I got lost on a river today. Yep.

[ozark trout fisher]

I posted a fishing report today, and I'll admit I glossed over one little detail. An embarrassing one, but heck, it's too funny to keep back.

When talking about my trip on the Jacks Fork today, I mentioned that I fished both the South and North Prong. What I didn't mention was that the latter was quite unintentional. Because today, I achieved a singular feat: I got lost (briefly, and not severely, but nonetheless thoroughly turned around) on a flowing stream.

I think I'll start at the beginning. I parked at the South Prong Access, and began working my way down. There is a bridge over the South Fork about a half to a quarter mile downstream that I waded under and kept fishing downstream. After awhile, I began working my way back up. I went back under the bridge, or what I thought was the same bridge, and started fishing again. I began to think to myself, dang, I must not have been paying very good attention to the water on the way down, because this looks way different. The flow was just right, but the pools looked different than I'd remembered them. But then it was really similar, I'd been deep into the fishing on the way down, and this was my first time on this stretch. I wrote it off.

Then, I decided it was time to head back to the truck and move on. The stream still looked a bit different, and yet enough the same to keep me going. But the access didn't come. I thought earlier maybe I'd lost track of time and distance, and worked further down than I'd remembered.

But then I came to a rocky shut-in that I KNEW I hadn't ever seen before. Then I knew something was wrong. Though I had committed the sin of getting directions on my phone, and never looking at a map, I knew the North Prong had to be somewhere in that area. Then it dawned on me that I went up the wrong dang river. When I came back to the bridge, this time I noticed that it crossed right at the confluence, and the bridges over each fork were nearly identical along with almost perfectly equal water flow. Not that it's an excuse, but I wonder if I'm the only one who's ever done that? Anyway, I got a pretty good laugh out of the situation.

[Norm M]

it all ended well. hopefully you got some fish on both branches .

[Jeff Maberry]

Guess there is other ways beside up stream or down stream on rivers

[ozark trout fisher]

it all ended well. hopefully you got some fish on both branches .

Yep. I can say with some authority that both branches of the Jacks Fork do indeed hold smallmouth.

Actually the North Prong (the one I went up by accident) seemed the prettier and wilder of the two. I kinda wished I'd just concentrated my efforts there.

[ness]

I can see that happening, especially on a new stretch.

Phones and GPS are sure handy when you're on the road, but when it gets down to fine detail of dirt roads and streams, I have been going back to hand-drawn maps more and more. I like that I can keep it to just the important info -- like roads, accesses, landmarks, etc. I label and scribble notes on them. Just did a trip out west -- mostly all new areas to me. Delorme atlas to get me close, then hand-drawn maps for the rest. I'm scanning them so I have a clean copy if I need them.

[drew03cmc]

I'm glad you had a good trip!

[ozark trout fisher]

Yep, it was a fun trip, and truth be told, this little incidence only added to it. It was impossible to be even remotely concerned given the circumstances, but it was a weird few minutes going through all of the possibilities before the reality dawned on me.

[Gavin]

Easy to do in that spot. Mother Nature throws you a curve ball sometimes. Glad you had a good trip!