ericlairdclp

Hey Guys, I'm planning a trip to Stockton tonight to try for some catfish. I don't get out there very often and haven't had a lot of luck in the past. I'd like to ask all you experts where the best place might be to give it a shot? I typically just use chicken livers and worms, and I have a pontoon that I'll be in so can go about anywhere. I'd appreciate some advice please.

Thought I'd post what I found of the Osage this weekend. What I found was that there was no Osage river left. About 9 Saturday morning we parked one truck at Hazelgreen and headed on down toward Davis access. Crossing by Hull Ford we looked down and saw gravel, and no water. So we drove down, into the middle of the stream bed actually, and there was nothing. No flowing water and only a couple very small puddles. I walked upstream a few hundred feet and saw nothing but gravel as far as I could see. Same downstream from the bridge, just some puddles but nothing. It was like the Osage disappeared. I worry about the future of it actually because that extreme lack of water I'm sure the fish are gone and it will take a long time for the river to recover. Since it looked like we would have to carry the canoe and gear the entire trip so we ditched it and ended up floating the Gasconade from Black ford down to Hazelgreen. As we passed by where the Osage empties into the Gasconade there was a tiny bit of flowing water coming out of it, but it was very minimal and not close to floatable. I figure we ended up walking about a little less than a third of the trip, and some of that was due to a very heavy canoe, but that's comparable to other streams we have been on this summer. Ended up having a good float, but on the Gasconade not the Osage.

Thanks for the info, helps a lot. And I'm strictly catch and release wherever I fish. I think we'll give it a shot! Now just have to see how the t-storms forecasted for this weekend look like they will play out.

Thanks guys, it's always a concern parking a vehicle at most of the MDC access points on the rivers around here. At night there seems little traffic except maybe kids making out or looking for trouble. We are careful not to leave anything of value in them, don't even leave keys in them like some do when shuttling themselves, that's crazy. Are the access points on the Osage particularly bad though? I know the water will be very low, and some walking through the shallows is expected. We've been on the James river lots this year, most parts from Delaware Town down to Galena during different trips, and while the lower is much better there are still places only a kayak has a chance to get through, and some even they can't. Actually, that will be our 2nd choice if the Osage doesn't seem like a good idea. We'd do Hootentown to Kerr access, perhaps to Galena. But I'm wanting to try someplace new. Thanks for the suggestion of doing Davis to Hazelgreen, I assume cause it should have more water the lower down. But having never been on the Osage what can I really expect? What I read says the river is floatable year round except in drought conditions, and frankly this is the worse drought I've seen around here. So can we expect a decent fun float, with moving water and some work in a few places to walk the canoe through shallows, or can we expect some pretty hefty work trying to get through places where it's dried up?

Hi all, I just joined and look forward to all the great info I'm finding on this site. I'd like to ask if anybody has been around the Osage Fork recently and how it looks for an overnight float/fishing trip this weekend. Particularly between Drynob and Hull Ford access points. We've never been up to this river yet but really like how it's still remote and not all commercialized. Sure would appreciate any info on if it's even really floatable right now with the water as low as it is this year.