the Kittatinny Point Visitor Center.

The Moshannon Falls blog has more information on this fall foliage trip through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.         

So I went canoe camping on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River over Memorial Weekend 2008, and I took along my new Sony DCR SR45 HandyCam for a test run. Below is one of my first videos taken with the Sony. It is a short clip taken from my canoe while floating through one of the calm sections of the West Branch called Miller’s Landing.