Green River has been on my list of places to travel to and fish and when an invitation came to camp on private land and float the river with a group, I was quick to say yes. Sadly, conditions were flooded so we opted to hit Russell Creek, another famous bass stream here in Kentucky. The creek was running more like a river and the water was cloudy as creamed coffee. I still managed to pull a few fish out while enduring the sweltering solstice sun.
This was also the first real use of my complete camp kitchen. Bacon, burgers, steak. Nothing was off the menu and having ready access to a cooking surface was very convenient. Truck camping at its best.
I had new lures and big hopes for this trip and one of the better producers was an orange and black crawfish. I used a mushroom head Ned jig and the floating craw stood up straight in the water just like you want. A largemouth and a spotted bass were pulled from the same hole under a log where a feeder creek fed into the Russell. I think these fish were starving in this muddy water for months to hit as hard and as often as they did. Each cast was peppered with soft strikes as the lure sank until finally catching the hook edge and winning a free tour of my net.
The spider pictured is a ‘dark fisherman’ spider.He was on the back of a bobcat pelt hanging on the bunkhouse wall. The bobcat was shot on the same property where we camped. They grow them big down here in the jungles of Kentucky. The cats AND the spiders.