creek wader

I saw your record fish on the MDC email. Congratulations

Live minnows can make a bad fisherman look good. In our world catch and release are the norm. Unfortunately, in the rest of the world, catch and release fishermen are the minority. Many people have the “I keep everything I catch”, mentality. Found out the hard way when I let people to fish my ponds, it got pretty ugly. Just wish they’d target the Asian carp instead.

Please give a report after your trip. I was thinking of doing that stretch, soon. I fished Barclay down early in the year. Water was high and swift. Couldn’t get very many casts while moving because of controlling kayak. Tried drifting over riffles but usually snagged. Very few places to fish from bank. Still caught fish, but had to work for it. Unfortunately, I don’t get to pick when I can fish, rather fish when I can. Part of fishing. Like to try the river when it’s a little tamer. Please give a post trip report.

From Mountain Creek to Lead Mine/ Berry Bluff, is 16 miles. Mountain Creek said they could shuttle. It’ll probably be next year before I’d have time again.

I used Mountan Creek for shuttle. I had a good day. Not a great day. Caught around 25 smallies. Several nice goggle eye and a nice rainbow. Most smallies were less than 12”. Biggest smallie of the day was a 17”. Im not used to fishing a stream with such a fast flow. Shot right by a lot of spots without getting a cast. When I tried to cast while moving, I snagged a lot. Lost a lot off tackle. So I switched to weightless soft plastics. Neds, flukes, swim baits, and senkos. Started catching fish, then.

I’m heading down tomorrow morning early. Gonna try Barkley down to Mountain Creek. It’s roughly a 4 hour drive each way. So that cuts into my fishing big time. if I have any success at all I’m going to try a 2 or 3 day float to Lead mine, later in the year.

Welcome to the site. You’ve came to the right place for advice. A wealth of info from a good group of guys.

Ok thanks, I got honey do’s this week. I’m shooting for next week

Okay. I was researching. That looks like a good place to put in. Thanks for your help. Now it’s up to the weather.

Ok thanks. I may try that lower stretch. Sounds more like I’m looking for. Overnight or two would be great.

Thanks for the info

One shot, you seem to be knowledgeable about the Niangua. I’ve been trying to do a smallie/float for several years, now. But, rain/flooding has destroyed my plans every year. I assume the upper Niangua would be better. Also, avoid the big campgrounds. It’s a 4 hour drive for me so to make it worth it. I’d do an overnight. 7 or 8 mile float would be nice. Any suggestions on which stretch would be best? I do have a solo canoe. But, need a shuttle service or use one of theirs

What section did you fish? I was thinking of doing an overnight on the upper Niangua. Away from the party floats. I’m from St. Joseph area. Any trip is about a 4 hr drive. One way

I used to travel to Jefferson City, several years ago. I fished most of the streams in about a 70 mile radius. I always wanted to try the Grandglaize. Never made it. I'm pretty sure you'll do a combination of floating/wading. Good luck. If you do it, please give us a report on it. I'll be waiting to read it.

Are any of the streams, anywhere south of I-70 worth floating/fishing? I've seen the flow charts and I know that a falling streamflow isn't the best. Just wondering if anybody has been out anywhere.

Al's right, Phil will shut this down. Some people believe in science, others believe in conspiracy. It's useless to try to change anyone's mind on this. I'll drop it. The crappie are bite is in full swing, up here. I now have something better to do.

"scientist" cooking the books for decades to fit their agenda. Seriously? Do you actually believe that statement? At what benefit? Did they all the scientists in the world get together 20 or 30 years ago, and hold a pow wow? Producing a plan, better yet a vast conspiracy to lie to the world. Why? At what gain? I guess people can believe that the earth is flat, that's your right.

Trout aren't native to Missouri or Arkansas. So, I guess if bad farming and manufacturing practices create poor water quality and the elimination of trout in Missouri. By your logic, that's ok because there not native, anyway.

Your correct. Guess they don't belong here anyway, kind of like the buffalo. Oops sorry, they may have been native.

You could be right. God may have willed it on man to wipe out the pheasant. Might as well sell our National parks to mining and drilling companies. Oh, I forgot, they're trying to do that.

Fishinwrech, I really don't know the answer about the melting, either. I assume it's the ocean temperature that's warming. And it's melting the outer edges of the icecap. Just a guess. On the "on the edge post". Trying to keep this an environmental issue. Not a religious issue. We don't really know what God's plan is. One way at looking at it is: God created man, so anything man does is in his plan. Good and bad. Including the holocost, genocide, clearing the rainforest, acid rain, fracking causing thousands of earthquakes, testing nuclear weapons, pollution in all forms, etc. That man is a tool or means of carrying out God's plan. Or, the other way of looking at it is; God gave man a brain with the power to reason/think. God made a planet that is suitable to sustain life for man. Fresh air, clean water, food, temperature, etc. When you look at the atmosphere and extreme temperatures on other planets, this is the only planet that man can survive on, that we know of. We have such a small window of temperature extremes and air mix that we can survive in. That God trusts man to take care of the planet and to make it a livable environment at the very minimum. Since we live here and have more impact on the planet than any other living organisms. Then we are basically the stewards of this planet and for generations to come. So, man needs to take it very seriously. Something that hits close to home are the quality of the Ozark streams. Some may take it for granite. Where I live, the rivers are muddy, farmers have taken out many of the riparian corridors and stream bank erosion is quite bad. Loss of habitat do to farming every square inch, has decimated the quail and pheasant habitat to mention just a few. Growing up in Nebraska, pheasant was king. You would see hundreds if not thousands of birds in a year. Now, seeing a pheasant is a very rare thing. Man altered that. I believe that humans have the power to make this planet what we want it to be. If man can create earthquakes, many earthquakes, I think we can do other major environmental disasters. Key to everything is moderation and learn from our mistakes and don't repeat them. Just my 2 cents, again

I know this is a fishing site and not a political site. I still don't understand how someone can take scientific data and make it political. Facts are facts and data is data. As the late George Carlin once said "of course the planet is getting warmer, it's been doing that since the last ice age". Anyway, I grew up in Nebraska and live in the St. Joseph area. I remember the 70's and 80's. When we had temps below freezing for months, below zero for weeks, and it would snow before Christmas and not melt till March. Not to mention the wind chill 40 or 50 below zero. You couldn't step outside without your nostrils freezing. I remember working outside with ice on my beard and mustache. Frostbite was very common, you warmed up you vehicle for at least 10 minutes. Now it dips below zero for for a day or two. If it snows, it's melted in a few days. I bought a snow blower several years ago and use it an average of two times a year. Only once this past winter, after a two inch snowfall. Basically all I did was rearrange my gravel. We used to have a snow pack for months. I actually mowed my yard in December, the past couple years. I remember a Nebraska law, that if you got stuck and didn't have studded tires or chains, you got a ticket. Now studs are illegal. Of course front wheel drive helped. There were snowmobile dealers everywhere, now I know of none. There were 3 in Falls City, a city of 5000. I don't even know of any person, that has one, now. I used to ice fish every winter until the 90's. Now, the ice isn't safe, if there is any ice. I'm sure there are weather cycles, maybe that's all any of this is. Don't get me wrong, I like the mild winters, especially since I'm getting older. I don't think the flooding has anything to do with climate change. After all it's April and May, that's when we supposed to get heavy rains. But, I think there is something to this climate change. I do know one thing, the floods down there has really screwed up my plans this month. Guess I'll just lake fish for crappie, instead. just my 2 cents

Wow, sounds like most of the Ozark streams took a pounding. Looks like I picked the wrong year to get back into float/smallie fishing. I see there's more rain on the way. I guess my May trip may have to be postponed. Is there any smallie streams that didn't get a gully washer?

I realize that this post is 8 months old. But, felt compelled to respond. I can't identify the first pic. But, the fish in the 2nd. pic, is a very good example of a smallie/spotted bass cross. People are calling them mean mouth bass. Either way, it is definitely a hybrid. Has the color and look of a smallie. With the distinct lateral line and rows of spots of a Kentucky. Pretty fish. I've caught many but, none over 12". Probably out there, just never caught one.

I missed the post also. In the past, I fished the Osage and several of its tributaries for about 6 years. I witnessed a spotted bass invasion. It went from one or two spots a year, to almost 50/50, spots to smallies in some sections. My first mean mouth, had me stumped. 6 yrs later, I had caught many of these bass. One thing that stood out was, that no two looked alike. Some were lack of a better word "pretty". Actually, I didn't mind catching mean mouths, If it wasn't at the cost of the loss of true smallies. The other observeration that I made was their size. I never caught any meanmouths over 12". They may have existed in the waters that I fished. I just never caught any. Also, most spots were under 12". Although, I did catch a 17", once. Below are pics of a mean mouth, spot, smallie. All caught within a few minutes of each other. Notice the horizontal lines on its lower half like the spot. But, other than that it resembles a smallie.