basska

I’ve caught quite a few 15s and one 16. they’ve always made my day… Still never got a verifiable 17 this year. I’m not one to lie, of course…. There’s a lot of dignity in stream Smallmouth, I find. I’m curious though Al, what do you think about the guy I met that said there was a state record bass caught out of the Mineral Fork? Is it even possible in a stream that size? At first I dismissed it, but he was a serious angler, and knew what he was talking about. He also referenced it being out of season and beating it by one ounce… Makes me think… maybe? I do think there probably are a couple state record fish in the streams. Jeff Schultz and Tommy Bemch have caught some definitive 6 lbers, and I have known anglers I truly do believe report 23 inch Ozark stream Smallmouth…

Wild. 20 is definitive trophy status.

Waded the Elk at Mt. Shira access…. Had my best numbers wading one access ever. Probably caught 20 Smallies in one long, awesome looking pool. Problem was, they were ALL small. All in the 8-12 range. Lost one that might’ve been 15 or so…. It was still a blast.

Well, I lied. As I type this, I’m at a gas station in Nevada, MO fueling up. I don’t know if I should cut east now or head for glory in McDonald co. The tug is the drug, I guess.

Yea, my biggest thing is the distance and not yet owning a kayak. I was thinking about going to McDonald Co. or the lower Niangua this weekend, but IF the fishing is getting harder, will it be worth the gas and tackle bought? I wanna say yes but it’s tough to say when you are in college and budget is tight. This winter, I really got to save up so next year I will have a multitude of rods and lures and a kayak to get to less pressured places. I gotta get my 18+ inch fish. Who knows, maybe I will go out this week. It’s going to stay hot. Like 80 plus degrees hot.

Well - I think my Smallmouth season is over. It was a good one, being my first full year of fishing Ozark streams semi-consistently. I didn’t complete all my goals… No 18 incher, but I did have some really solid days on numbers. Was happy to burn a bunch of gas cash to see a ton of new beautiful country. As follows is a report from the last couple months. The first week of August I spent near Wentzville visiting family. For most of the week, I didn’t get the chance to do a lot of fishing, and rightfully so. However, I had made my plans to fish some of the Ozark streams near St. Louis, and I had cut out my last full day (First Tuesday of August) to do so. I would take 47 down to the Mineral Fork, fish it at Kingston, then cut over on 8 to the Huzzah and fish Huzzah Valley and the CA. I had one rod, and a bag of very basic tackle. Unfortunately only plastics and jigs. I woke up at 6 AM and began my heavily foggy drive, enjoying Bluegrass music and the new scenery. I got to Kingston around 7. I got there around the exact same time as an older gentleman who would also be wading. He reported that years ago, his buddy caught what would’ve been the state record Smallmouth Bass upstream around Hwy 47 bridge out of season. Seems crazy, but I was almost inclined to believe him. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about. I spent maybe an hour and a half there. I began by wading up stream through the long, shallow pool. I was looking for any little deep place with cover, and found some spots where trees provided just that. I threw my Finesse Jig and Craw over there and I felt a little tap. I set the hook and immediately saw a nice size Smallmouth dart out at me, putting slack in my line. I reeled in quick and it took me for a ride all over the place. Finally got it landed and it went for my new PB. A 16 inch Smallmouth for my first fish of the day. I continued throwing the pool and pulled out a big Sunfish and one other tiny Smallmouth. Continued downstream and fished the obvious fast moving pools with downed trees for a second, surprisingly to no fish. I didn’t fish them hard as I wanted to keep moving, but I wish I had a Spook, as that has become really one of my favorite lures for that situation. I drove over to Huzzah Valley and made arrangements to wade their property. By this time, the sun had began to really show and floaters were showing up. I was surprised by how packed it was on a Tuesday. I honestly was not impressed by the majority of water I waded. Largely shallow pools. The fish were where I thought they would be though, and I had no trouble catching 4 or 5 Smallmouth on a Nikko Hellgrammite. I spent probably an hour doing this but the floaters got a little too thick for my liking so I decided to leave and try out the Huzzah CA. I wondered if Bass River Resort would be similar. At this point, I was kinda running out of time (I didn’t have ALL day, I left so early because I had to be back by 3 or 4 to spend time with family). Huzzah CA was a really cool spot, but again, it was packed! Crazy for a Tuesday. Talked to a kid probably 5 years younger than me that worked Ozark Outdoors. He said he’s seen some people catch some quality fish. I waded right around where the Huzzah and Courtois met, and somehow, caught zero fish! I was perplexed because this WAS good looking water, the best I had seen all day. To be fair, I didn’t spend too much time at this location. Floaters came in hoards and I decided to continue. I stopped to check out Onondaga Cave park. Didn’t even get my rod out but it was pretty cool. Got home satisfied. It was a fun day. Here’s the cool part. I go home Wednesday and immediately meet up with a buddy of mine and take off south to Galena for a Thursday float on the James River. Talk about some pretty country. We got a nice cabin in Galena right on the James and were going to float with JRO from Kerr to Galena. Our place was just below the Y bridge, and we had a good time wading the property. There were truly good holes to fish and we caught tons of Tubes, Neds and Spooks. My buddy caught a 16. Just wading the property that evening, I was able to complete the black bass slam. The float itself was slightly less great, due to the mild misfortune of choosing a float day with a massive, 100+ people, family reunion. You could not escape the people, it felt like a parade at times. Because of this, we didn’t fish hard and floated fairly fast. We finished the 6 mile float in only 4 hours or so. Regardless, we all caught fish. I primarily fished my Finesse Jig and Craw and did well. I didn’t catch many, maybe 6, but was impressed with the average size of the fish on the James. Seems like every fish I caught was around 14 inches, which is by no means giant, but definitely better than the consistent 8-12 inch fish you see a lot in the Ozarks. The next day, before we headed home, we stopped and checked out Flat Creek for a little Wade fishing. First stop was at EE bridge. I waded up stream and had no trouble catching 6 Smallmouth out of one little pool in 20 minutes. All on the Ned. Biggest went for 14 inches. We drove down to Stubblefield. This place was really cool. It was also pretty busy. We waded downstream this time and Smallmouth were harder to come by, I did however, catch a TROPHY Ozark bass. I mean, it may have been 10 inches. It was incredible, but like a fool, I couldn’t take a picture because my phone had overheated baking on the gravel bar. After swimming below the water fall and inquiring with locals about their Crawdad hunt, we decided to call it and take it home. I could continue to ramble about my other journeys early in the summer on Big Sugar, the Gasconade and the Lil Niangua, or my adventure last week on the Upper Niangua and Osage Fork, but my fingers are getting tired and they’re probably not worth a report. Yep, it was a fun week.

Thanks for the report. Been hearing mixed things on the rivers right now. This has been a weird month with the dry, cool spell we had, followed by this hot weather and isolated storms... I have no idea what this could possibly be doing to creek fish behavior.

Thanks so much! Was planning on trying to really tune in to a Fluke bite, but you never know.

Fun stuff. I'm thinking about going up way up river to target Smallmouth next weekend. Probably will wade around Charity and Big John. Hico doesn't look like a great place to park a car.... If the water is too skinny, I have a full day planned exploring the Osage Fork.

Jeez, one of my favorite lures... Once hooked a duck who dove to grab my hotdog while catfishing. Thankfully, hook came lose while he was peeling drag flying away.

Happened to me for the first time last week. I'm not as strong as you all. I went to the ER. Barb was almost a half inch deep in my middle finger.

Cool topic. Snakes (venemous or not) have always fascinated me and I probably don’t have enough of the natural human repulsion of them (Spiders on the other hand…). I’ve seen Timber Rattlers near KC before. Seen a Copperhead once near Truman Lake. Have yet to see a Cottonmouth and that’s one I really want to encounter on a float trip. It would be cool to see a scientific survey of watersheds that support Cottonmouth. I’ve heard they are pretty much non existent in the Meramec system, but fairly common on the Gasconade, Niangua, Black, and Upper White River systems. I wonder if they are around The Elk? Another snake of southern Missouri I would love to see is the Pygmy Rattler. Barely a Rattlesnake, and extremely beautiful.

This footage is just incredible. Scariest flood I have ever seen.

The more I look and call around, the more I'm leaning towards the 6 mile float with Froggy's River Resort. Should be busy, but not like the Niangua or James. Don't know much about that upper portion of the Gasconade above Hazelgreen, but should be a good time, and hopefully, good fishing.

Trying to work together a short float trip on July 3rd. Top option right now is the Niangua due to the shorter distance from home. The issue is, while I know the day before the 4th is going to hold a lot of floaters, I'm looking for an experience where it won't be so congested fishing becomes a chore. That's where Moon Valley comes in - I know there are floaters there, but not to the extent below the spring. Besides, I hear Smallmouth fishing is best above the spring. Does anybody know a kayak service that consistently shuttles floaters to Moon Valley? Last weekend I did Big Sugar with Sugar Island. Great people, but that float was packed. Still managed to catch half a dozen little Smallies (Neoshos?) and some Longears. Looking for something just a bit less busy. Other options right now would be the James (probably worse crowds) or the Upper Gasconade somewhere. Thanks.

Congrats! Glad to see people still pulling out 20s from the creeks!

They are doing well - heard they have become a not uncommon sight in Taney, Ozark, Shannon and Reynolds co.

It would be great right now with Caglianone still down there. He won't be in NWA for long...

Thanks for the info. I guess we will have to see after today's rain.

Thanks for the report! Great, healthy-looking fish.

Hey all, This Saturday, I am thinking about doing a short (4-8 hour) Smallmouth float along the Gasconade or Big Piney River, as I won't be too far from the area for other reasons. I have limited down my Outfitter options to either Boiling Springs Campground, Froggy River Resort or Gasconade Hills. Just posting here to see if anyone has any recommendation on these, and if anyone has any opinion on the stretches of river they float, both for fishing and scenery. The gauges look good now and the time of the year is right, so I'm not so worried I won't catch some fish. Obviously, the stretches I would be floating are either the Gasconade above the Osage Fork or the Lower Big Piney. Thanks

I used to work at a produce market. Those are good, but my favorite will always be the Honeycrisp.

I’m so happy about it I might just…. Planning a 6 mile float on the Gasconade next weekend - weather abiding.