Jackson Coosa in "BIG" water.

Anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows how much I love my Jackson Coosa. The Coosa is all about fun. Some of my best memories fishing are on my Coosa floating down some new stretch of river. Last Monday Mark and I did just that. We scout out the Electra run on the Mokeumne for fishing. Most area's of this river are rarely hit by anglers due to the class two and three rapids along the way. It had been years since I had done the run but I remember most of the rapids being strait forward, and there was always the option to portage is something looked to sketchy. So on a cold January morning I met up with by buddy Mark for scouting mission on the upper Moke.

Mark with the kayaks at the put in. 

We put in at around 10:00AM and it was still only 28 degrees. The Mokelumne sits low in the canyon so it wouldn't be till after noon when we got our first sun. The wet sand on the banks was frozen, and all the low handing trees along the river hung low with icicles.

Frost lining the hills. 

I have been using a Coosa for 3 years now and have become very comfortable with the kayak in most conditions. I enjoy surfing it on small standing waves, and catching eddies, etc, however during the drive up to the launch I was looking over some of the rapids we were about to run and I had a moment of hesitation. I had ran some big water in the Coosa before, but this river was smaller and more technical. The rapids were not huge, but the water was low and there were some consequences if you got off line. I decided to scout each rapid before we ran it and then make the call on wether I wanted to run it or not. 

After the first couple of riffles both Mark and I were starting to warm up. The only real part to suffer was our hands. Next time I'm bringing Pogies for sure! 

The river was beautiful. Surrounded by a mix of oak and pine trees covering the rolling hills. The river starts off flat with just a few riffles.

After about a half mile we got to the first Rapid. Before we ran it both Mark and I got out to scout the rapid. It dropped off to river left and had a good sized hole at the bottom. You had to run this one right up the V to avoid a submerged bolder on ether side. Mark decided he didn't like the looks of the rocks and wasn't willing to get wet so early in the AM, so he decided to portage and take photos. I hit my line just right and shot through the rapid without a problem. I was getting loose and realizing that the Coosa was going to take good care of me.

As we made our way down river I began to look for places to play. Small waves, or hard eddies to peal out into. I wanted to push the boats limits and see what it was capable of. I started off on a small wave and enjoyed a few minute surf. 

Mark also enjoyed the fun.

Rapid #2 was a bit more tecnical because it went around a bend and it had a chunky hole at the bottom. After looking at it from shore I decided to go wide and hit the meat of the hole. I was able to keep a strait line, and make any micro corrections I needed to while in the rapid without being pushed off my line.

Punching through the hole at the bottom.  

After I successfully ran the rapid I thought it would be fun to try and surf the hole. 

I took a few runs at it but this is as close as I got to surfing.

The last big drop of the day! 

The last drop of the day was a class 3 below the 49 bridge. The rapid was a big drop with a zipper type wave up the center. The Coosa bobbed right through without a hitch. I thought for sure I would swim without thigh braces, but the boat handled the drop with no issues. I had so much fun I decided to portage back up and run it again. 

Run #2

So now I have a whole new level of confidence in the Coosa. It opens up so many amazing fishing opportunities for us around here. Bill and I will be headed back up to fish the Electra soon, and we are going to continue to scout out new (to us) fishing grounds throughout the foothills.