Orey10m

Thanks everyone for the info and help. Hmm, slosh, your comments are particularly interesting. I'm not much for any sort of bushwhacking or high grass/brush kinda stuff. I guess I'm just used to/spoiled by the AT down in Georgia where I am from...I never felt like I was on unmaintained or "off trail" areas down there. Also I've likely hiked more in the fall, when the trail is well-worn from the summer and/or covered in leaves. Upper current would be sweet, especially if the fishing would be better, colder water, etc. If you have any more details on that or how I could best look into it I'd like to do so. Also what about the Jack's fork?

Yep that is what I mean..filter the water. Apparently you can collect some at Indian Creek along the trail, then filter it. Thanks for the input!

Hello, My two roommates and I are planning a backpacking trip and wanted to be near some water for fishing and what not. I found the "Current River section 1" of the Ozark Trail, miles 0 - 8 and thought it looked perfect, so we're going to go with that. This is the area from Powder Mill/Owls Bend down to basically the Rocky Creek area. The OT departs the Current river at Indian Creek and continues on. We were thinking we'd park at Powder mill, check out that area and fish on day 1 , then hike down stream and find a gravel bar or a campsite, hopefully around 4-5 miles of hiking. And a few hours of fishing. Then on day 2 we'd hike another couple miles down stream to Indian Creek (collect some drinking water), and fish our way back up to where we had made camp the night before. Any thoughts on this plan? It will be primarily smallmouth fishing right? Since we're backpacking it may be easier to bring my fly rod as opposed to a full length spinning rod, but not sure. My roommate also has a fly rod and is more of a beginner (I'd love to just bring some poppers and streamers and catch smallies all day with that, but not sure that's realistic for this time of year etc.) So what tackle do you guys suggest we bring for a trip like this? Should we suck it up and bring spinning rods? I don't have any that break into two pieces, so that's why I see it as a little more of a pain Thanks for any thoughts!

that's what I suspected! interesting. Never come across those before but have heard of them. Seems harmless enough if the itch goes away so quickly. Might have been the fish I caught right after we got in the water that helped get my mind off it though :)

Went to the little piney yesterday with my girlfriend and had a great time catching a bunch of little wild rainbows At one point right before dropping in the water we both ran into some sort of plant that immediately made us itch pretty fiercely through our clothes..we both had long pants on. My knee was itching like crazy. No sting..no burn, just pure itch. Once we got in the cool water, the itch went away quickly. Being from Georgia I did not recognize what this might have been..maybe it's a plant you guys have here that we don't have down there. Any ideas?

Man, wish I could stand up on mine. I've tried it several times

Do any of you know about Indian River canoes? I think the 12ft tunnel hull would be what I’m looking for my next boat to be, to replace my kayak and the other small boat I’ve mentioned in this thread. http://www.indianrivercanoes.com/otter.htm I think they’re mainly out of Florida so would be hard to find one in Missouri. Is there any boat manufacturers making similar stable small canoes?

Wait is that really didymo in that creek? That sucks if so

Ok - I also have two float tubes/belly boats for fishing. How will those do on these streams? I don't particularly enjoy fishing out of them, so they mainly just sit in my garage and don't get used year after year. But I feel like they might be perfect some Missouri streams so wanted to ask about them Also the fact I have two means I'm ready to take a friend and have a put in/take out shuttle arrangement so that's nice

And yeah, maybe I can find enough storage for both boats and bring them both. But still I think I'd prefer to get rid of both and get one rig that I could fish flatwater(ponds) and rivers with a little better..like a square back canoe with an upright seat.

Well it's settled then.. Kayak it is! I will say though, my kayak is a 12 footer and pretty beefy. It's a perception pescador. I have taken it down some small streams that sound similar to these and it can seem a bit too big at times. At some point I'd like to look into a square back and wide canoe, or small dinghy, but prob won't do that before I move. Do you guys pair up to do floats down these rivers at all? I'll be looking for some partners for shuttling purposes in the future becuase I imagine this is a point to point operation right...not like you can paddle yourself upstream and then float back down

Hello all, I am moving to St Louis later this summer and am starting to try and figure out what sorts of fishing I'll want to do in Missouri and what areas to look in etc. I mainly fly fish, and as far as trout go, I got to check out blue springs creek for the first time a couple weeks ago and caught a little wild rainbow. It was a pretty cool stream! I am interested in checking out huzzah and courtois creeks though for smallies at some point in the future. I have two small watercraft currently..a kayak and a "bass raider". In moving to Missouri, I'm likely to only bring one of them and get rid of the other. I love the kayak for it's light weight and versatility, but I love the bass raider for how easy it is to fish from standing up and sitting up high in the seat. For that reason, I'd prefer to bring the bass raider with me if I only had one boat. See picture for the "bass raider" I'm referring to. Id often be fishing out of it by myself Do you think I could take the bass raider down huzzah or courtois creeks? Or would they be too rocky, fast, or unpredictable for a small boat like that? It is extremely stable, but it doesn't steer that well with just a paddle, so I would likely take a trolling motor and battery, as well as a paddle. Lastly is there any wadeable access areas on either of these creeks? That way I could wade and check them out for a bit on my own before deciding to bring a watercraft.