Great Smallies, Trout Were Few, A Long Saga...

[Nortrad]

Dr. O., the Jedi and I had been planning the trip for awhile. The wives and kids were off to STL and we were hooking up at Greer camp ground for beers and planning the next day's journey down the 11 Pt. from Cane to Turner, stopping right above the Spring at the end of Day 1. The Jedi did real well in the slow deep stretches with the grub on spin rod, including the big boy tipping out at 17"...darn nice fish, right in a short, deep riffle. Caught only my 2nd smallie ever on a fly a little later, small, but I was pumped. Picked up a few more decent smallies on various flies. Jedi kept landing them on the grub and few on fly. No love for the streamers I was throwing with the sink tip. Continued down to the great sand/gravel bar upstream from Greer Springs junction. Set up, snacks, beverages and tossed out a Meat Whistle under indicator, wham! Nice smallie. The evening just got real nice...Great steaks, wild rice, grilled corn and plenty of a curious mixture of hops/malt/barley and water, I think it's going to be a great hit among the fishermen... Great stories, some true, some close to it...

Woke up and made some breakfast burritos, Dr. O. decided to try the trout set up with Don's Craw under an indicator, Mr. Smallie slammed it for a nice start to the day. Worked right on the inlet, way too much water, real fast and up high. Weather had turned to cooler, spitting rain on us. It became a tough fish. River was up and fast. Managed to pick up 3 each, but with my best trout on the 11 Pt. so far, a beauty at 14". The pic here is a smaller one. The Jedi has the pic on his camera. Fate then intervened, payment to the river goddess for the smallies I guess...

Had another spill right at the first island below Greer campground, this time me trying to step over the top of the canoe...you can guess the rest, waders w. water in them, wet camera, and a 5WT TFO BVK, broken neatly 5" or so up from cork... Re-rigged the 5WT nymph set up to the 7WT rod. It took some adjusting but paid off with the nice trout.

The story continues...in my changing into a new set of clothes from the mini-dip, I lost my phone and the extra car key...much do our dismay we had neither at the take out. Luckily a family from Alton used a CB antenna to stick thru the window to hit the unlock button...Thanks Donald!

It was a fishing trip, yep...

[Chief Grey Bear]

Epic! Well, except for all the mishaps. But you survived and have great pics to go with the great memories.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Wow, all and all, sounds a great time, the mishaps will add to the stories you can tell on your next trip. Dandy Smallies, I probably don't have to tell you that river is the jewel of the Ozarks!! Great Report!!

[Mark]

Nice fish!! What's a float trip without a few mishaps!! You may be onto something with the barley/hops/malt/ and water mixture. I wonder what would happen if you added a little yeast?

Were there any obstacles between Cane Bluff and Greer?

[Troutnut69]

Awesome report!! You can't beat good times on the water with great friends.

[mic]

Very jeolous. Thanks for the great report

[Gavin]

That's a trip you will remember, LOL! Glad you had fun!

[Nortrad]

Here's the pic for the 14" rainbow, jig hook, copper BH, PT body, partridge tail/hackle, peacock thorax, great looking fish. Thanks for the comments guys! Great time here on OA!

[go4ducks2]

Nice report! Thanks for posting!! Looking to get back down there in a couple weeks....Cane to Turner........last time was 6ft high and thats all

I've seen(only one time there), so will be nice to hopefully see the river at normal stage.

[Nortrad]

Brain S. said to hit the trout water a little later, when the river lowers, not sure when, possibly mid August? We'll see, really liked the smallie action...