UnCivE

Oh, also, this isn't my picture.

This is leftover of a historic disaster near Gasconade, MO. I attached a link below that documents the accident. Pretty cool. . . http://cprr.org/Muse...e_Disaster.html

My home AC stopped workin this morning.. I suspect a bad capacitor, but will let the pro's figure it out. My wife is bout ready to bite my head off. Hopefully I can get a guy here sometime today!

No problem. If the rest of the run down to the GG arm of the lake is anything like the water I paddled 1 mile downstream from the bridge, you could almost get a bass boat up there now. The water is backed up almost all the way to the bridge from the lake... there's no current, in fact I felt like I was on the lake already. Beautiful area though. I'll return to sightsee, but probably not to fish until the weather changes.

Hit the water @ 9am. Got the boat out, fished a mile downstream from the bridge and back up. Fishing was dead today.. no bites, nothing. Topwater was dead, current was non-existent where I was at, and I was ready to hang it up by 1030. On the way back to the truck, I tossed my green 5" senko in among some timber, and got a good hit. Set the hook, and fish started peelin off drag. Got it to the boat and it's a 5.1 lb largemouth. FAT fish. I measured him, weighed him, and let him go back in the water. I fished the area some more, caught a small smallie, but that was it. I called it a day @ 11am and headed home. Anyway. 2 fish caught today. One big, one small.

I usually paddle anywhere from a mile or two upstream from that bridge to fish that area. Haven't fished down around the Cave much yet. . .

I fished upstream from the bridge a ways.. less than a mile.

Hit the water @ 630-7 am, fishing was real slow. Had two new kayakers with me, although relatively experienced fishermen... Didn't catch anything of substance until we found a hole with some real moving water... the fish just don't seem to be feeding aggressively in the slower moving areas. Caught two 16+ fish out of the same hole and a number of shorter fish and called it a day @ 11. Fish were caught on small dark plastics... topwater bite was non existent. In any case, I got two guys exposed to smallie fishing who'd never been, and one of em caught a 16+ inch fish.

I'm not the person to ask on the lower gasconade, as I've never fished it. The water won't be too low to kayak, but it will be low enough to keep the traffic to a minimum. The area I fish (way further up) has been relatively deserted in the midst of the drought. Hasn't stopped me from catchin fish though. This MAY be a good time to try fishin the special regulations area from Riddle Bridge to Jerome... (18" minimum). It's got some really nice scenery, and some big fish live there if you can catch em. That'd put you at putting in 45 miles from where you're stayin. Anyway, whatever you decide, good luck and let us know how you do!

Take a ride over to Johnny G's bait shop.... they'll be able to help you out. I live nearby, and that's where I'd go if I wanted to catch some catfish. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Johnny-Gs-Bait-and-Tackle-LLC/129631443726159

Hey, if ya go solo, you can sleep in the top bunk! Nice work!

How'd you do?

You'll get about a thousand different answers, more than likely. I'm with the first answer, I fish Yo-zuri H20 line... Checkout tackletour.com and you can find a bunch of different line reviews in each category. Just buy high quality line and you'll probably like it.

Joking aside, this is right on. Middle river is usually like Lake of the Ozarks on weekends. I am lookin forward to fishin' it some more this summer.

Define "public"... if you are willing to drive down around Ft. Leonard Wood, I can put you on a couple public ponds, and if you are willing to pay for a post fishing license, I can show you a bunch of ponds with good fish in them.

If we don't get any rain, you might be hikin' instead of floatin!

I'm seein the same thing.. feels like I have my section of river to myself. I saw one jet boat on Friday night, and I could hear the conversation as they came upon the next shallow spot "There ain't no water left up here! I think we are gonna have to fish here." Right now, if you can't manually drag your boat, you ain't fishin' some spots.

It has. I fished for 6 hours on Sunday and didn't see a jet boat or a canoe. Just a guy with a 14ft jon and a trolling motor. And he was restricted to one pool (too shallow).

I dunno about the specifics between BS and Slabtown, but I drove by the Big Piney the day before yesterday and it looked a lot better than the gasconade does right now. I wouldn't be worried at all in a kayak.

Went out again this morning, hit the water about 6, and fished till about 11. Tried topwater, had zero luck, tied on a 4" senko... still nothing. Went up to a 5" senko and started pitching real close to cover and started catchin' em. Have no idea how many I caught, I lost track after awhile. Most fish in the 12-15" range, caught one fish just oover 16". Dark soft plastics, close to cover near current.

Getting good at picking out "professional overruns" is part of the game too. Get a little pick, or a little flathead screwdriver you keep in the tacklebox. It's self explanatory once you are looking at the reel. This is the best way to clear the line... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21npUSs98NY&feature=related Keep in mind, once you get "good" at using a baitcaster, you'lll only backlash very rarely. It's probably been months since I backlashed.

Started about 1:30 and had to stop around 3:45, a short trip, in the heat of the day. Water is LOOOOW. In fact, I couldn't float my kayak downstream from the access on hwy 7, I had to drag it over a couple rock humps into some deeper water. I started off throwing a Spook Jr. and WTD over some deeper holes I thought my hold some fish with the water this low. I was rewarded with a 15" smallie on my 2nd cast. Not bad, and definitely made me feel better about the heat. JUST as I unhooked fish #1 for the day, I heard something, and turned around and a good sized buck was swimming across the river behind my kayak. That was probably the coolest part of the whole day! Anyway, the next few hours I caught 4 more fish in the 12-15" range, all on topwater. I tried throwin a riverbug and got zero hits. Threw a 4" senko, and got a few tugs by goggle-eye, but no quality bites. I ended up just throwing topwater because I was catching fish, and getting a good number of "blowups". Anyway, it's hot, it's low, and the fish are still biting.

Oh, same reason you don't leave a container full of chicken livers in daddy's tackle box for a week. ha. Had it done to me about a month ago.

You know, other than the occasional snack while on the river...

Serious question here, do people actually eat crawfish up here? I've don't think I've ever actually met anyone who fished for and ate crawfish in Missouri...