1/29-1/30 Nfow Report

[wackaloo13]

1/29 - Left STL around 6:30 and arrived at Sunburst at 10:30. Paid my $5 access fee and wadered up. Rigged up with a variegated brown rubber legs and an egg on a tapered 10' 4x leader. Fished from the soon to be fly shop upstream. Landed a 17" rainbow in the pool below the island at Sunburst on the rubber legs. The egg wasn't pulling its weight so i put on a 18 or 20 $3 dip. I worked my way up past the island a ways to the next bend in the river. Landed a 15" brown on the $3 dip in a pool just below the riffle. I worked my way back down to the island and fished the fork of the island with less current flow. I spotted a much deeper pool about the size of a large bathtub with an over hanging bush. I landed 4 fish on 4 consecutive drifts through the hole. Overall, one of the better days of fishing I have had in MO. I even managed to hook 2 fish at the same time (landed the smaller one of the two). You cant beat mid 60s and sunny in the middle of winter.

Headed down to Dawt Mill to check into my room for the night. The food was pretty good and i enjoyed a rather healthy serving of scotch. Get into my room and the smoke alarm battery is dieing.... beep beep beep. Joy. I get moved up to another room which wasnt much better. 3 tv channels, an OPEN pocket knife laying on the floor of the bathroom and the hot and cold were screwed up on the shower. They ended up refunding my money for the night and giving my a voucher for a free night. I was satisfied with the outcome.

1/30 - Started fishing around 8:40 because I had to wait on the manager to show up at Dawt Mill. The weather had gotten crummy. Mid 40s and overcast. Went to the northern Patrick Bridge access and went out with the same rig that worked the day before. I walked up the trail at the end of the campsite to the island. Hooked 3 but due to lousy hook sets, landed none. After lunch i went back to Sunburst. I fished around the island and got 2 rainbows. Since the weather was pretty crappy I headed home around 3:45.

For my first trip to the NFOW I thought I did pretty good. I will definitely head back down and float it this spring. Also, was it just me or is there quite a bit of litter in the river/on the banks? I ended up picking up quite a bit when i was walking back to my car at Patrick Bridge.

[Trout Commander]

I hope you snapped some pics!

Sounds like a great trip!

[Justin Spencer]

So I'm in bed with the flu all day and you have to rub it in by doing that out in front of my place. If everyone keeps out fishing me on my own property I'm going to have to cut you off or start charging by the inch. Glad you had a good trip and hope to see you next time.