cdog222

The Alley Spring camp ground seems that it would be compatible for you. It's nice and flat with accessible restrooms, etc. You can park near the 'take out' gravel bar and wade a bit in that area. I don't know if there are any great fishing spots that you will be able to get to, but at the very least it's an enjoyable spot that is easily accessible. I am not familiar with any other camp grounds in the area, so there may be other good options out there as well. Good luck to ya!

I know that I have scoured these forums for floating and fishing information prior to previous trips, and many of the fine reports posted by other members have always been quite helpful. This report won't be in terribly much detail, but hopefully it will be of some use to someone considering floating the BP. Me and my small group of float and fishing enthusiasts have been doing a 4 day 3 night float on the upper Jack's Fork every spring for the last 10ish years. That section of river has ruined me for any others, but unfortunately with the low water levels we were forced to try another river. I am always up for new experiences though, and this was a good opportunity. After doing much reading, we decided to hit the river on Thursday afternoon at the Mason Bridge and float back down to Wilderness Ridge Resort. Tim, the proprieter of WRR was certainly a character, but most accommodating. He has us loaded up and on the road within short order after arriving, even though we called only 15 minutes out. Definitely a bit risky, but it worked out. The weather worked out perfectly - we hit the water only a short while after the rain showers ended, and had all beautiful weather after that. I certainly don't claim to be an expert fisherman, but I do know what water looks good to me for smallies. I didn't see a lot of it on Thursday and Friday. We had some luck, but the good holes seems few and far between. There were a few nice long pools with big boulders and such, but the fishing was hit and miss. I think on Friday we went a good portion of the day with very little action. It could have had something to do with the weather front that moved in on Thursday though, I dunno.... I will admit I was a bit underwhelmed until we got around the Slabtown area, when things started to pick up, and we came across good holes more frequently. We pulled in several nice goggle eye and some scrappy smallies around 12-14". The prized catches were a fat 18+" largemouth, caught by my buddy and a 17+" smallie caught by me. Talk about a thrill! It certainly never gets old. Due to our lack of experience, we wound up passing 6 Crossing early afternoon on Sunday. As it turned out, we had a LOT of paddling to do to get back to WRR. In doing so, we passed up a LOT of nice holes. It killed me not to drift slowly by and drop my line by every boulder, but live and learn. As a group, we decided next time we hit the BP, it will be Slabtown back to Ross over a 4 day, 3 night period. We like to go slow - it seems we could easily spend a day in some of those nice long stretches of fishy water. All in all, a great trip. A nice river, some smallies, buddies, and a few beers - what could be better??

Thanks all for the replies, much appreciated! @ Al, I think we may be leaning towards the Big Piney. I'd love to float the Buffalo (and I'm sure WILL some time soon...), but I'm not sure I can convince all my crew on short notice to go that far. Looks like a darn sweet river! @ Greasy B, I'm all for adventure and new stuff - my experience is pretty much limited to the JF and the Meremac, and I'm just looking for someone to point me in the right direction. If I'm outdoors and have a fishing pole in my hand, I'm pretty much a happy camper! Admittedly, the JF has raised my expectations @ joeD, we've never had to worry about alternate plans. Sure, we've gotten rained on (rather severely a time or two), but low water has never even been on our radar as a possible issue. After 10 trips of good river conditions, I just assumed it would always be good to go. A forced change of scenery will certainly lead to a new adventure... @ TR, thanks - I'm slowly getting more familiar with land marks on the Current river. Now when people refer to certain stretches of the river, I at least have a bit of a clue of where they are talking about. Tough call between the Big Piney and Current.... @ 3wt, that is truly unfortunate! I'm am sure we will have a great time wherever we wind up, the the upper JF is certainly my first choice! Thanks all....

I have a float planned for the upper JF from Buck Hollow back to Alley at the end of May, but I'm a bit concerned about water levels. I've been floating this stretch for 8 or 9 years between late April to late May, and the concern has always been too much water, not too little. I'm hopeful that we'll get enough rain to pull it off, but just in case I was wondering what a good backup plan would be? The upper JF is my personal heaven - I can't imagine that there is something comparable, but my ozark stream experience is limited to the upper JF. Is there a stretch of the Current or some other stream that offers the ambiance, no crowds.....and lots of smallies? We usually spend 3 nights on the JF, so I'll have that many days set aside for the trip and would like to sleep on some gravel bars somewhere Suggestions are certainly appreciated - or some reassurance that the JF will have enough water to float! Guess I better learn a rain dance of some sort......

Just got back Sunday night from a 3 and a half day float on the JF. It's my 10th time going, every time from Buck Hollow to Alley. We put in last Thursday about 2 p.m. under mostly sunny skies. Unfortunately, it rained a bit Thursday night and Friday night - the river jumped up a foot and a half or so, but it certainly didn't affect the fishing. This is the second year that my fishing buddies and I set up a little point system and kept track of all the fish we caught. This year, I caught a total of 53 smallies - mostly around a foot long or so, but also including a fat 16.5 incher, and 3 others over 15. I'll catch foot long smallies all day long with a smile on my face - especially on such a beautiful river. We used Gulp minnows and crayfish, and some other assorted soft plastics. Quick question - we floated last October (middle of the month) for the first time, and the same group of guys (3 of us) caught a grand total of 2 fish. Granted it was a bit chilly and the water was as clear as glass. My question is this - what is a good time for a fall float with productive fishing? I've got a pretty good handle on the spring situation, but I'm not sure when things tail off in the fall. Regardless, our spring trip is always my 4 favorite days of the year bar none! Can't wait to get back out there.