Return to the Tailwaters...

As far as our trout fishing goes this year, we haven't really spent that much time over on the White and Norfork Rivers as much as we have in the past. Honestly, we got kinda burnt out and was looking for a change of scenery. Thus, we spent most of the late winter and spring over on the North Fork of the White in Missouri. It was great. Treated us really well with some epic streamer fishing trips for the browns and plenty of spunky wild rainbows on the bobber to pass the time. We loved it. Can't wait to get back over there this fall...

After that, smallie season kicked off and we have been basically spending most of our time on the smallie rivers chasing after those beloved bronze-backs. We have had a pretty good year too. Plenty of water after an awesome wet spring and lots of hungry fish came to hand. Its been pretty sweet. Well, here we are, its prime summer time fishing  and we have started to think about trout again. Especially catching big brown trout on that beloved foam bug over on our beloved tailwaters. From our previous post, you saw that the Professor and I had already tested the waters and found some hopper eating fish but it was time to get the rest of the crew involved. Lets roll...

Day 1  

With the primo conditions to throw hoppers happening in the evening with the higher flows on the White, we opted to start the trip over on the Norfork with a low-water float to wade fish all the fishy spots along the river. Most everyone dug out the 5-weights and rigged up a bobber with some kinda nymphy bug below it. We dumped the boats in at the dam and made our way down to the 1st spot where my boat started at the big riffle above the island while the Professors boats set up shop at the island. Things were kinda slow for us on the riffle  minus Crik finding his groove and plucking some decent fish out while Nathan caught a few and I was flat out striking out. Gotta love it...

We pushed on downstream from there, hitting all the fishy spots that we have wade fished for years during low water before we had boats. Its cool getting to see spots change that you have fished over the years but the fish are always there. Always. It was typical Norfork bugs as always....small streamers, eggs, scuds, and the odd mayfly variation (one in particular that I'm not gonna name cuz it works so good : ) thank you to my buddies in Montana for that one). All the guys were getting into the fish which is always plus. The Norfork typically treats us pretty well so we love the "princess of tailwaters" in all her glory.

Our final stop was the top island above the handicap access and everyone spread out on different water. It was good. Very good. Bent rods were seen every time I turned around. I even broke out the fiberglass glass rod rigged with a hopper/dropper rig just to see what I could do. Didn't take long as I plopped the foam nasty under an over-hanging tree and watched a fat rainbow come up to inhale the hopper. Brilliant. Had a few more eats on the foam bug but most were coming on the dropper in the fast water. Easy pickings. Man I love this river....

As the day wore on, we made a push to the boat ramp so we could make time for some lunch before sneaking over to the White in hopes of a foam bite. We loaded up the boats, stowed our gear, and headed over to Gassville to hit up our favorite pig out spot in the area, KT's BBQ. If you haven't hit this place up while fishing the White River, you are really missing out. Their BBQ is amazing and their sour cream potato salad is nothing short of epic. If I wore it as a hat, my tongue would beat my brains out trying to get to it. Anyways, we all made ourselves completely miserable with our lunch and enjoyed the AC for a bit before we loaded up to hit the White and chuck the foam....

As we made our way up to the boat ramp to drop in, our luck started to wear thin as a good ol' summertime thunderstorm started to move in. Isn't that just freaking dandy? I don't know what it is about the White but she can be a cruel mistress. When we want clouds and overcast skies to throw streamers, the sun shines bright as ever and when we wanna throw hoppers, the skies turn gray and it rains. Gotta love it. We stuck to your guns though and decided to see the trip through. We got to the ramp, rigged up 6-wts with foam bugs, and our 8-wts with big meaty streamers. Our target? Big brown trout....

Wish I could say that we had an epic float with several big browns to each boat on either hoppers or streamers but it just wasn't meant to be. We couldn't turn a fish on a streamer so we stuck to the foam bug and just kept hammering the banks. Finally, towards the end of the float, the sun tried poking out and it was like a light-switch for whatever reason. We started getting some eats on the hopper, missed a few fish here and there, and Joey finally put the 1st brown in the boat.

After a short streak of action, it shut back off again when the clouds returned. The fish were showing us no love at all for quite a while. We hit all the good banks, changed colors and sizes, and couldn't get it done. Frustration was beginning to set in and then it happened again, the sun decided to poke out again. It happened on 1 of the 2 last banks before the boat ramp so it was basically 4th and long for us to make it happen. I finally stuck a fat brown and wrestled it into the boat. Joey followed it up with a typical White River snake of a brown trout. Mix in a few feisty rainbows and a couple of LOFT inspired misses on some NICE browns right before the boat ramp to call it a night for us. It wasn't what we had hoped for but the river did show us a little love and gave up a few good browns so the trip wasn't a total loss...

Day 2

The next day, we returned to the 'Fork in hopes of another day of good numbers but it just wasn't meant to be. In all of the trips I have taken to fish the 'Fork, it has never fished bad. Never. It always produces for me. Well, I guess all good things must come to an end. It was a pretty tough day for us. The fish were just being weird and I'm still kinda wondering what happened. We managed to catch a few fish here and there but nothing like the day before. Of course, the Professor stuck more than his fair share of trout....the dude is fishy. It happens. We fought the slow bite for a while and then pushed on for the boat ramp as we had some time constraints to meet back home.

It was a good weekend. It was nice to get back to the Cotter/Mountain Home area and visit the old haunts both on and off the water. The hopper fishing wasn't what we had hoped for but it all worked out in the end. Everyone had a great trip and fish were caught. We can't complain...

Until next time, keep chasin' the dream...

Hopper season is here!!

Yes, you are reading the title right. One of our favorite bites of the year has finally kicked into full swing here in the Ozarks. We have been chasing bronzebacks for the past month or so and it has been good....very good actually. Even though the smallmouth bite has consumed us, a few of us have been waiting patiently for the big brown trout in our tailwaters to start looking up for those big bugs that fall from the grassy banks and make a big easy meal for them. The past couple of weeks, the hopper bite has been really good over on the White River. Whispers of it started showing up on the social networks from the local Ozark guides with a picture here and there of a big ol' brown trout with a foam nasty bug hanging from its mouth. So we have started to sneak back over to the White River in hopes of sticking a few browns with the foam bug....

The Professor was the 1st to get back over to the White to chase the trout fish once again. The dude is almost a local over there anymore. He continues to show that he is one fishy dude. He spent some time on both tailwaters over the course of a couple of trips. The fishing was good, like it always seems to be for him. He truly is living the dream....not chasing it...

I was the next one to sneak back over to our favorite Ozark tailwaters in hopes of big trout on foam. The better half and the kiddos had ventured over to the in-laws for the week so I planned out a couple of days to head to the river. On such short notice, the crew were all tied up with real world problems so I sent a text over to my buddy Brock of North Arkansas Troutfitters in Fayetteville to see if he wanted to do some fishing. He had an open day and was game to actually get to do some fishing. Game on. I loaded up the dog, the boat, pointed the truck east, and headed for the White River on Sunday morning to meet Brock in Marble. After meeting up with Brock, we ran the shuttle to ditch my rig at the take out for the float trip before running upstream to the put-in. We dropped his Clacka in and I took first shot at the fishes with the foam bug. It didn't take long as I had 2 solid eats within 50 years of the boat ramp but was too quick on the hook set or was having LOFT (Lack Of F*cking Talent) issues as Brock likes to say. The rest of the float, we just took turns on the sticks and fished all the good hopper banks. The bite started out solid but then slowed thanks to the SWPA dropping the water out on us. Man, I love those assholes. Luckily, we found a few good banks throughout the float that held some browns that obliged us with some cool eats. Brock stuck a couple of fat rainbows and lost a damn nice brown because he was playing Bill Dance, horsing the fish to the boat like a psychopath. I managed it stick a few nice browns on the last good bank before the boat ramp, I was content, although I lost a legit 2-footer that ate the foam bug. Wanted to punch myself in the face. Anyways...all in all, it was a good day on the river. I was glad to be back chasing trout again...especially with the foam nasty....

Man, I love hopper season...

Tradition, Rain, Snow, and Trout...in May!

Tradition is found everywhere in today's world. It can take the form of many different things. Be it a sporting event, family trip, deer camp, and, in our case, a fishing trip. For the past 4 years, we have been making the pilgrimage east to the Current River in Missouri to chase the rainbow and brown trout found in the river. With this being the 5th year for the trip, high expectations were made for the trip. Sadly though, over the course of 5 years, the real world had figured out a way to become a major pain in the ass for us. The trip had to be rescheduled a couple of times and we still weren't able to get the whole crew together for the trip. Luckily, 2 of the OGs from the first trip, were able to make it work and go along for the trip.

We had a couple of other factors working against on the trip that we didn't see coming. First off, we had been staying at a place called Eagle's Park Campground for the past 4 years. It was located right across the road from 1 of the major access points on the blue ribbon section of the Current. Well, the owners had decided to close the campground this year which put us in a bind to find a place to camp. The other campground in the area just down the road had also closed down due to the owner having a stroke. It looked like we were gonna have to stay in the state park with the masses which isn't what we wanted to do at all. Luckily, we found another campground a little further down the road but it was close to the other 2 access points on the river for us. The problem was that we couldn't ever reach anyone to find out if they were even open for the season! We decided to just take a chance that they were actually open and then just resort to the state park if they weren't.

The 2nd problem was the weather forecast for the weekend. Rain, snow, and temps in the 30s was what we kept seeing for the area. It was freaking May for goodness sakes! Where's the sunshine and warm temps?? Anyways, we packed some warmer clothes and our cold weather sleeping bags just in case the weather decided to be somewhat silly. We also decided to bring the drift boat just in case the Current River decided to blow out from the rain, we could call an audible and head for another river if we had to. We prepared for the worst....

With the chips stacked slightly against us, Cole, Crik, and I loaded up the truck with camping gear and hooked onto the drift boat on Friday afternoon for our trip east. The temps had begun to drop over the course of the day and the rain had settled in by the time we had left. It never let up the entire 5 hour drive to the river. Thank god for dry bags. We arrived late that night around 11pm to Pinecrest Campground with the rain still coming down HARD. We were not looking forward to setting up camp in the downpour BUT, we had a plan! I had brought my EZ-UP Canopy and several tarps which we were gonna construct some sort of shelter to set up tents and hopefully stay dry. As we pulled through the campground, there wasn't a sign of life anywhere and everything was locked up including the showerhouse. Not a good sign. As we made the circle around the campground, we came upon a huge pavilion that had several picnic tables, a tractor, a chuck wagon, and an old Toyota pickup parked underneath it. We pulled up to it and surveyed the situation. There was plenty of room for us to move the picnic tables and set up camp underneath the pavilion. We weighed our options. This process took about 5 seconds before we said screw it and decided to setup camp under the pavilion where we would be high and dry for the night! We pitched our tents and crawled into our sleeping bags for the night with hopes of better weather in the morning....

We awoke the next morning to the sound of steady rain hitting the roof of the pavilion and the temps in the mid 30s. Motivation to climb out of sleeping bags were very low so we all just laid up for most of the morning till The Professor arrived to camp. He came with stories of white out snow conditions to the west from Carthage to Springfield and it was moving this way. Great. We climbed out of our tents as Cole and I finished unloading gear while Crik got some breakfast and camp coffee going. With our friend Derek Matz (original Current River trip member) absent for the trip, Crik is our backup camp cook and he typically does a fair job. Hot coffee and breakfast burritos really hit the spot as we continued to watch it rain, then turn to sleet, and then it actually snowed for a while. Well crap. What to do, what to do? We decided to pile into the truck, go check out the river levels, and make a pit stop at the local fly shop to kill some time. The plan was to hopefully wait the rain out and then do some fishing for the remainder of the day...

After checking out the river and making a pit stop at the fly shop for a few odds and ends, we made our way back to camp and decided to gear up. I mean, we are here, might as well make the best of it and do some fishing! We decided to check out the Parker access first and scope out some new water that we hadn't fished. It didn't take long after we arrived to notice the river was still rising slowly and was making the wade fishing pretty sketchy to say the least. Crik managed 1 small brown before we left. We bypassed the Baptist access and headed for old faithful, the Tan Vat blue ribbon access. This is probably the heaviest fished section of the whole river minus the state park area but it always produces fish for us, every time! We split up with Crik and the Professor going upstream while Cole and I headed downstream. It was raining on us once again so we decided to stick with the streamer game and began swinging some meat through the 1st few runs below Tan Vat. I must say, the fish were definitely in the mood to chase the big bug and it was a lot of fun. We missed a ton of fish right at our feet or just as we were picking up to recast. We each stuck some fat rainbows, a couple of stocker browns, and each of us moved a "bigger" fish that chased till we had just the tippet and fly in the water. Like I said, it was raining so I didn't bring a camera minus my phone and I wasn't gonna risk soaking it so I apologize for the lack of fishy photos. You can believe us or not, I really don't care....

We hiked back upstream to see if The Professor and Crik were having any luck. Crik was pushing a bobber and catching some feesh on a green soft hackle while The Professor was chucking the streamer bug and having some good luck as well. They each stuck some chubby rainbows and then The Professor caught a nice brown just below the Rock Garden on a clouser of all things! That dude is just fishy, we hate him. I missed a nice brown that swiped at my circus peanut right at the end of the swing. I was angry. I said a few choice words. I gave the fish the finger. In response, I put in a nice hog leg (BeechNut chewing tobacco) and proceeded downriver with my cast, mend, swing, and strip routine. Things were good in the world again...

 We decided to pack it in around 5pm as we were all cold, wet, and very hungry. We decided to go ahead to stay the night even though the river was still rising and was closing in on 400cfs. We would get up in the morning, check the flows and river conditions, and then make our decision to stay or go with Plan B. Whatever Plan B is. We each set about our camp duties for the evening. Cole and I went to gather firewood and pick up a few essentials from the store up the road while The Professor got a fire ring setup and Crik went to work on making some grub. The menu for the night was to be venison fajitas, refried beans, and some adult beverages. With full bellies, we settled in around a warm campfire for the evening and some serious BSin' commenced...

The next morning, we filled our bellies with more breakfast burritos and camp coffee before driving down to Tan Vat to check out the river. According to the USGS gauge, it was flowing just a touch under 400cfs, which is big for this river. The river had some color to it but it wasn't too bad. The guys talked about it and asked me what I thought we should do? I told them it was a no-brainer for me, lets pack up and head to the NFOW. We stood there for a few minutes, staring at the river, before someone said "Screw it, lets roll..."

The audible was called. Game on...

We headed back to break camp down and head south for the NFOW. It didn't take us long and we were on the road for Sunburst Ranch. We arrived at Sunburst around 2pm and quickly set up camp under the Pavilion next to the Camp Store, just in case we got some more rain. After camp was set up, we decided to drag the boats down to Patrick Bridge and drop in for a quick evening float on the lower NFOW. Streamer rods only for this float. We chucked the big bug the entire float and stuck some stocker browns along with missing tons of fish and a bonus smallmouth to boot! The browns were very aggressive and would chase all the way to the boat. People talk about dry flies and seeing big fish eat bugs off the surfaces as being the pinnacle of fly fishing. I hate to argue that but seeing a big fish go into predator mode and chase down a big streamer, right at the boat, is totally bad ass. We finished the float out and headed back to camp for some more grub from Crik's Camp Kitchen...

We ate good once again that night. Crik made his almost famous Hash Dinner. What's hash? Well, what do you have? Ours had venison, potatoes, peppers, onions, and whatever else we had left over in the cooler. It was delicious. We made ourselves totally miserable. After dinner, a hot shower, and some time around a campfire, we all found our way to our tents pretty early to get some rest. For tomorrow, we would float the lower NFOW again, twice, while being joined by a local legend in his own right. We would be fishing with....Matt Tucker...

The next morning, we got up early to meet Tucker and sidekick Dan Ritter at Patrick Bridge. The plan was simple. Float the lower section twice that morning, throw streamers for big nasty brown trout, and have a damn good time while we were doing it. After we dumped the boats in the river, we ran a quick rally style shuttle down to the Landing to drop off the rigs and then headed back to get things fired off. Crik jumped in with Tucker and Dan in the cruise ship that Tucker calls his Hyde drift boat. Cole and I jumped into The Professors Hyde LP for the mornings floats. Lets do this!

The browns were on the chase once again for the 1st float as they were pouncing on our streamers in all the right spots. Both boats put some decent fish in the boat along with the normal stockers. A few times during the float, you would hear someone start to yell choice words at the river and you knew what had happened. Missed a big fish. Gotta love it! Man we love this river...

For the 2nd float, the sun had decided to come out on us so a few of us gave in and dug out the bobber rigs and the pats rubber legs to see what we could dredge up from the depths. The browns didn't disappoint us at all. They really dig the rubberlegs on the NFOW. Some days it can be almost too easy even though this river is known for being a tough fishery. A few of the other guys kept with the streamers, caught a few fish, and turned a couple of nice fish. It was a damn good day to say the least. After the 2nd float, we all said our good-byes as Tucker and Ritter headed east while we headed back to Sunburst to break camp and head west.

 

What a weekend! Even with all factors against us with the camping complications, weather, etc...it was epic. It saddens me that we had to ultimately leave the Current River early on the trip. That trip, that 3 of us took 5 years ago, laid the groundwork for what "Chasing the Dream" has become today. That place is where the sport of fly fishing really took hold with the other guys in the group who just started fly fishing in the past few years. We have met a ton of awesome people along the way and picked up a ton of new fishing buddies. We have come a long ways in 5 years I think. Its been an awesome ride. Can't wait to see what the next 5 years brings us...

Until next time, keep chasing the dream...

The "Other" White River

I finally took the time a while back to sit down with all of our footage from the NFOW over the past few months to create the newest CTD video. Our last couple of videos have been short due to lack of footage available but this wasn't the case with this video. I had tons of footage to work with so the video is considerably longer than our previous videos. We have wild Ozark rainbows, streamer crushing brown trout, low water bridges, turtle ropin', and lots of great shots of our favorite river in Missouri. Please watch in full HD if at all possible...



The video has got a lot of positive feedback and various people have graciously shared it on their Facebook pages, blogs, and websites. We really appreciate all the support and interweb love you have given us. A big shout out to these guys...

ChiWulff

The Toad Fly

McLellans Fly Shop

Two Rivers Fly Shop

Dally's Ozark Fly Fisher 

Dan's Hand Tied Flies

A Drift Boat Conclave? Brilliant! We're in...

It was back in March on one of our trips to the NFOW (North Fork of White) that Justin of Sunburst Ranch made mention of a possible get-together at his place. There would be plenty of food, adult beverages, and a place to crash for everyone who attended. His plan was to invite as many drift boat owners as he could along with lots of anglers who normally don't have a chance or never have fished from a drifter. Distribute everyone into as many boats as possible and do some fishing. Hmmm. I liked the idea. Is there a name for this little event? Why yes there is! The 1st Annual Drift Boat Conclave. Ok, CTD is in...

Fast forward about a month, Crik, Squatch, and myself could be found piled into the Squatch's FJ with my Clacka in tow with Sunburst Ranch being our final destination. Just a little side note here, about 99.9% of the time on our trips, we drive my truck with my boat so this was the 1st trip where I had to ride shotgun. Well, actually I had to ride in the back seat because Crik doesn't seem to know the proper rules of calling "shotgun" and took the front seat. Real dick move Richardson. Needless to say, I was like a bull calf in a china closet the whole ride down there. Anyways...

We were late arrivals to the Lodge and sadly missed the night's festivities but we did find Justin, Rusty, and Kevin huddled around the kitchen table, still nursing an adult beverage. Introductions were made, BS was passed for a short time about fishing, and talks of tomorrow's fishing/boat arrangements were discussed before we found our way to our room for the weekend. We were beat so Squatch made his nest in the corner on the twin bed while Crik and I climbed into our sleeping bags on the king size bed. Night night....

Day 1

The next morning, we awoke to the sound of pots and pans being banged around in the kitchen as someone was rustling up some breakfast for the masses. We climbed out of our sleeping bags and began sorting our gear for the day's trip on the water. The plan was to float the entire blue and red ribbon sections of the river, just cover all bases since we had all day to do it. We were fired up and ready to get going. After grabbing some homemade biscuits and gravy, we finished hashing out float and shuttle plans for the day with Justin and the rest of the crew. We were gonna be joined by Jeff House of High Plains FlyFisher, Dan Forget, and Paul Port in Dan's Hyde drifter with Kevin following in his kayak for the longer float. Couldn't of asked for a better group of guys to chase down the river. Let's roll...

 View of Trout Island from our room

We piled back into the FJ and made a quick drive upriver to the Kelly access to drop the boat in and get the party started. We decided to bring streamer sticks and bobber rods on the float with us, be able to handle either condition especially once we got downstream of Patrick Bridge into the "brown trout water". I took my turn at the sticks first while Crik and Squatch dug out the 5wts for a little bobber action to start the day off. The upper section of the NFOW is a nymph fishermans dream so its pretty hard not to pick up a bobber rod to put some rainbows in the boat. Just as we made our pass down the 1st run below Kelly, Dan and the boys pulled up to launch their boats to start their day. Looks like the plan was coming together...

It didn't take the boys long to do work on a few rainbows and get the skunk off the boat. Always feels good to get that 1st fish in the boat and get the trip headed in the right direction as far as the fishing goes. We couldn't of asked for better weather too, it was an absolutely beautiful day on the river. If you have never floated the NFOW and you're an Ozark native, you really are missing out on a great float. Its an amazing river and easily my favorite trout river to float/fish from the drifter. Anyways, we had beached the boat to allow Crik to re-rig so Squatch jumped out of the boat to do some wade fishing while I took some video and photos. About that time, Dan and the boys came around the bend with streamer rods in hand and chuckin' that chicken at the opposite bank. I was taking photos when I heard some kind of hillbilly bigfoot call coming from their boat. I looked up to see Paul's rod bent pretty hard with a fish making a run downstream. I began making my way upstream to get some photos but then I got this real smart idea that I could net fish for them in the slack water so I grabbed Dan's net from and began working my way out to the fish. Then it dawned on me that I still had my DSLR camera hanging around my neck so there I was trying to get in position to net the fish and keep my camera out of the water. Yup...you guessed it, epic fail! The fish finally came in close and just as I was going for him with the net, he flopped over and the bug came out! It was a stud of a wild rainbow too, a solid 20" fish. Sorry Paul...

After this little piece of drama, Dan and the boys floated on past us while we piled back into the skiff so they could get some fresh water on the sections just above and below McKee Bridge. Crik and Squatch both hooked up on rainbows right at the bridge but couldn't put them in the boat. Then we made the inconvenient squeeze under the bridge (Someone really needs to blow up these low water bridges) and made a swap on the sticks so I could get a fly in the water. We pushed through to the next nice run just above ROLF (River of Life Farm) and dropped in. I snuck a cast into a seam on the outside of edge of the riffle just in time to see my thingamabobber dive and pulled a pretty wild rainbow in the net to get the skunk off my rod. We continued downstream and covered every inch of the river but couldn't get any love before we came to The Falls at ROLF. We shuffled around on the sticks and I shot the boat down The Falls, then swapped back around. We caught up with Dan's boat  and he let us slide in front of him for the next section of river. What a scholar and a gentleman!

We continued our way down the river, picking up rainbows here and there but nothing to brag about. Just your normal run of the mill NFOW rainbows for us minus a smaller brown that Crik picked up on the ol' rubberlegs. We made our approach on Patrick Bridge and we dug the streamer rods out to see if we could entice a big ol' brown trout into eating some meat on a hook. We started pounding the banks from there for the rest of the float for the most part. We didn't exactly have primo conditions for the streamer bug but we stuck with it. Crik stuck a fat bown at Sunburst on a smaller baitfish pattern and missed a couple other fish but then it got pretty quiet for as far as the brown trout bite goes. We kept with the streamers though in hopes of turning a big fish, but the Unicorns kept to their hiding spots on this day. I stuck another small brown on the big bug and then plucked another one out of a nice run with a bobber rod while we took a piss break. That pretty much ended the day for us after that as the bite totally died off on us.

The last highlight of the day that I HAVE to share with everyone involves some expert casting and a turtle. As we were floating, we came upon a log and on that log was a few turtles. At some point, someone said something along the lines of, "Chance, I bet you can't knock that turtle off that log." Challenge accepted! I made a quick double haul with the 8-weight and launched the VooDoo Squatch I had on at the biggest turtle on the log. It was about halfway through the cast that I realized that I was actually gonna come very close to hitting the turtle so I raised the rod to slow the bug down. In doing this, somehow I literally wrapped the fly around the turtles neck! I'm not even kidding! Indiana Jones don't have crap on me!! It was all fun and games till I got the turtle in the boat and tried to get the fly back. He was pissed! Finally, we got the big guy un-tangled and dropped him back in the water...

The following evening was filled with talks about the days fishing and great food. The typical BS of what flies were working, biggest fish caught, and the excitement from a few newbs who got their first wild NFOW rainbows. Everyone pitched in inside the kitchen to help get the dinner of fresh fried fish, beans, fried potatoes, and corn bread all put together. The food was delicious to say the least. My compliments to the chef on the fish, which I think might of had several guys helping, including Crik. It was an awesome evening with friends, some new and some old. The adult beverages started to flow pretty freely and it didn't take too long for everyone to start finding the way to their beds for the night...

What a day!

Day 2

The next morning was filled with everyone gathering up their gear and packing stuff away for the last day of fishing and then the trip home. Most of the group seemed to be heading downstream of Sunburst so we decided to go back up top to float Kelly to Sunburst. We said our goodbyes to everyone, got our shuttle lined out, and made the quick drive upstream. Once again, we launched the skiff armed with bobber rods and streamer rods so we could cover any situation. This time, Squatch started out on the sticks while Crik took the front of the boat and I piled into the back of the boat. Time to fish...

We made our way down from Kelly and came to the 1st good run of the section where we instantly started to get into rainbows once again. I can't say enough good things about these NFOW wild rainbows, they are just awesome! A 12" fish will put a deep bend into any 5wt rod and a 16" fish will make your drag sing that sweet little tune! The fish were really showing us some love this morning...

We were working our way down the run when I set the hook on a fish that instantly felt "heavy". I put some pressure on it and it didn't seem to phase it as it turned to run downstream. I cleared the fly line of my feet and the boat so I could get the fish on the reel. It hit the reel and immediately started to pull drag. Oh boy! We followed the fish a short distance in the boat and then it sulked down in the current. Squatch placed the boat in the slack water close to shore and I bailed out of the boat. Crik followed me with the boat net. We still hadn't really seen the fish yet except for a quick flash so we weren't sure just how big it was. We made our way out to edge of the current and I started to put the pressure back on the fish. It finally came out of the current and rolled over on the surface. Holy shit...

It was a BIG brown, the biggest I had ever hooked from what I could tell. It wouldn't give up either, it just keep running back into the main current just when I would start to its head turned. Crik waded out pretty deep to try and net the beast out of the current when I'd get its head up and turned. No dice! It basically turned and chased Crik out of the hole. It was pretty comical and stessful at the same time. Tensions were high as the fight went on. Finally, I got the fish turned and it swam into the slack water away from the main channel. Crik swooped in below it and tried to put it in the net but missed as it swam away. He was quick on his feet and took a couple of long steps to make another stab it. It was a struggle and the fish tried to flop out but he finally made a good scoop to put in the net! Yes! I let out a "Finding Bigfoot" inspired whoop and holler than rang out down the river!

It was a beast! It had a huge head and mouth on it, almost like a Golden Dorado! I couldn't hardly get my hand around her belly to get a photo op with the piggy. We had been fishing hard for a big fish this season and it felt great to finally have a toad in our hands. It was a beautiful fish with brilliant black and red spots, blue cheeks, and a HUGE adipose fin. We took a measurement and she came out a solid 25". My personal best brown trout. We took a few photos and got some GoPro footage of the release as she swam back into the hole. Wooohooooo!!!

So after I finally came off the high of catching that brown, we did a swap on the oars and continued our float downstream. The fishing stayed steady for us through the rest of the day. We had a nice mix of browns and rainbows, no more big fish though. The fish couldn't get enough of the Pat's Rubberlegs in brown, it was THE fly of the day. We picked up a few fish on some caddis type bugs as a dropper but the fish preferred the meat fly! It was one of those days where every place a fish should, they were there and they would oblige your good drift with an eat. A lot of people hate on the bobber but when its good, its a lot of fun to fish that way. Making a good cast, getting a good drift, throwing in a mend, and then almost calling the strike before it happens. I love to throw streamers more than most guys but there ain't nothing wrong with chuckin' the ol' bobber some days.

We finally finished up our float at Sunburst Ranch around 3:00pm which worked out great for our schedule. We got the boat loaded up, all of our gear stowed into the FJ, and headed for Springfield so we could get some dinner. We made our normal stop at our favorite pizza place, Old Chicago! Whoever came up with the idea of putting pepper jack cheese on pizza at the place, deserves a huge raise! It is amazing pizza and a very cool place. Stop and eat there...

The North Fork of the White River is an amazing river and is easily our favorite place to float for trout in the Ozarks. Its a beautiful river, fun river to row, wild rainbows, and trophy brown trout....yeah, it rules! Wait, I mean, the fishing sucks and all you catch is little fish. At least thats what some people say....we will just keep letting them think that! Can't wait to get back down there...

Until next time...keep chasing the dream...