Spring River March 23-26, 2021
A very enjoyable trip to a new location. This was planned to be an exploratory trip to the Spring river, just outside Mammoth Spring Arkansas, located just across the MO-ARK border.
FATC Attendees:
Dan Staggenborg, Joe Staggenborg, Alex Staggenborg, AL Harper, Steve Baker, Scott Payne, John Muckerman, Steve Stipanovich, Dave Broeder, Mike Oldani
Warter condition: about 20% over normal discharge. [normal 9.78 million gallons per hour; on our trip 12.791 million gallos per hour]
Water clarity was murky but improved each day. Visibility was about 1 foot.
We were told that at best there is a green tinge. Don’t recall anyone “seeing” fish like we normally can.
The ride down from the St. Louis area is about 4 hours.
Directions are easy: 44 southwest to Rolla then 63 south to Mammoth Spring.
A stop at the Visitors center in Mammoth Spring is worth it for first timers.
(10th largest spring in the world; 7th largest in the US).
Arkansas Trout permit ($20 for a year) plus a non-resident license ($16 for 3 days) is required.
Restaurants, groceries and Walmart were minutes away from the Mammoth Spring Lodge in Thayer Mo where most of us stayed. The Lodge was very reasonably priced (roughly $60 per night each) when 2 guys split a room. The Mammoth Spring Lodge had recently returned to providing a continental breakfast, which was a bonus.
The first day, most guys had fished at the local Dam 3 access, a short 1.5 miles off US 63 on 342 just past town. There is a good spot below the dam (75 yards up), where there is discharge from a US fish hatchery. Most guys fished there and caught stocker trout varying from 8-14 inches using zebra midges, nymphs and a variety of flies. There is a road with tubes crossing the steam which continues down and is very wadable for around 500 yards to where the dam outflow joins the Spring river. Trout were picked up along that stretch using San Juan worms (red or cherise), Y2K’s, and nymphs.
The first fish of the trip caught by Scott Payne, was a smallmouth, the only smallie caught by the entire group. Odd, since the river is known for it’s excellent smallmouth fishing.
Dave Broeder fished at Dam 3 and caught a trout and 2 nice sized chain pickerel (these things have teeth. Yikes!)
That night we enjoyed appetizers/Elk Stew/bread/salad after an first interesting day of fishing/exploring. Crockpot Elk stew was provided by chef/friar Muck(erman) at the pavilion at Riverside Campground. Nervy squirrels provided entertainment.
The second day (Wednesday) we were joined by Mike Oldani. We had a crockpot breakfast at the campground and then most of us made it a “float” day, leaving Dam 3 access and floating to Riverside campground. A great day sunny, cool breeze, good water movement and pretty good fishing at the various places we stopped. Most of the stretches of the river have “football” to “cooler” sized boulders which can be slick. The water is mostly knee to waist deep. Fish were caught on Wooly Buggers (purple or black), Euro flies, Cherise worms, white or gold-tinseled Clouser minnows and gold Spinners. During the float: as many or more fish were caught on spinners rather than fly rods, due to ability to reach more water; Spinning rod recommended for a float.
There is decent, clean camping at Riverside Campground (NO PETS), located 3-4 miles along bumpy roads off US 63. AL Harper and his wife stayed there and got a site located right next to the canoe/kayak takeout point. A pavilion located 100 feet from AL’s camp made an excellent congregating place for the 2 delicious crockpot dinners provided by Chef/Friar Muckerman. Wednesday was tasty/filling “game and bean” soup plus bread. A couple guys said it was the best soup they’d ever eaten (no joke).
Although there was a $6 charge for each of us visiting the campground, this also included the privilege of taking out for our floating (it kinda evened out).
There is fishing available from the up-stream part of the campground, which is a stocking place. Next trip we’ll be sure to fish that spot.
The Spring River is mostly wadable, except where the 2 channels meet (Dam 3 discharge & Spring River) as one FATC fisherman found out. After catching 4 rainbows, he got into a spot where the 2 stiff currents swept him into deep water. By not panicking, and staying on his back, he was able to foot paddle to the other side of the spring, without losing his rod. He needed a ride to get back by a kindly landowner to the other side of the river, as the only way back is through town (a good 4-5 miles). Look for a wading and safety info article will be posted to the FATC forum.
Thursday (March 25th) had heavy rain predicted all day. Turned out to lightly rain for a half hour or so, a few times throughout the day. Undaunted, our guys donned rain gear and tried out other nearby areas (instead of Dam 3) such as below Dam 1 which is right in downtown Mammoth Spring. Mike and Scott reported they did pretty well there wading and brought good fish to the net. Mike and Scott reported they thought this would make an excellent leisurely fish/float of about 3 miles before you’d need to get out at Cold Spring access. Next time we’ll do that float.
Thursday evening we had a fellowship dinner at Riverbend restaurant located 5 mins from the Mammoth Spring Lodge. We were all so excited about our experiences and enjoying ourselves we neglected to get a picture.
There are 2 nearby additional access points/fishing areas that we scouted, but did not fish:
1) Lassiter’s Access which is reached going through town. This area looked wadable if the water had not been a bit high and fast. It held a fair bit of vegetation there as well. Still, it looked good enough to fish next trip.
2) Cold Spring Access, which is easily reached off US 63. The water here was wide & slow. It seemed too deep to wade and was a bit slower than most of the river we’d observed. However, there were some guys fishing from boats and some fish (of some type or another) were observed turning on top.
We will be sure to check out these spots more closely on our next trip.
Some observations about the fishing the Spring River:
1) you are often fishing right alongside people using ALL types baits and methods. We joked when we found someone had left behind a can of corn. Powerbait, spinners, worms (plastic and natural) are all legal and used. This didn’t seem to dampen our chances of taking nice fish.
2) The spring river has only a few small creeks feeding it. The water comes almost entirely from the Mammoth Spring. This characteristic yields both bad and good effects: Bad because unlike the Current River and others we FATC guys normally fish, the Spring doesn’t get the good flushing out from time to time. As a result you can find yourself walking through 6-8” deep sediment (read mud here) to get to where the current and fish are. Not as much gravel bottoms or gravel bars as we are used to. There’s a fair amount of sub surface vegetation in the river to contend with. Neither of these are a major detriment, but can be annoying.
On the GOOD (plus) side of this condition, the river levels are pretty constant since the spring is fed from an underground watershed many miles north near West Plains MO. This means that when other rivers are flooding the Spring can be a great place to fish.
3) The Spring River is a train enthusiast’s paradise. There are train track which follow the river for dozens of miles. This was not really a nuisance, but was notable that the trains sped along every 3-4 hours or so.
4) a significant amount of the water’s edge property was privately owned, much different than the Scenic Ozark Riverway along Meramec and Current Rivers (which is a blessing for us in Missouri). No one had any problems, and as long as we stayed in the water, all was good.
5) IMO: the people of Arkansas are a bit more lax in recognizing what a beautiful resource they have. Some of the old “Hillbilly” mentality exits where people catch and keep as many fish as they can get away with. Game warden enforcement can only do so much. Also, (again IMO), there was more trash on the river than we see in Missouri.
6) <we are told> The Spring has a very heavy annual, summer-time, party “canoe hatch” which really prohibits serious fishing on the weekends and holidays. Apparently it gets pretty wild (think “Lake of the Ozarks Party-Cove” wild), between the mid-end of May and November. The guide told us he doesn’t even schedule trips during that time. However, during the week it’s very fishable if one gets an early start and floats down before partyers get started. Even then Lassiters or other wadable areas should be productive.
7) The wading can be slippery and should be approached with extreme caution. In the writer’s opinion, a wading staff is REQUIRED no matter your age. (Rock Treads are worth it.) Felt soles are legal in Arkansas and are helpful.
8) The river has numerous species of fish. Our trip members caught primarily rainbow trout and most were decent to good size. But other species included a smallmouth, a crappie, a sunfish, 2-3 chain pickerel, and some chubs/shad. The Spring is noted for it’s Walleye fishing but none of us caught any.
Summary:
One of our members (AL Harper) had been there before, and mentioned it would be a worthwhile FATC trip only being roughly 2 hours farther south on US 63 than Licking MO (on the way to Montauk). We all made the trip not knowing what to expect, yet from reviews/reports we hoped for good fishing and floating. I think we got much more. The fishing was really good in spots that both could be waded or floated to and fished from gravel bars or stopping places along the river.
The group was rewarded with a memorable fellowship experience, good-to-great fishing, top notch floating opportunities and another spot to add to our spring and fall “go to” places to visit.
