Wednesday July 23, 2014 Jenner CA.
Second night out hunting lumens or phyto phosphorous plankton
After yesterdays good lumens I decided to go out again tonight and see what I could see. But tonight, I’d paddle up to Markham hole, a deep hole about two and a half miles up the river. It’s one of the deepest holes in the river at a depth of around fifty feet.
So, that meant I had to putter around the yard and do some house work too. I moved my old TV which I haven’t used for twenty years or so out to the junk pile I’m making outside. I also moved a bunch of stereo stuff out there and a few more things.
Jenner at Six PM
I went on down to Jenner around six PM and put my boat in the water. The wind was up just a little as I headed on over to Penny Island and on up the river.
Near otter’s log, some cormorants were fishing in the water. Here’s a few of them.
I paddled over by Paddy’s rock and saw these cormorants, geese and merganser ducks resting on the shore, keeping their eyes on me as I passed.
I looked back towards the town of Jenner before continuing on up the river.
Here, I’m headed to the highway one bridge, which I passed under.
I passed by these bovines getting a drink in the river. They were peaceful and didn’t charge as I went by.
Checked out Willow Creek
It would be awhile yet before it got dark, so I entered Willow Creek and checked it out for a bit.
Seal Haven
It was starting to darken a bit as I went back out on the river and headed up to Seal Haven, just ahead of me in this picture.
There was only one harbor seal at Seal Haven and a merganser duck.
Markham Hole just ahead
It’s getting darker as I head up to Markham hole, just ahead in this picture.
I pulled into Markham hole and waited for it to get darker and this is what my view looked like looking up the river.
And my view across the river from Markham hole, just as it started to get too dark to take anymore pictures.
Waited to get dark enough to see the lumens
I waited until about 9:30PM for it to get dark enough that I should be able to see the lumens and started looking around the Markham hole for them.
But the Markham hole only had fresh water on the top, so I didn’t see any lumens.
I headed on down the river, on the north side and looked for lumens along the way.
Started to pick up the lumens
I didn’t see any lumens until I got almost to the Willow Creek area, where I started to pick up some flashing fish under the water in the lumens. It was mostly fresh water on top, until I got just past Willow Creek on the south side of the river, where I also started to see more big fish flashing under the water.
I was seeing lots of lumens and fish as I paddled down the south side of the river, just below Willow creek.
Just before I hit the first house, I crossed back to the north side of the river and there were still lumens over there, but not as thick and not as many fish as on the south side in this area.
Just before going under the highway one bridge, I crossed back to the south side of the river, where the lumens were real thick and lots of fish too.
I crossed under the bridge in thick lumens, my paddle was making lots of light with each paddle.
Less fish below the bridge
I worked on down the south side of the river in heavy lumens, but the fish were less as I worked on down.
I crossed over to Paddy’s rock. There were thick lumens but not too many fish.
I crossed over to the south side again to eagle’s landing which was heavy in lumens and just some fish. I worked my way down to Otter’s log, seeing lots of lumens and only a few fish.
At otter’s log, I crossed over to the north side of the river, by the highway and went on down the channel to the boat ramp. I saw a lot of lumens, but the fish were petty scarce in that area, only saw a few of them.
Urge to be home
I was thinking of going down towards the river’s mouth to check out some harbor seals, but as I approached the boat ramp, the urge to go home overtook me so I pulled in at the boat ramp and loaded my boat and went on home for the night at around 11:00PM.
My view of Jenner as I approached it in the dark.
River mouth open deep salt water action
From my experience, when the river’s mouth is open, deep, like it is now, the high tide rushes in and pushes most of the fresh river water back up the river, just past Willow creek and because of this, I don’t see much in the way of lumens above Willow creek under this condition and none in the Markham hole.
I had a nice night out under the stars and the wind had died down to make the surface of the river flat, which is about the best one could hope for.