Big River Float

[ZigZagey]

Hi all, I am new to the forums. Thanks to all who share their knowledge on here.

A buddy and I are going to float the big on Sunday 5/25, we are putting in at Washington State Park and floating to Mammoth. It will be our fist time on this section of the river, most of our trips have been up around Leadwood or Cherokee Landing. Not asking anyone to give up any secret honey holes but would like to get an idea of what to expect from this section. Hope to find plenty of gravel bars, I like to be able to get out of the kayak and fish too. Looking forward to exploring the lower end of the Mineral Fork also, we waded from Kingston up to the concrete slab a couple weeks ago and had a pretty good time.

Thanks in advance!

[Al Agnew]

There are some nice pools in that stretch, fairly long and fairly deep, and quite a bit of moving water that's good looking, too. I don't know where you're putting in at the park; if you put in at the access at the 21 Hwy. bridge, you have about three miles before you get to the main part of the park, with a long stretch of moving rocky water, a deep pool, then some faster water, then a long slow pool down to the park picnic ground. Several nice gravel bars in that stretch. From there to the Mineral Fork is all fairly good water until you get to a long dead pool just above the Mineral Fork. It's maybe a mile or two down to the Mineral Fork, then about two or three miles from there to Mammoth, with a long bluff pool, and quite a bit of somewhat blah looking water.

Lower end of Mineral Fork is moving but kinda slow, narrow, some high mud banks. Not the best water on the Mineral Fork.

Expect to catch a lot of spotted bass, even in the lower end of the Mineral Fork. But there are some good smallmouth in there, too.

[ZigZagey]

Thanks for the info Al, we found the water to be pretty much as you descibed.

We put in at the picnic area in the park, we were on the water at about 6am. We caught quite a few fish above Mineral Fork. We managed to catch as many smallmouth if not more than spots & LM. No trophies but nice fish. It was about 1pm when we made it to Mineral Fork, not sure if it was because the bite turned off or the boats turned on for the rest of the day. We took out at Mammoth at about 5pm. There were a lot of boats out, at least 10. Some we curteous and broke plane and idled past, others not so much. We did meet a guy in a boat fishing early in the day, he was very friendly, we talked about fishing the Big and some other places. Always nice to meet good folks on the river.

All in all a pretty good day for us, we are still new to chasing smallmouth. Most of my experience has been wade fishing for trout on the fly, my buddy has a large water for largemouth backround. I got him hooked on the river last year. We are still learning and hope to have a good season exploring.

Our quest for the perfect smallie float/fish continues...

[SmallyWally]

Cool job fellas. The Big River is a good river for a lot of fun.