OKFlyFisher44

For Sale 2008 Clackacraft HeadHunter Drift Boat with Adams trailer -Built with Clacka's patented Gulfstream Bottom -9ft Carisle Oars w/counter balance weights -30lb Pyramid Anchor -InterConnecting Floor Mats in Rower's Floor -New Boat Tie Down Strap -Waterproof Custom Fit Boat Cover -New tires installed on trailer, May 2014 -Installed Bearings/Seals, March 2015 -New Spare Tire/Wheel -Updated LED Trailer Lights Ready to fish! $6500 or best offer... Call or text me @ 918-645-8050

Stud McCloud man! Fish of a lifetime for that creek.

Thanks fellas! Glad you liked it!

It had been over a year since I had been on the creek but after the rain event we got a few weeks back, I couldn't resist so a buddy and me snuck over to check on the McClouds. The rain event definitely moved some gravel around. Changed some holes for the better and some for the worse. The RR trestle is totally backed up again with driftwood. Overall, the creek got a much needed flush and looked amazing! The fishing was great as it usually is when the water is up. The fish seemed to be holding in the riffles more than the deep holes this time around. The normal flies worked...big flashy nymphs. I did find myself changing flies more than normal on this trip but it was the same 3-4 flies. One particular fly would work in a spot but wouldn't in the next. Change to a different pattern and would pick up fish. Kinda odd cuz usually I find 1-2 flies that work that particular day and stick with them. The fish looked great and very healthy. I love this place.... Took the GoPro along this time to do some filming. Finally sat down today and put a video together of the trip. Hope you guys enjoy it...

Congrats on the purchase! You will love having a drifter, it is a good time and opens up so much more options for you as a fisherman. Best fishing related purchase I ever made was buying my Clacka. Several access and float options on the NFOW. My personal favorites are Kelly Ford to Sunburst or Blair Bridge to Sunburst's Landing. The 1st option is basically the "upper" river and covers the majority of the Blue Ribbon water with mostly rainbows while the 2nd option is the "lower" river that covers the Red Ribbon water which will get you a mixture of rainbows and browns. Flip a coin as far as which one to float. If you don't have a lot of oar time in your drift boat, the NFOW can be an interesting place to learn to say the least. I hope you don't mind a few gel coat scratches : ) Also, be mindful of the flows before you go because a Low Pro boat won't fit under McKee and Patrick Bridge at certain levels. Brian Wise or Jeff Trigg could tell you what the magic number is for a Low Pro boat. My skiff can squeeze under both bridges at 1000cfs. Like Justin said, usually during the winter, its not an issue and currently you should be good to get under both bridges because its under 400 cfs I believe?

Put in at the dam. Took out at Gore Landing. We float it in my drift boat under generation and throw big streamers on full sink lines....

They are definitely there

As Gates stated, March-May is very prime time but don't overlook late fall and winter as well. You will have the river to yourself most days minus those of us with drift boats who sneak down there for same reason you are : ) I love this river but didn't get to fish it very much this year. It is my favorite trout water in the Ozarks, even over the "famous" rivers to the south in Arkansas. You will need some kind of boat to really take advantage of what the NFOW has to offer whether it is a drift boat, canoe, kayak, or pontoon. As far as bugs go, just depends on what you are doing. If you wanna throw streamers, just pick one and go for it. If you are fishing with a bobber...there are numerous nymphs that are effective. Pats rubberlegs, egg patterns, prince variations, RFSNs, and soft hackles have always been good to me. Be sure and check the regulations if you are gonna toss lures....

Shoot Ollie, I had no clue! There was 3 drifters on the river that day and all of us are OAF members. Was that u guys posted up on that big lay down above the S bend in the river? That's my choc lab, Blair. She's a dandy. We were in the 1st Clacka that came by. It fished well for us that day too.

Never been down on the Lower Elk. We always talk about going down there to check it out but we haven't done it yet. Would like to float from Noel to Cowskin someday. Just haven't done it yet. Has anyone else been down there before?

Been on Elk River and its tribs quite a bit this month. Noticed some people looking for reports. I won't offer up much because we are all fly guys but take it as you will. Still seeing lots of fish on beds. Fish don't seem to be too aggressive. We are having to fish very very slow to get the fish to eat. We normally catch a lot of fish in April and May on big crawdad patterns fished on the bottom but no such luck this year. Most of our eats are coming on baitfish flies. Again, fishing these very slow on the swing in the current or even hopping them along the bottom in the slow pools has been productive. We had 1 day on Elk where they were really wanting to chase the flies but mostly the pattern has been to fish slow. We are fishing these flies on sink tips on lower flows and full sink lines on higher flows. The spawn seems to be very late this year? Anyone else feel that way? No topwater action yet for us on the fly rod but it shouldn't be too far away. For the spinning/baitcasting guys, I took my dad fishing on Elk this past friday to let him stick some smallies. He fished plastic worms and fluke type stuff. Plastic worms were killer....as always. Pumpkinseed and Dirt colors fished texas rigged worked very well. Again, we had to fish very slow. My dad is a big soft plastics guy and he was fishing slow even for him. Once he slowed down, it was game on.

We fished down by I-44 bridge this week because they were releasing water from Zink Dam which is too tough to wade fish with fly rods. We didn't have any luck at all. Need some warmer weather to get the sand bass (white bass) going in that section of the river.

I love floating that river when they are generating in the drift boat if its 3000cfs or lower. Its a very cool river and fishes good with that kinda flow too.

Everyone likes to talk about how hard they are to catch. They aren't hard to catch, just gotta be sneaky. I have had to fish from my belly numerous times, especially when the creek is low. Try bigger flies next time and that will thin out some of those small fish. Although, those little guys are so dang beautiful with their parr marks and white fins. Love that place. I need to get back up there....

Dude....that beard is AWESOME! I accidentally hacked some of mine off after a haircut and had to trim mine down quite a bit. It was horrible. I wanted to punch myself in the face. God, I miss that river. I can't wait to come back! We are headed to the White/Norfork next weekend, I may sneak up there on Saturday if the generation is crap on the tailwaters. Justin, I need to call you. We are gonna come back down in March for 3 days and stay at the RiverHouse again like we did last year.

HAHA, thanks guys...

Thanks for the kind words Gents!

Well I finally got to sit down and edit up all of our footage from some of our smallmouth trips this past summer. You local guys will probably recognize the rivers pretty easily...its one of our favorite haunts as well. We had a great year of smallmouth fishing with the higher water levels for most of the summer. Big flies = big fish for us. Sadly, we didn't get most of our big fish on film, how convenient right? Hahaha... I hope you guys enjoy the video! Let me know if the link doesn't work....

I wouldn't recommend going. Wait a few more months for it to cool off. Kill the bugs and overgrowth. Less of a bushwhack. Plus the snakes will be less active...

Planning on coming down next weekend to see you guys Justin. I will call ya later in the week and see how the weekend is shaping up. If it looks to be busy, might sneak back over to the White for 1 last hopper trip. I miss the NFOW terribly....I am ready to be back....

Indeed. I really appreciate all the info fellas. You guys have been great. We will keep it in mind. Might try it out this weekend. If not, some other time, definitely have to get down there and give it a shot.

I would like for it to bump a little on the flows. We have floated it in the upper section when the gauge was reading 1000-1200 cfs and it was good water for a drift boat. Fishing was good too. We just have to fish our heavy full sink lines like we use for streamer fishing on the tailwaters for trout. Works just fine. I'm really hoping that Indian Creek comes up so we can float it again like we did a few weeks ago. It was very cool in a drift boat... Ollie, how many miles is the float you are talking about if we used the old guy at Cowskin to shuttle us? Really wanna check out the lower Elk but I keep getting mixed opinions on the fishing. Just need to go try it out sometime if we can find a for sure put in below Noel. Thanks again guys....

Thanks for the info Chief! Lol, when I said Tiff City...I meant, Cowskin. Tiff City, MO is right there at that bridge where Cowskin access is, thats why I was saying that. Sorry for the confusion. 9 miles is a good all day float in the drift boat so thats totally do-able. I'm not liking the fact that you said the fishing isn't as good down there as it is in the upper end, especially with you guys using conventional tackle mostly right? Might not be as good as an option as I thought it would be... Whats the river like down there? Does it open up to where its wide and slow? Or is there some good current and riffle water down that way? I had heard the put a gate up at the ballfields and you couldn't get in there unless there were baseball games going on? I didn't think about River Ranch though, I guess I thought it was upstream of the dam. We will check it out though! Thanks for tip on not leaving a vehicle Wayne. That thought had crossed my mind especially after my tool box was raided a few ago on Indian Creek below 71 bridge and I had some tools stolen. Total bummer. Chief....once again, thanks for the info bud! You're the man!

Does anyone know of an access to launch a boat (drift boat) below the low water dam in Noel and then float down to the bridge in Tiff City? Or is this float even possible? Anyone done it? How far is it? I have researched everything I could and looked at GoogleEarth for an extended amount of time till my eyes hurt. I have spent lots of time upstream from Pineville to Two Sons as well as all of the tribs (Indian, LS, BS) but have always wondered what the river was like below Noel? I ask because a group of us are heading up next weekend to fish the Elk for the weekend. We will be bringing along 3 drift boats and I would like to have a different float for each boat. Not trying to hotspot anyone's honey hole, just looking for a point of access. Any help would be great.... Thanks guys...

If you don't wanna get super fancy with fly selection, toss a bugger or a small Clouser then just bounce it off the bottom in front of them. We have caught them that way before after Striper fishing in the mornings on the LIR and chasing carp on local creeks. If u want some legit carp flies, look around for the "Damsel" carp fly on YouTube. It owns carp...