GloryDaze

I have to admit that of all the posts on this site it seems that Al really knows his stuff- Anytime I post and Al responds I get excited to try what he is suggesting. I'm not sure how many others feel this way, but I want to say thanks to Al for his generosity in sharing the knowledge he has fishing Ozark streams. I have learned so much from this site from where to fish to what lures to try and what colors would most likely work. I guess I'm just getting excited that spring is around the corner and I am literally chompin' at the bit to catch some smallies!! Here's to spring being just around the corner--

So on a typical year that far south how would you rate the smallmouth fishing in mid-March on the Buffalo?? Take away the, what if it floods, or what if there is an unusual cold front that sticks around for three weeks and just hit me with the truth- Would it be good smallmouth fishing or not??

Here is the link to pictures if you would like to see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/ Here is the report- Current River Trip Report: Cedar Grove to Pulltite- 17 Miles December 20-22, 2008 Boat: Buffalo 16’9 canoe Floaters: Ken and Nolan Temperature: High Low Water Conditions: (Gauge above Akers, MO) December 20th 39 16 1.25 foot December 21st 25 4 150 CFS December 22nd 25 2 ** Low Floating Level** Saturday, December 20th: We took off from Arnold around 1 am and planned to be in the water by 1:30. We arrived at Cedar Grove, got suited up an were floating by 2. We didn’t plan to float many miles today since the forecast was for cold, cold weather. The day was not too bad at all and this section of the river is just beautiful. We did rent a canoe this time from Aker’s Ferry since neither one of us could manage to get the right vehicle for our kayaks. We drug quite a bit since the water was down and the canoe was loaded. There is not nearly as many gravel bars on this section as there are downstream. It seemed really secluded p here and kind of hidden away from everything. I did notice quit a bit of trash (beer cans and orange trash bags) and I’m not really sure why?? We decided we would down river from Welch’s Spring for the evening and right before we stopped we happened to see 2 other people hiking (thought we would make it without seeing anyone) We settled in for the evening and it was windy and cold- we tried to build a big fire to stay warm but the wind just made it hard. We spent the night eating and having a couple drinks along with some hot chocolate and coffee- **DISCLAIMER** For the first time in our lives we had to actually take the beer out of the bottom of the canoe and heat it by the fire before we could drink it- it was frozen solid!! It was a cold but comfortable night in our individual solo tents, but when we woke up, both of our tents were covered in ice, inside and out. We were on the water today from 2-4:30 and covered about 4-5 miles Sunday, December 21st: Woke up at 8am this morning, so I guess you could say we had a good night’s sleep! We knew it was going to be a long, cold day before we started. We decided to get a late start and stay warm by the fire. Today the water level was much better and we only drug a few times. We ran into a couple Bald Eagles and a flock of Turkey flew across the river just behind us. Today was definitely a cold day and the wind was howling. The body part taking the worst of the cold were our feet. Somehow my Mukluks allowed water in them (I think it’s because they were frozen solid the night before and when I put my feet in them the thawed) but we managed. We passed the private cabin about a mile down from Aker’s and I stopped by to see if anyone was home to say hi- The owner and President of my dad’s company owns the cabin and he used to hire me in the summers when I was in college. We passed cave spring and started looking for a place to camp out of the wind. Once again another cold night with ice in the tents and everything was frozen except for us. I had on 6 shirts, 3 pair of pants, 3 pair of socks and Nolan wore the same thing basically. The night was rather comfortable until the zipper broke on my Mummy style sleeping bag and then I was pretty much frozen- I could not get the thing zipped up to stay warm!! I still can’t get over just how dead silent it was out there both nights- I guess when it’s that cold nothing wants to make a noise!! We were on the water today from 12pm-4:15 and covered 8 miles Saturday, June 21st: We camped right by a cave and decided to goof around and climb up in it for a while, at least it was warmer than the outside. We goofed around the campfire and then got another late start because of the cold weather. Today we saw a lot more iciles cascading form the bluffs and I still think they are just beautiful. Other than being flat out cold we had nothing too exciting happen today. Web stopped at Pulltite and loaded the car to head home. The funny thing was ow many people had called and left us messages bout how worried they were about us being in the cold. We concluded this meant one of two things: 1) Ignorance is bliss- of course they were concerned, they had never done anything like this and they could not have possibly known just how prepared we were. 2) Maybe they were right, we should have been worried- but like a bunch of stubborn headed mules we were camping and floating come hell or high water!!

JD- It's 12'6 long The only issue I had was a lot of dragging on day one- However, I would have had my fair share even if I was empty the water as really low. I have actually come up with a pretty good system on distributing the weight pretty evenly so it isn't too bad. She definitely is a little sluggish and a little harder to make a sharp turn with- The biggest problem I have is when I have to make a hard turn one way to dodge a strainer and then immediately swing it around the other way. The heavy end (stern) wants to go with the current and it's hard to rudder it around if the current is too strong. I have floated about 100 mile this year in this kayak and 100 in my other, so I'm used to having a heavy load I suppose. It's a great kayak with a ton of storage and bungees and plenty of leg room, I'm a little taller 6'4 or so- I use it 99.9% in the Ozark streams and it fits my needs perfect! Maybe some of us can get together sometime and do a 2 nighter- I've only got 6 months until I'm offficially married, ughh

Well, I had 2 kayaks to start the year and realized I like the Orange SINK better then the beige SOT. I ended up selling the SOT this last weekend- I did fit everything into my Yak including the chair. I had people tell me it was impossible to fit what I did in there but here is a list (Honest Truth).. If you look close enough in all the pictures you will see that all of this listed below is there- This went with quite a bit of trial and error and downsizing on everything and I am pretty heavy to start the trip, but I really do not go without any luxuries.... It's actually pretty fun to see how many days I could go- I've come to the conclusion if I were to take out the beer and just sip on whiskey. I could easily make it 6-8days without having to re-supply. (HEY, THAT GIVES ME AN IDEA, MAYBE IS SHOULD FLOAT THE WHOLE RIVER IN THE SPRING!!!) - 4 Coolers * One big one that went behind me on top * The other 3 were smaller so 2 went behind my seat and the last one went in my rear dry hatch - 1 case of COLD beer - 1 case of water - Sleping Bag - Sleeping Pad - Chair - All meals (3 a day) - Tent - 2 Plastic bottles of Rum - 12 sodas - 2 fishing poles and small tackle box - 2 paddles - Tarp - Clothes (extra shoes, hooded sweatshirt, pants) - 1 Small dry bag that has... (lighter, head lamp, cups, TP, firestarter, First aid kit) etc.... in it - Lifejacket

Terry- I didn't see any Elk, however a local man told me they have been spotted as far downstream as Rush Landing. As a matter of fact, it was a slow 4 days for any animal viewing except for that on Bald Eagle. I hope you enjoyed viewing the Elk, I've never seen them and have only been up near Boxley one time. Heck, bad knees, back, old age.... at least you can still enjoy such a beautiful area as the Buffalo river!! I know soooo many people here in Kansas City that get so caught up in the hustle and bustle and could never imagine the serenity a river like that has. You should see the funny looks I get when I tell them I'm going on a 3-night 4-day trip by myself into the Boston mountains..... it's priceless

Have fun "Z"- I floated that upper section in April from Mike's Creek alll the way to the Elk... As a matter of fact, here is the trip report... I have som epics as well, they would be on the last page of this site- Well I got to float the Big Sugar this weekend and here is my trip report if anyone is interested! http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/page4/ FRIDAY EVENING: I took off at the intersection of Mikes Creek and Big Sugar Creek with the gauge at Powell reading 4.4 on Friday evening. I was going to spend 2 nights on the river so I could really enjoy the weekend. The water level was about perfect, I only scraped once or twice! I was expecting to run into many strainers left over fomr the flood before I got to Cyclone- Much to my surprise, I didn't have to portage one time other than a low water bridge. There was one strainer about an hour in with two trees crossing the river, but I just put my head down and paddled through the branches. I fished for a few minutes, caught on smallie 8" and that was it for the night. This section of the river is beautiful since there is not as much private land as there is below cyclone. As I started to look for a place to camp (2hrs after I left), I came around a left turn and could hear the sound of loud rapids! I could see they crossed the entire river and were getting louder as I approached. It was actually a rock garden, but the water was so high I didn't drag- What I didn't know was after about 100 yards of being in the waves it takes about a 2-3 foot drop and front half of my canoe was completely under water!!!! NOW THIS IS THE KIND OF EXCITEMENT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR!!! I manged to run the rapids and continue on with my lookout for a camp site. I ended up camping on gravel bar about a mile upstream from Cyclone and called it a night- (3 hours of floating and almost 7 miles covered) SATURDAY: Woke up at 6am to a bunch of fog in the valley and tried some fishing (no luck) The weather was cold last night, but I could tell it would be a warm day. Broke camp at 10:30 and was going to have a casual slow float today so I was not in a hurry. The weather was so nice (felt like it was 80 or so) I decided to not fish and just enjoy the beauty of the river. I was at cyclone in no time and spent 30 minutes talking to a local there who was real friendly. Soon after that I saw the first sign of other people downstream. There were 2 portages on the section below Cyclone due to strainers that I didn't want to mess with being by myself. The stream seemed to get wider as I got closer to the Elk. There was one spot where the river splits, I decided to go right and about a 1/4 downstream it was a dead end! I had to walk all the way back upstream and take the left channel (oops). As the day went on, I realized I was going to finish my trip way early since the water was up and I wasn't fishing much. In my opinion, the last 3 miles were the trickiest of the trip (once you get past sugar island) there was about 2 miles of "S" turn after "S" turn that could be tricky for those less experienced- I thought it was a fun little stretch though! The river really widens once you hit the Elk and I only had about 1 mile left. I couldn't believe how high the trees were stacked on the banks from the flooding. Going under the 71 bridge the water read at 4' on the gauge painted on the bridge support. I couldn't imagine the water at 18' a week earlier! I finished the trip at 4pm on Saturday. A whole day earliet than what I expected. (Today I floated 14 miles in 5 hours) What a great stretch of river to float on a perfect weekend!! The only thing I wished were different is I could have floated 50 miles instead of 21. Next time, you can bet I will be on the hunt for smallies and hopefully that next time will not be too far in the future. FRIDAY EVENING: I took off at the intersection of Mikes Creek and Big Sugar Creek with the gauge at Powell reading 4.4 on Friday evening. I was going to spend 2 nights on the river so I could really enjoy the weekend. The water level was about perfect, I only scraped once or twice! I was expecting to run into many strainers left over fomr the flood before I got to Cyclone- Much to my surprise, I didn't have to portage one time other than a low water bridge. There was one strainer about an hour in with two trees crossing the river, but I just put my head down and paddled through the branches. I fished for a few minutes, caught on smallie 8" and that was it for the night. This section of the river is beautiful since there is not as much private land as there is below cyclone. As I started to look for a place to camp (2hrs after I left), I came around a left turn and could hear the sound of loud rapids! I could see they crossed the entire river and were getting louder as I approached. It was actually a rock garden, but the water was so high I didn't drag- What I didn't know was after about 100 yards of being in the waves it takes about a 2-3 foot drop and front half of my canoe was completely under water!!!! NOW THIS IS THE KIND OF EXCITEMENT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR!!! I manged to run the rapids and continue on with my lookout for a camp site. I ended up camping on gravel bar about a mile upstream from Cyclone and called it a night- (3 hours of floating and almost 7 miles covered) SATURDAY: Woke up at 6am to a bunch of fog in the valley and tried some fishing (no luck) The weather was cold last night, but I could tell it would be a warm day. Broke camp at 10:30 and was going to have a casual slow float today so I was not in a hurry. The weather was so nice (felt like it was 80 or so) I decided to not fish and just enjoy the beauty of the river. I was at cyclone in no time and spent 30 minutes talking to a local there who was real friendly. Soon after that I saw the first sign of other people downstream. There were 2 portages on the section below Cyclone due to strainers that I didn't want to mess with being by myself. The stream seemed to get wider as I got closer to the Elk. There was one spot where the river splits, I decided to go right and about a 1/4 downstream it was a dead end! I had to walk all the way back upstream and take the left channel (oops). As the day went on, I realized I was going to finish my trip way early since the water was up and I wasn't fishing much. In my opinion, the last 3 miles were the trickiest of the trip (once you get past sugar island) there was about 2 miles of "S" turn after "S" turn that could be tricky for those less experienced- I thought it was a fun little stretch though! The river really widens once you hit the Elk and I only had about 1 mile left. I couldn't believe how high the trees were stacked on the banks from the flooding. Going under the 71 bridge the water read at 4' on the gauge painted on the bridge support. I couldn't imagine the water at 18' a week earlier! I finished the trip at 4pm on Saturday. A whole day earliet than what I expected. (Today I floated 14 miles in 5 hours) What a great stretch of river to float on a perfect weekend!! The only thing I wished were different is I could have floated 50 miles instead of 21. Next time, you can bet I will be on the hunt for smallies and hopefully that next time will not be too far in the future.

Here are some pics from my trip... be sure and look at page 2 where you'll find a pic of MR SUMO!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/

Here is the link to view my pictures from this weekend- I floated from Gilbert to Rush and spent 3 nights and 4 days on the river- I will have a trip report later.... The pictures are on pages 1 and 2- I just wanted to tell you that because MR SUMO is on page 2 and he was fun to catch.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/

What a great fish- heck I'm almost as impressed with the quality of the picture and how you took it as I am the fish. I said almost, thanks for releasing her as well, so when I'm there next time I might have as much fun catching her as you did.

Fishin- Thanks for the info- I heard it was pretty blocked up around that area. It just stinks because whe I drive over the river heading to Purcell I just want to drop in the kayak and do some paddling and fishing. My fiance' tells me stories of when her dad would head down to that section and go giggin (drinking) with his friends back in the day

Chief- I'm always reading your posts about the Spring and I have a question or two for you- I have extended family that live in Purcell- so nice and convenient to the river. Do you ever float that section between where county road 200 comes out of Alba to where Hwy 43 crosses near Quaker Mill?? I've been thinking about floating when I visit, but it seems the river is full of strainers and is constantly blocked.. is that true??

Can you guys give me any idea on what the fall colors are like down there now. I'm so excited to get to float there this weekend!! The colors here in KC are probably 95% of peak, if not a little past already.....

So I'm looking at doing a two night/ 3day trip. It looks like some of the river goes through Mark Twain National Forest. Even with that little section, would it be possible to pull a 2-nighter and remain on Public property??

If you would like to see a couple of pics, here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/ Saturday August 2nd: Left this morning at 6am from the house to meet Nolan in Salem. We left my car at Wal-Mart and loaded his up for the trip to the river. We put in at Cane Bluff around 2pm right in the heat of the day. This was my first overnight trip with my Tsunami 125 so I was pretty loaded down and curios to see how she handled. This upper section of the river was surprisingly narrow (I’m talking some spots 3-4’ wide) But it was also very pretty and the woods were filled with green. The smallmouth were biting for me, but I hooked nothing bigger than about a 10-11” every now and then. Nolan figured out this new jig called an “eakin’s jig” that put him on some pretty big fish. The problem was, I was so impatient and have trouble fishing those slower lures I didn’t even get to see his fish until he showed me the pictures. Once I saw the pics I must admit I was a little jealous. It did seem like this upper section went from really narrow chutes to long slow pools for most of the day. This section was a pretty easy float with no real challenges or obstacles to avoid. We decided to camp about a mile upstream from Greer Spring for the evening around 8:30. We settled in with a small fire, a chicken and rice foil pack and had a few Rum and Coke’s, Vodka and Redbull’s and we were sawing logs in no time. We traveled about 6 miles today in about 6 hours. Sunday, August 3rd: Even thought the day was hot, it was real comfortable sleeping last night. Got up around 8 and had some scrambled eggs and lil’ smoky foil packs for breakfast. We had to wait for the fog to lift before we could go anywhere. Soon we came across the entrance of the Greer Spring branch on river right. It is unbelievable how much water is pumped in everyday and how cold it is. We decided to do some wading and fish for some trout here. I caught about 8 in an hour and I know Nolan caught about the same. All mine were a decent size and mostly Rainbow. What a difference the spring branch makes in this river! I could not believe how fast and full it was the rest of the trip. The water remained cold, which hurts smallie fishing but the trout were still biting. We had been anticipating the rapids at Mary Decker Shoals, however when we arrived…. Umm well, there just wasn’t much of a rapid?? After this we ran into a lot of Jetboats!! It seemed like they were running a shuttle service there were so many zipping up and down the river. This section of the river had a lot more bluffs and scenery in my opinion and was just beautiful to float. As we started to look for camp, the fog started to settle in on the river and it was unbelievable looking. It was only about 5 foot off the water, but it just made things seem so pretty. We settled in right after Greenbriar float camp on River left. Tonight it was traditional foil packs with a little Bud Light, PBR and the last of our Rum and Coke. The biggest memory of the night was these little black bugs that just attacked us for about 2 hours. They were real small and rolled up into a ball when you scraped them off of you. Today we traveled about 16 miles in about 10 hours of floating. Monday, August 4th: Last night actually got chilly so it was real comfortable!! We had to wait for the fog to clear again before we took off. Our goal form day one was to be off the water by 10am so we could both get home at a decent time. We had some pancakes and took off for Riverton. Nothing real exciting today on the river- However we did find some fishing line hung up in a tree and it was dangling in the water. On the end of the line a bat had gotten hung up and was dead from drowning. Well, the uneventful day changed when we came around the corner and hit a major ledge and drop off. We didn’t even scout it, but we stayed river right and it was actually quite a ride!! If we would have gone river left, it would have definitely been some big waves and a fun ride as well. This is the biggest rapid I have seen on an Ozark stream. I can’t remember the name of it though?? Believe it or not we arrived at the bridge in Riverton at 10 on the dot- The funny thing is our car wasn’t there for us- Oh well, we can wait a few minutes.. well at 30 minutes we asked the Parks Department lady if she would call Richard’s canoe and let them know we were there. An hour and 20 minutes later were both pissed and cussing the rental place. Nolan decides to walk up the parking lot an “I’ll be darn” there’s the car. It has been here the whole time and we managed to not think about looking in the parking lot. Needless to say the trip ended with a little humor and laughs at ourselves. We traveled about 6 miles today in about 3 hours.

This is a picture of me as I head into the fog the section right above Greenbriar Float Camp. The other picture is on the upper section just below Cane Bluff-

Thank you- I didn't know that thread was there.........

So all the hype I have heard about riging a worm "wacky" and just slaughtering the smallies has convinced me I should try it. I get the senko worm and the rigging. However what I don't get is the actual techinque: Where do you cast the worm? Do you try and put it in the eddies after the riffles or do you let it bounce of the bottom at the end of the riffles (how do you keep it from getting hung up on the rocks) What type of rod action do you do? Is it a up and down shake or what.. Does it work in the deeper pools or just the shallows.. are there different techinques for each?? Any colors seem to work better than others? I know not everyone wants to divulge their technique, but any help would be appreciated-

Sorry to hear the news Russ- I sure hope things get better for you, I really enjoy hanging out with you and Jean Ann when I'm fishing down there.!!! Sneak away, play a little golf (maybe get another hole in one or two)

What do you mean before I go?? Is there a way you put it on the spool that can help prevent twists?? Or do you do something after it is on the spool to prevent this??

Anyone have any suggestions of what color and type of line to use when fishing for smallies?? I have always used 6 lb blue supermono spiderwire but it seems to always twist....

Hey Russ- I'm thinking about starting at Cyclone, paddling back to your place and campning there. Then Friday morning floating about 8-10 miles down the Elk and then heading back- Is it cool if I stay at your place?? Is there room

I never get tired of seeing pictures of smallies- As of today, I will plan on being there around 9:30-10am. I'll shoot you a PM Wednesday night to let you know if I'll be there for sure- I have your cell as well in case I need to call you. Take care!

It's been pobably 4 years since I've floated the Eleven Point. When we were there we used old Hufstedler's to run our shuttle. I remember him being a great guy and was just wondering if he's still in the business and if you know him, how is he doing??

Speaking of dunking- We were on the Buffalo river three years ago stopped at a gravel bar and were doing a little drinking. All of a sudden 5 white vans pull up and all these folks dressed in white get out and walk down to the river- They send two men over to us to 'invite us to joing them" Anyway, they made a "V" shape in the water and dunked away for about an hour- That was one of those offers where you're darn if you do and darn if you don't- We declined the offer and I felt pretty gulity drinking while they were dunking- But then again I would have felt just as guilty drinking while I was dunking if I would have said yes.