mzrealfish

I haven't sanded The Royal Debacle down yet, but here is the most recent fiberglass patching session after my PDT float. This is the 6th time in 10 years that I have had to patch it. Keeps coming back for more. Mark

I would skip the dam float entirely. Unless there is rain right before you get there. Angler's resort will charge you $20 totake you to hermitage and drop yur car off at cross timbers. I was floating about 5 hours and bailing water for about an hour of the trip. Dragging was pretty regular through the first 4.5 miles.

That is the mount that came with my boat years ago. Hand-made deal. I will take a better picture and post it tomorrow.

I had time to drive down from KC and float from the dam to Hermitage Thursday the 14th of June. The river was beautiful but low. I put on at 8:30 am. In the first 4 miles, I only caught 4 spotted bass and 2 largemouth, mostly on poppers. I punched a hole in my fiberglass patch on my stillwater canoe from dragging so much and had to resort to bailing water pretty regularly. Then, the river changed and got deeper. At the 1st falldown in the river, I threw a powerbait shad into the shade right where the bank and the falldown met. Instantly, the lure shot out of the water in the mouth of a 5lb. ++ spotted bass! I fought it for 4 minutes before it tore through the gears on my light action reel. I was still able to fight it for about 30 seconds before it jumped out of the river and shot my jig back over my head. I switched poles and threw my popper as well as a suspending rogue and a jig and craw back in the hole for about 10 minutes before giving up on the cause. The last mile and a half had tons of falldown structure to fish. I rigged one of my medium action poles with the powerbait shad and fished every falldown. I ended up catching 24ish spotted bass and 8 largemouth. Almost all in the last mile and on the shad. Best was about a 2 1/2 lb. spotted bass. After all of this, I was still in my truck heading back to KC by 4:00 pm. I have repatched my canoe. Next time, I am putting in at Hermitage, trolling back up river to the 1st riffle and then floating back down and heading to the Cross Timbers pull-out. I am going to try and get back down the 2nd Thursday in July. Here are a few of the pictures. All of the bass had nice full stomachs, so even the 12-14 inches were packing some punch.

I appreciate the input and am excited to get on the river tomorrow afternoon. We had to cancel our April 6th trip on the Gasconade because I had an emergency appendectomy on the 31st of March. Way overdue to get back in the action. Thanks, Mark

Hey all, I am hitting the Current Wednesday and Thursday and hoping to beat most of the crowd down. It has been 8 years since my last outing down there. How is the smallmouth fishing right now on this run? What is working? I have my usual Gasconade arsenal ready, but would love to thin out my bag a bit... Before we all started having kids, my group used to float Baptist to 2 Rivers a couple of times per year. I have missed the Current dearly but with maximizing time on the water being a priority, we had settled on the Gasconade, BP, Pomme and Niangua quite a bit in the last few years. Love them all but I am excited to get back to the Current. I am just feeling like a rookie all over again since it has been so long. I know the last time I was down there jig n craw, tubes, craw cranks, wiggle and some sticks and rogues were working, but I am hoping to cut out some of the guessing game on this trip and get right to it. One of the guys at Akers said to bring my minnow trap. He said that is what they use most for the smallmouth. I would prefer to go artificial but may resort to live if the fishing is slow. Can I throw my cast net for minnows on the Current? Thanks, Mark

The Pastor is a pretty sweet name. My canoe is "The Royal Debacle". It took on that name one year when we tried to float the Big Piney at 13 feet. We all made it safely but the entire keel of my boat was remade from duct tape at the end of the 1st day. That was when my buddy Kevin tagged it. It has been sand blasted and bondo glassed about 8 time since then as well and keeps coming back for more. Mark

Your gear will work just fine. I use my spinning gear and rarely have any issues. Make sure your spools are full because most of the fish can run fast and far. As UnCivE stated, a steel leader is a must and forlures plugs/lipless/spooks. Bigger stickbaits in bright colors work as well. Another suggestion is picking up a 4 or 5 ft. cast net at Walmart. They are less than $40. Easy to learn how to use. When you are in the surf, knee to waist deep, look at the top of the water for v's that taper back 3 to 5 ft. and veer left and right they will be running parralel to the shore. These are small school of finger mullet or shrimp. Have a 5 gallon bucket with some sort of lid ready. Tail hook live bait and gently toss out slightly deeper than where you caught them. That is where the predator fish are chasing them from. Bluefish, trout, spottail bass and mackerel (at least on the Atlantic side, not sure about Gulf side) and sometimes a shark. Check the regulations re: dead bait. A lot of places don't allow dead or cut bait use anymore because it brings up the sharks and rays. Lastly, if you can fish an inlet (where the intercoastal waterway or a creek or river pours into the ocean, the fishing is typically better. MZ

In 2010, while driving back from Charlotte, NC in the middle of May, I hit the public access Missouri Gazetteer Map 2104 just north of Poplar Bluff. Fishing from the bank with a nest robber pattern rattle trap and a jig with a Yam fat Ika, I caught 7 smallmouth and 4 largemouth in less than 20 minutes. 1 largemouth was about 3 lbs. and 4 of the smallmouths were over 2 lbs. To makes matters more incredible, there was a group of at least 40 people tubing less than 100 yards up river. Other than not quite seeing boobs incessantly, I thought I was on the Niangua. I have always meant to go back for a canoe trip, but that is a long ways from KC to see lopsided boobs! Maybe someday I will make it back down.... MZ

I am from KC as well. If you really need to cross it off in a hurry... Cole Camp Creek just north of the lake or Little Niangua Fiery Fork access south of the lake. 2 hours ish from KC. Pretty easy access if you have the gazeteer map and very easy wading. Hula grub or fat Ika on 1/8 oz. jig or texas rig. Black back silver crankbait. MZ

I know there has been a ton of fluctuating water levels lately...but I am wondering if anyone has ventured out. My group was scheduled to come down next weekend, but I had an open appendectomy surgery last Saturday. Absolutely brutal. We are rescheduling for the 1st or 2nd weekend in May depending upon my recovery progress. I am really upset that I am missing out next week so I would love to hear about others' successes. Might make me heal faster! thanks, Mark

Happy holidays all! Sorry I have been away from the site recently. We always use Andy Sheldon @ Rt. 66 canoe rental (573) 855-3394 or (573)336-2730. We have used him for the last 8 years and he is always willing to take us anywhere we want to go. He keeps our vehicle(s) at his place and drops them off the day we are planning on getting off the river. Cheaper if you drive him back to his place so he doesn't have to hire someone else to pick him up. We have put on at 4 different spots on the Big Piney and 6 different places on the Gasconade while we have been using him. Let me know if you have any other questions. Mark

We had a great float last weekend. Did well with SM on sliver/black back cranks, yamamoto fat Ika green pumpkin, yamamoto senko sweet potato wacky rigged and jig and craw brown/pumpkin. My brother caught a nice crappie on the crank as well as a nice white bass. 1st white bass we have seen that far up river. Went caving Saturday. As for fishing, nothing over 2 1/4 lbs. but lots of 1 to 1 1/2 lb. smallies. Did catch about 15 google-eye, 12 spotted bass and 6 largemouth. Already planning our April trip. More photos once I develop some film. Thanks, Mark Z.

Thanks Rich, Funny, but I have some 6 or 7 inch sassy's that I use for farm pond LM up here in KC. Never thought to try them on the Gasconade. I've got the cranks and rebels covered. Most of my large plastic is in brown or watermelon and 5-6 inch craw tubes. I think we can rule out the river coming back up between now and then, but I agree, we always hope for at least overcast. Our best days have been in the rain as well whether it was sprinkling or coming down pretty well. Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to be a bright and sunny weekend but we will make the most of it no matter what. Thanks again, Mark

I am headed down next weekend and floating the same run. I do well with jig and craw as well as texas rigged tubes and hula grubs. I would love to know what your "larger baits" were. I am used to the river being up higher than this level so I am willing to try any tips you have to offer. Thanks, Mark Z.

I haven't fished it in years now that I have access to a few ponds much closer to my house, but I used to love Reed. Never caught any bass over 5 lbs. but lots of good bass with many presentations. Fluke shad gray back/white bottom weightless on 5/0 hooks were my best. MZ

I went ahead and looked up the names of the landings. The dam to Hermitage Access is 7.5 miles, to Rough Hollow Landing is 14.5 total and Sapp's Landing is roughly 21 miles.

I have never floated the Upper PDT River. My group has floated the lower 3 times. I believe that the lower PDT River may have more species of game fish than any other body of water in the state of Missouri. Been told that by a Conservation Agent that works the area. We have put in below the dam and floated to Cross Timbers twice. I believe that is a 14 mile float with great fishing. SM, LM, Spotted Bass, every sunfish in the state of Missouri, Walleye (We only have caught 2 but 1 was 2 lbs. the other was just over 4 lbs.), hybrid bass, white bass and crappie. We floated from the dam to the Truman Lake tailwaters, I believe 21 miles total. After Cross Timbers, we started catching more of the whites and hybrids, but still had the SM, LM and Spots. All 3 were great trips. You can call (417) 282-5507 and ask about release from the dam. They will let you if it is safe and or good for floating. Mark

I think we are settled on Schlict Mill to Riddle Bridge. Always been good to us in the past. Still willing to listen if anyone has a different idea....

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply. We have plenty of time to weigh our options. Is the recreational boat traffic that much higher than at Hwy. 28 access or Jerome access?

My group is doing a Friday, Saturday, Sunday till we're done fishing/floating trip on the weekend of the 22nd of July. We usually float somewhere in the Schlict Mill to Jerome run. I was wondering if anyone can tell me what to expect if we floated from Paydown Access (187.6 MM) down to the Hwy. D Access (216.6 MM)? July has always been a great month for us, and there is really no need for something different, unless it is a good fishing stretch. We are focussing on the bass; all of them. Is this a good float? What should we expect? We always use Andy at Rt. 66 for hauling since we own our own canoes. Is there someone else closer who offers hauling? Thanks, as always. Mark

Good evening, My group is coming down this weekend. I know the river is up right now, but we are floating and fishing regardless. We are putting on Friday morning and scheduled to float from Riddle to Jerome on Sunday. Any thoughts, suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mark

Outstanding Al! We want to do as much of the river as we can. It is by far, our favorite for fishing that we have done. I figure with our "fishing and piddling", we were realistically looking at 35-50 days. We are just starting to put this idea into action. None of us are available for more than 4 days at a time currently so we realize the number of years that it will take to see it through. We are really just hoping to catch the right water levels starting this spring. Andy @ rt.66 will take us anywhere we want to go and does a great job of dropping our vehicle for us when we are ready to get out. If anyone is looking for a fun and flexible company to haul with, rt. 66 is it. Thanks, Mark

My group is looking to start an attempt over a number of trips to float the entire Gasconade River. With an April 1st trip scheduled, how far above Competition is it reasonable to expect to start. I understand we will need some spring rains to aid our flow, and we may have some dragging as well, but I have never been that far up river. In addition, what is a reasonable rate of flow at normal levels? Any input is much appreciated. Thanks, Mark

Hey all, We have 2 canoes coming down Thursday morning and are floating from Schlict Mill to Hwy. 28 bridge pulling out whenever we are done on Sunday. Any reports on water level and clarity right now? We always do well in July with jig and craw. Anything else working well? Much appreciated, Mark