Took the wife again this weekend. I decided to do Hoover to Helena. This time, we would take out at the Hwy 52 bridge in Helena instead of paddling up Buck Creek to the park there. While the take out at Hwy 52 was a bit of a challenge, it was well worth the effort. If there are any Helena residents or officials reading this, please, please, please take the time and effort to turn the Hwy 52 bridge into something nice. It wouldn't take much and would draw visitors to your town.

We put in at Hoover at the old concrete plant after shuttling the vehicles. Yall've seen me post on that before. It's hell getting out there because of the steep hill, but it's easy putting in cause you just lower the canoe down the hill using a rope.



The water was way down. This section of the river is 9.8 miles. We didn't get on the water until 10AM. I was very concerned about being out there at dark. This turned out to not be a problem. This section gets low for sure, but it really doesn't have many shoals. The river just gets flat, shallow, and sandy. There were long stretches of the river that looked like a sand bar at the beach with water about as clear and blue in some sections. It was way better than I thought it would be and, as usual, we had the whole place to ourselves until the takeout where we saw a father/son kayaking.




What I found odd is that the middle of the river would be inches deep, but there would be deeper channels on either bank. It put the fish in very predictable positions.



I think we had to walk the canoe maybe twice? It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. There were only a couple of shoals as you neared Helena and the 52 bridge. There was another good one in Riverchase near the golf course. Since I felt pressed for time, we only stopped long enough to eat a sandwich. No swimming and no dog due to the heat. Can't wait for it to cool down some so she can start going again.


We saw a lot of deer on this trip. Here's one swimming the river.

If you go to the Hwy 52 bridge in Helena. Get off on the Helena side of the river. There's the old bridge that is still there. Beside the old bridge is a decent woods trail that you can get the truck down to the river under the bridges. Again, the bones are there for a very nice facility if Helena would put in the effort. A float from the Buck Creek Park down to the 52 bridge would be a great half day trip for someone looking to do something low impact. Maybe even get an outfitter to start running a business down there. Make it happen Helena!

The sandy, steep embankment coming out of the river under the 52 bridge.



The treacherous rocks you have to scramble over with a canoe being partially carried by my wife......



The parking lot.



Again, everything is there to make this a nice place. Hopefully someone will do it.

OK. Now that is out of the way.......


With the water low and clear, fishing behind the wife isn't very fun. She's a vacuum cleaner. She's a bass fisherman and if you think you are catching some behind her, you're wrong. When the water is up and off color, I have a chance because I can cast better than she can, but with the water down I'm toast. So, I break out the ultralite and some mini-jigs and bream fish all day. I smoked em. No telling how many fish I caught. This little bait on 4 lb test catches em and every fish in the river eats it.







The wife had her best day ever on the river. Her best 5 would have been right at 15 lbs and yes, I weighed em. She caught well over 3 dozen bass with 2 touching the 4 lb mark. It was a beatdown.

LM


Spot



Not sure how the weather will impact the river this weekend. We will see I guess. Planning on going up to Florence, AL for another trip. Might make two canoe trips.......

I really appreciate you sharing your trips, William. I find that bream fishing on ultralite tackle can sometimes be more fun than the bass. I’m also jealous you get your wife out with you.

Awesome!

Cool

Another great trip!

Only Helena can have one of the hidden gems of the state flowing right through it and have zero access points to it. The city residents are currently trying to have an uprising against the current mayor and city counsel as they are wasting 20mil on a new city hall instead of doing something financially reasonable and putting money towards things like river access and parks, etc. So no with the current admin you will probably never see any improvements at the hwy 52 bridge.

Have you thought about making the trip from highway 52 bridge to the old slab (cahaba river park out highway 13). The park is pretty nice and there is a beach area at the slab for east take out. Plus its only about 10-15 min drive for shuttling vehicles.

$20 million on a city hall? Need to vote those jokers out. Helena has tons of potential but hasn't taken advantage of it other than a couple of parks. I agree the Cahaba is underutilized.

It's on the list.


It wasn't until I sat down and started looking for other places to go that I realized just how much water there is in this state. It's amazing the number of day trips that are possible within a 2hr drive of Bham. You could just about go somewhere different every weekend.

There was a canoe service at the 52 bridge for years. The barn/building where they housed the canoes is still there as far as I know. It finally shut down, I guess no one patronized it enough to keep it viable.

Yes it closed down and has been for sale the last couple of years (for several million), but you could only access it there through there service at that time. Now that they built the new bridge you can somewhat get to the river on the right of way.