3 Day Trip 6.10-6.12

[chub minnow]

I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and get the pictures from our trip off of the old iPhone. Unfortunately my good, waterproof camera gave up the ghost right before the trip, so the camera pictures are a bit blurry.

We started Friday at Marble, bound for Rockhouse - 27 miles away. The first day was nice and relaxing, albeit with a bunch of dragging. We caught the most and biggest fish on the upper sections. At one point I had on a beauty, probably 18"-20", but it was not to be. I saw him working around a rootwad on a tight bend and joked that there was no way to hook him. On my second cast I proved myself wrong and managed to crank him to the boat on 3 consecutive occasions. Unfortunately once Lance stuck the net in the water he jumped, did a violent head shake, and it was all over. It was one of those "one that got away" moments that I'll never forget. What a great fish! Right after that Lance snagged his little brother.

We were really worried about finding a good campsite that night and just kept going until almost dark. Lance and I were ready to stop at a pretty good looking beach, but Seth insisted on pushing on just a little bit more. I'm sure glad he did, because here is where we camped Friday night:

It's an insult to call the float on Saturday spectacular. The bluffs and mountains from here all the way to Rockhouse have to be experienced in person. This float definitely rivals most sections of the Buffalo. We didn't fish much because we had lots of ground to cover and the water, for the most part was SLOW. We didn't mind much, given the view, though.

Saturday evening the storm clouds were looming. Once the rain cooled air started hitting us, we stopped to set up camp just before the confluence with dry creek. We all ended up getting soaked and cooking dinner under the the blue Wal~Mart tarp. Not a bad dinner, but everyone was ready for bed after 13 miles of paddling. The next morning I awoke to dark clouds, but surely they were remnants of last night, I thought. Pretty soon I was moving the breakfast fire back under the tarp. We got soaked again, and ate in the rain - again.

The upside to all of the rain was the river was up about half a foot from the previous day. I can honestly say the float on Sunday was one of the most spectacular of my life. The weather was perfect, as was the water level. Just high enough to get by everything, but not fast enough to have to really pay attention. The river really heads downhill on this section. We did the easiest 12 miles of river floating I have ever done and were back to Rockhouse before dinner time.

If you haven't done the Marble to Marshall ford or especially the Marshall Ford to Rockhouse section, you are missing out on some of the best that the Ozarks have to offer. Don't let the long mileage scare you, you can do either the 11 mile upper, or 15 mile lower section in a single day - no problem. There are some pigs in there, but it's hard to fish when the scenery is so great.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Sounds like a really great trip. I have been wanting to hit the Kings for a couple of years now and I just haven't pulled the trigger. A few of were going to do it this year but just haven't yet. Thanks for the report and pics. It looks and sounds as awesome as my dad, who has floated it a few times, has told me it is.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Sounds like a great trip. I've done Trigger to 62, but nothing above where information is scarce. Sounds like a sleeper.

[AJ Brown]

I'd love to get the chance to float the Kings. We've camped at Rockhouse numerous times, and we always thought it was the secret of a select few. It's odd but cool to see that it is really a common point on Kings river floats. Hopefully we can get down there soon to float some part of it.

[TroutRinger]

Those undercut bluffs are awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[darbwa]

So do you know what the Berryville gage was reading when you started? I am planning a trip in May and would like to know what to look for in terme of water flow.

[chub minnow]

Started out at about 220 cfs on Friday, down to around 200 late Saturday. River came up Sunday morning (way upstream) to what would be a reading of about 220-230 later on down the river at Berryville. You wouldn't want to do the upper section much lower than this unless you were riding solo in a tandem boat with minimal gear.

[SFTigers]

This Darbwa guy is suspect at best. Don't believe a word he says when it comes to fishing tales.

[Ultralance12]

Hey! Thats me! I was wondering what your screename was. LOL!