OKFlyFisher44

We probably just suck.... No idea what the deal was. Awesome river though...we will be back!

Posted a report in the NFOW forum... That's mostly what we caught was a buzz minus me. Heh...designated rower/driver.

The crew and I left the 11 Point on Saturday afternoon to fish the NFOW on Sunday. First off, like to say thanks to Justin, for getting us into one of his camper cabins for the night so we didn't have to camp in the rain. Now to the fishing. We decided to float both boats on the Kelly to Blair section of the river. We launched Coreys boat first and then shuttled his truck/trailer back down to Blair bridge before we put my boat in to space us out on the float. Obviously, we got rained on. It wasnt too bad though, only really soaked us a couple times for a few minutes. The bite was decent. We all managed to catch a handful of fish each. It wasn't lights out like it was a few weeks ago but it was enough to keep us entertained. Fish were mostly eating the egg besides a few fish caught on caddis stuff and even caught some fish swinging buggers from the boat. Only a couple good fish were brought to the net, the rest were ur run of the mill rainbows. Also...we caught a smallmouth on an egg! Crazy... Love this river no matter what the conditions. We will be back in a few weeks.

The crew and I dragged the drift boats down to Alton on Friday night with plans to float the 11pt to chase some smallies and trout. Original plan was to float Greer to Whitten and do an overnight float trip. We put in at Greer and made our way to the area that Brian Sloss told us had been holding some good smallies. They were there! Caught some good smallies on jigs under an indicator by "jigging" thru the boulders. Tons of good smallies in the 14"-18" range, it was nuts! After sticking some smallmouth, we pointed the boats downstream to begin the "trout" part of the float. To put it as gracefully as I can, we got our butts kicked. Couldn't figure the fish out. We tried all the standard patterns that have produced for us on the NFOW.....stones, eggs, general nymphs, and tried several caddis patterns as caddis were buzzing around. We also swung some soft hackles in the riffles and chucked some streamers. We got 1 rainbow in the boat. Halfway thru the float, we were frustrated and decided to change up our plans. We rowed our way down to Turner and hitched a ride up the road till we got phone signal. Called Brian at 11pt Canoe and had him shuttle our trucks/trailers down to Turner. We loaded up and headed for the NFOW... On another note, I want to give Brian Sloss at 11 Point Canoe a huge THANK YOU for letting us camp at his place, giving us all the info, and being flexible on the shuttles. I apologize for the sudden change in plans. Brian is a standup dude. Definitely give him a call if u need anything on the 11 Point!

Dude....thats a stud! I'm totally jealous...cant freaking wait to get back down there!

That's the plan. Hopefully the weather doesn't screw us over. We will see...

Glad to hear the Caddis are already starting to come off. Cant wait to make our annual return to the Current every April. That place is hands down my favorite place to wade fish in the Ozarks.

Oh ok! I thought you meant you were gonna be at the Current. We are gonna head back to the NFOW at the end of March unless conditions on the White look promising for an epic Caddis hatch, just gonna play it by ear like we always do! We are headed to the 11 Point next weekend to do an overnight float...cant wait!

Where r u guys staying at Chris and which sections u gonna fish? We always camp at Eagles Park on top of the hill. It will look like tent city up there as we will have 6-8 guys in our group.

Andrew...we might be able to work something out sometime and u could go out with us. Nortrad...the beard is left over from duck season. Can't bring myself to shave it so the fish better learn to fear the beard! LOL! Yeah right... BTW, we r making our annual trip to the Current on April 20-22, u gonna be around?

My buddy caught it on an egg and it had the chub hanging out of it's mouth! It was crazy. It was an 18" fish and the chub was 6-7". We floated Kelly to Blair.

The crew and I loaded up the drift boats to head to Mountain Home for the weekend on friday. We decided to change things up and fish the NFOW on saturday since the flows were perfect on the river. We decided to split up and fish different sections. Chris, Joey, and myself decided to take my boat to do the Kelly to Blair float while Corey, Bill, and Cody did Blair to James in hopes of throwing streamers for some browns. We got on the water around 8:30 and set off downstream. The fishing was nothing short of awesome for us on the Kelly to Blair float. We picked up nice rainbows in every kind of water, the fish were just really spread out. Couldnt of asked for a more beautiful day to float as well, weather was great. We didnt do anything fancy...stuck to chuckin' the bobber with a big nasty stone with an egg dropped off of it. Fish preferred the egg probably 3-1, I would say. Caught a couple of 18" rainbows with a handful of 14"-16" fish and a mess of the normal NFOW fish. Love this river....

We are going down to the show in Fayetteville. Cant freaking wait! Gonna be awesome...

If they would run a minimum flow of 2000-3000 cfs on that river, it would be epic. It's saw awesome at those flows, be it floating or wading. I mean, as far as floating, it's just fine when it gets up around the 15k-18k cfs mark as well but if they would let it flow at 2000-3000cfs as the "low water mark"....yeah, totally awesome. Just my opinion though.

I think that's because when guys go to the White to throw streamers, they anticipate that big bite of a 20" or bigger brown. The White is known for it. We were the same way this past weekend. We were sticking 17-19" fish in my boat but couldn't break the magical 20" mark till Sunday afternoon. Don't get me wrong, I was excited about the 17"-19" browns as well as all the stocker size rainbows and browns we were catching. But we wanted to stick a 20" or bigger brown, that was the goal of us spending both days throwing streamers.

Really looking forward to this year of fishing. Have lots of hopes and dreams. I checked 1 of my goals off this weekend on the White by putting a 20" brown in the drift boat. My other goals are: -Take my daughter fishing more with the fly rod -Take my wife and daughters on a float trip in the drift boat -Fish more than last year -Catch a 18" smallie on top -Catch a 22" or bigger brown -Catch a 20" or bigger McCloud rainbow -Get back into tying more -Do another overnight float trip on Kings or Buffalo River in the drift boat -Hit the striper run on the Arkansas and Lower Illinois harder -Hit the hopper bite on the White harder -Fish the 11 point, Little Red, and one of the other wild trout creeks Yeah...that will pretty much do it.

Awesome fish Larry. We had a great weekend as well on the streamer bite. Going to try and come back on Feb 25-26....

It was good meeting ya too Sean. We will be heading back out to the NFOW or the White on Feb 25-26 if it all works out right. Hook up to your boat and come on! Justin, thanks for keeping us in the loop on the weather and river levels on Friday. Appreciate it, hopefully will see ya soon.

The fishes will learn to fear the beard

The crew and I hit the White River this weekend with the drift boats in hopes of catching some big browns on streamers. We had a great time and caught a bunch of fish on streamers both days. Our biggest browns were from 17" to 23" between the guys in Corey's boat and my boat. The weather was perfect for throwing streamers and we had the river to ourselves in the particular sections we floated.

Nothing wrong with fishing them. They are a good pattern and are a staple when it comes to tailwaters. I just am burnt out on the same ol' "nymph" grind that so many people settle into on tailwaters. Scuds, midges, etc. Not trying to be a stuck up fly fisherman by any means, I will chuck the bobber without hesitation if thats what is gonna need to be done to catch fish. The last couple of years I have kinda drifted towards fishing streamers more and instead of a bobber I have went to a dry/dropper rig. Especially in middle/late summer when you can tie on a big fat foam hopper, beetle, or other terrestrial fly to use as an indicator. Thats just me though.

Indeed! Nice to hear that some fish are starting to move around up there. This nice weather probably as the fish on the eat! I cant wait for spring...ready to chase some stripers again.

I would rather take a slight kick to the testicles than fish midges...be it zebra midges, emergers, or dries. Lol, no but seriously....reds and blacks are pretty much a staple on all tailwaters from Missouri, Arkansas, and our own lil' tailwater. They are a great dropper fly like you say. I have seemed to have had better luck with 16s and 18s than the smaller 20s and 22s. This is pretty common knowledge too but the reds or rusty colored midges will work better if the water has been off for a while. Midges turn that color when oxygen levels begin to drop....

There is also an app for the iPhone called FishHead. It is freaking awesome. I use it ALL the time....

I like your style Ducky...