A couple days off after a long, tiring week...a river that's on limited days, enjoying it's last few weeks of solitude before the partying masses corrupt it's identity for the season...a forecast for mostly cloudy afternoons with highs approaching 75 degrees and crisp, cool mornings...and an itch that's just dying to be scratched.
Those were the events that conspired to find me floating lazily down one of my favorite stretches of smallmouth water with nothing else on my plate for the next 36 hours. Making sure that the beer stayed cold and the flies stayed wet were the two top priorities foremost in my mind for the foreseeable future.
The river was in a very generous mood once again, giving up several fish that left my hands shaking and knees weak.
The fish of the weekend came midday on Friday, floating through a nice medium depth fast water run. I was stripping a DD through a particularly inviting looking trough when I saw a dark flash accompanied by an instant bend in my rod. I knew it was a decent fish from the brief glimpse but figured another solid 16 inch stud. About this time the fish cartwheels out of the water, clearing the surface by a good two feet. Its a good thing I was wet wading because I'm pretty sure I pissed myself just a little. 25 yards downstream and another circus like jump later I had a beautiful 18 3/4 inch fish in the net.
I would have swore she was 20 if she had spit the fly after that first jump, but first impressions aside it was probably the best battle I've waged with a smallie in several years.
True Ozark beauty...
The river was still empty of floaters and the water levels were pretty much perfect for the stretch I was floating.
Two days of floating on two different rivers, broken up by an evening of sitting around the fire while listening to the whipoorwills and tree frogs fill the night with their raucious chorus. The kind of trip that's good for the soul.
The natural beauty of the Ozarks never fails to amaze me, offering up new vistas on each visit...
Happy Hour...
Happier Hour...
The locals...
My menu planning is pretty simplified. Fried chicken for breakfast, fried chicken for lunch and some form of red meat on the grill for dinner...
Maybe the best part of warmwater fishing...
Grand exits...
