I began fishing the Niangua river in 2000 when my tournament fishing partner let me in on the secret he grew up with. My first trip was spectacular with well over 200 fish boated and my personal best to this day, an astounding 21 1/4 incher. Needless to say I was hooked on the Niangua. Today I no longer tournament bass fish and have found no better river in the state to catch quality smallmouth than the lower stretchers of the Niangua. In 2003 we lost our regular put in when John Reagan sold Blue Springs Resort. We began the search for our own piece of the "paradise lost" and in 2005 we built our cabin a couple miles below Blue Springs. The cabin is situated halfway between Prosperine and Bird Island giving us access to some of the most secluded and desireable sections of this fantastic fishery.
The river has changed a great deal in the 12 years since I first floated it. Many of the fantastic holes of years past have filled in and new holes holding aggressive bronze backs and voracious goggle eyes have emerged. We went through a two or three year spell in the late nineties where we wondered what happened to the big fish on the river. I can tell you with certainty that the big fish are back. I have not found the elusive 20 incher, but 18's and 19's abound; its only a matter of time.
For the record, we do not keep any bass we catch. Goggle eye occasionally make it to the table, but only if they within our self imposed slot limit of 8-10". We have released numerous Master Angler goggles this year, and all members of my family proudly hold the Master Angler title.
In short, we genuinley love the Niangua River. We have raised our ten year old son on this river and it is special to us. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about this stretch or suggestions on new hot baits. We are always looking for new things to try.
This picture is from this past weekend, my son and I hooked and landed the largest double to date; mine measered 19' and my son's was 17.5". Normally my net man, he has really come on and I find myself landing more and more big fish for him on our trips.
This fish is my sons largest so far caught a couple of weeks ago right above our cabin while wade fishing, a nice haevy 18 incher
This is a picture of a 10.14 lb. walleye caught below the spillway by a friend. A trophy for sure that was released to fight again another day! Fiberglass replica looks fantastic in his living room...
And finally, this is a fish that we all dream about. It came on the lower Niangua, technically the Lake of the Ozarks, but it weighed 5 lbs 9 and 1/2 ounces and missed the state record for Meanmouth bass by less than an ounce. Amazingly, this fish was caught and released two weeks prior about 1/4 mile downstream from this location by another angler. We were targeting walleyes with Megabass stick baits...go figure
I have 2 Ascend fishing models in green camo that are 10 footers. We ONLY use them on the Lower Niangua and have found them to be great little boats. I had a Dagger and sold it to purchase a Perception tandem when my son became old enough to go with me. My wife also came out of a 13 foot Perception and likes the Ascend because of the fishing features. They are comfortable and track well.