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By MattTucker, October 29, 2009 6:00 am

We had reached the final day of our 4 day trip to the White River, and on most last days we generally fish around wherever we are staying until about 9am or so and get on the road; but we opted to float from the Dam to Gaston’s boat ramp again this morning.

We rose early and filled our bellies with the last of Gaston’s Biscuits & Gravy that we will have this trip and headed off to the boat ramp, we were fishing by 6:40am (little did we know that David forgot the keys to our shuttle vehicle inside of the rig at the ramp) and had a fish on the very first cast / drift.

The fishing was very similar to what we had seen the previous days.  Enough “dink” rainbows to get bored with it on Tungsten B.H. San Juan Worm and Glo Ball Egg under a Thingamabobber indicator.  Craig did throw a B.H. Wolly Bugger into the mix later on the drift and picked up an aerobatic rainbow or two.  The wind picked up as we reached the bottom of Cane Island, and that was enough for us to essentially reel end and row out to the ramp (when we discovered we didn’t have keys for the shuttle vehicle).  Big props to Jim @ Gaston’s who works in the maintenance department as he gave us a ride up to get our rig as Craig stayed with the boat.  I know Gaston’s sometimes gets a bad wrap on the White River, and their drink prices and non-breakfast food is expensive as all hell but thier customer service is spot on and i was really impressed with the response I got when I asked a cleaning crew staff member what the chances were of hitching a rid up to the Dam.  Kudos to them for sure.

All in all it was a great 4 days on the White River, as Craig and I headed for St. Louis around 11:15am or so and hit rain by the time we got on Hwy 63 and drove in it most of the way.  I can’t wait to do this trip again.

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By MattTucker, October 28, 2009 6:00 am

After way too much to drink the night before (I decided to take a ride on the Mothership Wit compliments of New Belgium Brewing Co. the night before), we woke up with a serious alcohol to biscuits and gravy imbalance in our bodies, and couldn’t find our way to Gaston’s for breakfast soon enough.  I had ignored my phone for long enough, and looked down to notice that I had missed 5 calls from Jim Traylor about fishing with him this morning.  Ooops, but the hangover need a cure.

After apologizing to JimmyT about our drunken ways, we decided to just meet him up at the Dam to launch his boat and have some fun for at least half a day (he had booked a trip for Sunday and needed to get his lunches and boat ready prior to the trip).  The fishing was as steady as it had been the previous two days as we made the drifts from the Dam down through Gaston’s hole.  San Juan Worms and Glo Ball Eggs were the standard fair under a thingamabobber indicator about 12ft or so.  Enough fish to keep us interested, but again nothing of any real size (just nice Arkansas White River Rainbow Trout).  We finished up the float around 1:00pm and headed back to the cabin where my hungover body was craving a nap (I am not old, just out of practice).  Craig and David proceeded to enjoy of few more beverages and grab a nap as well and by some act of god I woke up at 4pm as a ball of fire and was ready to put the drift boat in and do another float.

After dropping off a vehicle at Gaston’s boat ramp, we dropped the drift boat in at the dam ramp on the Bull Shoals State Park side and began our drift around 4:45pm or so.  It was nice being out on the river this evening, as the wind had died down and there were virtually no other boats on the river.  Again the fishing was spectacular with enough “dink” rainbows to become easily bored with it on the standard fair of a Tungsten B.H. San Juan Worm or an orange Glo Ball Egg under a Thingamabobber indicator.  We picked up the majority of our fish from the ramp down through Bull Shoals State Park with the bite slowing a bit once we got down to RiverCliff Cabin’s dock.

The flow was such that it allowed me to get out on the river and play with my camera bit, which was cool as David and Craig fished.  I have a lot to learn with regards to the Nikon D200, but it is a really big change from shooting my Nikon D70.

I will say that the coolest thing about the float on Saturday afternoon, was being out on the river and floating at night.  The “magic hour” had huge fish rising everywhere and there is just something about being out there in the boat with no motor running and fish everywhere.  It was cool to say the least.  We caught fish, but no pigs.  It is kind of sad, when you get tired of catching “dink” after “dink”, only because you know the potential of the river you are fishing.  We fished by Gaston’s restaurant about 7pm and it was dark enough that we missed the boat ramp by about 20 yards but it was an easy upstream row.

I had opted to leave my phone back at RiverCliff while on the river, as we were supposed to meet Brian Wise and Jenny Wise for dinner tonight, but hadn’t heard from him all day So I figured we were off.  Imagine my shock when we get back to RiverCliff and have missed calls and voice mails from Brian and Jenny saying that they were at Chili’s in Mountain Home and they have a table for 5.  It was close to 8pm by the time we met up with them and had a nice chain restaurant dinner (I am totally not a fan of eating at a chain restaurant….as David said as we were driving there….”Chili’s has mastered the art of mediocrity.”) but it was hot and we needed food.  The dinner conversation is always great after a day of fishing with friends, and we avoided getting any stink eye looks from those around us, so yet again we proved we can be socially acceptable when we want to.

We ended up back at RiverCliff sitting around a campfire and catching up.  Brian and I talked about the upcoming “Trip” that we will take over Thanksgiving, but in truth you really can’t plan this shit.  We are thinking of a repeat, although it may morph into something a little bigger….but again who knows.  He had to guide on Sunday, so he and Jenny left around 11:30pm (they had to drive back to Gainesville, MO about 30 miles away) and we were left with the task of cleaning up the cabin and packing up for our Sunday departure.  All in all it was a great day.

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