Little Help - 3-Day Float, Out Of Tulsa, Spring-Fed River?

[Justin Spencer]

Is the NFoW a good option for smallie fishing? Or is it mostly trout in the navigable areas?

We wouldn't normally hesitate to drive to the Eleven Point but one guy has to catch a plane back home on Sunday.

Praying for rain.

upper reaches are good,but will be pretty low.

[slayer of lunkers]

The way things are looking, you may need a spring fed river for a backup plan. The Eleven Point is a long way from you but would be good. NFoW is as low as I have seen it this time of year, it looks like it does in July. Below Rainbow Springs is always good floating, but a 3 day float even here would be iffy unless we get some significant rain between now and then. You need to look at regs for the spring fed rivers as well, most have a blue ribbon stretch which won't allow soft plastics or live baits.

Your best bet is to do a rain dance!

A few of us floated the 11 Point from Kane Bluff to Turner about a month ago, and the smallie portion was dynamite. Once we hit Greer, the blue ribbon regs begin and only one of our crew had a good grasp of trout fishing to have some success. I just heard from the outfitter we used that the stretch we would want to fish would be a tough go b/c of the lack of rain. It would be too far to hit this year but is definitely on the radar for future trips. I've been told the best time for smallies is April - June 1st or so (given average rainfall I imagine)...has that been your experience?

An outfitter on the NFOW said that if we put in at Hale Ford & took out at their place a little past Hammond, the smallie fishing should be solid & right now the water level is adequate - low but floatable without much dragging. If our crew (I'm with Darbwa) floated that stretch I believe we would only have the final 2-3 miles in the blue ribbon area, does that seem right?

Still praying for a few inches of rain leading up to & following Memorial Day.

Cheers...

[Fishslayer88]

you could do the james, Hootentown to Galena is 22mi with lots of good smallies.

outfitter number http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=james%20river%20outfitters&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CG8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jamesriveroutfitters.com%2F&ei=TamxT8qPMIGC2wXi_oivAQ&usg=AFQjCNHvAAjU_9E7IK9hAdgxmaJ9oT3hJw

[Justin Spencer]

An outfitter on the NFOW said that if we put in at Hale Ford & took out at their place a little past Hammond, the smallie fishing should be solid & right now the water level is adequate - low but floatable without much dragging. If our crew (I'm with Darbwa) floated that stretch I believe we would only have the final 2-3 miles in the blue ribbon area, does that seem right?

Still praying for a few inches of rain leading up to & following Memorial Day.

Cheers...

Sounds like you talked to ROLF, in which case you would be correct. There would be some dragging, but probably better than some other streams as there is a spring up river at Topaz and then at Twin Bridges,spring creek enters with Blue Spring coming in just below Hammond, then of course the Springs at Rainbow would push you on home. Probably be a quiet float due to low water, until you reach Hammond.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Actually you are the first to mention the James. What section would you recommend?

I have always wanted to do the lower buffalo. Maybe this is the time to do it. I assume it will be moving slow and my only concern is that we will have to paddle too much to fish enough. Any thoughts?

We did it in a hot July and we did do some dragging. We put in at Rush close to noon and took out at Riley's about noon the third day. We didn't fish very hard during the day because of the heat, but you can camp on long deep pools and fish them. We didn't see any humans until we were just above the mouth of the White.

The James would be Hootentown to Galena. You'll probably drag some, but on the other side is dragging keeps a lot of party canoers away. The James is about 3 1/2- 4 hours exactly for you, by the time all is said and done. James River Outfitters at Galena would be a nice safe place to leave your truck and they might shuttle you that far up if it was pre-arranged.