River Clarity/fishing Report

[KCfisher]

Afternoon everyone,

Can anyone who's been in the last few days or lives close by tell how the water clarity downstream from the Bennett Public Access currently is? I can see that the flow has come down, but can't get a "straight answer" about the clarity and trout fishing. I am thinking of making the trip down from KC tonight; got the shakes for a fly fishing trip having missed out all spring due to weather and my job not cooperating.

Thanks for any and all help!

[Terrapin Station]

I floated it on Thursday and Friday. It rained really hard on Thursday night. The river was up a good 3 feet, fast and muddy. Maybe it's gone down a lot since.

[swellcat]

Old news, but here's a visual of Lake Niangua from 14 June:

[mdolomieu1]

I floated the Williams Ford to Moon Valley section over the weekend. Water levels were high but okay, though it was awfully murky (like about six inches worth of visibility). Fishing was very tough--caught maybe half a dozen smallmouth and one lonely sixteen inch rainbow.

[FishinCricket]

  mdolomieu1 said:

I floated the Williams Ford to Moon Valley section over the weekend. Water levels were high but okay, though it was awfully murky (like about six inches worth of visibility). Fishing was very tough--caught maybe half a dozen smallmouth and one lonely sixteen inch rainbow.

Sorry I didn't see this yesterday...

I went the opposite direction this weekend to visit some friends and fish their pond (cleaned out about 80 bite sized crappie and transfered them to another pond) but a fellow employee here went to the niangua and swamped his Blazer! He said he went in on Sunday morning and crossed a low water.. By yesterday evening (because of saturday's rains) the river rose a full two feet to hem his blazer in on a rock outcropping.. So he attempted to drive it out! Now it's in the back and they are trying to clean out all the mud in the intake... Not smart on his part, but either way...

So the river is back up and muddy as of right now... Hopefully it will calm down by this weekend as I was looking forward to taking a crew of OAF's to the public access to see what we can't catch... You are welcome to come down then if you can..

[Scooper]

  mdolomieu1 said:

I floated the Williams Ford to Moon Valley section over the weekend. Water levels were high but okay, though it was awfully murky (like about six inches worth of visibility). Fishing was very tough--caught maybe half a dozen smallmouth and one lonely sixteen inch rainbow.

Wow, interesting that you caught a rainbow that far up the river from Bennett Springs. I would assume that the MDC doesn't stock trout above Bennett. That trout would have had to swim upstream from Bennett to where you caught it. About how far above Bennett did you catch him?

[mdolomieu1]

I was probably about two miles above Moon Valley when I hooked the rainbow, so figure about ten miles above Bennett--that guy was a traveler! I caught a rainbow just above Moon Valley about five years ago, too, so while it seems to be rare for them to come that far upriver, it does occasionally happen. Maybe it has something to do with the high water?

BTW, I caught that bow on a crayfish imitation. I was fishing a gravel bar chute, throwing into the heavy current with a sink tip and letting it get deep and drift into the eddy on the inside of the bend, where smallies normally like to hang close to the fast water. This guy was out in the rip, presumable behind some sort of current break and nailed it hard as it swung through.

[KCfisher]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Decided not to go on Sunday.

[Scooper]

  mdolomieu1 said:

I was probably about two miles above Moon Valley when I hooked the rainbow, so figure about ten miles above Bennett--that guy was a traveler! I caught a rainbow just above Moon Valley about five years ago, too, so while it seems to be rare for them to come that far upriver, it does occasionally happen. Maybe it has something to do with the high water?

BTW, I caught that bow on a crayfish imitation. I was fishing a gravel bar chute, throwing into the heavy current with a sink tip and letting it get deep and drift into the eddy on the inside of the bend, where smallies normally like to hang close to the fast water. This guy was out in the rip, presumable behind some sort of current break and nailed it hard as it swung through.

Thanks! That guy was indeed a traveler; must have some migratory salmon blood in him! I have fished the Niangua "off and on" for 40 years, but have rarely fished it above Bennett. Below Bennett, though, we have caught trout as far downstream as Blue Springs, but not on a consistent basis. Blue Springs is, what, 15 miles below Bennett? I would agree with you that high water probably encourages movement of trout both upstream and downstream of Bennett. The circumstances you described in catching the 16" rainbow is not surprising to me. In years past we would occasionaly keep a larger trout or two to broil for the table. Invariably, in cleaning these fish, we would find crayfish and minnows - smallmouth prey--in their stomachs. I think the bigger rainbows (above 14") which have been in the river for awhile, tend to take on the predatory habits of smallmouth bass.

[That_Guy]

Last summer we floated from Charity to Hico and about a mile and a half below charity I caught a 14” Rainbow on a crankbait. My dad said there is a pretty good size spring that comes in right above charity that he’s caught some at before. Anyone have any idea how far that is from bennet? I can’t find it on any of my maps.

Memorial weekend we floated from KP bridge to Moon Valley and I caught two 15” Rainbows on white War Eagle spinnerbaits. They smashed it a lot harder than some of the smallies I caught. I hooked another nice one the next day when we floated from Moon Valley to River Front campground.

I agree that more will come up stream with the water being higher this year, but that trout I caught at hico is just plain crazy!