WestCentralFisher

It in fact inspired this post, lol.

It's a fair question. I do share these things with a trusted circle consisting of close friends and my dad. But it's a small circle, and I know they have the proper degree of discretion, and won't tell me things like "Thanks for telling me about that spot. Those smallmouth tasted great!" Unless they're trolling me for a reaction, which is often. To answer your question, most of my current local spots I really did just stumble upon by driving around the hills, looking at maps, and seeing what there was to see. But I've certainly also benefited from the kindness of others too many times to count in the past.

Fine, I hate to publicize it, but there's this little spring-fed creek in southern Missouri that has a shockingly high rainbow trout population. Unlike most streams it's size, I've never once gone there and not found a whole bunch of trout. At times between March and October, you'd almost swear it got stocked every single day. There's a mill dam and some concrete pools alongside the creek that have even more trout in them. There is one secluded pool called the Social Hole absolutely no one knows about and most always holds fish. Don't want to tell anyone the name but it's real similar to a famous ocean fishing spot up in New York.

Yeah, when we were on the Eleven Point, I'd struggle to think of anyone particularly being obnoxious or rude or anything. Everyone seemed well behaved, there was just too danged many well behaved people. The only thing I'd nitpick is that it seemed like whenever it would be helpful if someone either sped up or slowed down a bit so we could each go through a tricky shoal one at a time, everyone seemed to feel as if they were legally obligated to do whichever of the two caused more issues for everyone. Of course, if I thought everyone else was wrong, that usually points back in a pretty specific direction.

Also, having just checked it looks like my phone camera doesn't have location enabled anyway. Don't remember if I did that at some previous point for this reason, or if it was the default setting.

Yeah, I almost always take a screenshot of the pictures, crop them, and post that. It makes the file size smaller, and eliminates the location data.

I don't. Or more precisely, I only mention by name the places that are already overrun.

When I started regularly traveling to the Ozark hills with my parents around age 11, Rocky Falls really was a hidden gem. It was this beautiful waterfall at the end of a road in the middle of nowhere with water that was too chilly to be totally comfortable in the summer, but that somehow I never actually wanted to get out of. It wasn't that it was totally unknown, it was still a swimming hole in the middle of a national park, but usually it was just a few friendly locals. A couple weekends back while rambling through the hills after taking out on the Eleven Point a day sooner than expected, I tried to drive down there. There were so many cars along the road I just turned and left. I didn't want to see it like that, really. Nonetheless, I still did. In a Facebook group I'm a member of, several people posted pictures of their beautiful Saturday at the falls. It looked roughly like the parking lot outside the Mizzou football stadium on a fall Saturday. But that's the thing; they were having fun, in a public place, and at least for the most part doing absolutely nothing wrong. Impossible to fault. Yet, you can start to feel like the walls are closing in a bit. Over on the Eleven Point, the "quiet" Scenic Riverway, both the Greer and Riverton parking lots were 90+% full by the time we took out on Saturday afternoon, and those are not small parking lots. Admittedly, there were times and places the river was appropriately quiet and serene, but there were several folks who were visibly disappointed that we had tents set up on our gravel bar already, because all the float camps were full and they were having trouble finding a place to camp. One group came by at 7 pm looking particularly desperate, and we begrudgingly offered to let them share the large gravel bar we set up on. I'll admit I was happy when they turned us down, but I felt a bit guilty when we caught back up to them the next day and they said they'd had to set up camp next to what seemed to them to be a very large river-based frat party. Around home, it's much the same. I don't even go near the rivers with canoe rentals between Friday afternoon and Sunday at noon (one of the few tricks I still have up my sleeve is that most people really want to be off the river by Sunday afternoon.) Even on the small walk and wade streams, some creativity is needed; the areas around the low waters and other visible places are pressured and slow fishing. That said, it's not like there's nothing left to be explored. The night after that busy Saturday on the Eleven Point, we stayed in a well-maintained public campground in one of the most beautiful places in the Ozark hills on a Saturday night, and there was no one else there. This was our original spot, going back decades, and if that had been full of people, it might actually have broken me. No, I'm not telling you where it is, naturally. And on my favorite local river, the visible spots get pressured, but there is a stretch where the only way to legally access it is via a short, but relatively difficult hike, and the trail doesn't quite lead to the river, so you have to do some light exploring. That stretch of river is usually empty, save an occasional kayaker on a multi-day trip. I'm not sure what my point is here, except that if you do have a spot on a small stream that isn't really known yet, maybe the fisherman's impulse to stay a little vague about it is more important than you think. Because I find these places go through a usual progression: initially, it's just known by a few folks who live within a mile or two, and you, the lucky angler (this isn't the Alaskan wilderness, there are no actual secrets). Then you tell a few buddies off the record "hey, keep it low-key but this low water bridge is worth a look." Most will have discretion, but one won't, and they'll post it by name here or on a Facebook group, the 2024 equivalent of telling the guy who runs the bait shop. Then it becomes an open secret. Eventually, you show up and the access is either blocked off, or it might as well be, because all the parking spots are taken, and the fish are skittish and small now anyway. I know, because I've done this to myself before. Anyway, this afternoon/evening, I'm off to fish the stretch of smallmouth stream that requires a little hike in. Maybe I'll post some pictures, but I'm not telling you where it is.

Based on what I heard here and read elsewhere, we decided to do the Eleven Point instead. Not giving up on the North Fork totally, just didn't sound like late July was the right time. We're going to try it in October. I'll admit the information I've read since I posted this question have my expectations significantly more in check. I somewhat regret never hitting the NFoW when it was still talked about as one of the better non-tailwaters in the Ozarks. But it looks pretty enough to be worth taking a flyer on even if the fishing isn't great.

My internet glitched and double posted the previous comment, apparently.

One of my favorite ways to fish in mountainous areas is find a decent sized stream that is known to hold trout, then look for any solid blue lines on the map feeding into it. I'll usually make a list of 5 or 6 to check out, and a couple will work out. The rest will be raging torrents or impossible to get to. I've had this save trips before. Once I planned a 3 week trip to Vermont and the Adirondacks to fish for trout. Then the heat wave of the century came in. All the famous rivers were well above 70 degrees, but the little hop-across creeks high in the mountains were in the low 60s and the brookies were happy. Alternatively, I've had it fail completely. Once in Colorado, I planned a trip around fishing the high mountain tributaries of a famous trout river. I caught one 6" cutthroat in like 4 days of fishing before bagging it and hitting the main river. Turns out most of the high mountain streams there are fishless or nearly so because of issues with past mining.

Similar creek, a couple watershed over. This one is better known further downstream (and honestly fishes better there as well) but the small upper reaches are a fun challenge. At one point I had two bass hooked simultaneously on either hook of the rebel craw and landed zero, but we won't talk about that.

It was good. Nothing fancy but perfect "just paddled a canoe all day" type food. I hadn't remembered it being there, but wasn't certain. I did some work out of Winona for a few months the better part of a decade ago. I'd fished the Eleven Point once before that, but that was when I really fell in love with it. I didn't have a canoe/kayak then and was dependent on wade fishing, which was NOT always easy on that river. Back then, I could consistently catch trout just about any place on the Blue Ribbon Section on could find my way to and that had wadeable water. And I was willing to hike a lot so I found some good places. I did get lost on both roads and trails several times. I also got to know the upper Jack's Fork around then, which is a lot easier to wade fish. That'd be my fallback when I got tired of getting tossed around like a rag-doll on the slick rocks on the Eleven Point.

A few things I meant to mention in my report but forgot to: the fishing was bizarrely on and off. I would say about 80% of the fish caught came in two one hour stretches. And I know it wasn't changing spots, because we did the bulk of our fishing/catching on the trip in the same few spots near where I camped. And it wasn't even all that correlated with normal good fishing windows (morning and evening). For example, on Friday the fishing was awful all morning, but from approximately 1-2 pm I was getting strikes from either trout or smallmouth bass very regularly. I caught about a half dozen combined, but with better reaction time on hooksets the number could have been higher. Then from 2 pm until dark, I hooked two fish that weren't creek chubs or mooneye, both trout, one caught and one lost. Saturday morning, fishing was dead at sunrise, but from 7:30-8 am (when I stopped to cook breakfast and take down camp) I was hauling them in. The fishing stayed hot once we got in the canoe, except the trout were in all the wrong places. Deep holes with dead current. One was caught when I accidentally left my rebel craw in the water while paddling through frog water. Basically, the fishing was overall just fine if definitively unimpressive, but it was really strange. Just when I thought I had something of a handle on how that river fishes, clearly I don't. Oh, also Bigfoot Burgers in Winona was a clutch after the float/fishing trip dinner spot and I would highly recommend it.

Thank you! Our run was strange in that the two "named" rapids (Mary Deckar and Halls Bay) went somewhat uneventfully, but around Whitten (both above and below) there were several places where we got forced pretty hard into some sweepers on outside bends, mostly in places the river split into two channels. We didn't tip, but once we came pretty close and took on enough water we had to stop at the next gravel bar and empty it out. At the flows it was at (recent rains mostly skirted the watershed) it was annoying, but you could see the same places being a little spooky at high flows. I've usually run it in kayaks; it was MUCH harder in a fully loaded canoe. Like, orders or magnitude. So much less agility, it was really jarring.

Here's a phrase I always say about the Eleven Point: there are probably better places to catch trout in Missouri, but no better place to fish for them. We started at Greer Crossing on Friday morning. Before putting in, I fished a little around the access. I quickly broke the skunk with the first fish, a chain pickerel, caught on a red and white Mepp's spinner. His teeth left a mark on my finger that's still healing. The first trout of the trip would not come as easily, however. Shortly below the put-in, I hooked and lost what appeared to be a very small wild rainbow. That would be the last trout I'd hook in the Blue Ribbon Area. But not the last fish. A little above Mary Deckar Shoal, I found a deep hole with some little smallmouth. A rebel craw worked well enough. That, combined with the absolutely stunning scenery was enough to keep me happy, despite a real slow start to the trout fishing. There are few rivers that can keep me this happy with this slow of fishing, but the 11 Point is one. Several times I looked at the next piece of drop-dead scenery around the bend and just muttered to myself "this is heaven." We crossed Turner WAY ahead of schedule (11 am), largely because the fishing was so poor we ceased bothering to stop and fish. This resulted in a planned 3 day float from Greer to Riverton becoming 2. The fishing picked up significantly as we entered the White Ribbon section, however. From Turner down to Whitten, the trout fishing was solid. Not great, but pretty good. Mostly fresh from the truck type fish, but a few 16-17 inch holdovers mixed in. Furthermore the smallmouth fishing was fair to pretty decent below Turner in the deep, slow pools, especially bluff holes. All fish were released, except one rainbow yesterday morning in the White Ribbon section that took the Panther Martin too deep. He became a part of a wonderful breakfast. We didn't fish a whole lot below Whitten because the crowds got pretty heavy below there and some of the fast water that would be good fishing demanded significant attention to avoid canoe tippage. We camped on a lovely gravel bar between Turner and Whitten with a bluff on the far side, and a lively set of wadeable (with difficulty) riffles and pools, where a large proportion of the fish we caught and released came from. Panther Martin spinners worked well for the trout, and rebel craws were decent for both smallmouth and trout. All fished as deep as possible. This is still the Eleven Point. Overall, amazing scenery and wildlife, very enjoyable trip, enough fish caught to make us happy. Just a weird start with the Blue Ribbon Area fishing poorly for us and then getting better from there. Some initial pictures. Waiting on my buddy to send some more pictures of the fish I caught (other than the super grainy shot of the pickerel 😆)

Yeah, seems like it was very spotty. Gauge says it barely rose and capped out under 600 CFS. Guess I'll just have to conduct a 3 day long floating inspection to see if the gauge is accurate.

Sounds fun. Sounds like my first several trips below Truman Dam. Even after I've upped to much heavier tackle and 20 pound test, had some fish break my line with an absolute purpose.

Thanks again! And I know how it is. Some places are better than others but if you leave anything valuable in the car at a river access overnight, no guarantee it's still gonna be there. Anyway, possibly moot point. Seems like somehow both of the last big rain events seem to have mostly missed the watershed, or else the gauge at Riverton is broken. If flows aren't really elevated at all, well, time spent dragging a canoe above Greer is time I'm not fishing. Still looking forward to it. Anyway, I can most likely scratch my itch for smallies well enough. It's nowhere near the best place to fish for them but from a couple miles below Turner on down I can usually find some here and there. And a deep diving rebel craw works well for both them and the trout.

I used to hate eating any catfish much over ~2 pounds, but soaking the fillets in milk helps a lot with the gamey flavor.

Thanks for the info!

Ha! I now see what you're talking about.

Nothing like a Friday afternoon spent waist deep in a northern Ozark stream.

On a canoeing centric Facebook group I'm a part of, I always see the "just leave the phone in the car" posts. Worth noting the only time I followed that advice, my phone overheated and never turned on again. I probably could have protected it better. But combined with people smashing windows from time to time, I'd rather take my chances with a dry box tied to the canoe.