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.

 

 

Missouri Trout Odyssey III – Day 4

2012-12-09pic046800pxThe 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.

North Fork of the White River — Putting In The Time

2012-01-08pic003(Edited)(Resized)It seems that the North Fork of the White River is pretty hot right now.  With Brian Wise, Justin Spencer, myself, and several others are posting photos on local forums of all the big fish the river has been giving up recently; the stream is definitely getting some good press (there also was an article in the latest issue of Fly Fisherman by Zach Matthews featuring friends of the OC (Brian Wise, Kyle Kosovich, and Randy Hanner).  The only saving grace about the press the river is getting, is that it is so damn hard to get to from all of the populated areas in Missouri and Arkansas.  It helps to keep the crowds down.

With all that being said, and the fishing being red hot, I found myself back on the North Fork of the White River this past weekend with a couple of streamer addicts that I met over the internet (Dan Held and Paul Chausse).  Dan and Paul are good guys, even if they are flatlanders, and they offered to swing by my house on the way through STL to pick me up and afforded me the first trip in a long time that I didn’t drive on……and it was damn nice.

We ended up staying at River of Life Farm on the banks of the North Fork of the White River.  With the “Winter Rates”, the place is an affordable fish camp with some high end luxuries.  It is a bit tougher to cook potatoes o’brien, scrambled eggs, and biscuits and gravy while tent camping along the river; but it was easy peasy this past weekend.

The weekend was a streamer weekend, and Dan and Paul came prepared.  We were fishing big nasty schlappin inspired streamers.  On Saturday we floated from ROLF to Patrick bridge and didn’t squeak a fish into the boat the entire day.  We floated the day with Brian and Jenny Wise and Jenny had a consistent nymph bite on a brown wigglestone down deep.  It was a great day to be on the water, the temps were in the high 50’s and we didn’t see an another person on the river the entire day.  It was the way a winter day on the NFOW is supposed to go.

On Sunday, Paul and I floated from ROLF to Blair bridge and took our nymph rods out of the boat so as not to tempt us into breaking the skunk off.  It was a short float, as Dan stayed back because he wasn’t feeling well and just met us at the take-out.  In the short 3hr float, we boated 3 fish with the biggest being a 17″ brown.  All the fish were caught on a rainbow schlappen inspired fly tied by Paul Chausse.  It was a good float and much needed after the day before.  But quite simply it was a weekend that we had to put in our dues.

Traveling with new fishing buddies is always a delicate dance, it is the fisherman’s equivalent to the first date.  How does he pack, what does he pack, can he fish, does he pitch in and help around camp, etc.  A fishing trip is a fishing trip, but we all know that there are only a few that we can travel with.  Dan, Paul, and I seemed to hit our stride and the traveling and the fishing went well.  I am certain it was the first of a few more trips.

All in all it was another good weekend on the water.

I have quite a few things planned in the coming weeks, so be sure to check out the site for updates.

–Matt Tucker

 

 

North Fork Of The White River: My Turn.

2011-12-18pic002(Edited)(Resized)After the day Craig had on 12-17-2011 in his first float down the North Fork of the White River, things were looking up for our Sunday morning float on 12-18-2011.  We were up early, a little foggy from the beers the night before, but the biscuits were in the oven and the eggs were on the stove.  We were packed up and waiting on breakfast and Brian Wise, who was going to join us on our float as well on Sunday.

After the success we had on Saturday, we had arranged for a shuttle from ROLF to Blair Bridge again and after a quick bite and loading up the car, we headed down to the field and dropped the boat in.  Brian took the sticks first, as he wanted to see how my new boat handled….which meant that I got to fish for a bit.

Streamers were the order of the day, and I was throwing a 200grain sink tip along with an articulated Bully Streamer tied by Florida Guide, Brad Karczewski, at FlyDaddyShop.com.  The first fish of the day, was coincidentally my first fish out of my new boat, and it was approaching the 20″ mark, but just not quite there once we measured it.  Still a nice brown by anyone’s standards on the NFOW and it set the tone for our quick float.

We picked up the occasional fish the rest of the way throwing big flies, but no more big fish to speak of.  It was a good trip though as Brian, Craig, and I shared many laughs and stories as we floated the 3 miles or so to Blair Bridge.  All in all it was a great way to finish up the weekend.  We shot lots of photos and Brian shot some video (you can see some footage from this weekend in his 2011 Fall Fly Fishing Video), and the new boat is everything that I had hoped it would be.  Until next time.

–Matt Tucker