Novice Fishermen

[OzarkKid07]

I need some advice. My father-in-law and brother-in-law have finally expressed interest in going with me on a float/fishing trip in Missouri waters! Now, I can say that I can catch fish to my heart's content pretty much anywhere I go, but I'm no guide. What I need to know is where to take novice paddlers and novice fishermen in Missouri to catch LOTS of fish. I don't particularly care what species they are, as long as there are a lot of hookups. I plan on tying on some of my homemade spiders to get some goggle-eye and bluegill, but I'd like to get some hard-fightin' meanmouths in the picture to get their blood boilin'. What river/creek would you guys say is the best body of water to take them to in order to get their appetite whetted for fishing and not put them through the ringer on the paddling? I appreciate your expertise and advice in advance!

[ozark trout fisher]

I need some advice. My father-in-law and brother-in-law have finally expressed interest in going with me on a float/fishing trip in Missouri waters! Now, I can say that I can catch fish to my heart's content pretty much anywhere I go, but I'm no guide. What I need to know is where to take novice paddlers and novice fishermen in Missouri to catch LOTS of fish. I don't particularly care what species they are, as long as there are a lot of hookups. I plan on tying on some of my homemade spiders to get some goggle-eye and bluegill, but I'd like to get some hard-fightin' meanmouths in the picture to get their blood boilin'. What river/creek would you guys say is the best body of water to take them to in order to get their appetite whetted for fishing and not put them through the ringer on the paddling? I appreciate your expertise and advice in advance!

This is my reccomendation.

Meramec River

Easy, easy floating, no problems at all. Maramec Spring to Scotts Ford is rainbow and brown trout water. Scotts Ford to Meramec State Park is great smallmouth water. There is tons of access, it should work well. Lots of paddlers too.

Edit: Besides the Meramec, other good rivers you might want to consider are the Bourbeuse for smallmouth and spotted bass, as well as sunfish and catfish. That is even easier to float than the Meramec. The Current River is good for it's first twenty miles for trout, and the rest is smallmouth water. Very scenic, and almost all the land is public. There are a few class II rapids here, but I am a novice paddler and can handle them without any problem whatsoever. If you are looking for a good largemouth bass river, the lower section of the Gasconade would be good. The upper section of the Gasconade is prime smallmouth bass water. The Niangua, upper first ten miles below Bennett Springs is trout, goggle eye, and smallmouth water, below there, all the same species except no trout. Hope this helps. Oh by the way, every stream I mentioned has lots of sunnies and goggle-eye, you shouldn't have any trouble there.

[Al Agnew]

Hmm, "lots of fish"...forget the trout water, Ozark river trout are not easy enough for the novice to catch a bunch of them and the trout sections aren't fertile enough to have a lot of sunfish and other game fish. Forget any stream that's large enough for lots of jetboat use, because they get pounded so hard that the fish in them are a bit more sophisticated and you won't catch quite as many...even sunfish. Not that they can't be good fishing, but just not as good as the smaller but floatable streams if you are looking for pure numbers of fish.

For pure grab bag fishing...lots of fish of a lot of different species...you need to fish streams that are not as popular with the party canoe crowd. If you are dependent upon canoe rental people for canoes or shuttles, look for streams that have just a few canoe rentals. I don't know how far you want to travel and where you live, so I'll give a few ideas in different parts of the Ozarks. The Bourbeuse is a great option. So is the upper Gasconade and the Osage Fork. The James. Flat Creek. Beaver Creek. Upper Eleven Point, above the trout water. The St. Francis. Castor River. But if you can go during the week, some of the popular streams can also be very good--Meramec above Steelville. Huzzah and Courtois. Upper Big Piney. Big Sugar. Current River between Round Spring and Powdermill. Upper Black River.

Want a novice to catch lots of fish of all kinds? As long as they can cast a light spinning rod okay, just tie on the venerable Beetle Spin and tell them to cast it out and reel it in fairly slow. It'll catch about anything.

[ozark trout fisher]

Hmm, "lots of fish"...forget the trout water, Ozark river trout are not easy enough for the novice to catch a bunch of them and the trout sections aren't fertile enough to have a lot of sunfish and other game fish. Forget any stream that's large enough for lots of jetboat use, because they get pounded so hard that the fish in them are a bit more sophisticated and you won't catch quite as many...even sunfish. Not that they can't be good fishing, but just not as good as the smaller but floatable streams if you are looking for pure numbers of fish.

For pure grab bag fishing...lots of fish of a lot of different species...you need to fish streams that are not as popular with the party canoe crowd. If you are dependent upon canoe rental people for canoes or shuttles, look for streams that have just a few canoe rentals. I don't know how far you want to travel and where you live, so I'll give a few ideas in different parts of the Ozarks. The Bourbeuse is a great option. So is the upper Gasconade and the Osage Fork. The James. Flat Creek. Beaver Creek. Upper Eleven Point, above the trout water. The St. Francis. Castor River. But if you can go during the week, some of the popular streams can also be very good--Meramec above Steelville. Huzzah and Courtois. Upper Big Piney. Big Sugar. Current River between Round Spring and Powdermill. Upper Black River.

Want a novice to catch lots of fish of all kinds? As long as they can cast a light spinning rod okay, just tie on the venerable Beetle Spin and tell them to cast it out and reel it in fairly slow. It'll catch about anything.

Al Agnew is right. The trout areas can be tough, and while you can catch smallmouth and goggle in any of the trout sections, they are not the place to go if you are looking for steady action. For that purely, like Al said, and I said earlier, the Bourbeuse is a great option. It is not too clear, and nothing too special, but the spotted bass are super easy to catch, and the bag limits are liberal, because they are considered an invasive species. There are also also smallmouth and catfish, along with tons and tons of panfish there, goggle-eye and crappie included, although most of the panfish are longear sunfish. While this doesn't matter to most, suckers also seem to be everywhere, and are pretty game for those fishing with nightcrawlers. The only negative is that due to slow water, you will have to paddle. There won't be many other people though.