Jet Boat Fishing

[Al Agnew]

Nope, it's good to ask.

Since you're new to the scene and interested in various jetboatable waters, I can give you a few pointers on what to look for.

Whether a given stream stretch is jetboatable depends partly on water level. But unless you're only planning on motoring up to the nearest obstruction or bad spot, these eastern MO river stretches are simply NOT jetboatable:

Meramec above Maramec Spring

Huzzah and Courtois Creeks

Bourbeuse above Noser Mill

Big River above the mouth of the Mineral Fork (above Mammoth Bridge basically)

Castor River above Hwy. 34

St. Francis River above Hwy. C-N bridge

the forks of Black River

Jacks Fork above Alley Spring

Current River above Cedargrove

Eleven Point River above Greer Spring

Any tributary of these rivers or any other creek in southeast MO that's not mentioned at all above. That's not to say that none of them can be run in high water or if you don't care at all about your boat, but in my opinion these streams should be entirely off limits to jetboats.

Streams that are runnable if there's higher than summer normal water levels and if you are very experienced (and not too worried about your boat):

Bourbeuse below Noser Mill (the entire Bourbeuse gets way too low during dry summer water levels, and personally I don't really consider any of the Bourbeuse to be jetboat water)

Meramec from Maramec Spring to Onondaga (some long stretches of this section are runnable in normal summer water level if you know the river well, but there are also a lot of tricky stretches, and the non-motorized traffic will be thick in the summer)

Big River below Mammoth Bridge

Castor River below Hwy. 34 (low summer water levels and log jams will make this stretch marginal)

St. Francis River below Hwy. C-N bridge (again, the St. Francis gets way too low in the summer)

Black River from the forks to Clearwater Lake (it also gets too low in the summer, and canoe traffic is thick)

Current River from Cedargrove to Round Spring (thick canoe traffic is the worst obstacle here, but there are lots of tricky parts that I wouldn't dare run in low water)

Jacks Fork below Alley Spring (same as Current River from Cedargrove to Round Spring)

I personally will not run most of these stretches unless it's wintertime and the water level is adequate, but some do.

So anything bigger and farther downstream should be runnable, but no Ozark stream stretch is so easily runnable that you don't stand the chance of mishap, and dead low water will make the Meramec below Onondaga and the Current between Round Spring and Powdermill very tricky to run.