Winter's Big Project

We have been staying somewhat busy catering to fishermen this winter, but between relaxing and everyday chores we have found time to work on expanding the campstore. The addition will more than double the size of the current "showroom" and will be air conditioned. This new space should add to the available items in the campstore and will also house the highly anticipated Dead Drift Fly Shop. This will greatly increase opportunities for fly fishermen who venture to the North Fork River in search of wild rainbow and monster brown trout. I have been putting together a website for the fly shop and would encourage you to check it out at deaddriftflyshop.net

I have done some fishing this winter and while the river is the lowest I have ever seen it the fishing has still been good. Lots of small rainbows caught on eggs as well as a few decent sized ones coming more often on nymphs. Great time to check out the river and see the bottom better than you have in the past. Bookings for the cabins and RV's are coming in hot and heavy (very few weekends available for the riverhouse all summer). Call early and often to ensure you get your favorite spot and shuttle time. Look forward to spring and another busy summer. Hopefully I'll have some more things to write about in the upcoming weeks and months, I've been uninspired as of late but plan on sharing some more river happenings as the weather warms.

Fall fishing is HOT!

I have only fished a couple times in the last two weeks, but each time have been rewarded with about 6 fish per hour. The water is low and clear and the wading is as easy as it gets on this river. The algae is starting to die off but you will still hook some when you are on the bottom. Caught the pictured brown yesterday afternoon and the coloration and condition of this fish makes me think it may be a "wild" brown. Just a gorgeous fish with white on it's fins and some of the reddest spots I have seen. This fish jumped and fought like a rainbow, and until I got it to me I thought it was just a dark colored bow. Been catching most of my fish on a size 8 rubberlegs type fly that I tie with peacock herl at the head, and a little something special added to the chenille. Olive has been best for the rainbows, while the orangish brown has been best for the browns. Yellow has caught both. I started by dropping a hare's ear from it and caught a few bows on it, but didn't seem to help me catch more fish so took it off to lessen the algae catch. With no rain in the forecast looks like conditions will be like this for a while. Great time to come give it a try as wading conditions are a little easier than many times of the year. The fish are fighting really hard and jumping often with the cooler water, and the leaves should begin to change in the next couple weeks adding a little more incentive to come give it a try.

Enjoying the Bounty of Nature

With the popularity of all of the survival shows on the Discovery Channel it has many of us thinking how we might do if we were stranded in the wilderness and had to survive on our own. If I were stuck anywhere I think along an Ozark stream this time of year would be my best chance for survival. With fish biting, young dumb squirrels gathering nuts for winter, and many edible fruits and fungi ripening I think I could live for quite some time right now armed with a flyrod and a .22 rifle. A few days ago Amy found several different kinds of edible mushrooms growing as well as many paw paws ripening on the trees. In addition walnuts and hickory nuts are also falling adding another enjoyable edible seed to the mix. The mushrooms found their way into a pasta dish last night, and today we hope to find some more so we can add them to the deep fryer when we fry the suckers we hope to gig this evening. What a great time to be a hillbilly!

Good summer at Sunburst Ranch

As the season winds down we are once again able to take a deep breath here in Southern Missouri. Both kids are now in school with Eli turning 7 on Sunday and Molly 5 years old and in Kindergarden. The summer was hot and fairly dry with very few rainy weekends, what rain we did have on weekends was relatively quick and then gone. Weekday buisness was steady and our new rental RV's went over well, being full every weekend and quite a bit during the week. The hot weather really helped cabin rentals during the week as people did not want to sleep outside with lows in the 80's. Campers were very well behaved for the most part, we had a few noise complaints but were not called in the middle of the night at all this year (that's a first). We continue to have more and more repeat customers which allows us to weed out the bad eggs and send them elsewhere. As we look toward off season projects our major renovation will be to expand the campstore. Amy is looking forward to having a bigger (air conditioned) space to show off here wares, and I am looking forward to having an area designated for fishing supplies. Each year we are getting more and more fishermen which helps extend our season later into the year, and starts it off earlier in the spring. Another project will be to put a deck on the back of the riverhouse which overlooks the river, and that paired with last years riverhouse renovations will make it a really great rental house every month of the year. I have added a wood stove in the great room which really heats up a space that before always stayed cold in the winter. With the fireplace and propane heater in the other living room the riverhouse now stays toasty warm even on the coldest nights. We are kicking around the idea of renting the riverhouse like a trout lodge in the winter allowing people to rent it per person, with several groups being able to rent it at the same time. The whole place can still be rented for $150 per night, but also offering it by the person if it is not yet rented might keep it full more in the winter. Let me know what you think about this idea, with 2 bedrooms and 2 living rooms I think there would be plenty of space for like minded trout fisherman to coexist.

Trout fishing has been outstanding the last few weeks, I've been out at least once a week for the last 3 weeks and have been catching several fish per hour every time out. Last night caught 3 rainbows and 1 brown in an hour, and a few weeks ago landed a 21 3/4 " brown on Eli's 4 wt (see picture). That evening was my first time out in months and with my leaders in shambles I decided to use Eli's rod which had good leader and tippet. I hooked this fish right in front of the house and was quickly taken down to my backing. In typical brown trout style he dug deep and bulldogged around doing as he pleased. With no net I was finally able to follow him into shallow water where I could scoop him out, get a few quick pictures and send him on his merry way, one of my biggest fish ever on the smallest rod I have.

We've still been putting a few people out almost every day with Saturdays being 20-30 canoes, but the river has been very quiet and most days I have been seeing less that 5 canoes go by. Great time to get out on the river if you are looking for a nature fix. Hopefully with the rain we have been having it will lead to a colorful fall and not wash the colors out, it has sure been good for the river.

Wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Hope everyone who was here for the weekend had a good time. The weather was as good as possible for the weekend with highs in the mid 80's and only a little shower around McKee Bridge on Sunday. The campground was very mellow for the holiday weekend and we kept away trouble makers by charging $14 to camp if you were not renting canoes. People ask why we do this and it is primarily to keep the campground from filling up with people that come here when they see that the free campgrounds are full. This makes for a better experience for those of you who pay us good money to camp and canoe for the entire weekend. This is also the reason that if you bring your own canoes and don't pay us to shuttle you pay the higher camping rate. If you are willing to pay that rate we are more than happy to accomodate you, but generally we come close to filling the campground with people who are renting canoes, and with only about 14 busy weekends we have to make hay while the sun shines. The river was rather laid back as well with water patrol saying they had no major problems all weekend. For those looking for a good weekend to camp I think Memorial Day (at least on the North Fork) is one of the best. One of the next best is 4th of July. Our biggest weekends are the weekend before and after the holiday weekend, with the 4th usually being our slowest of the summer. I think everyone avoids the holiday thinking it will be packed, and it ends up being pretty slow. The three day weekends usually have a few groups that stay all weekend, with many people from nearby staying Friday and Saturday, and those from farther away coming Saturday and staying until Monday. This spreads out the same number of boats we would normally do on a Saturday over 3 days which makes the river seem relatively empty. Looks like we have a nice weather weekend coming up again with a few tent and RV spots left. Weekend after that is full, and it should stay just about as busy through July. Hope to see everyone soon. Oh yeah, fishing was good all weekend even with the boat traffic!

Where the EFF is Greg?

Things here are picking up trying to get ready for the upcoming holiday weekend. I have included a link to a blog from a camper writing about his adventure last weekend here on the North Fork. I was going to write a blog on it myself, but he did such a good job, and had more details to share, so I will let him tell you the story. Please take the time to go and read this, just another story from the river, and this time it is not because of drugs or alcohol that things went awry. Hope you enjoy the story, I sure did! Why a picture of one of our lambs, cause it's so cute, that's why (He'll sure be tasty this fall)

http://web.me.com/backcountry/altitude/Camp_Blog/Entries/2010/5/21_North_Fork.html

Great Fishing!

Here is the latest report from our friend Chris. This came from last weekend.

It seems like every time I go down to the North Fork of the White the fishing gets better and better. The fish god's have shined on me on recent trips. Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking my friends Melvin and Deborah from Jefferson City. Each year I donate a trip in my drift boat for the Capital City Fly fishers Banquet. This is the Mid Missouri FFF chapter. It's my opportunity to play guide for a day with some good friends and raise money for a good cause. Thanks to the generosity and hospitality of Sunburst Ranch, this trip went off without a hitch. I was debating on floating the upper or lower and decided on the lower to get away from crowds. Turned out to be a good choice. We put in at Patrick 9:00 AM and floated until about 6:00 to James Bridge. Overcast skies and flows were around 750 CFS. The day started off great on Pat's Rubberlegs and didn't stop all day. Pat's were the MVP and quite a few on Shop Vac and RU Experienced Caddis Pupa patterns. We nymphed all day and caught more fish than I have ever boated before on the NFOW! The fishing was unreal, it seemed like every likely spot was holding at least one fish that wanted to eat. Melvin and Deborah had multiple doubles throughout the day. One of the lessons from the day was that on lower flows which I would classify 750 as beginning to be "lower" fishing can still be great but overcast skies are the key factor. At the end of the day when the fishing was over, I told Melvin and Deborah that the good news was that we had an Epic Day but the bad news was that it may not happen again for quite some time. Tight Lines,Chris Gates

The only way to have days like this is to get out and try. When you come down please listen to my advice, not that I am a pro, but if you are not experienced on this river you will struggle (like I did when I first started) if you don't do things a certain way! I will share anything I can with you so please ask.