Fish-A-Thon 2010: Team Longboat
Kyle Kosovich, Brian Wise, Aaron Scott
Water: North Fork of the White River, Missouri
ISSUE:1. Our local rivers, lakes and streams inform our local culture and history. It is important to maintain those waters in order to sustain a connection to that culture and history. If a river becomes polluted, overfished or overdeveloped that the reasons we enjoy that river is lost, we lose the culture and the history surrounding it as well.
Prior to the damming of the White River system, the Ozarks had firmly established the float-fishing trip. Sportsmen and tourists came from across the nation to enjoy the great fishing and wild scenery that the Ozarks had to offer, all from the comfort of a long, wooden White River johnboat. But after the dams broke up the White River into a series of reservoirs, the traditional float-fishing tip and the wooden White River johnboats were all but lost.
We will be floating in a traditional White River johnboat, hand-built by Kyle Kosovich for his Longboat Outfitters guiding service, to celebrate and rekindle the heritage of the Ozarks float-fishing trip.
2. The NFOW sustains a wild population of rainbow trout. The last time the NFOW was stocked with rainbows was about 50 years ago. Length and creel limits on this Blue Ribbon stream (beginning at Rainbow and North Fork springs and ending at Patrick Bridge and Althea Spring) help, but without clean, quality water, the conditions for wild rainbows would not be possible – along with the incredible brown trout and native smallmouth bass that reside in the NFOW as well.
Aside from the fish, the Ozark Hellbender resides in the NFOW. This giant salamander, unique to the Ozarks, is on the endangered species list and is, according to the National Park Service, "extremely vulnerable to habitat disturbance and changes in water quality." The NFOW, like many cold-water streams in the Ozarks, is fed by large springs which are easily polluted due to the karst topography of the Ozarks that sources groundwater from a large area. If the stream becomes too polluted, not only would the incredible fishery be lost, but the rare hellbender as well.
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Recycled Fish
Attn: 24 Hour Fish-A-Thon
605 N. 12th Street #3
Nebraska City, NE 68410
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