Kayak Question

[Fishing Milwright]

I have never floated the Buffalo before. Which kayak would be better on this river. A hobie outback ( lighter, smaller, more maneuverable) or a hobie pro angler (heaver,larger, more comfortable, less maneuverable). Also at what water levels for each. Thanks;

[bobber]

if your talking about the kind you peddle forget it ,the rocks will do damage. other than that i would use the one you like the most?... at lower levels you won't have any problems traveling down stream. on the other hand at good, (higher)level the water is a little pushy in the upper sections. say, from ponca down to ozark, is the" white water" part of the river. the rest is just smooth sailing other than the low hanging limbs. and shallow spots..... the pruitt gauge should be close to the 4ft. mark to have a great run the closer to 3 ft. the bottom comes up quick in spots. ...not sure if i helped or added to the confusion...

[bobber]

floatthebuffalo.com they can help you out with current levels, and river conditions. and your shuttle srevice

[float fisher]

I floated Steel Creek to Ozark with my canoe and two kayaks beginning Friday April 30th. That first day was a royal pain. Both my canoe and the yaks were constantly on the rocks. We took out and camped early during a rainstorm. The next day we all did fine. A little shallow but did not have to get out to push at all after the rain. I checked the USGS site when we returned. The river was at ~2ft @ Ponca on April 30th. It was at 2.9ft on May 1st. That made all the difference.I would agree that 3ft @ Ponca is a good minimum mark for put-in at Steel Creek.

The yaks I traveled with were Old Town 12ft recreational. Nothing to heavy or bulky. I had the gear in my canoe so they were traveling light and they still spent a lot of time on rocks the first day.

[Fishing Milwright]

Thanks for the information. We've put the trip off for a day to see how much rain we get. It does't look like we'll have to worry about low water, just high water.