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.

Finally getting around to reporting on June 23rd trip, H bridge to Mill Rock: Got on Friday afternoon and caught a lot of small fish, Saturday a bad storm moved in and fishing was bad hardly caught anything followed by camping in a down pour, Sunday after the storms fishing was off. In summary, we were anticipating catching more and bigger fish and were disappointed. River was good with little portaging and some really pretty areas. Tip: We used some old shrimp that a guy brought for catfishing and it outdid shad (impressive). Thankfully, shad outdid shrimp on my next trip.

I was down on Friday 6/24 also. Pretty good fishing from 6:30 till dark. At camp we catfished and caught a few on shrimp. A guy had year old shrimp in his freezer so we figured we'd try it. It outfished worms and shad, very impressive. Saturday we got on figuring it was going to be a great day considering Friday. To my surprise, hardly any fish. Perfect conditions, pre-storm & cloudy. But the fishing was definitely off. Sunday morning we caught a few as we made it to our take out. Total float was about 10 miles from Shawnee Ford to Mill Rock. All and all, beautiful float with fantastic gravel bars. Next year, we're going to try the Big Piney near Licking. We're looking for some better fishing. Last year we went from Wenkle to Peters with about the same results.

Rooster tail: I was on a party float weekend out of Garrisons a few weeks back. Snuck down to the river, first cast caught a 14" smallie on your basic 1/8 oz white rooster tail. If you're skunked, it's fun to put on and catch a few. My goto is rootbeer tube on one rod & white 7" jerk worm on the other. Rarely do I stray from plastics, except for the buzzbait of course. Trip: I'm getting on at Tea tomorrow 6/24 around 5PM and off at Mill Rock Sunday. About 18 miles. We hope to find some way out at Hwy H bridge to cut 4 miles off, but if not, we'll just paddle an hour or so and get done. I hope to throw some cranks and spinners for a change, but will probably end up with whatever plastic is working. We plan on catfishing at night and eating them on Sat. night. If not, we'll keep the spots & rock bass. Anyone had any luck on a toad topwater lure? 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. I love the Bourbeuse! It's not as pretty as others so not as crowded. Koenig to Iron Clad is the best. Best fishing trip is the Gasconade from Riddle to Jerome, but the jet boats make it unattractive to me. Hopefully I'll remember to report next week (and it's a good report). Wish me luck, Joe

Didn't want to create a new topic to report on Suson. On New Years Eve I took 3 boys down to Suson tight lining bait while I walked around marabou jig fishing. NOTHING! Boys didn't even get a bite on bait (corn, poop [brown dough bait], powerbait, 1 hour each). Usually we can pull a couple of small trout out to eat, but absolutely nothing. I may try the Niangua below Bennett or maybe Newburg. Haven't done either in the winter, but would like to try. It's pretty far away, so it'd probably be an overnight camp & float.

There should be sections of rivers with "no motor" rules. Even small jetboats need to have speed on a shallow water bend and may not see someone around the bend. I could have been killed by a monster, 455 cu, in-board jetboat on the Gasconade one year, if I hadn't of backed up on the gravel bar to see what the ruckus was, he'd of hit me! Upstream from Reiker's Ford is a long deep slow section. That's fine for any motor boats. As is larger portions of rivers like the meramec, gasconade, etc. We should share most of the streams, but sections should be motorless. They do that for small lakes, why not streams? I just heard of a small lake you're not even supposed to put a canoe on. This is my opinion, which as usual, is right. Oh wait, that's my wife. Let me rephrase, as usual is wrong. Whiskey

To finish the topic. . . I took my Dad to Prairie Lake in Weldon Springs. We canoed across the lake and he says he's not feeling well and we need to go back. I pull in the minnows untie and start paddling. Then he says, "You better take me to the emergency room". Holly POOP! I paddle like a mad man while he's slumped over with his head between his knees. There's 3 guys tight lining at the take out. They see my Dad slumped over, pull in their lines, I park & run to get the SUV, they help him out and lay him on the bank, we FLY to the hospital. Mom met me there, Dad's in good hands, I get back to the lake. The 3 fishermen who said they were leaving, stayed for 2 hours to watch my stuff! It goes to show, folks are alright, especially fishin' folks. Dad had low sodium & malnutrition from eating only banana's for a month because he has Crohn's disease and bananas don't hurt him and some book said it was a good thing to do. He's fine now. What a heralding day fishing! We only caught a few fingerling largemouth and some bluegill.

Well, with 4+ inches of rain coming, the float is off. Looks like I'll miss the Bourbeuse this year unless it goes back down by next weekend. Can't do it 10/24 because I'll be on the Missouri in canoes (not as crazy as it sounds). Section to do: I believe I'll do the Wenkle-Peters section when I get the chance. I'd do the Meramec if I wasn't alone (better fishing). I feel a deep bond with the Bourbeuse. Heck, my license plate says BURBIS on it. I hope to do a winter float on the Meramec this year. I agree the Meramec is a better river in flow, scenery, and fishing. But this makes it more populated also. Speed: I typically figure 3/4 mile per hour when fishing on the river or 14 hours for an 11 mile float (2-Fri, 9-Sat, 3-Sun). And I typically won't go if the river is under 2' at Union. Sections done: For a couple of years, I lived in Rolla and worked in Owensville. I'd see the EE bridge (Mint Springs) and 19 bridge about every day. That area is my favorite, but you need 2 cars to run the canoes. We've done 2-night floats a few miles downstream from there, I believe Tea access was the middle point and did very well also. The last few years, I've been going to a buddy's place (see pic from last weekend) which is 9 miles down from Noser's, so I'm very familiar with Noser's to Reikers. Guess I'm trying to fill in the gap between Hwy AE bridge and Nosers. I don't like Peter's to Noser's since the last couple miles are like a lake. Thanks for the opinions, WJ

I read the reports and you guys are killin' me! I haven't touched the Bourbeuse ALL YEAR. I had 2 open weekends in June, but it was 8' plus at Union, too high to fish. I finally finished all the "family" weekends and have the next 2 weekends open (10/10 & 10/17). I was all excited, but now . . . I plan to get on around 4PM on Friday, off Sunday morning. Which section would you recommend? A. Friend's place to Wenkle (~11 miles) B. Wenkle to Peter's (11 miles) I'll keep & eat ALL the spots I can (may even cut a couple of little ones for the catfish, shhhh!). My impression of fall fishing is fewer numbers, but bigger fish. Of course it's not all about the fishing. I'm way low on "ME TIME". A gravel bar with a little fire, big whiskey drink, and waiting for the catfish poles to bend sounds AWESOME! Maybe I should look at the Meramec instead. Can I still camp at the gravel bars like on the Bourbeuse, or will someone run me off? Lures: My default is a worm hook on one and a lead head on the other. Rubber is across the board (flukes, worms, tubes, creatures, crawdads, grubs, etc.). I'll also throw a buzz in the morninings & evenings, but mainly rubber. Favorites are Culprit fluke (white with blue fleck), Yum fork tailed dinger, Yum creature baits, black power worm. I cast past where I think a fish is, reel in, then let it fall by the structure. In the fall, I slow everything down a bit. I don't fish the rapids a lot, I like past the rapids in the slower, deeper rock for weighted fishing and trees for flukes. Sorry for going on and on. I'm excited. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Joe

I agree with "eric1978", sorry "Bourbeuse River Angler". A few years back I floated from Devilsback to my friend's place (9 miles, overnight float). Usually I only see a couple of people, but this weekend EVERY hole had a motor boat in it. It wasn't bad (nice folks, slowed down, had a beer, talked fishing), but the fishing was horrible. Fishing the section between Noser & Reikers is strange. Seems they're either on or off. One of my best fishing trips happened in this section before a summer thunderstorm in 2001. We caught a bunch and the smallest fish was 14". Reminiscing is over! Back to the point: My favorite canoe put-in spot on the Bourbeuse is about 6" deep all the way around the bend. I start the day by walking the canoe for 15 minutes or so. The rest of the day I don't drag at all. This is also the best fishing I've found on the river. Hmmm!

I use an access, but it's a friend of a friend's and I wouldn't feel comfortable, sorry. Try to find information on Anglers. It's some type of club or resort about 6 or 7 miles down from Noser's and I believe they have a boat ramp. Google Map, Anglers Road, 63013. Joe

Thanks for the tips! Dad isn't feeling that well, so we're going to puddle around some lakes instead. Comments Back: Mint to Koenig low-water is a good lazy day float, but 4 hours driving for a day float is a lot. When I do get upstream, I prefer Koenig to bridge before 19 for a day float. Take out is a bad access, but fishing is awesome! The extra few river miles warrant the long drive. We've also 2-night floated from some low-water bridge before Tea to Hwy AN or AE. Haven't done it in a while because all my buddies want to do the Gasconade, Big Piney, or 11-point lately. That's an awesome float. I have a friend with a house 9 miles down from Noser and only about a mile up from spring creek. I overnight from Noser to his place, or his place to Reikers when I can. But mainly, go up or downsteam from his place. Caught a 19" Rainbow at the confluence with spring creek a few years back, but it changed a couple of years ago and the hole isn't there anymore. In summary: As you can tell, I'm jonesing bad for the Bourbeuse. I want to finish it, or float the sections I haven't done yet so I can say I've floated from Mint Springs to the confluence. See ya, Joe