GloryDaze

Russ- Nice fish!! By the way, I will be coming down early Thursday morning floating all day Thursday and coming back to KC on Friday- Can you or Jean Anne shuttle me Thursday?? I just got me a new ride (Tsunami 125) and I'm wanting to give her a test run and the weather looks like it's gonna be perfect!!!

That's right I always forget about the Little Sugar too......... Buth they should be good by Wed. right??

You could send a PM to "Wacky Worm" and ask Russ- He has a livery on the Elk..... What I can tell you is earlier in the year I floated whent the gauge at Powell read 4.4 ft. Now you would obviously be downstream from that and looking at the current gauge reading, if it doesn't rain you should probably have perfect water!

I'll be taking a two day trip from Nebo back to Gasconade Hills for fishing?? This will be my first trip on this river and was curious if 25 miles is too long... Is this current of this river similar to the Big Piney? Also, from reading the board it seems crankbaits aren't very popular... is ths the case or just not the lure of choice for you all.. Thanks!

Thanks for the heads up- I know they spiked from the rain you had, but right now the Powell gauge is less than 5'. I've floated at 4.5 earlier in the year and it was a fun, fast trip. I'm hoping the water at least clears up a little so I can do some fishing- Any fishing reports from the last week??

Anyone interested in floating the Big Sugar and Elk this week, Thursday or Friday? Looks like I could make a trip this week and the weather doesn't look too hot.. I would be on the river early Thursday and off Mid-day on Friday-

Have you guys seen this?? It's amazing to think people do this, but I will be signing up next year... think you could handle it?? http://rivermiles.com/mr340/page2.html

Where is the Maries??

I am certainly no expert on the Upper Jack's Fork- However, I did float it this year from the Prongs to Alley Springs. I do know that section is hard to float when the water is low and you will end up doing alot of walking. I have attached a trip report from my float in March that could help a little bit?? Just a tidbit of information- When I floated the river gauge at Mountainview read at 3.6 ft and 900 cfs- currently it is reading at 1.7 ft and 100 cfs. Here is the link to the USGS water gauge site- http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=07065200 Here is th trip report: (It's long but decent to read) Jack’s Fork Trip Report: South Prongs Access 0.0 to Alley Springs 31.0- 31 Miles March 7-9, 2008 Boat: Mad River Synergy 12/Necky Manitou 13 Temperature: High Low Water Conditions: (Gauge at Hwy 17) 3.65 is flood level March 7th 37 25 3.6 foot March 8th 39 15 900 CFS March 9th 56 26 ** Perfect Floating Level** Friday, March 7th: With snow on the ground Nolan and I took off for a 3 day, 31 mile float around 1p.m. This was my first trip in my new Mad River Synergy 12. Five minutes in, a tree snagged a lawn chair on my canoe, pulled my back end under and ripped the chair into the water. The water could not be more than 40 degrees, so I was already wet and cold. With one lawn chair down, we paddled on with the water level nice and high. The upper section was very technical and had some pretty narrow chutes. The strainers left over from the floods caused the biggest challenge for us. When the water was this level it opens up several chutes to choose from along the way- sometimes you cannot see around the corner of which one will be best, but we only had 1 problem the entire trip. Shortly after the hwy 17 bridge there is a house on river left- there are 3 chutes to choose from- well, what we could not see was a tree had fallen and knocked down the powerlines (insulated) but black and we could not see the line about a foot above the water level. Lets' just say we got hung up and had to bail out and portage the kayaks- Nolan got pinned to a tree and in the chaos, dropped his paddle and it was swept downstream. During the fun, I managed to lose both of my fishing poles as well! We split the paddle in half and we each used it as a canoe paddle for a bout 1 mile. Luckily his paddle was stuck in an eddy and we managed to grab it for the rest of the trip Maybe they have cleared it by now, but it was a little scary. We camped along the river and settled in for a chilly night by enjoying some “traditional foil packs,” vodka and redbull and a good nights sleep. Camped about a mile or two from Buck hollow and traveled about 8 miles today in 4 hours. Saturday, March 8th: Woke up to a very chilly morning and goofed around the campsite. We decided to play homerun derby with a stick, rock and the wall was the bluffs across the river. We didn’t break camp until around 11am when the weather warmed up just a little bit. Today went pretty much without a hitch and we didn’t encounter any problems or real obstacles (perfect day of floating) this section of the river is beautiful with tall bluffs, swift water and a lot of wildlife. We had a bald eagle in front of us today but it never got too close and just sat up on the bluffs and watched almost as if it owned this stretch of river and wanted to show us it was king of the valley. Stopped for lunch by huge bluffs and had some turkey and bread (which had been smashed and dried out in my dry bag). We finished the day by camping just upstream from Bay creek at a nice campsite. I remember by this time Nolan was almost frozen to death and swore from now on he would dress according to the weather and not wear shorts. We built a lean- to shelter with a tarp knowing it was going to be a cold, cold night and settled down. We had Cheddar-Wursts for dinner along with some more Vodka and Redbull and Busch Beer. The thing that sticks out most is having all the firewood, most which was pine and how much wood we were burning, but it never seemed to get real hot?? Nolan also snored all night long…I’m talking like a freaking freight train!! Floated about 15 miles today in about 6 hours. Sunday, March 9th It was cold last night, got down to 14 degrees (which breaks my record of camping in cold temps…previously it was 18) I slept very little because of Nolan’s snoring and was a little slow to get out of the sleeping bag. Today was going to be a nice warm day and unfortunately we wouldn’t enjoy it since we were getting off the river today. Once again, today was a simple day of floating with no real excitement or problems. The water level did drop a lot from when we started since we did drag a few times on the way to Alley. Today we floated 8 miles in 3 hours.

Here is my trip report from lastweekend- It is a little long but here is also the link you can click to lok at my pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/ I think there are 2 pages of pictures- Thursday, June 19th: We left at 4am Thursday morning from Arnold to out put-in point Aker’s Ferry. We had kayaks packed and were on the river by 9:15 am this morning with the weather looking to be about perfect. The first thing I learned this trip was that the Ferry here was in working order.. I always thought it was out of commission, but it was $5 for a truck and $4 for a car. We decided to try some early fishing and I am glad we did. The water was cold this high up and we were fishing some swift water with crankbaits looking for smallies. We ended up catching a couple of trout, me two rainbows and Nolan a Brown. This was the first trout I have ever caught and was pretty excited since it was around 17” and probably a couple of lbs!! We continued downstream with a quick stop at Cave Spring to paddle inside and cool off for just a minute. I have never been on this section of river so it was my first visit of the cave—it is beautiful! We did not see many people on the upper stretch and the fishing was not great, but we heard the fishing gets better downstream from Round Spring. We paddled to our camp about 1 mile upstream from Round Spring and settled on a gravel bar for the evening. We wanted to stay at Sinkin creek, but there were already a few people there. It was a typical evening at the camp: built a shelter, had some Brats and a few cold ones and relaxed. A storm rolled in about 10pm and forced us under the shelter early. It rained and stormed for about 2 hours, but the shelter held up good and the river hardly rose an inch. We were on the water today from 9am until 7pm and covered 17.5 miles. Friday, June 20th: Slept in today and didn’t get on the water until around 10am. We stopped by Carr’s Canoe Rental and grabbed some snacks for the afternoon and the headed back out. There was alot of canoe traffic from here until Round Spring which is only about a mile. After that the traffic really thinned out and the fishing picked up. We both caught quite a few smallies once the water warmed up. The great thing about the river is it seems like around every corner is a perfect place to fish. The ONLY disadvantage of this lower section was the amount of jet boat traffic. It definitely is a nuisance for the canoer or kayaker. But, the way I see it is to each their own…. they are probably looking at us going “why in the heck would I paddle all day when I could just jump in my boat and go!!” Personally I thought this section of the river was more scenic than the upper section. It seemed around every corner was another bluff or cave. Today was pretty uneventful as we fished and had a few more cold ones than yesterday. The only funny thing was the storm that was following us… Now I am a weather junky and pretty much obsessed with anything to do with the weather. As we were floating, you could see a front moving in on us. Not only could you see it but it was thundering pretty badly so you could hear it as well. So I’m freaking out about being in the middle of water during a thunderstorm and Nolan is laughing the whole time. Needless to say the storm followed us all day but never actually came to fruition. We set up camp just down from Jerktail right next to some beautiful bluffs. Another typical evening: set up camp, had a few cold ones, ate some dinner and told stories……. Funny how this is what we seem to do every night (eat, drink and tell stories).. Oh well, that’s why I love doing this so much!!! We were on the water today from 10am until 6:30 pm and covered 15 miles Saturday, June 21st: Woke up a 6am to the valley just filled with fog. I am here to tell you if you have never experienced the fog on the water in the morning you are missing out. Anyway, we knew we were on for a short float today (by design) so we took off from camp around 6:30-6:45 and headed to two rivers. We fished quite a bit along the way and caught some more nice smallies. The trip came to an end too soon as we rounded the last curve and saw the cabin up on the hill. We were on the water today from 6:30 am until 9am and covered 3.5 miles.

Just got back from a 36 miler this weekend.. floated from Aker's Ferry to Two Rivers. The water is in perfect condition and oh, by the way.. the fish were a biting.. True story- I have never caught a trout in my life, heck never even fished for them. Things were not different this weekend as I headed out on the hunt for some smallies. I'm fishing an ultra light spinning rod with a Rapala crank bait just like I would for a smallie and then BAM!!! I'm thinking this is one big smallie and I'm geting pretty darn excited- finally get the fish to surface and "I'll be darn" it's a rainbow trout!!! I'm not sure what a big rainbow is but he was around 18" and I would guess 2-3 lbs... Don't have proof because I was in my Kayak and the camera was in my dry bag. But I do have proof of the second one I caught.. take a look at this guy, I think he is considered big for the current river standards. He was also around 17-19" and I would guess 2-3 lb as well?? He's not looking too good in the picture, well because I didn't know you couldn't "lip" a trout and I had some major problems unhooking him. I'm not 100% sure, but he may have died after I released him, which just makes me sick to my stomach- Anyway, what a great float this weekend was.... Here's also just a pic of the river and my buddy at 7am this morning- By the way, I will post a trip report with a link to all the pics in a few days

Wow!

Thanks JD- Quite honestly I'm a big fan of the craw crankbait....I think it's because I can use it while I'm in the current in my kayak and don't have to stop and get out like I would a tube or a jig. Couldn't help but notice, your from SE Missouri.. I lived there for 8 years a while back. Moved to KC in 2003 though.

I'm wanting to float this stretch next week starting Thursday morning at 10am and getting off the river Saturday by noon. Is this pretty reasonable to do if I will b fishing and doing some cave exploring and etc.....?? Also, is this section good for smallies?? Thanks!

Thanks for the rest of the story.... You know, when we take trips like these we always joke "It's not a good trip unless you have a great story to tell" I think you have topped any story I've ever had on a trip. Glad you were safe and I'm sure you can't wait to get back next year!!

Chief- Any suggestions on areas to float Shoal Creek to do some fishing. I have some family near Joplin and wanted to float and fish 5-7 miles when I'm visiting. Or even longer if it's possible to pull off an overnighter-

You just can't do that..it's just not right! I'm beginning to wonder if you work for a news station and write all their teasers to keep people watching. Because you got me wanting to hear the rest- Let's hear the rest of the story!! I just floated that area about 8 weeks ago and am glad I didn't have that happen-

Yeah that's a snake alright- If you look real close, that's not a wound that's the snake eating the hellbender!! What a great picture and great luck seeing that. The only thing I can't tell is what kind of snake that is???

Ollie- Thanks for the trip report...man oh man am I jealous after hearing about your weekend!! I can't believe how many fish you caught, I bet the water is real nice right now. I have to tell you that rock ledge suprised the heck out of me when I floated a few weeks ago, but I enjoyed it as much a you guys did. It looks like you floated at about the same water level I did at 4.5 ft on the Powll gauge. I know my float was fast, how did you manage to slow down enough to fish?? Glad to hear you had such a blast!!

Nice Pics Russ- The river looks great right now... Hope things ar going well and I hope to make it there soon!

Being able to just pick up and go is almost impossible- I guess what I was referring to was would that date work for you Ollie and Russ just in case water conditions were right? If they were, then I would already have the weekend in my schedule and if the water wasn't good, maybe taking a look at the Big Sugar..... Sorry fellas if I sound neurotic, but I plan events for a living and it seems like all I do is plan in advance.... Maybe that's why I love being on the water so much because it gets me away from all the hustle.

So I'm pretty sure I have the OK for both- I was looking at two weekends: How about May 16,17,18 or possibly the wekend after Memorial Day? I have about a 6 hour drive to get near the river, so I would be interested in leaving early, early Friday morning and doing some floating that late afternoon and then on Saturday-- Any thoughts?

I would be interested for sure- I only need 2 things to happen to get the OK 1) A weekend free from work 2) A yes from the misses By the way- the only boat I have is my Mad River Syergy Sit on Top. Would that be able to handle the river??

If you go this weekend, check out the water gauge near mountainview. If it is reading between 3.0 and 3.5 on Friday or Saturday, your water level should be about perfect!!

Ollie- I can see where hitting a rock would flip you in a heartbeat- I was fortunate enought to have the water level that high and went righ over them. I probably committed the cardinal sin for going solo since I didn't scout before I went through them. But knowing the layout of the rapids like you do, it would have been hard to scout since the river is so wide there and the current is pulling you pretty good- The guy at cyclone told me when the water is real low that section is a shin buster because you have to line it to make it through- I haven't done the Mulberry- maybe I should tame a look into that??