The streamer bite is HOT right now, and it has been all winter long
I’ll start by saying…WOW! This river is on fire!!. To me, this river is more of a
guaranteed for streamer action then any other river we have in the Ozarks right now.
Yes, that can change if we get some steady flow on the White, but for right now this
is where I would be spending my time. It does help to run this river in a drift
boat, because it does take covering a lot water in order to get several browns
attention throughout the day. But it will happen if you take a gamble and spend the
day fishing here and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.
I’m not targeting rainbows at all, but there’s plenty of them upstream from Blair.
I’m spending all my time downstream from Blair down to Dawt Mill. I’m really a fan
of this stretch of water over any other places I have fished on NFOW. It always
producing a brown trout over 20 inches and it’s always a new spot from the previous
ones we’ve hooked browns from. You never know where the beast is lurking so you have
to always be on your game and make every cast count. This river will challenge your
casting skill because you have that pin point cast where you think a big fish would
be holding. It’s not like blind casting in big open water like we have on all these
tailwaters. These browns like structure. That’s really where these fish like to come
out of the wood work and hit your fly. That and in the faster part of the shoals.
Unlike the White River, browns like to hold in the front of shoals or in the very
back of them (in the tail outs). It’s a little different way to fish streamers,
which is another reason why I appreciate spring river systems verses tailwaters.
Our recent trip on the NFOW- January 18 2012
We got a late start, but that’s why I always tell my clients to be flexible. Being
flexible is really the key for having successful trips anywhere. Planning is also a
big part of it. Because our tailwaters change from day to day it can sometimes be
hard to plan a day of streamer fishing on a tailwater in the winter time. The North
Fork of the White is a different story. If there is no rain then the river is clear
and clean with little to no changes so it is more of a guaranteed when planning a
streamer day if the other rivers are blown out.
We were going to fish the White and put in at Wildcat Shoals, but when we got there
we saw two other drift boat trailers and the water was rolling. Something didn’t
feel right so I asked Dustin if he wanted to hit the NFOW. He was up for anything
considering he hasn’t fished either one of them so it was game on.
Well, the gamble paid off. We put in at Blair and within making the first turn we
hooked into a quality brown. I knew from there it was going to be a good day. We
spent the rest of the float catching more browns until the last shoal before pulling
out at Dawt Mill. The highlight of the trip was realizing that even though we got a
late start it didn’t matter on a fishery that gets little to no pressure and its not
always about being in a hurry when going fly fishing. It’s about making the right
plan and learning what this sport is all about, patience. Hopefully when planning
your next fishing trip you’ll come see us at Dawt Mill and fish this beautiful
fishery. See you on the water!
