Eric Thomas introduced me to the North Fork of the White a couple of years ago and I've since come to respect the beauty of the river and the fish it holds. I am always impressed by the tremendous color and fighting spirit of both the rainbows and the browns found here.

Eric Thomas and Doug Catloth

Eric and I enjoyed another two-day excursion on the river during our spring break from teaching in the Kansas City area.

We hooked up with Myron and a canoe Monday morning and, heeding Myron's advice, set off down-stream from the ROLF for a six-mile float. Monday saw an abrupt change in weather from the weekend, dropping nearly thirty degrees from unseasonable 80s on Saturday. Still, it was a sunny and windy day with temps rising to around 50 degrees. Tuesday was a bit worse with cool north winds, cloudy skies, afternoon sprinkles, and temps in the low-40s. The river was running considerably higher than I remembered, changing the look of some familiar runs and riffles.

We began fishing at the falls with limited success on prince nymphs and egg patterns. Pink and especially white egg patterns were nominally successful. As the first day progressed we witnessed a pretty healthy mayfly hatch, but few fish rising. We turned to bead-head hare's ears (size 14-16) and things started to click. Eric and I landed twin browns from the same riffle (both in the 16-17 inch range), which were the highlights of day one.

On Tuesday, we stuck with the hare's ears and continued success. We were able to hook rainbows on the seams and at the tail end of runs while the browns were found mostly at the heads of runs in fast water. All-in-all, we landed approximately twenty fish between us on Monday, and over thirty on Tuesday.

I look forward to my next visit to this wonderful river.

Doug

Call today to make your Reservations!

River of Life Farm
RR. 1 Box 4535
Dora, MO 65637
417-261-7777
Myron@RiverofLifeFarm.com