Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Cahaba River through B'ham

If any of you B'ham peeps happen to be near the Cahaba today, I'd be curious to hear how it looks right now...both water level and how fast/slow the current appears.

MrsGomer wants to take the kids tomorrow and do a kayak float from Grants Mill to Old Overton Rd. From what I've read if it gets too low, you'll drag in places and have to get out and walk a bit, but I've also seen videos when the water is up a bit where it can get pretty swift and dicey...way more than I'd want my kids to be on, in a kayak especially. After the rain earlier in the week, I'm curious what the status is currently.

Trying to avoid driving up there from Tuscaloosa without a decent idea what it's looking like

Have you yaked around the slab at the new Cahaba River Park west of Helena?
33.188217, -86.999524

There’s also an area near west blocton.
33.097680, -87.060538

Neither are city type areas.

there’s a website a buddy used to check before we would go but don’t know what it was, could probably google it and find it and he is right. we have made that trip multiple times and when it’s low, u drag as much as you float.

I keep meaning to put in there and take out at centreville. have yet to get around to it but I will this year

yeah, I found the site (or *a* site)...looks like it's 137cfs this morning which is "low" but not terribly so. One person I spoke with said, about this particular section, that below 170ish you'll scrape in a couple of places in a canoe, but you may just have to get out and pull it a hundred feet or so a couple of times. That isn't the end of the world. There's also a chance of a little rain this afternoon which may help...doesn't look like it'll be enough to make it bad tomorrow morning.

I drove over the cahaba bridge next to the Mt. Brook Hoggly Woggly near Liberty Park this morning. Water was up a few feet but relatively smooth. Not near as angry was it looked last week.

All the water runoff from Birmingham runs into there. Swimming or wading anywhere can be iffy these days. Check the water reports from Cahaba River Keepers at least. One water treatment plant is near Mountain Brook may end in it. Ever go to a sewage treatment plant and the guide tells you can drink it, but nobody will or they will!

Update...we went Saturday. The gauge ("Cahaba River Near Mountain Brook") peaked at 1.9' overnight due to some Fri afternoon rain, but it was at 1.18' when we put in at 11:30 and 1.15' when we took out at 3:30.

Put in on Grants Mill, took out on Old Overton Road. I believe it's roughly 7.75 miles and took us 4hrs to the minute (we stopped once for about 20 min, about halfway, and had lunch on a sandbar).

The water was pretty muddy and visibility was only about a foot. I fished a bit but no luck. With the water at that level, we scraped/bumped some rocks here and there but nothing bad. Only had to get out and drag once, and only for a few steps to get over some bigger rocks. I wouldn't want to do it if it was any lower than that though.

Current was pretty slow in most places. For the first half(ish), it was moving enough that you only had to half-ass paddle, mostly to keep yourself pointed in the right direction and just keep your forward momentum moving. There were 1 or 2 "rapids" but they were mild, other than bumping the rocks underneath. The last 1 - 1.5 miles, the current got so slow that it was basically stagnant, so more paddling was required.

All in all, good trip. Only negative is the walkways down to the water at Grants Mill and Old Overton Rd are a b**ch when you're loading/unloading 3 kayaks, 2 of which are over 100# empty, plus all the "stuff". Even with a kayak dolly, it was rough.

What were you fishing for

bass. Throwing small poppers on fly rod

I seen the fly rod, thats why i asked.

nice trip!

Any luck? That's sure fun when you get one on.

Nope, no luck Saturday...presumably because it was super muddy and we were there mid-day. I've caught plenty of bass on the fly rod though and you're right, they're a blast. They're no redfish, but a 3-4 pound bass is an ok stand-in until I can get back South.

(last summer)

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/state/Alabama/#groupBy=huc8

Here you will find the USGS stream gage data.

I have had the best luck fishing in the cahaba with a small white swimbait with a chartruese tail. I have also used larger rooster tails too. I would love to float it and fish.