Guys,
I’m not familiar with the Cahaba at all. I’m wanting to plan a float/fishing trip with my wife in our kayaks. Of course I’ll wait until the weather warms up. Right now I’m looking for recommendations on put in and take out locations. Do y’all know of anyone that offers a shuttle service? We have our own kayaks.
Thanks,
Lonster

Limestone in Bibb county is on little cahaba and they will shuttle you.beautiful area very scenic float but I would call ahead to make sure they are there but usually are.mostly people are renting tubes and drinking beer floating with their friends in big groups.
Look up cahaba river Rd. and river bend Rd in west blocton.no shuttles but very easy to drop a vehicle and drive up to the put in and float back to dropped vehicle.thats the cahaba lilly park and the Lillie's will be bloomed out here before long.its pretty easy float with a few fun shoals and drops but much safer than further upstream on cahaba with spillways on a few of the trips to know how to deal with.
If y'all want to do a float from river road to river bend message me and we can talk I can pick you up and carry you back if we can coordinate a day that works for y'all.its roughly 6 hr float depending on water.will be pretty fun and fast in march.i live ten minutes from there.i have a canoe might float with y'all also

Also the cahaba lilly park preserve is a good place to put in and paddle upstream in warmer months when water is slow.youll get to a old train trussle up stream with about 4 ft water fall. it's got deep rock wall pools with good fishing in those deep holes and edges of current

Thanks 3%! I’ll get up with before we decide to do this, will probably be May before we try it.
Lonster

I have a place. The whole back side of Our lease is on the cahaba, it is a 3-4 hr float from the put in at the top of the property to our takeout on the lower end of the property. Or you can float from our place to centerville. We float it a good bit during the warm months. May is a good time to float it the Cahaba lilies bloom in may.

We used to put in at 280 bridge and paddle upstream, very slow current and pretty good fishing. Great scenery considering how close to town it is.

That sounds good. How far is it from your place to Centreville?

We use to float from riverbend bridge down to centerville. Public access both ends. There is a good bit of dead water on that float but it is good fishing and takes about 1/2 day depending on the water level.

Thanks Oldbowhunter.

10 minutes max.

We used to have 3 floats that we made - put in at Sprott and float to the old Fikes Ferry; put in at Fikes Ferry and float to Suttle; put in at Suttle and float to the old bridge just below Okmulgee creek. I'm not sure you can still get to the river at the last one, but the other 2 floats are still doable.

The river is much different in these floats than those already mentioned. It's below the fall line and has changed from rocks to sand and gravel, along with the somewhat unique soapstone.

We used to get soapstone rocks out of the river and on to the bank, then break them up with a screwdriver and pick out the willow grubs to use for bait. Just about every fish in the river would bite them. I've read accounts of people who snared redhorse suckers in the Cahaba, and they always explained that you couldn't catch one in a hook. They never tried fishing with willow grubs; I've caught a bunch of them. A 4 pound redhorse on a fresh cut rivercane pole is a lot of fun.

Now that they have the cahaba river park is open between Helena and Woodstock I would like to float from the bridge in Helena down to the old slab at the park, but it doesn’t appear that the old tube place by the bridge will allow access to the river.

So the grubs burrow down inside rocks?? I’ve never heard of that. Pretty neat. You have any pics?

Cahaba Blueway


My wife and I fish on the Cahaba a lot. Typically, we are somewhere between Trussville and Hoover. Last year we did the Cahaba Lily float in early June. We went from Cahaba Wildlife Refuge down to Sprott's Ferry just above Centerville. If you decide to go on the lily trip, make sure you go during the middle of the week. Once the lilies start blooming, the weekends get crowded. My wife and I went on a Mon or Tues last year and never saw another boat. It was just us in two vehicles and left them parked at the put in/take out.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures. The last time I went willow grub fishing was in 1974. I have often wondered if anyone still does that.

I am no expert on the Mayfly, (I don't think willow fly is an official name), but I think that they burrow into all types of river bank except the solid rock. The thing that makes the soapstone unique is that it's hard enough to hold together when you take the chunks out of the river, and still is soft enough that you can break it apart. The soapstone rocks and banks both are filled with the tunnels of the grubs. Getting them out of the bank would be difficult, but if you can get a rock out then it was pretty easy to get your bait.

You had to find just the right spot. It has to be a soapstone bank, and probably no more than 10% of the river had that. Then you had to find a spot shallow enough to wade in, and also a spot where you could roll the rocks onto the bank. Most of the rocks we got out were 20 or 30 pounds, but occasionally we would find one that was 100. If you found the right rock, you could get all the bait you needed in 10 minutes. But sometimes it was a struggle and you might spend an hour. It was always messy work and getting in the river and rolling the rocks out was a job for young folks.

I suspect that there are other rivers where this is done, but I am not aware of them. I don't think that part of the Cahaba that had this kind of soapstone bank was more than about 30 miles long. I don't think you would find it above the fall line. Anyone do it anywhere else?

Once you got your grubs, you put them in a coffee can with a little water and you were set to catch a whole bunch of fish. The most efficient way to fish them was to anchor the boat in a deep hole and use a SC rig. The most fun way was to get out on a soapstone bank and fish with a pole. We probably caught more drum than anything, but almost every fish in the river would bite them. I don't remember ever catching a buffalo, but most everything else hit them

It was an early to mid summer method. The grubs would start to emerge was willow flies in August and that would be the end of it. It was a way to catch a bunch of fish in hot weather.

Thank you for the write up. Learn something new every day!

I have floated every mile of the Cahaba from above I-20 to Centerville. Grew up on the stretch Below 280 to Caudwell Mill Road.

PSA..do NOT try to float that river when it is up from heavy rains. It might look like fun but it is deadly.

We strictly fish when we go. My go/no-go gauge height is 1.6ft at the Overton Rd gauge. Anything more than that makes it impossible to fish and dangerous to navigate. Shoals are dangerous above 280 and fallen trees are dangerous below 280.

Any crappie in the Cahaba?

A few you'll catch occasionally