What a week

It was a crazy fun week.  The girls were out of school for the week of Thanksgiving so I wasn't able to fish much.  Instead, I took them to the "Refuge" a few times in the canoe.

I started the trip explaining to them if they saw something that can fly, swim, run, or magically disappear and they wanted to see it for more than 1 second.  The best strategy was to whisper and point it out slowly.  I further mentioned that the creatures in the "Refuge" are terribly afraid of children...aren't we all!

Play time in the swamp. I checked the area before I let them out of the canoe.

 As we're paddling?  Not really, what we were doing was slapping the water and banging the sides of the canoe with our paddles.   But were covering water and sure enough, I see a beaver sitting on top of its floating fortress.  Surprised to see anything, I didn't react quickly enough.  Just as I was about to whisper and point it out.  The silence was broken by the excited voices of my 2 little girls, "dad, it's a beaver."  The beaver, startled and confused, freaked at the sight of a 17' canoe that was bearing down on it and went away real fast.

Astonishingly, we didn't have any more close encounters as we explored the backwaters.  From a distance we saw lots water fowl, turtles, and whatever else brave enough to not run for cover as the kids screamed in delight at every natural wonder that spotted.  It really was fun.

In the middle of the week I got the invite to fish the Little Red and travel to Grand Isle, LA.  The Grand Isle trip got dismissed really quickly as my wife said something like, if you don't understand why you can't be in Grand Isle on Thanksgiving day, then we don't have anything to talk about.  I lost my decoder ring (wedding ring) like 3 years ago, so I wasn't exactly sure what she meant.  What I heard was..."I'll cut you if you're not home on Thanksgiving."

I thought about it for a few days (seriously-I'm not that bright) and eventually decided fishing the LRR during a flash flood warning was a safer alternative.  In spite of the constant rain and cool temperatures it was a stellar day...perfect streamer weather!  Not many pictures taken b/c I was busy throwing streamers to hungry trees and a few browns.  Of course my cousin sends me this picture on Friday with the caption, "Sunny and 80."

It wasn't sunny and 80 in Heber Springs but I wouldn't have traded the day.  I was with good friends and the fishing didn't suck.  I even enjoyed the weather but that's just me.  

I ended my last post mentioning some good news I wanted to share.  I'm excited to announce I teamed up with FROSCH Outdoor Travel (FOT) to develop a network of kayak related travel destinations.  Being on the water (canoes, boats, kayaks, the Navy, etc) has been a passion since I was a boy and I'm thrilled to be part of the FROSCH team.

FOT, “FROSCH sees kayak fishing and competitive tournaments in the kayak area growing rapidly, and we wanted to address the interest of our travelers and fan base. Drew was the perfect choice to help us design a program that would tick all of the boxes in the kayak world. We couldn’t do it without Ross organizing and assisting with logistics. He has been instrumental in picking the right waters, destinations and seasons for our 2016 launch calendar”.  

3 day Ozark float - SMB on the fly

Wow!  That's about the best way to describe the past weekend.  Me and a buddy were fortunate enough to talk our wives and family into covering all our grown up responsibilities while we cut ties with the real world.

We packed up Thursday night, dropped the kids off at school Friday morning, and made the 4.5 hr drive north into the Ozarks for some canoe camping and smallmouth bass catching.  Around 2 pm on Friday we were waist deep and the catching started shortly after.

We packed light...sleeping, eating and fishing required gear only.  This trip was all about the fishing, so we brought as many SMB patterns as we could carry and just enough food for calories.

We wanted to fish from first light until last light.  So setting up/breaking down elaborate camp's and cooking gourmet meals was abandoned for MRE's and a cot beside a camp fire.  It got a little chilly 45-50f each night but nothing to complain about.

Each morning we would pack our gear in about 10 mins and be wading in ~60f water with a mouth full of breakfast bars.  The water was much warmer than the air temperature at 6am, and that took a little "1, 2, 3...go team" encouragement.

Neither of us wanted to be wet wading that early but you didn't want to be "that" guy standing on the bank while your buddy was toughing it out.  So we'd both inch out slowly making sure to not throw down a man challenge.  Every guy know's where the line is when you're wading in cold water...neither of us were going to cross, "the line".  We went just far enough to avoid suffering any brain freeze.

If a nice fish hadn't been caught in the first few minutes on Saturday morning I'm not sure we'd have repeated the process.  But, a nice fish was caught...so it was a race on Sunday.  No need for any motivational speech's...last man in get's to take his buddies picture holding a nice smallie.

I had barely blinked, when I noticed my buddy had packed his gear and set out 2 breakfast bars on the canoe seats.  Game on!

We paddled down to the nearest shoal and before I could get out of the canoe, he was in the middle of his deep breathing exercises, slinging and stripping.  Wait up bro....

So I did what you do when you're the last man out of the canoe...I walked down and did the wade of shame.  The river was loaded with fish so it wasn't that big a deal.  But I could hear him laughing as he watched me seek out new real estate.

He was even gracious enough to capture it on camera.  And wouldn't you know it...it's a cool pic too!

A conversation we had during our time on the water was about those few special trips that are so great, you're always trying to repeat them, but seldom do.  The kind of trips that motivate you to wet wade w/o hesitation, on mornings when the air temp is ~50 degrees and the water isn't much warmer.  We called it, "trip chasing".  This was one of those trips.

The photos tell the story better than I can.  Enjoy...

strainer

another strainer

Gifts that matter

My oldest gave me her gift early, she was too excited to wait until xmas.  Gifts like this are the best compensation a stay-at-home dad could ever receive.  Very thankful!!!

 Brown Trout painting.

I have had my girls on the water in canoes, kayaks, and various other boats, since before they could walk.  They haven't taken to the fishing lifestyle (Bummer, since a rod/reel is always beside them) but they love the outdoors, camping, and nature.  As 2014 draws to an end, it's gifts like this that remind me of what's really important, be sure to share your passion with your kids.  They'll love you for it and in return you'll get the best gift ever...a bond with your child.

Happy holidays to you and yours.

Cast from the Past - Ozarks

It's that time of the year when the days are short, the weather is fickle, and I'm missing my time on the water.  When I can't get out, I start dreaming about my spring adventures.  Which causes me to relive some past adventures.  Decided to share a few of these, pre-blog, adventures under the title, Cast from the Past.

April 2012,  2 night solo float trip in the ozarks.  It started out as a fishing trip with friends but as the weekend got closer, everyone found something better to do...hard to imagine.  Guess it's my...fish all day...eat when you can...sleep if you want...WINNING personality.

Streamside B&B (won't find in the phone book)

I can honestly say it was their loss...some of the best fishing I have ever experienced.  It was the beginning of the spawn.  The SMB were either on beds or feasting in preparation of bedding up.  Soft plastics were all that was needed...flukes and craws...1 on each rod.

3lb

2.64lb 

Measured and weighed most of what I caught before releasing

I would throw the fluke between shoals in the calm water and watch them attack it from 10ft away. They were on a search and destroy mission....as soon as the SMB heard a splash they'd key in on it and go on the hunt.  Several times I would see the wake before the fish....a second later I'd feel the heaviness as they found my fluke sinking slowly.

2.66lb

When I got to a shoal with a protected backwater, I'd look for bedding activity...

Off the bed

It didn't take long to locate a few and the craw didn't stay in the water long.  There were usually 2 or 3 beds in an area.  I didn't fish all of them...just a few b/c I don't like fishing over beds.  But I couldn't pass up on the opportunity.

Chunk of a bronzeback

My favorite time to fish the Ozarks is anytime but I really like, March - early May.  Very few people are on the water.  The ones who are, are anglers...too cold to get drunk and swim!  Just the way I like it, early and empty!