Niangua before opening day

[Simsmarine]

Water is/was super low and fish were confined to the deeper pockets, or darn close to them. Caught a few little Browns swingin' #8 tan Muddlers, a few little Bows dead drifting a #8 olive leech, and several Smallies helped break the monotony.

[roundtrout]

My son and I fished Barclay before opening day with similar results, though only one brown. Water was down, but not "super low". Good for us as we were on foot. Absolutely zero canoe traffic and a bit chilly, but a nice way to start the new year!

[darryl ward]

I fished the Niangua on the 11th with typical results for this river. For a full day’s fishing I caught 12 (six bows, five browns, one smallmouth). My buddy did about the same. Such a tough river to fish but it’s the closest to me (3 ½ hours from my place) so you do what you can do. Spent the morning fishing between the bridge and Bennett Springs confluence. Egg patterns fooled some. Bennett Springs was a zoo. We didn’t fish it (and hardly ever do). That afternoon we fished Barclay until storms pushed us off the water. One of the largest caddis hatches I’ve seen. It lasted almost three hours from 3:00-6:00 pm with every size and color imaginable. Crazy thing was nothing came up for them. #16 and 14 Cracklebacks fished wet as caddis emergers fooled the ones we caught. Others took 1/100 oz long tailed marabou jigs. Overall not allot of fish but the solitude was worth it.

[Scooper]

Daryl-

Thanks for the report. How was the water level for the Niangua? I know that area has been in a protracted drought, but I was hoping the recent rains have brought the levels up to a more normal range. Thanks in advance...

Scooper