Chris Gates

Glad to here you had good fishing. I took a friend Sunday and Monday and it was tough for us. Caught about a handful each day with my friend fishing and me rowing, basically it was 1 angler. Anyway, kind of what I expected on low water and sunny but glad to hear you guys did well.

I like Thingamabobbers, 9 to 12 foot leaders ending in 3X fluorocarbon to the heavy stonefly or possibly leach pattern. Then I drop a small fly off the back with 4X. No reason to go smaller as long as your using fluoro. The water can be low in Aug. Obviously during the week is better then the weekend in terms of traffic.

This time of the year, between Memorial Day and Labor Day try fishing early part of the week, Monday-Wednesday. A lot less crowded, may mean the difference between seeing 400 canoes and seeing 10 or 12. Talk with Justin at Sunburst on how to fish the river. This is the best river in the state in my opinion but you need to come prepared. Brian Wise and Kyle Kosovich know the river probably better than anyone if you want a guide. I will be fishing it this Sunday and Monday. Good luck!

Glad to hear you had a good day. That river is sweet!

I don't that Amy would appreciate you being the Tiger Woods of the Norfork

I wouldn't leave my car at Kelly overnight. It will be fine during the day. There is plenty of activity there that the clowns will leave it alone.

In my opinion the river can fish well up to 2000 cfs, maybe even a bit higher. However, wading access will be limited at these flows. Also, I pay more attention to clarity then flow. For example, if you get heavy rains and it jumps to 3000 cfs which can happen in early spring, the river may fish very well as it clears and drops to 2000. However, if it peaks at 2000 cfs, it may not fish that well until it clears and drops a bit to 1200 or so. These are just examples but clarity is more important than cfs. Hope my example makes sense. The grounds is pretty dry right now and the flow is at approximately 600 cfs. With the dry ground, low cfs, and foliage on the trees it will take a fair amount of rain to become unfishable. However, watch because if that ground saturates in the upcoming week, and rain persists later in the week, the flows could jump way up. I am fishing Sunday and Monday, can't wait. Also, might consider changing your approach if flows get up. I nymph hard down there but if it is around 1500 or higher I recommend tossing a lot of streamers. Just a thought. Good luck

North Fork of the White can eat a person's lunch quick if you aren't familiar with it. Your on the right path talking with Justin. The river was actually not up when you were there, the flows you experienced in the 800 cfs level are pretty average. I fished it at 1700 cfs a couple of weeks ago and the streamer fishing was ok, caught a few nice fish. Don't feel bad if you didn't tear em up but I can tell you not to give up on that river. It's my favorite place in Missouri to fish, once you get the hang of it the river is really pretty consistent year around. There are changes like anywhere but the fish are usually eating througout the day if your deep enough. Keep going to the NFOW, you'll grow to love it, I know I have!

Justin and Amy are great at Sunburst. The location the river is awesome, some of the best water on the river is right near their place. Great facilities, easy shuttle info. Justin knows the river and is happy to help. Be sure to have the Pat's Rubberlegs, big indicators, smaller size dropper such as pheasant tails, green caddis pupa and I like the shop vac nymph. It is my number two fly on the NFOW behind a Pat's Rubberlegs. 3x tippet to the Pats with 4x on the dropper is a good setup. I use fluorocarbon and recommend you do the same. One thing in the summer, the crowds can be heavy on the river, not like the Niangua, Courtois, but heavy none the less from a fishermans perspective. I highly recommend getting up way early in the morning and fishing hard,rowing hard through frog water and focusing on the more productive water. The idea is to get as much fishing in as you can before the flotilla of canoes catches up. Fished yesterday and it was slow with the lower flows around 730 I believe and not a cloud in the sky. Good luck!

Glad to hear you had a great trip Gavin. I am heading down this Friday morning to Sunburst for 3 days of the good life. I appreciate the report, kind of confirms what I am expecting for this weekend. The fishing has been excellent down there the last few trips, hopefully it will be again this weekend.

Nice Current River Fish!

Gavin and Justin hit it on the head. If you want a great guide hire Wise. Don't come without Pat's Rubberlegs, heavy. Caddis Pupa droppers are hot this time of the year through much of the summer. Also Shop Vac Nymphs are another good Caddis/Midge imitator. I would leave my rod at home before I would leave the Pat's Rubberlegs. Did I mention not to come without a box of Pat's that are heavy?

Thats a pig!

Awesome Fish!

I'll be down there this weekend also. If I find a tennis racket I'll shoot you a message. Good luck finding it.

That's real cool Brian!

Sounds like a great day Justin! It's nice to hear your report and see how dialed in you are on that river. Pretty cool Amy caught the fish!

Brian has spoke at our FFF club in Jefferson City. Always very knowledgeable and generous with info. I wish I could have been there, I am sure it was very good. Brian is always nice enough to give away the secrets. At least I think he is, maybe he is keeping a few hidden secrets for himself but I doubt it.

Nice!

Yep, this proves my point. Goofy laws in Arkansas.

Jeff, you can send me a pm with your address if you want and I will be happy to send you quite a few flies to get you started flyfishing. Good luck, I love fishing with a fly rod. I 2nd Terry's answer.

Nice!! And just think, you missed out fishing White Oak Hole at Montauk and the Whistle Bridge at Bennett. Man your nuts if you want to fish a river by yourself, you could have been at the park with 2,000 other anglers!

I would have some shop vac nymphs in size 14 and some 12 to 14 princes. Midge larva patterns are very productive still. I am fishing the Shop Vac as a Caddis Pupa. Like Gavin said have some 16 & 18 Elk Hairs or similar caddis dries. Good luck, most importantly try to stay away from the crowd, this will help. Do what others aren't doing and you will have more luck, imho.

Thanks Gavin, I'm a member now.

I tried finding Sunburst Ranch on Facebook, didn't see anything?