March 28-31, 2022
A group of 7 FATC Members made a return trip to the Spring River near Mammoth Springs, Ark just across the Missouri border.
Attendees were:
Dan Staggenborg, John Muckerman, Bob Wilson, Steve Stipanovich, Steve Baker, Scott Payne and AL Harper.
This trip was intended to be a fish/float/food and fellowship experience and really hit the target.
Due to the limited lodging, it was not put on the FATC calendar. (Sorry) But most of the attendees had made the trip last year.
The cabin we were able to use had a frontage of about 100 yards on prime fishing water.
The cabin has a huge back porch 100 feet from the river. This allowed for lots of hootin’ & hollerin’ by onlookers whenever a fish was taken.
It also allowed for launching a canoe, kayak or Flycraft from the backyard. The public Bayou Access is 4 miles downstream (10 mins by car) with at least a dozen prime fishing spots along the way which several of us took advantage of.
All guys had arrived Monday between 11 and 1 pm and started fishing right away. For some (including the author), it was difficult to get a handle on what the fish were taking.
The water was fast and slightly murky but green, not muddy. This was a significant factor. One could wade out 1/4 of the way across to where the water got waist deep. This river is definitely “wading staff” water. Lots of slippery boulders, some bowling ball sized, some microwave oven sized, ready to trip up an unsuspecting wade fisherman. Luckily no one fell in, even considering the fast water.
But by taking the chance to fish, there was a shot at some nice trout.
Scott Payne had the best luck over the trip by taking over 30 each day on either his egg and “house of Payne” combination or a Panther Martin spinner.
Having a spinning rod along with the fly rod helped to get to the areas across the wide river and often rewarded with fish.
Bob Wilson had his best success over the several days on a white wooley bugger (after trying the Olive for an extended time). Bob ended up with 18 trout.
After fumbling around for several hours, DanStag finally figured out that the murky conditions called for something colorful, bright and deep. A weighted egg pattern, along with a split shot under a decent sized indicator started yielding fish. Seven were brought you the net on Monday, and 20 on Tuesday.
That was the day, DanStag and Scott floated the Spring River and hit as many likely spots as possible, yielding many nice sized trout.
Meanwhile back at the ranch…Steve Baker caught several on the “House of Payne” and the egg dropper with the bare hook below (henceforth called the “egg drop soup”). Steve B also had luck using Y2K egg pattern, a San Juan worm and a pheasant tail nymph. A lime green mopfly & a tan mopfly brought fish to the net for Steve Baker.
AL Harper, a tenacious streamer fisherman had most of his luck with a white maribou-like lure with dumbbell eyes for depth. AL also caught several on a gold or gold/green tinsel streamer.
Steve Stipo caught 20 plus total using a larger than normal Y2K pattern, several on a nymph and on a heavy white streamer.
The key was getting whatever flies used to the BOTTOM.
Steve Stipo gets the award for hooking the biggest “something” of the trip. Steve was tending to his spinning reel line, on shore untangling it, when one of the several dogs wandering about (the beagle, I’m told) stepped into Steve’s line. As the dog hustled away it pulled Steve’s line out until the hook caught it. Steve S was trying to get the dog to quit running away which scared it even more. Finally the hook came loose, with Steve being a little embarrassed and the dog none too happy.
The food was gourmet thanks to John Muckerman making pork tenderloin, scallop potatoes and veggies. John also cooked up an excellent breakfast of home cured bacon (thanks to Steve Baker), eggs, hash browns and fresh baked biscuits.
Steve Baker was good enough to
make up Italian Roast beef served on French bread with Provolone cheese and potato salad & slaw for one of the dinners.
The Mammoth Spring areas somewhat lacking in local dining. So planning a menu allowed us to spend all our time at the cabin fishing and “Fellowshipping” (if that’s a word) and joke & story telling.
Funny thing: as we sat on the back porch talking each of our fish caught during the day mysteriously grew an inch or two. Hmmm…
On Tuesday our 2nd day, John M, AL H and Steve S engaged the service of a local guide, Mark Crawford and they couldn’t say enough good things about Mark. He put the guys on lots of fish (well over 20 a piece) and showed them a good time doing it. Anyone going to the Spring should consider reserving with Mark for at least one day. His fees are very reasonable.
Although 3 days of fishing were planned, the weather report for the last day was pretty menacing; thunderstorms and tornado warnings were issued. Because of that and other commitments 4 guys grudgingly left early.
Three of us (Scott, Bob Wilson and DanStag) stayed and braved the weather. Turned out that it did rain pretty steadily from 10 am on, with no lightning, so we 3 fished anyway. Scott as always, caught well and the other 2 of us picked up a few.
Later in the afternoon, we drove down to Riverside campground and were able to fish for several hours there in the rain with the place to ourselves. The normal fee is $5 a person per day. Next trip we might want to include a day at Riverside. Lots of fish there
All things considered, we had a great group of guys who caught fish and had a good time doing it. The food was top notch & inexpensive. The fellowship and fun was off the charts. We will most certainly go back.
If anyone is interested I’ll be happy to direct you to making arrangements for that cabin.
One SERIOUS Note to consider about the Spring River:
during the warmer months (especially on weekends) beginning in May lasting until the end of October, the river is jammed with rowdy floaters. Also, an Arkansas non-resident and trout permit are both required just to fish.
The river & cabin are great during the week and winter, during our normal off season time here.
A very memorable trip, and we’re all anxious to go back.
(submitted by DanStag)
