The One That Got Away: A June Fly Fishing Report.

I had been wanting to fish on the North Fork of the White River for some time now after reading a book "Great Rivers/Great Hatches" in which the authors (MECK & HOOVER) describe their experiences on this river from some 7-10 years ago. For some reason every time I'd get the urge to plan a trip something else would seem to get in the way. Finally I was able to make the long anticipated trip on June 7-8, 2000.

I had explored the Missouri website and decided to contact Myron at The River of Life Farm near Dora, MO for accommodations for my trip. I arrived on June 7 just before 1 pm in time for a relaxing bite of lunch and chat with Myron and Shelby (a guide who had just finished floating the 2 mile stretch of the river above Myron's "Farm").

Shelby who was very helpful and who seemed to know the "ins and outs" of fishing this river told me he had some success that morning on black and olive wooly buggers and on prince nymphs. Since the Farm has access to about a mile of very fishable river with access just in front of the cabin in which I was staying I had planned to wade this section on my first visit so that I could thoroughly work the better looking stretches of water in this area.

After checking into my room which was very nice and comfortable I got my gear and headed for the river about 2:30 pm. By 6:00 pm I managed to catch 3 of the river's wild rainbows and lost one. The fish were 10", 12", and 13". The fish were all healthy looking and had beautiful coloring. All were fooled with bead head prince nymphs size 16 weighted with two split shots to get down into the faster moving water where it was successful.

I felt pretty good but had worn down from the 5 hour drive from Tulsa and 3 1/2 hours wading. It was time to head in for a quick shower and a lovely and delicious home cooked meal which was prepared by Ann and which was enjoyed in the company of Myron's beautiful 5 children(2 additional members were away this evening). The meal was topped off with a marvelous freshly made blueberry pie made with berries picked that morning from the local berry farm.

The next morning I decided to fish early since I needed to return to Tulsa that evening so I headed to the river right before 7am. I walked about 1/3-1/2 mile downstream to the "cave riffle." This stretch of water (which I hadn't tried the previous day) looked extremely promising. After some 2 hours and not a strike I decided to try the stretch where I had success the previous day. Within 30 minutes I landed a beautiful 10-11" brown which had thrilled me with the 5 leaps he made before tiring.

An hour later I headed to the "Falls" which I realized would allow me about 1 1/2 hours to fish before I had to get ready to depart for home. Again the water looked very promising but after some 50 minutes not a strike was had! I decided for my last 1/2 hour I'd get creative so I looked through my box for the ugliest looking bug I could find to try to entice a fish from water where I knew there had to be some nice fish holding. I decided upon a old olive wooly with some green rubber legs probably a size 8-10. Some 10 minutes later I had a powerful strike!

Alright! I thought this is the fish I'd been looking for on this trip. It was seconds when the fish took up the slack I had layed out and was on the reel. Then he jumped. A beautiful big (at least 18") rainbow, heavy through the body. Shortly he jumped again! And then he was gone.

He must have broken the 5x tippet. But no, he hadn't. I still had that ugly looking bug at the end of the line which I disappointedly retrieved. After that excitement I decided that it was a good time to call it a day. What better way than to end a trip than with the thought of coming back here as soon as possible to get this fish or one like him back on the line again.

For anyone who wants to experience the solitude of a beautiful stretch of river in the middle of some wonderful forest and have the chance to catch (and hopefully release) these exciting fish I'd recommend visiting Myron at The River of Life Farm. I personally can't wait to get back for another visit.