Buffalo River

[redfish]

When is the best time of year for a long float and fish? 2 or 3 days.

[Crooked Creek Angler]

I've been as early as March and as late as November and about every month in between, and each time has it's pros and cons. An April trip for example has the opportunity for some stained water and great pre-spawn fishing and the chance to catch a real whopper. However, you'll also share the river with a lot of river boats, not so great if you're a canoe fisherman like myself who enjoys peace and solitude.

My favorite time is late September and early to mid October. The crowds have died down considerably, and the river's usually too low for heavy river boat travel, and if you catch it right the weather can be perfect with cool nights that are great for camping and the river can have turned on smallies that are feeding up for winter.

The very best time to go is whenever you can though. Hope you have a good trip....

[24KGold]

Keep an eye on the Buffalo River level. That will determine where you will have enough water to float. Usually in the spring you can float pretty much anywhere on the river, dependent on rainfall of course.

And I agree about the river traffic. I'm also a canoeist and want to get away to spots on the river where there won't be as much traffic, and it's getting harder no matter where you go. A group of us are going to float from Rush to the White River over Memorial day weekend, and that will add even more traffic. We are going to float for four days. Two years ago we floated that stretch thinking there would not be much traffic because it's such a long committed float but we were wrong. From that point on there were several motorboats in the river and we were very frustrated. Once I made myself get over my mad, I had a great time, caught lots of fish and made some great memories.

We always float the lower part of the river because we all like to fish and you are almost always assured that there will be enough water on the lower end. There are several long float sections from the Highway 62 bridge and on down if you like to fish along with your float.

Have fun and enjoy the one of the most beautiful rivers anywhere around.

Terry