zthomas

I've fished several times under that 59 bridge. Last time, I took a little one-man pontoon and rowed up to the first gravel bar and riffle above the bridge, where there's a nice, deep run with a rocky bottom. Got a few smallies and a bunch of green sunfish up there. I always do best with craw patterns--near 'nuffs and crazydads--in brown. Always try buggers and minnow type patterns and always end up going back to the craws. There are a few very nice largemouths that lie under the down wood in the slow water around there too. I've caught (and released) a a few in the two-pound range. PM me if you want to fish up there sometime.

Glad to be the catalyst for such an interesting discussion. Never eaten a GS, but I guess I better try them sometime.

tjulianc, These things were basically red all over. Not like fire-engine red, but definitely red. A blown-up photo is below, with white arrows pointing to the red minnows. You can also see a couple of brownish minnows near the upper right (red arrows), one of which appears to have a red head. Do some of these little shiner types turn all red at times?

Aha, blue heron must be it. Interesting!

Yeah, I knew they were in the lower river sometimes, but I was a very long ways from Buffalo Point.

Went up to the inlaws’ outside Marshall for the weekend. With the Buffalo high and fast, decided to try one of the feeder streams instead (to remain unnamed—sorry—father-in-law’s favorite “sucker-grabbin” spot). Found gorgeous, gin-clear water and good numbers of healthy, hungry smallies. Also caught my very smallest smallmouth ever (fourth photo)—and for me, that’s really saying something. Amazingly, I fished it both Sunday and Monday and never saw another angler or vehicle, even though it's public land. Toward the end of the morning on Sunday, I swung a crawdad pattern across the dropoff at the head of a deep, gravel-bottom hole (the one in the fifth photo) and got hammered. Fish ran hard downstream. Fight didn’t last more than a minute, but it was one of those where the outcome is anything but certain. Anyway, fish starts getting close, and it flashes silver, not gold. Had no idea what it was. Then a second one of similar size appears, following the hooked fish. Then I recognized the green backs. A few seconds later, I had a nice, chunky female rainbow laying in the shallows. Didn’t weigh or measure her and don’t want to hazard a guess about weight or length, but she was, for me, a very nice fish. She was all beat up, though—scratched and scarred with a big puncture wound on one shoulder. Gar? Otter? Definitely not spawning type injuries. Also pretty sure she was a hatchery fish. I’m no expert, but she didn’t have those white-edged fins I usually associate with wild rainbows. So where did this fish come from? Did it really swim well over 40 river miles up the Buffalo and then another one or two up this feeder stream? Why? Any other possible explanations? Maybe someone upstream is planting trout in a spring-fed pond that was breached by all the rain? Either way, it was a fun fight and a great surprise, and she swam away strongly when I released her. Other photos show a sucker my father-in-law snagged (how do you all eat those things?), and some weird red minnows I saw in the same creek. What are those? Do smallies eat them?

Crawfish fly called a crazydad.

Sure enjoy catching these little guys..

Cool weather and wind may have kept a few people off the river, but there were still plenty of canoes. Caught my usual--a bunch of little smallies but nothing over about 12". Most were on a brown crazydad in 2 or 3 feet of fairly fast water over cobble and gravel. Got on the water about 2:30 and, for me, the bite slowed dramatically around 4 or 4:30. Spoke to several gear fishermen, though, who said the bite turned on for them just about that time. So I guess the fish must have moved out of the runs I was working with the fly and into the deeper pools where I couldn't get to them but the guys throwing jigs and plastics could. A few observations that might be useful: -At around 2.4' on the Ponca gauge, some of the rapids on that stretch get a little sporty. I saw a lot of people swimming--and not just tourists who were paddling a canoe for the second time in their lives. Especially in the last mile or two above Kyle's, there are a few you might want to scout if you've got a boat full of fishing gear. -The float took me about 5 hours, but I did an awful lot of rowing on the second half. If you want to fish it thoroughly, give yourself 6 to 8 hours at similar flows. -Definitely the prettiest part of the Buffalo I've seen so far, but if I fish it again, I'll take off a weekday to do it. Just too many canoes. -There are, as Bobber or someone said, a LOT of fish up there. If I can catch as many as I did, on a fly, solo in the boat, on a chilly, windy day, with a constant parade of canoes going by, you know it's just lousy with bass.

Did my first float on Big Piney Creek on Sunday. It was a short trip, from the confluence with Hurricane Creek down to a few miles below the Hwy 123 bridge. Beautiful stream, a little "sportier" than most, and floated very well in that section with 2 feet on the gauge. Fished a bit along the way, but mainly just enjoyed the float with my dad, who was out for the week from Nevada, seeing a new (to me) part of the Ozarks, and not encountering another human being all day. It looked pretty fishy, though, and I'll definitely be back for a longer trip. Anybody else have any experience on Big Piney? Sounds like the lower sections might be even more scenic but also more heavily used. Any wisdom on the fishing?

I did a fair amount of research and went the way I did (Fish Cat Panther, made by Outcast) mainly because the four-tube models draft less than the regular two-tube models. The paired tubes basically act like a wider, flatter bottom. They also catch less wind because they're not as tall. Drawbacks, as far as I can tell, are that the four-tube boats I've seen cost more (MSRP on mine was $950) and don't do as well in whitewater (although mine has been no problem whatsoever on anything I've encountered on the Mulberry, Ouachita, Frog Bayou, etc). Another thing to look at is frame material. Aluminum frame makes a big difference in weight, but also costs a lot more. And then there are these really cool but super-expensive frameless toons from North Fork/Dave Scadden: http://www.northforkoutdoors.com/2011catalog/page6.html. 28 lbs., 800 lb. capacity, fits in your trunk, and all yours for just $1,600.

Beautiful weather and a nice float from Redding to Turner Bend. Fishing still pretty slow except for green sunfish in the boulders along the shore. A few little LMB or spots chased the fly, but that's about it. Just doesn't feel like a very fishy river up there--main attraction is that it's the closest place with an outfitter that will run a shuttle for me. Guess next time I go, I'll try something lower down.

Bright night with "supermoon!" Sharp, evocative photo, too. Thanks!

I love it. Floats at least as shallow as a canoe, obviously very stable, handles II+ whitewater with no trouble, comfortable to sit in all day, and carries enough gear on the back deck for an overnight if you go light. The material is super-tough, and it fits in a 6'6" pickup bed completely assembled if you just take a little pressure out of the tubes. You can even control it reasonably well with float tube fins in calm water. Only drawback is slow water. Rowing it through the pools, especially into a breeze, is a LOT more work than paddling a canoe or kayak. It's definitely a boat for rivers and streams with a decent current.

Floated from Spring Creek down to the 14 bridge on Saturday. Launched at 1 p.m. Flow was about 1000 cfs, temp about 55. Water had quite a bit of color--maybe two feet of visibility. Weather was absolutely perfect. First smallmouth came five minutes after launching, and they bit steadily until about 4. Biggest was 14" or 15", but vast majority were 8" to 10". All bit olive crazy-dads dragged on the bottom with a sink-tip line. The hardest part was just getting a good presentation with the river up and moving fast and by myself in the boat. Virtually every time I could get the fly down to the bottom and crawl it along for more than a few seconds, I got bit. Got one little longear sunfish, but otherwise it was all smallmouth, 10 or 12 of them total. Pics of the clear stream are Water Creek, a beautiful little feeder stream on river-left that's definitely worth a short hike.

Hey, thanks everyone! I already have a FishCat Panther, which I love, but it looks like the Blue Heron, with the single large tubes, just works a bit differently. Again, appreciate the help. Maiden float will be this weekend on the Buffalo.

Anybody own one of these? I picked one up cheap at a yard sale, and I'm trying to figure out how to position the compression straps that hold the tubes to the frame. Can't find a manual online anywhere, even from Outcast, which made that model for Bass Pro. Description would be great, pictures would be even better. Thanks, all.

With this cold weather, thought you all might enjoy a little bit of exotic fish porn. I wrote a guidebook a couple years about fishing Baja DIY-style (towing your own boat and finding your own fish, rather than chartering). Of course, it required a lot of “research,” so I spent a good part of 2007 down there fishing, boating and exploring. These are a few of the species we caught. If anyone is interested, I’ll add some photos of the landscape, seascape and people. --California yellowtail, a big jack species, aka "hamachi" in sushi places --Barred pargo, a local snapper type --White seabass, big relative of Gulf coast spotted trout found only in Southern Cal and Baja --Spotted bay bass, grows to about 4 pounds, tons of fun on trout gear --Broomtail grouper, grows to well over 100 lbs. --Yellow snapper --California bonito, not much good to eat, but lots of fun to pull on --California barracuda, very different from Atlantic barracuda types, only grows to 8 or 10 lbs. --Amberjack, same kind you catch in the Gulf --Schoolie size yellowfin tuna --Closeup of California halibut --Another yellowtail, my favorite fish anywhere --Juvenile broomtail, lots of fun to catch in the mangroves, sort of like fishing for largemouth in heavy cover --Leopard grouper, sort of the staple inshore catch in the southern half of Baja

Thanks again, Zack, for the info. Didn't end up taking the 'toon this time, but waded from Parker Bottom for a few hours mid-day Saturday. Turned out wading was the only real option anyway; wind was gusting to to 20 or 25. What great day anyway, though. From the few times I'd been to Beaver years ago, I didn't have very favorable memories. I remember it was sort of like fishing in an oversized ditch, no current, fishermen every 20 yards, and little fresh-from-the hatchery 10-inchers every other cast. So Saturday was a really pleasant surprise. I had the third riffle downstream from the parking lot all to myself, enough current to make it seem like river fishing, plenty of strong, chunky, wild-looking rainbows, all 12 or 14 inches, and discerning enough to make it fishing instead of catching. Started out with a gray-green scud with a zebra midge dropper and got several, all on the midge. Then got a few stripping a green flash bugger type thing. But the whole time, they were feeding actively on the surface on some kind of little (like #18 or #20) light tan caddis-looking thing. Finally switched to the closest thing I had--a #16 elk hair--and got four more that way. They wouldn't eat it off the surface, but they loved it in the film. Definitely didn't expect to be sight-casting to rising trout in December, but it sure was fun. I'll be back for sure.

Thanks again--great information! If the weather doesn't turn, I'll be up there a week from Saturday while the wife and mother-in-law are at the mall in Rogers. It's all in the planning and presentation...

Hey Zack (since I know it's probably you who'll answer this), I haven't fished the tailwater since the late '90s when I was living in Fayetteville. I've been wondering about doing a short float with the one-man pontoon up there and had a couple questions: -Can I get down it even with no generation? Are the section you can and can't reasonably float at 0 cfs? -If you're on the water and flow starts to increase, do you just get to a bank and wait it out? I'm looking at the recent corps data showing abrupt 9-foot increases in water level and 8000 or 9000 cfs flows and thinking that could be a wild ride in the 'toon. -Is there a short float where I might be able to just walk back up to my truck from the take-out if I can't hitch a ride? -Can you give a brief rundown of the numbers that mean good fishing/floating condition, as in Table Rock pool level, tailwater elevation, recent generation (or not), etc? I just don't entirely get how to read the corps graphs and such. -Probably a dumb question, but is there any way to predict when the releases will come? Or do you just pay your money and take your chances? I know that's a lot of questions, and I really appreciate it if you can answer a few. Just trying to get as much figured out as I can before driving up from FSM. Best, Zack

Thanks. I'm definitely no purist about the fly. It's just what I grew up with and I'm more confident with fly gear than spinning. But I will take the spinning rod next time. What are we talking about in terms of a jig--like a brown or black crawdad-looking thing? How big? Trailer? Sorry, I'm pretty clueless about freshwater non-fly stuff. Casting in-spinners for trout in mountain lakes is about the extent of my knowledge.

You were right.

Did Maumee to Spring Creek Saturday morning while visiting the in-laws in Marshall. Flow was around 90 cfs on the Hwy 14 bridge gauge, and water level was no problem in the little inflatable. Had to push with my feet through a few riffles, but never had to actually get out and drag. Very little current, though, so lots of rowing. Weather was definitely not as advertised--46 and windy at launch, 51 and windy at take-out, and not much different anywhere in between. Left a truck (admittedly a pretty unappealing one) at Spring Creek for five hours with no trouble. Fishing-wise, got skunked for the second late-season Buffalo trip in a row. I'd sure appreciate any tips about fall/winter fly fishing for smallmouth. I feel like I'm at least a competent fisherman when it comes to trout and saltwater stuff, but I'm new to the area and these stream bass have pretty much gotten the better of me except when conditions are good and everybody is catching. I tried bouncing/twitching crazydads in olive and brown along the bottom of the deep holes and slow-stripping woolly buggers in black, brown and olive down deep. Tried going super-stealth with long casts, 10-foot leader and 5X fluoro tippet. Tried adding a bunch of lead to get right down in the rocks. Tried dead-drifting, swinging down and across, stripping down-current and cross-current. In my defense, I broke my 6-weight a couple weeks back, which is the only rod I have a sink-tip for, so I was handicapped a bit by a 4-weight with only a floating line. But still, one short bite for several hours of hard fishing? Again, tips appreciated. Sunday took our little guy to a farm pond to tug on some bream, which cooperated much better than the smallies.

11/8--all shot with my favorite lens, a Sigma 10-20mm.