# Learning to run Kickapoo



## BuckCarraway (Jan 5, 2010)

Well since I cant sleep I figured I would tell a fishing story.

About 12 years ago or so I was a member of Onalaska Bass club and talk about a group of wonderful people. I was just really getting in to bass fishing and didnt know much about the south end of lake Livingston. At the time I was working shift work and I would get off work at 7am. I was either hitting Conroe or Livingston every chance my wife would let me. Well one day I was headed to Livingston to learn about Kickapoo. I launched my boat and I did nothing but idle. Back then there wasnt much markings on where the channel is.

So I'm at an idle and I was south of the bridge and headed to the west shoreline to fish some boat houses. I count believe the number of stump i was bouncing off of. Well around lunch time I loaded and headed to the cafe. Several members of the bass club always ate lunch there.

During lunch I tell them about my morning and how anyone must be crazy or stupid to run that creek on a plane. Towards the end of lunch one of the guys (i will keep his name quite) said "let's go put your boat in there and I'll teach you how to navigate that sucker from one end to the other"

Well I jump on his offer and we spend the next 5 hours doing nothing but running from Fairs marina to Tripple creek and back out to Penwaugh and do it all over again. To this day I still run it the way he taugh me and knock on wood I havent hit a thing. Maybe I shouldn't say "knock on wood".

Well heres the Paul Harvey. About 4 years after that training class my instructor tore his boat up on a stump in Kickapoo....


----------



## akw96 (Dec 9, 2009)

Great story.. it's the Bumps along the way that we remember most.


----------



## Lone Eagle (Aug 20, 2009)

Good story Buck. I know how you felt as it took me quite some time to navigate there also. I lost a lower unit out on the main lake 20 years ago in an area that I thought was free of stumps / trees.


----------



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I wish everyone had a good warning when they drew it down for the dam damage from Rita. There was a lot of work that could have been done at 4 feet low to protect lower units in the future.


----------



## Davoh (Mar 5, 2010)

I actually have the same concerns around kickapoo... Anywhere on the south end of the lake I can run just fine... but I idled everywhere I went when we were fishing kickapoo this past weekend...

My friends and I had noticed a really irritating trend in kickapoo, where there were tons of boats lined up trying to fish, the guys in the $30000 bass boats and big pontoons were running flat out down the creek... obviously causing problems for some folks in jonboats... 

A little later, one of the inconsiderate types in a beautiful red and black ranger came screaming past us(we were idling along, enjoying the day), and slammed into something nasty... 45 mph to 0 in nothing flat...

I used to wait for "locals" to pass me and I would follow them in my nitro to learn where to run in areas I'm not too familiar with... I was fishing out of scotts ridge on Lake Conroe one afternoon last year, saw a guy running, and went over to follow him, since he was taking a route I wasnt familiar with... Then I noticed him heading towards a spot I know to be about 1.5 ft deep...

That taught me a lesson... don't follow strangers... there's a chance they would likely just be leading you into trouble...

So now I only cut my nitro loose in waters I know really well... least ways until I find a quicker way to learn an area...


----------



## Bozo (Jun 16, 2004)

That's just like the north part of Conroe. If you don't know how to run from 1097 to stubblefield, you're going to lose a lower unit.


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

I have always ran the bank on the west side. As you say, back when they didn't have the channel marked at all. In fact, I only knew of some "cones" on stumps. So I never even tried bumping my boat thur there. I have wanted to run it now thats its marked better. And from what I knew about running the channel, you would aim for one cone then aim for another.
Anyway, I can run that west bank at full throttle. It only has a place or two that you kinda need to know and I found that route shorter going from penwaugh to kickapoo. And why I know that route so good is because back in the day onalaska was the only place to get beer on the lake. Sumner marina...if you ran out of beer one must know how to get more, and in a hurry......ha ha. Also, I have ran kickapoo several times at night going from yaupon cove to sumner marina on a beer run...the reason I took the lake was the onalaska police pulled over everybody....because everybody was going there to get beer....but the lake at night...i was all alone....BEER RUN!!!!!! i ll run from penwaugh to kickapoo still in the dark......fog is funnier.
now that we are on that subject....you know that stump dead center of kickapoo by yaupon cove....its the stump that is i mean dead center ..it pokes out of the water due south...nice point on it. I have always gone on the west side of the stump.....seems i remember other stumps on the east side of it.....is that the right side to go by the stump? yea you know what stump i am talking about. story about that stump....went out one day and there was a boat smashed on that stump...the point had jammed into the front of the boat. The boat was stuck harpooned on that stump. don't know if anybody got hurt. I figure whoever was driving that boat probably got thrown out of the boat. Thats how I never forget that stump.


----------



## BuckCarraway (Jan 5, 2010)

I know the exact stump you are talking about! I'm glad I am not the only one that has uased a boat for beer runs. I used to do that when I lived on lake conroe...


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

yea let me make corrections....that would be the east side bank and east side of that stump. I figure somebody might have caught me on that....
yea can't miss that baby.....and i seen a boat that didn't


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Just about to call you on that cowboy.


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

yep, I ll get somebody hurt on that west side.....
hey buck do you know how to go along the east bank? If not, I ll show you sometime.....then you can show me the channel....
I ran the bank because i had an old man that knew both ways that he always ran the bank....hey you ain't got to tell me twice. But i was think about playing bounce the boat this year and see if I could make it though the channel....go BETWEEN the markers huh?
also the hummingbird works better than them days....all we had was the lowerance...that whirled in a circle...kinda showed a bar....never could read the thing..but now that i have the old hummingbird....i believe the lowerance was right. but still couldn't really read it in the day...or not enough to trust it.......good thing they came out with the hummingbird now it draws me a picture....one day i ll get one of them new ones thats just says...."FISH HERE".


----------



## BuckCarraway (Jan 5, 2010)

The channel is pretty easy now. It is clearly marked. I have run the east bank a few times but for me I feel more comfortable in the channel. I do run the west side too. You cut out of the channel over towards twin harbor cove and run the west bank over to the old hilton k.

At one time there were quite a few tournaments coming out of there and I could get ahead of about 10 boats that drew out ahead of me. I had one guy that was going to follow me and he decided to go ahead and pass me. Boy he made a big mistake and he spent the rest of the day fishing in Kickapoo.

People think that once they are out of the marked channel coming out of kickapoo it is safe running. It is not!!! A watched a guy last summer run his boat up on Dove Island.


----------



## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

*Stumps*

You guys are making me scared!!

Note to self - idle with trolling motor in kickapoo!


----------



## stewman773 (Jun 19, 2009)

I think I will stay in the creek its not to bad up their, sounds like I'm going to need a guided trip on the lake to learn the stumps.


----------



## live2fish247 (Jul 31, 2007)

I'm going to Kickapoo for my first time Friday. I'll be in the Baystealth with the jackplate all the way up idling. I didn't know it was that bad. Heard a few stories but not like this. I'd hate to hit one of them stumps. I might spill my beer.lol


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

ah come on guys where's the fun? Me and buck are talking about running this stuff at night and on beer runs. If we can do this at night and pretty intoxicated (back a few years) I am sure you can do it by day. You know the more you drink, the easier it gets to navigate the lake, or the less you notice you just missed a stump. I think about the days that we would carry a case of beer. Beer cans all over the boat. Everybody had several open containers because we had lost one or two beers. And we had rules in them days especially at livingston. rule 1 being bring your own beer and if you run out to bad. you valued your beer in livingston back then.
which brings to mind.....I can never get my timing right. when livingston was dry, I drank. Now livingston's wet, and I don't drink. I laughed at that one myself when it happened.
And the first time I ran kickapoo this year, I missed the turn by the big tree where the creek zig zags. Ended up missing the zig.....so I shut the boat down....and in a few minutes here came a boat running though there......"bing" my memory returned.
When they drained the lake for rita, that was fun.....stumps I never knew about started popping up all over the place. I had been out at the old 190 bridge fishing for days....trolling. Then where I had been trolling one day ..Up popped a stump....or the top of the bridge. Good fishing that year!
And just to let you know....I use to be able to run the north side of conroe. probably still can once I would get back there. See if anybody remembers this one: there use to be a ski course set up in a cove on the north side of conroe. It was where you had to run by the bank to get past a line of trees, then around the point was the ski course. Might still be there? Past the ski course you had to run the west bank then it would zig zag from the west bank over to the east bank at the north end of conroe. How I know all this is I use to ski in the stuff. Always make note of stumps when pulling a skier. Drunk and skiing in stumps what a blast. I was younger then. 
ok enough....buck got me started on the old days. He done shot my back about 25 years.
hey buck, I use to party at dove island too. Back when it had trees on it. ha ha and yea I know about the stumps around dove island to. Over there on the west bank as you said. Use to know my way around them. Beer runs had priority. 
The jungle....now that....thats stumps.
Really if alot of people knew what they where running over. 
lets go fish


----------



## kellisag (Feb 18, 2010)

I thought I new kickapoo pretty well been fishing there most of my life, even if that is only 22 years until last weekend when i knocked my prop off.

I'll be around all of next week and fishing if the boat gets fixed in time. If anyone has an empty back seat and wants to show me how to run it I would appreciate it, might save me some money next time.


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Livingston is famous for newly emerged stumps, I don't care if you have run it all of your life, after a good rain there will be some where you had thought you were safe. They get hung up as they float down the lake and work something like boat pungy sticks.
Cowboy, one good thing about your good old days if you hit something real drunk your chances of survival might be better because you are so limp, lol! Once saw my old neighbor, who was too drunk to see, run his bass boat all the way onto Pine island at about 70mph he flew over the bow about 50 feet rolled another 70, then got up and walked back to his boat, pushed into the lake with some help and kept on a trucking!
Anyone notice that "bird stump" by Pine Island has new scrapes on it, looks like someone tried to move it over a little.


----------



## rocket34 (Jul 7, 2009)

I am still not certain about the best way to get in to Kickapoo creek once I have run up the channel and under the east bridge. I jack the motor up and putt putt between the two islands and hang a right into the creek. I occassionally will scrape stumps and sometimes find mud but can make it. I have tried to go further north on the east side to cut through the channel behind the 2nd island but I keep getting in really shallow water. What is the recommended route?


----------



## BuckCarraway (Jan 5, 2010)

Kellisag - where were you at when you hit the stump?

BEC - That ski course is long gone. I havent seen it for at least 8 years maybe longer. Past history is kinda all melted together in the head. And yeas you are right - the jungle was horrible but man it was some awesome fishing back in the day. I never hear anyone fishing the jungle anymore. It did mess me up a little at first when Dove island dissapeared but I have established new landmarks.

SS - you are totally correct on them log jams moving - they will mess you up.

rocket - I will describe they way I run it but if you hit something it aint my fault. From the bridge head straight towards that boat house on the point. You will see some standing timber with limbs still on tree. Stay to the left of those about 40'. Once you approach the boat house make a sweeping left turn to head between the 2 islands. You are right it is shallow between those islands so when the lake is low dont come off a plane between them. Once past the mouth of the 2 islands make a hard roght turn and run about 150' off of the island on the right. Here is where it gets tricky. There will be a boat house on the left on a point. Right after that it is like a little bay area. There are a bunch of log jams and stumps in this area and you must know exactly where to run. There is one log that has moved from last fall. I suggest shutting it down at the boat house and idling the next 200 yards. once you are to where the creek is defined you can run it in the middle all the way past the power lines. But you cant do it this time of the year with all the crappie fishermen though.

hope that helps


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

i do better with map ...so heres my shot at it....here's a break down too.
go under the bridge and head for the big tree thats due north. Run just to the left of the big tree...about 100 yds past the big tree you'll see a cut between two islands make almost a 90 degree turn left...that will head you almost due west....go past the island ....turn 90 degrees again to the right and head up kickapoo.....hang center or a little to the east bank of the island....this should be pretty easy running....then watch for the stump dead center sticking up about 2 feet and pointed. I hang just to the right of it, right after i pass the stump i angle to the left and head for the bank on the west side. Be careful around the stump dead center, after you clear it you should be running again in pretty good shape..hang center or toward the west bank till you get around broken arrow marina...hope this helps.
if all that confuses you...do what I would do....get out there and wait for a boat to go through there and follow.....if they hit something, you ll know thats not the way......'
good luck


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

here's another story....thats true. right there by the 190 bridge is where i use to ski some. thats why I put hidden stump... use to be a stump in that area....but I haven't seen it so I don't know if its under water or gone.
so one day I am pulling a skier in that area. i notice another "stump" by the hidden stump....kinda threw me off because I make note of stumps and haven't never seen another stump there.....oh well, maybe a floater....and we where going away from it so no big deal. Get to the end and flip around, and head back....so I start watching for the "floater".....I noticed it had floated a good distance....as a matter of fact it was moving pretty good....got my skier in the boat and decided to check the stump out closer.....and just as I thought...the stump had feet and big mouth and big tail......probably a six foot gator. Did we stop skiing.....heck no. One of the few gators I have seen on the big lake...they usually don't like the boat traffic. But there he was right in the channel....just in case anyone ski's there.


----------



## kellisag (Feb 18, 2010)

BuckCarraway said:


> Kellisag - where were you at when you hit the stump?
> 
> BEC - That ski course is long gone. I havent seen it for at least 8 years maybe longer. Past history is kinda all melted together in the head. And yeas you are right - the jungle was horrible but man it was some awesome fishing back in the day. I never hear anyone fishing the jungle anymore. It did mess me up a little at first when Dove island dissapeared but I have established new landmarks.
> 
> ...


I was moving just more than idle speed fixing to get on plane from the bridge going back into the creek and I was off line too far to the left. It was my first time in Kickapoo since July but still not sure what I was thinking, I put in at Triple Creek so I had already ran it that morning from Triple creek out to the bridge.


----------



## kellisag (Feb 18, 2010)

Looks like I may have found your hidden stump bueyes, depending on how far it is from the bridge


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

the hidden stump is about 20 to 30 yds north of the bridge...and a little left....big stump back when.....it also use to stick up about 6". I haven't seen it but stayed clear of that area just because....once I make note of a stump in an area....i stay clear...


----------



## kellisag (Feb 18, 2010)

bueyescowboy said:


> the hidden stump is about 20 to 30 yds north of the bridge...and a little left....big stump back when.....it also use to stick up about 6". I haven't seen it but stayed clear of that area just because....once I make note of a stump in an area....i stay clear...


Wasn't that one then, I was closer to a 100yrds North of the bridge


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

hey kellisag sorry to hear about the prop....that maybe the stump.....I was going off old memory.....it might be further off the bridge. I do know there's not to much by the bridge except that one stump....years of running back and forth by the bridge skiing.
well here's the good news....now most of us are aware there's a stump to the left after you go under the bridge.
need to get a big stake and mark that thing.
you know at the age of 22 i had only 2 things on my mind....women and skiing. I didn't fish when i was younger unless the white bass where schooling.......all that changed as i got older......now all i got on my mind is ...women.....ha ha.


----------



## Rusty S (Apr 6, 2006)

You have to learn from people that knew the area before it was a lake, had a house on Indian Hills, I learned the lake from a man that saw it fill up. rs


----------



## rocket34 (Jul 7, 2009)

BC and BEC thanks for the routings. I was basically in the right place but appreciate the the info on what to look for. I also may be going too slow. I do not go between the islands on plane. BC I can hit stumps without any help from you so no liability if I clip something. 

I am still curious about that channel behind the 2nd island, it almost looks like it was dredged. Is it navigable? It looks fishy.


----------



## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

*Anyone that has to make a beer run.....*

in their boat, doesn't plan well, or has too small a boat! LOL

Just Kidding!

Later
R3F


----------



## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

red fish you must have a big boat. come on...what do you got one of them Baja cigarette boats. Dual 454 .....one that you can hear across the lake.
I do like your thinking...must be from texas. we like everything big.
I like the beer run...i thought about it...and agreed next time I ll bring the barge. And I am going to let the budweiser gals dance on it.


----------



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Only you could keep a thread like this alive so long BEC! What say everybody? More stories!


----------

