Pickett’s Bayou, Linda’s Narrows, unnamed gully, and the Cutoff
Sept. 23, 2017
by Kent Walters
This was an impromptu, unofficial, no club mileage trip arranged by David Portz at about 12:30 Saturday afternoon with a phone call. We were on the water at the boat launch at the end of CR 417 by a little after 3:00PM, paddling down a very lively wide section of Pickett’s Bayou. We spied great blue heron, great Egret, Kingfishers, and quite a few anhinga. One small anhinga appeared to be injured – it looked like it might have had something stuck in its throat, since it wasn’t swallowing what it had in its beak, but we could not get close enough to know for sure (it could fly and was fully capable of stabbing).
(Click on photos to enlarge)
As in other bayous in the area, there was a high water mark, or bathtub ring, at about 10’ over the current water level from the recent flooding. Where there was exposed mud on a bank, it appeared as if the water had receded in regular stages, since it seemed to maintain a band with a little ridge about every 6-8 inches or so. There was one area to the side of the main channel that was really thrashed, with undercut banks about 6 feet up from the water.
As the bayou narrowed, we came upon a few minor obstructions from fallen trees that were easily negotiated, in an Indiana Jones sort of way, with big spiders. We went right where the short connector is between Pickett’s Bayou and The Cutoff. Dave Kitson will know the name of it, but we don’t. This was an easy decision because the continuing portion of Pickett’s Bayou was blocked by a lot of fallen trees.
In the Cutoff, we saw a Snowy Egret and a few great Egrets and a turtle. David practiced ramming and then balancing on a log – his signature move. This scared all the remaining wildlife in the area shitless. Sorry to take such blunt poetic license here, but there really was no comparable adjective better suited.
Scene of the crime
We decided to follow the breadcrumbs back to where we started. Back on Pickett’s Bayou, the water seemed to be alive. Fish were jumping and slapping and swirling and boiling all around us. We decided that if you were fishing here and did not catch a fish, you needed to find a completely new line of work. We saw another great blue heron, and the same osprey a couple of times.
Toward the end of our little adventure, the clouds took on a very interesting pastel palette.
All too soon we came around the collection of cypress knees that guard the inlet that houses our boat launch, and we climbed out of our kayaks at 7:00, very satisfied that we had made the right choice.
David Portz, milquetoast
How far we went, how long it took us, and where we went:
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The author, Kent Walters |