Baron Fork: Thomas Bamberger WMA at Proctor to Eldon on Highway 51

 Baron Fork: Thomas Bamberger WMA at Proctor to Eldon on Highway 51

    There are a few streams in the Ozarks that are so clear that it boggles the mind. The Baron Fork is certainly one of these, featuring 6 to 10 foot pools where you can see straight down to the bottom. In part, this is due to the assortment of rocks that make up the bottom. This includes small pebbles, bedrock slabs, cobble and boulders that almost entirely make up this basin. Without tons of mud to dirty the water, this stream remains perfectly clear most of the time. 

    The water clarity and rocky bottom make ideal habitat for smallmouth. There is also plenty of other cover in the form of fallen logs. From late spring to early fall, the bite remains absolutely incredible.  I did discover that the bite isn't quite as good in late fall after a less than satisfying fishing experience in mid November. It seems that once the weather cools down and the water is somehow even clearer, makes it more difficult to get the smallies to bite. Fortunately, towards the end of the float, dad and I discovered that using light brown twin tail grubs was by far the most effective lure. These lighter colored soft plastics seem to be more effective then darker colors in late fall. Even back when the bite was really good, I have yet to catch a smallmouth over 15".

    Obviously, the Illinois River in Oklahoma is the state's most popular river and only designated scenic river. However, the Baron Fork is an excellent option if either the Illinois is too crowded or has too much water. Unlike the Illinois, the Baron Fork has no outfitters readily available. 

    The float I have outlined from Proctor to Eldon is 5.5 miles. Ideal floating conditions for this stretch is anything between 100 and 500 cfs. If you wish to check the streamflow for this float just look for the gauge at Eldon and that will provide an accurate discharge for this stretch.

     Access at Thomas Bamberger is easy to find off of highway 62. The takeout on highway 51 is also easy to find, but has complications. The state bought the land between the old bridge and the new bridge. This new bridge was completed in the spring of 2020, the most recent Google Earth imagery does not show this. Now the access under the new bridge is on the north side of the highway in between where the old bridge was and the new bridge is now. Unfortunately, there is an ongoing battle between the landowners and the state to claim highway 51 bridge crossing at Eldon. Landowners are even going so far as to put up signs saying no trespassing and placing hay bales on the dirt road leading to the access. Just know that there is nothing the landowners can do legally to prevent anyone from using this access. But if you want to avoid unhappy landowners and still do a Baron Fork float, you can go another 8 miles to the access at Welling. Hopefully, before too long this dispute will be put to bed and access at Eldon will be available for paddlers/anglers.

Our most recent trip to the Baron Fork yielded a few nice fish. Most of which were caught by my dad.. He managed to out fish me with a nice largemouth and smallmouth.

On a trip dad and I took this summer, I managed to hook into this beauty. A solid 15 inch smallie that fought more like a 20 incher.

A photo of the Baron Fork at Thomas Bramberger

Thanks for reading and get to fishing!

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