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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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By MattTucker, October 27, 2009 6:00 am

The second day of this White River trip, we were supposed to head north and fish the North Fork of the White River but because of the rain on Thursday, the river had blown out and was unfishable so after the bite we had on the White yesterday we opted to float it again in the wind.  It was blowing hard by the time we crossed the dam, as the flag on top of the dam was blowing upstream and being held steady….I was in for a day of exercise behind the oars.

We put the drift boat in at the golf course boat ramp near the Dam and floated to White Hole.  We got a later start then normal, opting to sleep in and enjoy breakfast, so after self-shuttling we didn’t get on the river until about 10am.  The fishing was as good today as it was on Thursday with the majority of fish picked up in the catch & release section and through the section that flows through Bull Shoals State Park.  We picked up most fish along the bank on a Glo Bugg Egg or a Tungsten B.H. San Juan Worm under a Thimgamabobber indicator (I am a HUGE fan of the Thingamabobber as an indicator when conditions will allow it, as it can detect the subtlest of strikes and is very easy to adjust).

We broke for lunch at the bottom of Cane Island and I rowed us upstream to an island that provides decent fishing on high generation (although since my last trip to the back of the island, the water had definitely changed).  It is a great place for lunch, as it got us out of the wind and we enjoyed the lunch of champions — oberlie summer sausage, monteray jack cheese, and wheat thins, chased with some New Belgium Brewing Co. brews.  We just finished up lunch with the rain started up again.

With the “dink” bite being consistent, Craig opted to throw my rod rigged with a sink-tip and threw an assortment of Sex Dungeons and was rewarded with a HUGE follow and strike on a white Sex Dungeon by the biggest rainbow I have seen on the White River (the fish was FAT) but he raised the rod tip instead of strip setting and the fish was gone.  Oh well, it was pretty cool to see a fish that large take a run at your fly.

As we were floating and banging the bank with streamers, fishing river left just up from White Hole Resort, I had the boat positioned about 40ft off of the bank as we floated downstream.  Out of nowhere, we were cutoff from the bank by a guy in a private white river jon boat.  The guy had the whole river, yet chose to cut us off from the bank and throw a huge wake in the process.  I was shocked, but had enough sense to show him his IQ and call him a “Tool” which made me feel better, but all I got was a huge “stink eye” from this guy.  As someone that runs a boat on the river, you always need to be aware of boat ettique on any water system.  This guy had the entire river to use, yet he chose the 40ft we were fishing.  Bad form, plain and simple.  What also was amusing was that he followed me to the boat ramp, but when he saw the three of us actually stand up in the boat and get out to secure everything he jetted.  I row a drift boat, and when I come up on boats anchored  I will use my fingers to point and ask which side the guide / fisherman wants me to float by on and will row accordingly, a little courtesy goes along way on the river and this guy showed absolutely none.

We finished up the float and ended back at the Wishes & Fishes fly shop in Bull Shoals, where owner / guide Jim Traylor was shedding his waders from his guide trip today with another gentleman from St. Louis.  His client had a helluva day and picked up a very nice cutthroat of about 4lbs or so as well as a couple of other nice fish.  We were just stopping by to say hello, but ended up catching up with fly-fishing guide Ron Yarborough as well as Mark Lavelle.  Ron Yarborough is just a genuinely helluva nice guy and a character to say the least, definitely a good guy to have on the river.  Mark Lavelle, is another fine fisherman that spends more time down there than most I know, judging by the photos he uploads to his Facebook account.  Needless to say several beers were drank, and by the time I crawled into bed around 12:30am I knew I was in for one helluva hangover.  On a brighter note, the D200 and the new lens rocks.

More to follow from Day 3 of our trip, once I get time to run through the photos.

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