pulled a couple of sinkers today!

[mattyboy88]

 

  

   i only got to pull two of them today because i lost my diving knife and felt unsafe to dive.

[mattyboy88]

 

 

[clww]

Impressive looking logs.
Plans?

[mattyboy88]

plans are to get about 10 to 15 more of them and the saw mill, or log buyer who pays the most will get them. haha cant wait untill we pull up some sinker cypress. thats the highest demand wood.

[Timbercruiser]

Nice Job !! suposed to be good money in that type of stuff good luck with it 

[mattyboy88]

thanks Timbercruiser! just gotta watch out for the logger head snappers! :D

[Timbercruiser]

it seems like its pretty good money for low volume of wood. I hope it goes good an at least you make one dollar anyway  :

[pineywoods]

Looks like pine... from a sandbar on the ouachita ?

[mattyboy88]

pineywoods..... i have no idea what it is. i have a buddy that graduated in forestry and he is going to my log stash with me to determine what they are. you are correct. i got them from the bottom of the ouachita. about 30 feet down. majority of the logs are about 35 to 40 feet, and around 24-30 inches wide. im hoping to start pulling some sinker cypress soon (gotta find them). but i just pull whatever i find no matter what it is or how big it is.

[thecfarm]

Keep on posting. There use to be some others doing that kind of logging. Been quiet on here lately.

[mattyboy88]

thecfarm..... i sure will keep posting. there's something about diving down and bringing up pieces of history that is really cool when you think about it. i kind of just started but i know as of now that its going to be something i really enjoy doing. ill keep posting pictures also. cant wait to start posting pictures of them cut open and milling pictures.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Are you pulling in a swampy area, or, near a Pine forest ??

!st photo looks like it would be heart Pine, and the sapwood is eaten away from water currents. The hollow is more near to be Cypress. Is it full of oblong cavity type features ?? Pecky ??

[pineywoods]

You will probably find a big iron spike in both ends of the logs. The old timers used spikes and short chains to fasten logs together end to end to form an enclosure around the outside of a raft of logs. The mill didn't want those logs with metal in them, so they were discarded back into the river, where they floated downstream to the nearest sandbar. That's probably what you are finding. Before the installation of the locks and dams, the river levels fluctuated rather wildly. In his early years, my wife's grandad was one of the river rats that floated log rafts on the ouachita every spring.

[mattyboy88]

Fla._Deadheader....so far i have just been pulling from the ouachita river north of monroe la. its a murky dark river with a history of many many log drives. and yes the one hollow log feels very heavy and solid. could be cypress.

pineywoods.... i didnt look hard enough today to see if there were spikes in the logs. these logs came from the middle of the river about 30 feet down. and the river is very low right now! so that is pretty shallow. and thanks for the history lesson and the wisdom. i am soaking everything up that i learn.

[Piston]

Can't wait to see pics of those opened up!  Do you free dive or SCUBA?  Can't be much vis down there  ;D

[timberlinetree]

Wow it's neat to see logging of a different kind!thanks for taking the time to post and great job! Be safe out there or I mean down there.

[mattyboy88]

piston......there is about one to two inches of visibility down there when you have your gauges held up to your mask with your diving flashlight right up to your face.  :D so its not zero visibility haha.

thanks timberlinetree! sure will be.

[sandhills]

So do you find them by feel? sonar? fish finder?  Thanks for the pics, can't wait to see the lumber.

[Planman1954]

Here's a link to an article about history of snatching up logs in the Ouachita River:

http://www.ouachitariver.org/snagging.htm

[mattyboy88]

sandhills...... its a little bit of both. using sonar to locate then when you get down there you have to feel around for them because of zero visibility.

Planman1954..... thank you for the article. it was very informative and interesting. i cant wait to find a big pile of them instead of the one or two here and there.

[beenthere]

matty
This a hobby, or are you trying to eventually build a business?

[mattyboy88]

business for sure! looking to do this for a while.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Matty
check your PM's.

[Woodhauler]

You should go apprentice with Shelby!  ;D

[Piston]

I used to scuba dive for lobsters in Cape Cod, and I didn't like when the visibility was less than 15', I wouldn't be a very good underwater logger!  :D