Spring on the North Fork of the White

2013-05-05

Long, but productive, day today. Left STL at 230am and floated the NFOW twice (lower section) with Dan Ritter and the guys from Chasing The Dream. We boated quite a few and stayed busy with plenty of chases, and even moved a couple of big fish…but no joy. Left the NFOW around 1pm, and headed for the Current to see what it looked like at 1600cfs at Akers. Cedar grove bridge was just covered and the water at Welch was moving….going to have to lower the max to about 1200. Could have probably floated Tan Vat to Cedar Grove in the boat today though. Good times as always, hope everyone else got out.

North Fork of the White Harlem Shake

2013-03-02pic024800pxA day trip to the North Fork of the White River is always a blur.  We rolled out of my driveway at 2am to pick Dan Ritter up on the way for a quick day float with the Chasing the Dream Crew from Oklahoma and Brian Wise of Fly Fishing The Ozarks.  It was also the first fly fishing trip that my dad has taken with me in my drift boat; he even went out and bought waders for the occasion.  The entire day was a blur, the flows were perfect for throwing big streamers and my Dad, Ritter, and I set out in my boat to float from ROLF to Sunburst and then Patrick Bridge to Sunburst Canoe Rental’s Lower Landing, and Brian Wise, Chris Richardson, and Chance Maxville set out in Chance’s skiff to do the same.  There was a lot of hooting and hollering and it is always a good time on the river with those guys.  Too many stories to recount so long after the trip  some of the highlights included someone in Chance’s boat pulling a big log of a tree limb crashing down onto the boat, a viking landing at Sunbrust, and subsequent Harlem Shake video, and my dad absolutely cleaning up on drop-shotting trout with his ultra light rod set-up.  All in all it was a great day on the river.  We didn’t roll back into the driveway until 11pm that night, so it was definitely a full day…..but the next time the river is at 1000cfs….you know where I will be.  It was a great way to reconnect with my dad on a fishing trip, after way too many years.

Here is a link to the Chasin’ The Dream write up from this trip — Click here for their take on this trip.

Here is a link to the YouTube video of the Harlem Shake video we filmed at Sunburst Canoe Rental — Click here for the video.

Here are the photos from this trip.

 

 

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

2012-12-30pic001800pxThis 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.

Maramec Springs Trout Park (St. James, MO) — June 18, 2005

Somehow, someway, I was able to talk my Dad into trout fishing with me at a family function the previous weekend. He and I hadn’t fished together in quite some time, well to be more exact, we haven’t fished together since I have taken up fly fishing. I picked up my Dad and Dan Weber (my sister’s future father-in-law) up at my parent’s house at 4:30am and we were headed down to the river. We arrived at the entrance to the Trout Park shortly after the whistle blew and purchased our trout tags and headed for the water. I was a step ahead today and had planned on playing guide to my father and his friend for the day, so I had 3 rods rigged (since they weren’t paying me, I was going to fish) and we headed to the top of the park. I had them drifting a bh larva lace midge near the top of the park. As I took on of thier rods to show them what they needed to do, I quickly caught a fish on my first drift. I don’t think that I have seen them laugh so hard. It was a blast to watch them fish the water near the top. As the day wore on, we decided to move downstream and around the park. Not much to report although in the limited about of time that I fished, I caught 4 decent sized rainbows — the biggest being 16″ all on a midge of some sort. We took off from fishing about 12pm and headed towards the I-44 traffic (man do I hate that traffic)……..