Tuesday, November 6, 2012

"A Day on the River"

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Last week after returning from my weekend on the White I got a call from a buddy wanting to know if I was interested in hitting one of our local White Ribbon rivers for a day. Dumb question , right??
A date was set and plans were made to float the Niangua and see how the fish had fared after a hot, dry summer and endless flotillas of canoes and rafts harassing them all summer long. This river is the closest cold water stream to my house (still a three hour drive) and has some serious potential if it weren't for the lack of regulations and the inability of MDC to enforce what few there are. Basically it's managed as a "put and take" watershed with stringers hanging from every fishermens belt being the norm. I don't have a problem with folks keeping fish to eat, but too many of the people fishing this area think a four fish limit means that you have to hide the first four in the cooler before going back down and catching four more. Between that mentality and the illegal taking of anything that swims during the long sucker gigging season , these fish have a tough road to hoe if they want to survive for long. That being said , a few smart (and lucky) ones manage to do it somehow.
This time of year the river takes on a different personality , the paddle slapping drunks have all disappeared until next summer , leaving behind signs of their presence in the way of empty beer cans, flip-flops and plastic beads littering the stream bottom. Gone but not forgotten...
During the off season often times your only company on the river are the deer drinking around the next bend or the eagle watching for his next meal from high atop a cottonwood tree.
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The river seems to rejoice in the absence of human idiocy , if only for a few months. Fishing was pretty average for this time of year , we all caught fish and enjoyed the serenity of a peaceful float down a beautiful river with friends and that's really what it's all about. Here's a few pics from the day...Enjoy. P1030864aP1030868aP1030869aP1030873aP1030862aP1030858aP1030859aP1030881aP1030885aP1030876aP1030879aP1030887aP1030890a

19 comments:

  1. Damn you Jeff & Jeff.....i need to get an invite for one of those trips. Looks like a good time.

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    1. Next time we plan a float over there I'll give you a shout , it's not a bad little river this time of year.

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  2. What a stunning looking river Jeff. Thanks.

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    1. It's amazing what a difference a month or two makes...if you saw this place on a summer day you'd never recognize it from my pics.

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  3. Wonderful post, great photos.
    Love that winged angler in the tree.
    Some broad shoulders on the browns.

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    1. Thanks Alan. We actually saw several Eagles that day. We got to watch the adult dive down and attempt to grab a trout but he was unsuccessful...pretty cool though.

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  4. Wow, as I am stuck inside the past 2 weeks and through next week writing papers for grad school my envy for your trip is beyond words. So serene!

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    1. It's one of my favorite day-trip floats. We should drag the pontoon and kayak down some day and do a little fishing.

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    2. I agree completely, we still need to meet up and fish together. Long overdue. I am sure I would learn a lot!

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  5. Looks like a familiar sled. Tiger Jeff's?

    ditchdoc

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    1. Yep...we got out and put a few more scratches in the gel-coat on that low water!

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  6. The usual solid report.

    Ditch again

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  7. It scares me sometimes that we think alike so much! Had a blast. Look forward to the next one, two , three.....

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    1. I wouldn't go telling too many folks , thinking like me probably won't get you anywhere!
      It was definitely a good time....

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  8. That mentality exists even here in Idaho with wild trout. Never understood it. Sounded like a fun trip all thinds considered. Caught a 16" whitefish caught and dropped by a bald eagle on a local river once. Talon holes through and through but a hard fighter despite a recent near life ending event. Are there typical warm water fish in this river, in other words, other targets?

    Gregg

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    1. Gregg - It's a shame to say, but there are people that think that way no matter where you live or what you're fishing for. Some folks just can't understand that the rules apply to everyone...them included.
      This river has a decent population of smallmouth in the section we floated and once you get downstream of the main spring even further you start running into other warmwater species coming out of the lake it feeds.
      Next year I hope to float all the way to the lake , targeting everything from trout to carps.

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  9. Great pix! Love the visuals!

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