I Need Some Advice For Smallies!

[jbielecki]

Hi everyone,

I'm intersted in taking a vacation to MO. I'm from Illinois in the Chicago area. I only get one vacation per year so I don't want to blow it. I am limited to taking my vacation in the month of August.

I belong to the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance and love to catch smallmouth. We also have a website like this one and try to promote conservation projects and volunteer work.

My brother and I love to wade and fish. We have a small aluminum boat if we need it. We are on a budget so we plan to camp.

We would like to hook into some good action on smallmouth bass: catch and release areas especially. Rivers that are creeled get fished out pretty quick...we can waste our money and time in Illinois for that. We are around crowded waters and can't stand the crowds of people. We would love to be somewhere that is clean, and natural...we are also around enough pollution up here; it's a joke. I would also love to go after trophy Flathead catfish or blue catfish. My brother would possibly be interested in trout but especially interested in fly fishing for smallies.

Also, I don't know if any of you know about hog hunting but I'd like to try it if the location isn't too far from the fishing.

I'm just curious...how's the deer hunting down there.

Jim

[Midge]

I have to recomend the Eleven Point in Alton. You can catch smallmouth on the upper part and trout on the lower. I would deffinately reccomend contacting Brian Sloss at the Eleven Point canoe rental before you make the trip down though. He can set you up with a shuttle and information on fishing and water conditions.

[ColdWaterFshr]

August is prime smallie time. Upper 11 point, Big Piney, upper Meramec, Huzzah, Courtouis, Jacks Fork -- all good choices.

[jbielecki]

Thanks for the info!

Are any of the rivers mentioned catch and release only?

I'll hit you guys up later on technique...I'm finding that techniques are largely dependent on the regional areas.

Is there any good rivers near the 11 point that have large flat head catfish?

Jim

[brianbarker]

ColdWaterFishr listed some of my fav. smallmouth rivers, might try the Gasconade. It broke a 30 year old record recently during our "flood" so I'm not sure how it will be this May, but I'm headed there. I caught 3 smallmouth last summer over 20 inches during my 5 floats on it. There are some excellent smallies in there.

[Al Agnew]

The Gasconade is probably one of the best bets for catching some big flatheads, too. All the Ozark streams have flatheads, but in most they are fairly rare.

[chub minnow]

As far as I know there aren't any real catch and release streams, except that all Ozark streams are, by regulation, catch and release during the spring spawning season. The Jack's Fork and Current River area would be great if you also wanted to hunt and trout fish. The Eleven Point and North Fork are great for fly fishing for both trout and smallies. The King's River in Arkansas has a trophy section that allows only 1 smallmouth over 18" per day. There would also be less people on this river than say the Current or Eleven Point.

[creek wader]

The Osage river, both upper and lower is a good flathead river. So, is the Moreau River near Jefferson City. But neither are good smallie rivers.

[Brian Sloss]

The Eleven Point is 1 smallie at 15 inches throughout the river, but if you want a meal, goggle eye are 8 inches and 15 fish. As for catfish, you will need to go to the Arkansas side or the lowest parts of MO. otherwise you could hit McCormick or Forsche lakes in the area.