Annual Ozarks Trip-Fine Rainbows-Kudos Donald Cranor 9 23 21

Wifey and I making our annual Ozarks trip and left Mandeville Tues afternoon,made a pit stop at MS College School of Law to drop off beloved chocolate lab with younger son and we made our way to Ozarks,arriving early Wed am and first stop was a Wal Mart in Harrison,AR.Funny story here,was wearing NO Saints tee-shirt and young fellow commented on my shirt and thanked him,telling him they stunk up Panthers stadium and we laughed it off(did not realize at the time he is a LA native-graduate of LSU Shreveport School of Medicine).Got a few fishing supplies and again ran into young fellow and we exchanged stories-he is Radiologist practicing up in Arkansas and told him bout my 27-year Pharma career.Bet he went to Med School with a few of de docs I used to call on.Fast-forward to today,Wifey and I took extremely fun and productive guided trip,guide was awesome(Rodney Anderson-coming back next Sept/Oct and want Rodney as our guide)he works for Donald Cranor's Guide Service(870)430-5484.From the get-go,I could tell it was gonna be incredible trip,guide had plenty of White River crawfish(dey calls em crawdads up here)and he was using nice chunk of tail meat to entice aggressive rainbows and we limited on fine rainbows,Wifey caught two fine brown trout but they have to be 24 inches to keep and bet we caught over 40 rainbows,keeping our ten and had an absolute blast!!Cranor has fine lodge and bunch of Top-Notch guides and Wifey promised Rodney dat when we return,we not only wanna get his as our Guide,she gonna treat him to her incredible duck and andouille sausage gumbo and as fate would have it,Rodney told us bout fine barbeque joint,KT's Smokehouse and Wifey and I had great lunch there and even picked up package of smoked andouille sausage,can't get no better than dat!!Gonna hit White River few more times before leaving and we already know of some great bank-fisning spots and on today's trip,found yet another great bank-fishing spot.Having incredible time up here,weather fantastic,probably in low 40's at night!!!

Mandevillian

Wanted to attach pics,ya know what dey say bout a pic or two!!

Mndevillian

Bow shot tells it all!!

Man, is that some pretty water or is that some pretty water!?!?!

Thanks for the beautiful pictures, Mande. Thanks for sharing your trip.

Mande : nice trout , did ya bring ya fly rod up with ya ? Been getting new roof on the ole homestead , hope they have it completed today , wanna get back out there chasing them reds tomorrow, weather’s been great cool morning ls lite winds , enjoy y’all’s time up there , send us some more pics ???????????????

Wiz,No did not tag along fly rod but did chat with young fellow who is LA native and the guy that is the Radiologist up here and he showed me pic of HUGE red he caught back home on 8 weight fly rod(same weight as mine). Found us great spot for bank fishing and headed to Branson to hit Bass Pro outlet store plus Tanger Outlets and enjoying every second of this trip. Hope Nick chased some teal either Wed or Th. Might wanna hook up with our Guide for some Arkansas deer hunting. Their bow season starts on the 25th and bet Arkansas has more deer than people. Blue Shamu,Yep water indeed incredibly clear and well before Ida hit I found water bout dat clear on NShore and dat was where I sight casted to some hefty reds.

Mandevillian

I don't get to drink water that clear!!!!! Safe travels!

Awesome pics Mande. I need to make that trip up north to fish for some trout. Only about 3 hours from my duck camp in Lake Village. Hope you and Dawn had a wonderful trip

Thanks,guys,and yep,GB3,worth every minute Wifey and I are spending up here.Always meet the most fantastic folks and today no exception and Wifey and I had awesome time floating the Buffalo and we did not catch much,other than fine rock bass and on our way to Yellville,we stopped at Sonic for nice shake and stopped by at Crooked Creek to try for smallmouths,met couple from Bossier City and now they live in iconic fine former Bed n Breakfast and the hubby was walking across bridge,spotted some fine smallies and I got a wet butt BUT did nab four fine but under-sized smallies,lost a big one,lost largemouth and watched smaller largemouth inhale Rage Craw(not sure how he slipped hook)!!!Having a grand time and fellow we met from Bossier is a contractor busy as a bee building dreams for folks moving to Ozarks!!!

Mandevillian,hoping to be Ozarkian!!

Wanted to add few pics of some fine but slightly under-sized smallies I nabbed at Crooked Creek public access just yesterday.Wifey and I have CE Zoom conference worth 2 hours of CE credit and as fate and luck would have it,got few clients to enroll,one couple today and solo on Th after we get back to reality!!Weather up here more that extraordinary and we heard the White River may be slightly higher but no worries as I packed insulated waders,ready to jump in dat fine White River and hopefully nab some fat rainbows on either their favorite red worms or Rebel Crawfish crankbaits.The Rage Craws tad too big unless I might target huge browntrout!!

Mandevillian

I first fished with Donald Craynor about 30 years ago when he was a guide for Gaston's Resort . Was up in Cotter this past June and stayed at His Place Resort, booked a guided trip thru them for me and my sons. What I did not know was that His Place uses Donald Craynor and his guides for their trips. Got to visit with him , great guy and fishing. If none of you have never gone up to the White or Buffalo Rivers, you are missing out !

Guess I need to also brag bout Ole Crooked Creek access near Yellville as that fine Lil Blue Ribbon Stream holds some fine smallies and few decent largemouth bass. Wifey and I winding down yet another more than incredible Ozarks vacation and we met gent with fine Boone Dock travel trailer and he gladly showed us how fine this lil beast is laid out perhaps one of the finest small travel trailers we have seen(Dey mighty proud dem trailers)hope to check out dealership in Conway on way home. Every single person we have met been absolute gems and the fellow with the Boone Dock travel trailer told us about fine White River Water Park up near Bull Shoals Lake. Might start next Ozarks adventure up that way.

Mandevillian