I am no stranger to the beauty that can be found from Ponca to Kyle's Landing, having paddled this stretch four times now. That being said, I was blown away yet again by its sheer rock walls and stunningly clear water. When conditions align as perfectly as they did this weekend, the Upper Buffalo is an irresistible option for a day float. Dad and I spent roughly 6 hours traversing the 11 miles between Ponca and Kyle's landing. Paddling never felt rushed thanks to a perfect streamflow. There were a few rapids that required swift corrections to get through safely; but overall, that was also ideal for fishing. Although the water was ideal for fishing purposes, the fishing was only okay. I ended with 7 fish total, all of which were smallmouth (I'm not complaining!). Without dad's help guiding me from the back of the canoe, I wouldn't have been able to catch that many.
A beautiful smallie caught under a beautiful rock wall backdrop
Here I am focusing every fiber of my being on fishing
Dad making us a gourmet lunch
Just a couple examples of the majestic rock walls that the Upper Buffalo has to offer
This 15" stud gave me a heck of a fight at the end of the day.. I gotta thank dad for encouraging me to keep fishing at the end of the float. Without his encouragement, I would've given up before I could catch this guy to cap off a great day!
The main reason it has taken me this long to make a post about the Buffalo is because it seems like everyone knows about it. When a river is as beloved and famous as the Buffalo is, I struggle to find the motivation to talk about it because so many people already have. The Buffalo must be the most documented river in Arkansas. But, despite my lack of motivation to cover the Upper Buffalo for a blog post, I decided that this blog wouldn't be complete without one! The next step will be to do a multi-day float on the Lower Buffalo and blog about that.
The Buffalo River is 137 miles long. My goal is to float every one of those 137 miles. Starting from Boxley on the Upper Buffalo to Buffalo City, where the Buffalo meets the White River. At this point, I have floated about 69 of those 137 miles. So I have about half of the 137 miles left to float. The stretches of the Buffalo dad and I are most intrigued by are: Kyle's Landing to Carver and Rush to Buffalo City (both of these floats are the exact same distance at 24.2 miles).
Start Time: 10:00 AM
Finish time: 4:30 PM
Water fished: Upper Buffalo River from Ponca to Kyle's Landing
Water level/clarity: 290 cfs/clear
Water temp (Start): 43 degrees (Finish):43 degrees
Weather: Slightly overcast/sunny
Air temp: (Start): 68 degrees (Finish): 57 degrees
Wind: 5-25 mph Direction: SW
Pre - Frontal Conditions
Barometric Pressure: 29.80 inHg
Moonphase: New Moon
Aquatic Vegetation:
Bait Fish/Forage Base: Small minnows/small Crayfish
Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Pre-Spawn
Fished with: Dad
Lures used: small PB&J football jig w/ watermelon redflake BugZ trailer and a perfect perch TRD ned rig
Smallies
Largies
Spots
Notes
Quantity
7
None
None
All fish were caught with the jig, except one on a ned rig
# over 14”
2
Biggest
15"
Location/
Time
4:00 pm
Fast moving water
4-5 Feet of water
14" was also caught in fast water at 10:30 am
3-4 Feet of water
Here is a short video that dad made. We only managed to catch one fish while the GoPros were running.. fortunately, the Buffalo River always provides incredible scenery even if the fishing isn't great
Finally, I wanted to add a throwback picture from April 2022. This is the biggest smallmouth I have ever landed on this stretch of the Buffalo (16")
That looked like a fantastic river trip. Having done a couple miles of fishing Buffalo with you, I find it hard to believe your Dad had to persuade you to keep fishing. How many trips have you not been the one to catch the most fish? Perhaps the cooler cutting board could use a scrubbing? I'll be happy to see the next 68 miles blogged and would count myself lucky to be in person for a few of them.
Chris, I understand why you would be skeptical, but I promise I was ready to put down the fishing rods! Dad obviously didn't have to do much convincing but if he hadn't have said anything, I would've stopped fishing... As far as the number of trips where I've caught the most fish, that does happen a lot (mostly because I fish more than dad does) but there have been many trips where I didn't catch the biggest fish!
Funny you should ask about the cooler lid, Dad and I were talking about it the other day and it hasn't been cleaned since you so generously did that yourself in Texas.
We would love to go floating with you again in the not too distant future, although I understand how that would be more complicated now with you living up north and all!
In my opinion, the Mulberry River is an underrated Ozark stream. I think it should be talked about as much as the Buffalo River. Since the Buffalo is arguably the most famous of all Ozark streams, I’m on the bandwagon for vaulting the Mulberry to that level of recognition. Both have unique characteristics that set them apart as gorgeous representations of what the Ozarks have to offer. But there’s something uniquely wonderful about the surrounding beauty of the Mulberry that deserves praise. For starters, the stream flows directly through Ozark National Forrest. The variety of trees and vegetation accents the rock formations perfectly. As for the rock itself, the Mulberry doesn’t boast the same massive sheer rock walls that the Buffalo does, but the rock has a beauty all its own. The majority of the rock that makes up the basin is limestone. Dust from the limestone causes the river water to be a bluish color similar to other nearby Boston Mountain streams such...
Kings River: JD Fletcher Access on Highway 62 to Stoney Point/Summers Ford The first part of this post is about what its like to paddle this section of the Kings. The second part will cover fishing. Paddling: A few weeks ago, my whole perception of the Kings River changed. What I had gotten used to on Kings River floats was narrow stream width, bluffs, giant rock walls, and usually very little flow. However, the stretch from JD Fletcher Access to Stoney Point/Summers Ford has several key differences from upper stretches that makes it a viable option for floating and fishing later in the season. First of all, the confluence of the Kings and Osage Creek is right above Highway 62 bridge so there is a significant boost to the flow. The Osage Creek that meets the Kings is different than the one that meets the Illinois River... which needs to be clarified for those who have seen my blog posts and aren't familiar with this area. But even still, the contrib...
April 15, 2023 Start time: 9:00 am Finish time: 5:30 pm Water fished: Osage Creek/Illinois River from Snavely Bridge (Osage) to Chambers Springs (Illinois) Access Water level/clarity: 300 cfs/clear Water temp (Start): 57 degrees (Finish): 57 degrees Weather: Clear/sunny then cloudy and stormy in the afternoon Air temp: (Start): 63 degrees (Finish): 54 degrees Wind: 30 mph Direction: SW to NE Frontal Conditions: High winds and spurts of rain came in mid-late afternoon Barometric Pressure: 29.8 inHG Moonphase: Waning Cresent Aquatic Vegetation: Bait Fish/Forage Base: Crawfish, shiners/other small baitfish, topwater Pre-Spawn/Spawn/Post-Spawn: Spawn Fished with: Dad Lures used: Shiny reddish purple Jewel finesse jig with a watermelon red rage menace grub trailer, white/chartreuse spinner bait with small white Z-Man swimmer trailer, and sexy shad topwater Smallmouth Largies Meanmouth Notes Quantity 20+ Joel only caught smallies 1 1 Dad managed to catch a smallmouth...
That looked like a fantastic river trip. Having done a couple miles of fishing Buffalo with you, I find it hard to believe your Dad had to persuade you to keep fishing. How many trips have you not been the one to catch the most fish? Perhaps the cooler cutting board could use a scrubbing? I'll be happy to see the next 68 miles blogged and would count myself lucky to be in person for a few of them.
ReplyDeleteChris, I understand why you would be skeptical, but I promise I was ready to put down the fishing rods! Dad obviously didn't have to do much convincing but if he hadn't have said anything, I would've stopped fishing... As far as the number of trips where I've caught the most fish, that does happen a lot (mostly because I fish more than dad does) but there have been many trips where I didn't catch the biggest fish!
DeleteFunny you should ask about the cooler lid, Dad and I were talking about it the other day and it hasn't been cleaned since you so generously did that yourself in Texas.
We would love to go floating with you again in the not too distant future, although I understand how that would be more complicated now with you living up north and all!
Thank you for checking out the blog!