First Trip to the 11 Point

[Mark]

At 562  cfs and a loaded canoe, you will likely have to pull your canoe thru  a couple shallow spots but not too many.  I second taking a look at Mary Decker Shoals 1-2 miles below Greer access - rapids thru scattered boulders - experienced paddlers  should be OK. Worth scouting a route though. I second the scarcity of firewood too this late in year. A chainsaw will help. 

I always tie a rope on front of canoe to pull through shallow water. The shallow rapids can get you sideways and pull you into trouble. With a loaded canoe, I'm not too proud to get out and pull through the shallow side of some rapids.

The fishing was great a couple weeks ago, the water about the same level and gin clear. I was using small shrimp. No bait or size restrictions below Turner access. 

Great time to be on the river!!! You'll practically have it to yourselves.  Gigging season so you may see some giggers at night. 

Give us a trip report. You will enjoy it, especially first timers!!!

[jdmidwest]

May want to double check that there is not a no burn order in effect.  Its been pretty dry this summer.

They started one as we were leaving back in July, posted it on the store at Riverton overnite.

[budman]

We will be floating in kayaks and may end up camping on gravel bars and not float camps. It will depend on what we find. We all have either paddled a canoe or kayak for 15-18 year or more. We don't take any river for granted and stop and look at any spot that looks tricky. We learner several years ago while floating on Crooked Creek and had a couple guys turn over in a large log jam and almost roll under it while not wearing a life jacket. Most of us are old retired Firefighters and take safety seriously. Looking forward to floating a new river. Good idea about checking on burn ban, because we like a night time fire while camping. Didn't think of that even though a lot of Oklahoma is under on now. Going to use Hufstedler's to shuttle our truck and get a little advice from them.

[Mark]

Good deal, budman, sounds like your experienced kayakers will be fine!! A couple Class II runs for a thrill!!

You may find it useful to print off the MDC Mile by Mile description to take along; it's always nice to know how many miles you've covered, to time the last morning how far to take out, where the springs, shoals, creeks, and float camps are coming up, etc.

I suggest take a few minutes to check out Turner Mill Spring on left bank and Boze Mill on left bank. Greer Spring is a 1/4 mi hike up the branch from the river. All three are impressive.

Fish DEEP!! Mike Jones from Hufstedlers is a great guy and will give good advice. 

Enjoy your trip!! I'm heading back down the last week of Oct.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gavin]

It's worth parking on top of the hill and taking the hike down to see Greer Spring. You can paddle up to the spring confluence as well. That is worth it too.

 

[Gavin]

Justin Spencer is guiding fly anglers down there since Brian Sloss moved to the Catskills. He’s been doing well lately. Row’s an Adiopose Skiff. @elevenpointflyfishing

[2sheds]

If it hasn't been said, there are generally fewer capable gravel bars on the 11 Pt than on other Ozark Rivers.  Check out those float camps, but you may need a good map to find them.

[Jerkbait1]

Lots of gravel bars to camp esp with low water and can wade fish.  Float camps not good IMO.  Good luck

[2sheds]

Gravel Bar vs Float Camp - I stand corrected.  It's been a few years.

[budman]

We had a great trip on the Eleven Point and will be making another trip in the future. Took us about 4.5 hours to get there from Tulsa. Nice drive until we turned on Hwy 19 and then we were on a roller coaster, glad it was day light and there was no traffic. We got to Greer about 10:45 and unloaded and drove the truck to Hufstedler's. We got on the water by noon. We camped the first night just down stream and across from Stinking Pond on a really nice gravel bar. So maybe 6 miles. It got down to the mid 50's at night so it was really nice sleeping. Between Greer and there we all caught several nice rainbows, 14-16 inch range and several smaller ones. I caught two Pickrel, one being a little over 20 inches. No fish on the fly rod, all on the spinning rods using smaller spinners and crank baits. The Pickrel were something new for me. Day two we floated from there to just past Greenbriar Float Camp and found a nice elevated gravel bar. Fishing in this section was a little slower and the trout were smaller. We caught a few smallmouth and goggle eye and I caught one more Pickrel. Day three we floated down to Riverton. No trout or pickrel but lots of smallmouth and goggle eye. Most were in the 10-12 range but all three of us caught at least one 16 incher. Water level at Bradley was about 540 CFS, which made for easy floating and never had to get out and drag through any shoals. The only spot that was a little tricky was the Halls Bay Shoals, it made and nice drop off and there were lots of rocks to dodge and bounce off of, but we all made it safely thru there. We didn't go up to Greer Springs, we wanted to get on the water, but we did hike up to Boze. I would like to know how deep it is. It sure has cold clear water. We only saw two other people in the three days and I don't think they had ever floated before. One was putting his brand new Walmart camping gear in trash bags to try and keep it dry. They only floated about three miles the first day and we saw them again about 1 the second day and they wanted to know if we knew how much farther. When we told them about 12 more miles to Riverton they didn't believe us. They were tired and looking to cell service and wanted help. Said they were go to paddle to Whitten Access and see if a Ranger could help them. We just told them Good Luck with that. It will be a trip we do again. Thanks for all the information and guidance you guys gave me.