Floating/Trout fishing next month

[Flysmallie]

6 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I realize this is probably blasphemy to some, but I never thought much of The North Fork of The White.  It's ok, but not worth the hassle.  IMHO.

From the guy that puss'd out on chasing white bass. 

[fishinwrench]

Haven't fished it since the big flood, but for ME it is a One-Trick river.   I either do good drifting/swinging a #8 leech pattern.....or I don't catch them well at all.

One time there was a Caddis hatch going on (#14-16 white/green butt) and fish were rising everywhere.  All chubs, not a single trout that I could tell.  Switched to a soft hackle pattern...... NOTHING......Put the stupid leech rig back on, and Boom, nice bow within 10 drifts, and 2 more before dark.  🙄

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

11 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

From the guy that puss'd out on chasing white bass. 

Stupid fake white bass run

 

 

 

[Johnsfolly]

We did the Hammond to Sunburst pre-flood and caught some nice fish. That was the last stretch of public MO trout water in the state that I had to catch a trout. I only caught 6 but one was a 16" colored up male. that was well before the MDC put in their trout slams.

Good luck. Looking forward to a report with photos.

[WestCentralFisher]

Thanks, all.  I am looking forward to it.  We're looking at it as a chance to explore a new section of river in a cool place. Given the apparent multi-species nature of the fishery, I figure I'll throw the usual assortment of general-use Ozark stream stuff out (rebel craws, spinners, baby bombers, etc) and just be happy with anything I catch. 

That's something I've learned recently. A few years back, I planned an elaborate trip around fishing some hyper-famous trout/salmon water in Northern Michigan. Timed it to perfection, had everything lined up to make it a successful trip, etc. And then the water was way too low and warm to do any of that. I was sad for a short while until I realized the lower parts of those rivers have great smallmouth bass fishing, and I turned a dud of a trip into one of the most memorable I've been on. 

Having no expectations of what success entails means you can call most anything a success. Unless I get skunked, drown, or catch one creek chub the whole trip, I'll find a way to call it a success. 

 

[WestCentralFisher]

Well, bags are packed, tackle boxes are filled out, and at around 1200 CFS based on what I can gather, flows are a bit high but runnable. Hopefully that will turn out to be correct. We settled on Hammond Camp to just slightly above Dawt Mill in a couple days. Slightly more distance and slightly less time than we'd prefer, but so it goes.

After some recent weather forecasts, it really looked like the North Fork trip was going to get postponed AGAIN, but things seem to have settled out. To say the least, I'm pretty excited to give this river a shot. 

I expect to be able to report something interesting. We will see if that includes any of the famously challenging wild rainbows. 

[gotmuddy]

1 hour ago, WestCentralFisher said:

Well, bags are packed, tackle boxes are filled out, and at around 1200 CFS based on what I can gather, flows are a bit high but runnable. Hopefully that will turn out to be correct. We settled on Hammond Camp to just slightly above Dawt Mill in a couple days. Slightly more distance and slightly less time than we'd prefer, but so it goes.

After some recent weather forecasts, it really looked like the North Fork trip was going to get postponed AGAIN, but things seem to have settled out. To say the least, I'm pretty excited to give this river a shot. 

I expect to be able to report something interesting. We will see if that includes any of the famously challenging wild rainbows. 

I floated from blair to patrick friday, water is plenty high so you can cover distance easy.

Above rainbow springs you should be able to catch quite a few warm water species. Mckee bridge is gone so no possible issues with portage.  Also there is campsites at blair.