White River Shindig 2013; A New Tradition?

February 1, 2013 by MattTucker

2013-02-01pic044800px What started out as a dare, as most good things do, ended up in myself and Jimmy “T” Traylor cooking biscuits & gravy, blueberry pancakes, hash browns, 10lbs of bacon, and scrambled eggs at a boat ramp on the White River in single digit temps for about 25 of our closest fly fishing bretheren. For anyone that has fished the White River, February 1 is a special date, where they open the C&R area to fishing again, after being closed for 3 months for the spawn. Big fish are always caught in this section in the first week, and it isn’t uncommon for a 10lb trout or two to be caught from this section during the first week. We fed the guys from Chasing the Dream out of Oklahoma, the guys from Fly Fishing Illinois, and several other friends that showed up just to see if we were stupid enough to cook breakfast……..we were, and it was damn good.

The fishing wasn’t bad either. That morning, I broke 20″ with one of my largest rainbows to date from the White River, and several other boats boated fish in excess of 20″. The only issue with the fishing this morning, was we ran out of beer by the time we got to 3 Chutes and needed more, if we were going to float to White Hold. But never fear, JimmyT to the rescue…….thanks to Jimmy, I now tend to favor Sweet Tea & Sailor Jerry (affectionately named “Jimmy Tea”) as my drink of choice on trips. Jimmy shuttled us around to get the trailer and yank the boat out early so we could gear up for the night’s festivities.

All in all, the booze flowed and the social weekend that is opening day on the White River was kicked off properly. But not to be outdone with breakfast, we also had plans to throw a small little shindig at Wild Cat Shoals Boat Ramp that evening. With the help of Jeff House (High Plains Fly Fisher) and Craig Peterson, we grilled up about 60 bacon wrapped brats and served up some other goodness to about 50 people that showed up. It was sort of the who’s who of White River winter fishing with the likes of Steve Dally, Chad Johnson, Alex Lafkas, Jamie Rouse, Ron Yarbourough, Jim Traylor, Davy Wotton, Dominic Zamotto, Larry Babbin, Steve Stinnett, the guys from Chasing the Dream, and two many other people to really remember. It was definitely a great evening with plenty of alcohol drank for everyone, with the party going way in to the night, until only a few were standing. Here are the photos.

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Breaking In Some Newbs On The Niangua

January 19, 2013 by MattTucker

2013-01-19pic002800px Early January found me back on the Niangua River, taking my brother-in-law, Bob Weber, on his first fly fishing trip. Bob’s dad, Dan, joined us for this trip as well. It was a cold morning start, but the temps warmed up pretty quickly. We ended up sticking with the same Bennet Spring State Park Boat Ramp to NRO float that I have been doing and again, the fishing did not disappoint, even with a couple of new fly fisherman in the boat. Bob hooked up with his first trout on a fly rod early in the day, and Dan was able to stick a couple when we got out of the boat to wade fish in a few spots. All in all, it was another good day on the Niangua River, and it keeps me coming back for more.

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Ringing Out 2012 With Family and Friends at Bennett Spring State Park

December 30, 2012 by MattTucker

2012-12-30pic001800px This was the second year my girls and I spent New Years weekend on the Niangua River at Riverwood Resort. It is such a beautiful place to stay, right on the Niangua River, giving me time to sneak away and fish for a bit and then head back to the cabin to spend time with my girls. This year we also included my parents and one of my close friends, Rob Pedroli, and his fiance Kristy. It was such a relaxing weekend with plenty of good food and drinks, and we even ventured into Bennett Spring State Park Trout Park a couple of the days so that everyone could catch a fish or two. It was alot of fun helping Kristy catch her first trout on a fly rod, and watching my dad and Hannah sit on one rock and catch and release over 30 little rainbows in little more than 2 hours. I didn’t shoot a whole lot of photos, but here are the shots from this trip.

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Catching Up on the Niangua River

December 22, 2012 by MattTucker

2012-12-22pic012800px The Niangua River is a river that really caught my eye in 2012, as being a river big enough to float in a drift boat, and just close enough for a day trip….albeit a long day trip, with a nearly 3hr drive to get there. With only a little time left in 2012, and the Christmas holiday fast approaching, Dan Ritter, Paul Chausse, and I elected to make a “quick” float on the Niangua. It was a cold morning, requiring ice to be broken as we slipped the boat off of the trailer and into the water, as the water above the spring at the Bennett Spring State Park boat ramp is a lot colder before the spring dumps in. We floated from Bennett Spring to NRO, as they are one of the few outfitters on the river that will actually run a drift boat shuttle. The fishing on the Niangua is always acceptable, but the fish seem to hold in different places than some of the other rivers we fish — here, they will be out in the middle of the river holding to the divets in the bottom at times, which means for us this is primarily a nymphing river (although with Chausse and Ritter in the boat, several hours were spent chucking streamers).

All in all it was another great day on the river. On the way back to St. Louis, we stopped by Charlie Reading’s Fly Shop…..holy crap, this shop has everything. I was able to walk in and buy new size 14 soles for my Korker Red Sides…..something i could not have done at any of my local shops. Charlie is a hoot, his shop has just about everything and while it appears unorganized, he knows where everything is that is in it. It was well worth the stop……however, i wonder what the vegas line is for him to actually finish the water feature in front of his shop (he has been working on it for years). Here are the photos from the float today.

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Missouri Trout Odyssey III – Day 4

December 9, 2012 by MattTucker

2012-12-09pic046800px The Missouri Trout Odyssey is a trip that Brian Wise and I dreamed up more than 4 years ago. It originally started with each of us trying to bluff the other one into a “megatrip in the ozarks”, then it morphed in to how many streams can we fish and how fast can we fish them. What has resulted is a helluva appreciation for all the trout water Missouri has to offer and a great time in the process, with lots of stories, pics, and videos along the way. Each MTO is something that really can be explained in words — photos and video do it best. But the best way to experience it is to get out there and do it yourself…..besides it is only 1200+ miles and 21 trout streams over 4 days. As the years go on, less and less planning go into this trip, but we finish every trip telling each other that this is the last year we do it…..only to come back a year or two later and do it again.

After 3 days of being on the road, we finally reached our final day, and the two streams we were looking most forward to fishing; the Eleven Point and the North Fork of the White. We also had to fish the Trout Park at Montauk State Park, due to some poor planning and not being able to fish the park on a thursday during the C&R season. We left the confines of our Branson hotel early on Sunday morning and headed for our comfort stream….the NFOW. This is the river that Brian Wise guides on and it is the river that I try and fish every chance I get. Pointing our car in the direction of the river was the easy part, getting there…..not so much…thanks to a massive storm that was settling over the area. We drove through some torrential downpours and thunder and lightening, only to get to the NFOW just as there was a slight break in the storm. Like a good woman, the river didn’t disappoint, and provided us with our largest fish of the trip and probably the most photogenic as well. In a race to beat the rain, we quickly hit the car and headed towards the Eleven Point and met up with Brian Sloss of 11pt Canoe Rental, and like always the 11pt produces in both scenery and fish.

“Trust in Garmin,” were the words both Wise have uttered many times over the years while on an MTO trip. This last day was pretty special though, as Garmin took us what must have been the most direct route to Montauk State Park, but probably not the fastest, as we traversed various dirt, gravel, two track, highway, and a stream crossing or two on our way to our final destination — Montauk State Park. It was one of the more memorable and scenic drives of the trip; mainly because neither of us had any idea where we were or how to get out (much like the first night of this MTO, when we drove in circles in Mark Twain National Forest looking for a place to camp that wasn’t partied on by the locals). We hopped out of the Jeep just in front of the rain and ran down to the ditch to eek out a fish or two, then it was time to take off the waders and settle in for the quick drive back to Licking, Missouri to sort out the gear and hear our separate ways……another Missouri Trout Odyssey completed……..

Plenty of memories, stories, photos, and videos, to keep us appreciating all the different trout water Missouri has to offer. Day 4 included a ton of miles and the North Fork of the White River, the Eleven Point River, and Montauk State Park Trout Park. Here are the photos from Day 4.

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