DainW

Well garage space isn’t an issue now. I’ll have to look into the inflatable yaks. Thanks for the advice.

Joe agree with that 100%. The ability to cover 8-12 miles of water in a day vs. 2 miles of water in a day is a big advantage. The wade fishing thing is really out of necessity more than anything though. Just got married last year and bought a new house a few months ago. The house we were in, the garage was barely big enough to fit both cars let alone a kayak or canoe. Now I’ve got space to store one anyway. Next step would be purchasing a vehicle capable of pulling one around. Probably not hauling a kayak around in my volkswagen. Since I don’t have my own watercraft, if I’m renting from an outfitter, I’m generally going to be limited to the more popular streams that have outfitters serving them and depending on water conditions, I’m also going to be limited to sections of those streams that the outfitters want to put you on. For example, last year I really wanted to float the upper jacks fork in September. I called a couple outfitters and nobody was willing to put me on that stretch. So I decided to just drive up and wade fish it I fished 2 or 3 accesses but at each one would reach a point where I couldn’t really wade any farther, water would be too deep to wade in the stream and nowhere on the bank to walk Had to turn around before we even got far enough from the access or fishing to get good. Plenty of people putting their own boats on the water though Anyway, said all that to say I agree with you basically. Buying a canoe or kayak is just an investment that I haven’t made quite yet

LOL... i waded a section of the osage fork last summer and didn’t realize it at the time but could’ve had a run in with the “Evergreen police.” I realized then that some of the information in that book may be a little out dated and have been a little more cautious since then. I also checked some old posts and that landowner is pretty notorious for running people off. I didn’t have any trouble that day luckily. Al as far as what you recommended that’s more or less what we’ve been doing. Exploited the upper gasconade last summer (same trip) and had some good success. Not so much on the upper jacks fork and big piney but it was later in the year and would’ve been better served In a canoe or kayak. Guess I’m just gonna have to do some homework between now and then.

Thanks for the quick reply Al. It is what it is with timing for the trip. When you drive 5 or 6 hours, it needs to be at least a couple days worth of fishing. I don’t get a lot of time away from work so if I can structure trips around holiday time, it’s always good. I realize memorial weekend is going to be tough on the timing. I wish I lived closer and I could spend more time putting in the work finding a couple some reliable water. If got a couple creeks in NW OK that I know really well and get to fish more often, but it sometimes get boring fishing the same river over and over again. Anyways, if I’m understanding you correctly, it sounds like my best bet is going to be focusing on the headwaters of larger rivers rather than smaller tributaries as those will tend to get hit harder by the locals?

Okay so I’m planning an ozark smallmouth trip for Memorial Day weekend. I know, it’s going to be a crazy weekend since it officially kicks off the float season for the party crowd. But hey you gotta fish when you can get away from work. Anyway I was looking for some advice on a good area to plan to fish? I picked up chuck tryon’s book on the advice of another member (thanks Al), and it’s been a really valuable source of information for me. That being said, it tends to be a lot of raw information, with very little input on how the fishing is at some of the creeks/rivers. I’ve kind of made a game of trying to read between the lines in the way he describes some bodies of water as to what the fishing is like. It’s led me to discover some nice water, like some of the accesses and tributaries on the upper gasconade for example, but I’ve also struck out a few times as well. Not asking for specific spots or even specific rivers necessarily, just a nudge in the right direction, say maybe a particular basin to check out? I know a lot of it is trial and error and that the way it’s supposed to be, but I only get so many opportunities each year to smallmouth fish in Missouri and when it’s a 5-7 hour drive from okc depending on where you’re going, you hope that you don’t strike out too bad. Anyways, if it helps, I will be primarily wade fishing and really just want to get into some fish. Would also like to be away from the crowds if possible. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks, Dain

Just got back into town. Had a good trip but had to primarily fish the park. Rain on Thursday is what killed it for us below the park. Montauk gauge was down to 280 on Thursday morning before the rain started but the inch or so that they got pushed it back over the 700 mark. It fell a lot more slowly after the second rain than Tuesday’s rain. Fished the park Friday morning and did pretty well in the fly fishing area down from the spring. Water was high and off color but mop flies, eggs, and San Juan worms worked pretty well. Tried to wade down from Tan Vat Friday afternoon with flows around 350, seemed somewhat dangerous. Returned to the park Friday evening until the horn and caught a nice caddis hatch. Woke up Saturday and hit the park again. Water was clearing up and fish started biting on bugs a little more. Saw a lot of baetis coming off in the afternoon. Probably could’ve tried tan vat again with flows at 250 or so, but fish were biting in the park so we stayed put. All in all a fun trip. Disappointed we didn’t get to fish the blue ribbon section really but saw some areas in the park I haven’t fished before. Surprised at how much fishable water there is at montauk compared to some of the other parks, like roaring river for example. Crowds weren’t too bad either, for a weekend.

Thanks for the reply Gavin. Just wondering do you think the Akers gauge is a better read than the montauk gauge? I always base off the montauk gauge bc about the furthest down I’ve ever waded from Baptist camp is the confluence with Ashley creek. I know you fish it a lot more than I do so trust your advice on this. Also, are you suggesting maybe I should be fishing further down?

Thanks Bill. Have been watching gauges and weather reports for the Salem area like crazy, studying prior rain events, old fishing reports etc Looks I’ll like just have to wait and see I guess. Most of the rain is predicted for tonight through tomorrow evening. Should have a pretty good idea by Wednesday morning how bad it is. Hoping rainfall stays less than 3 inches (knock on wood). If that’s the case, it shouldn’t blow out too bad (hopefully).

Okay so I’ve got a group of guys heading to Salem to fish the upper current next weekend. Trying to look at stream gauge and predict what this week’s rainfall will do to the river levels. I know it’s probably not an exact science, but based on the last heavy rain the area had in February, 2.5-3 inches of rain over a 2 day period (which is what is predicted for Monday and Tuesday) brought the river up to about 200 CFS on the montauk gauge. No rain predicted for Wednesday and then about a quarter of an inch on Thursday or so. Fishing Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If we do get that much rain and the river is up around 200 CFS on Friday, is it still wadeable/fishable at that flow, of will we have to drive over to mill creek or little piney for better fishing on Friday? If not, anyone have any idea on what the upper limit of flows is for the current before it’s no longer safe to wade? From my past experience fishing the river, about 120 CFS is ideal flows for fishing and anything below 100 is pretty tough. I’ve only fished it a handful of times though. Anyone with some more experience fishing the river have any thoughts? Also, haven’t seen many reports lately, anyone have any idea how it’s been fishing? Thanks, Dain

Seemed a little questionable when driving into Lebanon for lunch we saw a sign that said "Evergreen: Population 28." Didn't seem like a town that size was big enough to warrant a sign, let alone an actual police department.

LOL...For what it's worth, when we got to the access, there was another guy and his wife who were just finishing up that had taken their kayaks upstream and fished back down to the bridge. Apparently they weren't harassed either, so don't know if the landowners were just taking the weekend off or out of town or what. Side note, from chuck's book, I've noticed it's hard to decipher much about any particular access on any particular river. He doesn't usually go into much detail about what the fishing is like there, what type of water to expect etc. Assuming that's by design. He usually just leaves that up to you to figure out, which is part of the fun. If he does go into any detail, I usually take that to mean "fish here." For example that particular access on the OF was chosen bc he said the middle OF was as beautiful as missouri smallmouth water gets and when he got to that access said something like "really pretty water here." He was right about that part lol.

Seemed a little ridiculous at the time to me and my dad and I kind of laughed at it at the time. I went back and read some old posts though and I guess the land is owned by a prominent family from Lebanon and they've been known to shoot at people floating/wading that stretch of river? Probably won't be heading back to that particular access. I did really like the Osage Fork though. Clear, cold water and a beautiful surrounding area. Plus lots of fish.

So I picked up Chuck Tryon's book last summer at the advice of some OAF forum members, and ever since have been wanting to fish the gasconade. Finally made that happen on Saturday. My dad and I used mountain grove as a base of operations and jumped around to several different accesses on the upper gasconade as well as the Osage fork and some smaller tributaries. It made for a long day of driving around and exploring, but it was a good time and we caught a fair number of fish as well as a variety of fish. Since we don't have a boat and were fly fishing, we were confined to the first 15 miles or so of the gasconade around hartville. Caught our best fish, several 14-15 inch smallies in the evening on that river. The Osage fork was probably our favorite, as we caught the most fish and widest variety of fish. Caught smallies, a largemouth, suckers, and several healthy goggleeye on the Osage fork. Only saw the big white sign across the river letting us know that we were on private property after we waded back upstream to the low water bridge after a few hours of fishing. Apparently we were subject to prosecution by "order of the evergreen police dept." Oh well next time we know better. Fortunately nobody gave us any trouble. Had a great time and will definitely be back to see some more of these beautiful rivers. Only got pics of the smallmouth on the gasconade unfortunately.

I fished Durango for a week last summer and had a really good time. San Juan tailwater was fun, but crowded and like netboy said, get ready to fish small midges and light tippet. Not really my cup of tea, but we had a good time. You may be there while run off is still going for a lot of places, but if run off has subsided, I would really recommend the box canyon on the Piedra. Pocketwater filled with 15-18 inch browns that eat nothing but big stoneflies. Can't go wrong with anything in that area though. Wish I could be in Colorado that long.

Thanks for the report sounds like a good day. I fished the spring for the first time a few weeks ago. I and a question about wading downstream at dam 3. I heard the fishing gets really good downstream, but how do you get there? Can walk down the bank opposite the train tracks or is that private?