DavidF

Thanks for posting this. I'll be there this weekend so these videos will help me choose what to tie to finish up a box or two before I get there.

Thanks, Al. How about the upper section? You reckon it's floatable for a lightly packed solo kayak?

Hey all, I'm hoping to get down south next weekend and I have a few options open to me. One of them is the Jacks Fork. I've never been on it before so I'm wondering what it could be like over the holiday weekend. If I do it, I'll be looking at Alley Springs to Two Rivers. Is it like the other Ozark rivers and full of canoes? How's the fly fishing? Thanks, David

Hey, everybody. Long time lurker...I posted a few months ago but never did introduce myself. I'm not much of an Ozarks fisherman. Im from NW MO but make it down south once or twice a year. A buddy and I started an annual trip to the Gasconade a few years ago and it's been a blast. A lot of the information I've found here has helped immensely. I started fly fishing last year so I'm looking forward to trying some of the trout streams and smallies on the fly. A little backstory... My love for Ozark rivers started close to two decades ago. Some highschool buddies and I did a float trip on the Courtois, Huzzah, and Meremac. Being a decent fisherman at the lakes up north, I decided to take a minimum amount of food, the idea being I could catch dinner for the three day weekend. I went pretty hungry on that trip. River fishing was a totally different animal. Fast forward to October 2015, our second trip to the Gasconade. On the second morning of our float my ultralight rod broke at the ferrule on the first cast of the day. Didn't have a backup so I went about trying to repair it the best I could. Duct tape? No good. Whittled a peg out of a small branch. That went about as well as you can expect. So I spent the the day fishing with half a rod. It worked out and I caught quite a few small rock bass, spots, and little smallies. Toward the end of the float I put a diving craw right next to a big laydown on the bank in a long, slow pool. Felt a hit, set the hook, and started reeling. I got a look at the biggest smallie I'd ever caught. It was 17" at least. Started babying it up to the canoe and just as I reached down to bring it in the line popped. Broken rod and a lost trophy (would have been pics only) but it was still an awesome day. Looking forward to this year's trip.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll give the white a shot and see what happens.

Hi, everyone. I've been reading the forum for a while but just got signed up. I've found a lot of great information here so thanks to all of you. I'll be doing a short float trip next weekend and am hoping to get in some fly fishing. Can anyone recommend some different patterns and colors? I'll be taking some black, olive, and orange (as well as combinations of the above colors) woolly buggers, weighted and unweighted; Clouser minnows in various colors; and a few other random patterns. As for which rod to take, I have a 5wt and an 8wt. Any recommendations on that? Thanks, David