Whiskey Joe

I gotta little Arky in me too, Grandfather was a coal miner on Short Mountain near Paris, got married there. Look into Mulberry River. I passed over it driving the Pig Trail. Beautiful river! May have trout, very spring fed looking river. We had to stop and dip a toe in it, just too pretty to pass up. I have floated the Buffalo River. Another real pretty river. Caught a few smallies, nothing of size, but we were canoeing more than floating. I stayed in a air conditioned Tee Pee on the Little Missouri River. It looks slower and more like the rivers around here (Meramec, Gasconade, Big Piney) so probably better fishing, but not as pretty as the fast, rocky, Mulberry and Buffalo. If I had to choose between the 3, uh, it'd be tough. Probably the Mulberry because it looks most remote and interesting. Good luck and please report back. Whiskey

Crap! Where did my story go? Only thing that posted was the picture, would make a lot more sense with the story. Should I try to type it again? Making it short. Not a very good trip, but enjoyed the journey. Intended 2 night from buddy's place to Reikers (13 miles), but truck broke down so spend 1st day fixing it. Did a 1 night from Devilsback to buddy's place (9 miles). Fishing wasn't very good, only caught about 30 among the 4 of us, largest only about 13". Lot of dragging. Cold front really hurt the activity, not one fish on buzzbait! Had to fish really slow. The croquet games waiting on car parts was the best part of the trip!

Stupid wedding! I wish I was there! I went the next weekend on 2 night float. 1st night changed to replacing water pump and radiator on buddy's truck. Great fall fishing this year.

Sorry dude, I only canoe. If I did have a jet boat, I'd probably frequent Gasconade at Jerome and go upstream past Big Piney convergence. That's an awesome stretch of river and I believe it's a trophy smallmouth area, so should be a bunch of 12-15" to keep busy with a few monsters to make you happy. Meramac off season around huzzah may get too skinny but good fishing. Boubeuse at Reiker's ford would be fun with motor boat, the ford is more like a dam making upstream like a lake. I crappie fished it unsuccessfully this April, but think there are some lunkers in there.

You're absolutely right Mitch! We agree on the "society of wimps" and as part of the society, I'm a wimp too! Cellphone; change of clothes accessible, I didn't have either on winter floats in the 90's. The ice concern was more of for inconvenience than safety, though added risk of falling in due to ice in deep water was a definite concern. Regardless, the trip was planned, I WAS GOING, PERIOD!!! Unless it was called off by the planner of course. Would have been a marital blessing NOT being out on Valentine's Day! I married a mean woman to keep me out of prison. And WOAH, preference to freeze with a bunch of guys on the river over the most romantic day of the year didn't go over too well! I've been on the Bourbeuse around Tea Access with no water, dragging for miles and miles. The inconvenience made it not a good trip! Oh how I love our screwed up society. Makes jokes a lot easier to come by. . . . I remember being 10 years old and my Grandma dropping me off at 8AM after a HUGE breakfast with a fishing pole and pockets full of lures saying, "Okay Joe, I'll meet you at the other bridge at 5:00". Big hug and good-bye. 9 hours without food or drink (okay, I drank a little creek water when I got thirsty). This was on the Big Creek near Troy, MO, gravel road old Iron Clad bridge to Hwy 61. I think it's about 4 miles. OH MY GOODNESS, HOW DID I SURVIVE? No "be careful", just Grandma saying, "Have Fun!" Would I do this for my 10 year old? NO WAY! Society of wimps, TOTALLY AGREE!

Not me: He's the guy who set up the trip and caught the biggest fish. Safety? I realize it's not "politically correct" to be unsafe these days, but isn't that part of the fun? Realize we had 3 canoes and a rule to keep in eye-sight of each other. Also, if we did fall in, we had a change of clothes with plan to strip quick and redress even quicker. Plus, we had cell phones. More of a social post, but I'm sick of all this "be safe" commentary, seems the world has turned into my Grandma. I don't want to die for quite a few more years (better not or my wife will kill me), but don't these unsafe things make life worth living? Picnic Table: Friday night we meet & buy dinner for the guy who's putting us up for the weekend so we don't have to camp. We're very appreciative. We go to the place, I'm backing the old Land Cruiser up to unload, thought it was clear, but DEMOLISH his picnic table (not just a push, more like a squish). How uncomfortable! I just meet the guy and now I gotta go apologize for the picnic table. Of course this was fodder for the weekend, "WATCH IT! Joe's going backwards in the canoe"; "Should we have breakfast outside, that's right, NO PICNIC TABLE". Luckily, I found cheap lumber just posted on craiglist and bought enough for 2 tables. Now just got to build them (not my forte). Root wads: Good point and I fish them a lot in the spring/summer/fall. I think they have too much current in the winter. I vertical jigged a lot of big, deep rocks to no avail. I only saw one smallmouth, but mostly turtles and suckers. Water was sooo clear. Looking back, I really wish the weather would have been a little better, but I'd do it again tomorrow. By the way, did I mention one of the guys that went is 74 years old? Man, what a role model.

Made it! Fishing: First cast with jerk bait, twitch, long pause, twitch, long pause, twitch - wait, tension, yank, FISH! Always HATE catching a fish on my first cast. It's like a terrible omen where I don't catch another the rest of the trip. As usual, my only fish. But the other fish caught by the group was a 17" hog! COLD: Yesterday was rough! We started in the cold, about 15, and it got colder during the day which iced up the eyes of the rods. Still good to get out, but man! Enjoy the pics. Icy pic is a slough, river was open. Fish pic the guy is saying "Good fish, but I'M COLD!"

Tip: Non-moving water, huh? I never thought of it that way, makes sense, thanks! Lure wise, we're thinking alike. I'm not real patient, but maybe I'll get lucky during lunch (twitch, take a bite, have a drink, twitch, repeat). Bobcat/muskrat: It was cool! We came around a bend in the river hearing "cat-fight" noises. It was a ways ahead and we could just make out a ruckus in the brush up a steep bank. We pulled over the canoe and ran along the ridge until we were above the ruckus. We looked on the land side trying to see something, but nothing. We turned to leave and here comes a bobcat with a muskrat in his mouth walking up the hill straight toward us. In hindsight, we should have crouched down and watched for a while, but we were so excited we yelled "BOBCAT!" He scurried best he could paralleling the bank and slipped into some brush. I forget where exactly we were, but it was on the Meramec and I seem to remember our take out was near a nice MDC complex and we told the lady inside the visitor's center about our adventure. I don't get on the Meramec very often due to the yay-hoo rafters (nothing against them, I'm one on occasion) so I'm not familiar with the accesses.

Thanks Al and CWC. We're going with less worry. Winter trip: We mainly go on these trips just to get out. I love the wide view without the blanket of leaves. It's so quiet and wildlife seems less timid. I've had deer stomp at me from the bank, seen a bobcat get a muskrat, and a bald eagle steal a fish from a grey heron. The crisp, clear, sunny days in winter are awesome on the river. Of course we've had our rough weekends too. Once after a 50 degree 1st day, I think it only got up to 15 the next two days, now that was cold! Another year, a guy grabbed a Gatorade out of the cooler, took a drink, set it down and gathered firewood for a bit, came back and it was too frozen to drink. Fishing: I mainly fish soft plastics, but plan to use hard baits (rapalas and such) twitching, slowly moving and stopped a lot. I don't figure any trout get this far downstream (40 river miles from Maramec Springs). I'll bring some marabou jigs too (white & olive). Probably won't fish much, mainly just breathe and simply exist for a while. It's good for the soul. Fishing suggestions always welcome !

A group of us plan on floating from Garrisons to Onondaga this weekend. We're concerned about ice. I'm not too worried about thin ice in shallow areas because I can wade. I keep envisioning a long slow deep section and ice flips me over where it's over my head! BRRR! Anyone driven by a long, slow stretch in that area? Ice?

I agree 20 miles is way too long for an overnighter. The most I'll do in a day is 7 miles, but I fish hard & slow. That why I like the Bourbeuse. I can guess the 20 miles - Nosers to Reikers, right? That'd be 2 nights for me.

Got out for a morning yesterday. What a day! Water was just right & enough fish to keep us busy. Best was an 18+" Smallie, also a 16", and a 16" Drum. My buddy even caught a Rainbow. And on the way out, we messed with a Black Rat Snake (I kinda like snakes too). Everything worked out nicely. Buzzbait was fairly productive. Best was my go to bait, TUBE! Love that river! Enjoy the pics

Almost forgot to comment on my previous statement: "Crime: Sadly, I don't trust a vehicle at an access overnight due to meth. I miss the country in the old days where when you ran into a local, you had a beer and visited for a few minutes, then continued. Now, the locals wonder if you're a meth head and you wonder if they're gonna steal your Clariton D. It's really a shame." We were nosing around Hwy H to find a good access and a local come by. We drank a few beers & talked for about an hour while we waited on our other folks. Great guy! He kept saying, "I gotta get home, my wife's gonna kill me. . . Okay, one more beer, but that's it." My faith in the country folks has greatly improved! Or maybe, the country folks attitude toward city folks with a canoe on top has improved.