Water Level On The Lower Miles

[Al Agnew]

My wife Mary running one of the split channels at 75 cfs, I believe it was the river left channel, early November about ten years ago:

Same rapid, river right channel, back in 1977...river was probably flowing around 200 cfs:

[gotmuddy]

My biggest concern floating this time of year is the unpredictable weather. be prepared for 30 degrees all the way up to 80 and rain. The fishing could be tremendous. One night you HAVE to camp at middle creek. There is a killer hole and a great gravel bar. the creek will come in on the right side.

Motoring up the buffalo is tricky at best. if you think it takes skill to run a jet, try running a 9.9 up the buffalo. to get up 4 miles(as far as I go up to fish) you need the gauge to read 4 foot. cant remember the cfs, probably between 750 and 1000.

[grizwilson]

Middle Creek? SNAKES, BEARS NO FISH..... Yuck! (Ha!Ha!) Excellent place, just don't beat me there. I will float down at 4 in my boat. To come up a min of 4.5 prefer 5.5. This time of year several folks will be camped at Elephant Head deer hunting, so plan above or below that.

g

[budman]

We made the trip, low water and all, and it was fun and will do it again. The weather was great, no rain while we were on the water. There were four of us, all in kayaks. Two fly fishing only, one spin fishing and I carried both. The river is really different the farther down stream you go but it is all still a beautiful river. The fishing wasn't the best we have had but we caught enough to keep us excited about the next cast. Most of the smallmouth in the 10 inch range and when we caught a 12 fish it was a big one. The best one of the trip was 14 inches and my best was 13.5 inches. So the lower river was not as good, size wise, for us and the middle sections usually are on our May trips. The water was low, 2.5 ft and about 78 CFS but we never really had to drag our kayaks to far in the shallows. But one we got out we all noticed several new scratches on the bottom of our boats. On the spinning rods we mainly us olive tubes, bitsy bugs and small olive/pumpkin seed craws. These didn't tear them up, but were about the only thing that worked at all. We tried several different size and color of buggger and clousers and they caught a few but it was pretty few and far between. Since the crawdads were working on the spinning rods we tried several color and size/weight. We caught several when we first switched then they slowed down to nothing. I switched to a # 6 olive bugger with a gold blade that I had tied and they worked the best for us the last two days. I gave one the each of my friends and it worked just as well for them, but only in light or dark olive. Black, White, or Brown did not work as well. I had tied two of each color and the lighter olive worked the best but when we lost one we had to go with the darker color. I was ask to tie some more so they could be used next week by one of my friends on his trip farther up river. I have since learned they are called Pistol Pete, and found some tying instructions. I had to learn from tying a few about leaving enough head room for the blade to turn freely. Had tied some with only about half a shank of lead wire, instead of full shank, and they seemed to work the best. Caught smallmouth, ozark bass, blue gill with this fly so I will be using them on my next trip. I took several pictures but still don't have a way to get them to fit, when I do I will post.

[Terrierman]

Nice report budman, thanks for posting.

[Wayne SW/MO]

several folks will be camped at Elephant Head deer hunting, so plan above or below that.

We ran into a couple below Elephant who had stopped to put out corn and salt at their stand. They said there were a lot of hunters who came up the river. They had a well loaded 18' Disco with an electric on it. They were also going to camp and try to fill a cooler with cats for a fish fry. They told us low water was prefered in the Fall by most of the locals because they walked the shoals and then use electrics to get through the holes.

Budman I haven't heard of anyone who said they really did well down there. I'm sure a few have, but overall the solitude and abundance of great gravel bars, not to mention the scenery, makes the trip worth it.

[tkuehnert]

I switched to a # 6 olive bugger with a gold blade that I had tied and they worked the best for us the last two days. I gave one the each of my friends and it worked just as well for them, but only in light or dark olive. Black, White, or Brown did not work as well. I had tied two of each color and the lighter olive worked the best but when we lost one we had to go with the darker color. I was ask to tie some more so they could be used next week by one of my friends on his trip farther up river. I have since learned they are called Pistol Pete, and found some tying instructions. I had to learn from tying a few about leaving enough head room for the blade to turn freely.

yes the pistol pete was great - got alot more action on it then reg bugger...it was a great trip for sure.