Hello All,
Just wanted to report on how the overnight trip last weekend turned out. The water was low through this section especially for a solo loaded down with all the necessities for a two day trip. We had to drag through most riffles but my company and myself didn't mind too much. This was a slow river with long flat pools that required a considerable amount of paddling. This was my first time on this river and it reminded me very much of the middle section of the James. We took our time with this one, so much so that a two day trip turned into a three day adventure. I counted approximately fifty cows in the stream in the fifteen miles that we floated. We saw a total of five people during the entire trip and had our pick of gravel bars to camp on. Oh yeah the fishing. The fishing was pretty good. Largest fish went around 16.5" and was caught on a shaky-head with a strawberry kiwi finesse worm on it. Good numbers were caught on a Bomber 4A crankbait, crayfish pattern, brown back with a chartreuse belly. Averaged approximately 35 fish a day. I love the Gasconade strain smallmouth, I feel they fight harder than the white river strain. All fish were healthy lacking any parasites on their gill filaments or body and had a good thickness value. Thank you to everyone who helped me mark this river off the list. I'll surely be back on it sometime soon.