First Time

[Flyflinger]

I have never fished the Niagua and I am really looking forward to it. I think we are dropping in right below Bennet. What should I exspect? Is the water crowded? Is it mainly bass water with occasional trout? Should I be drifting nymphs, hopper droppers??? I am a total novice on this stream, I kinda got "hooked" into going at the last minute....hopeing to get into a nice brown.

Is there a flyshop near by?

[Stoneroller]

hopper and a dropper, bang away at the areas where there is a deep run or pool (deep being relative to overall stream depth) with tall grass on the shoreline. otherwise pick a terrestrial and dropper of your choice. aug/sept are the months to go with big profile terrestrials. should be able to get a bite in any stream/river in missouri with that combination.

i've never been on that river, but it's supposed to be one of the best in the state. i'd imagine you can catch trout below bennett till the water temp starts to climb but you still may find some near spring inlets/discharges, otherwise i'd expect smallies/spots/largemouths.

[dpenrod]

i floated a couple of weeks ago and put in right where you are going to. caught fish all the way down the river, but the canoe/raft traffic was pretty bad. once i hit the NRO access, fishing became really difficult due to the large numbers of canoes on the river. actually had a canoe almost hit me. had to give it a kick to push it away from me. no one was rude. in fact, most folks were pretty nice and interested in what i was doing, but when i float again, it will be before and after the aluminum hatch season is over.

[Wayne SW/MO]

It's best described as a "circus". If you put in at the right time there will be enough canoes to almost walk across the river on them. It will be virtually impossible to do any serious fishing in that stretch. You have some options, you can get someone to put you in at NRO or Barclay and float to Ho Humm, you can do Moon Valley to the 64 access. The last option is to go elsewhere and then do the float this fall when the river is virtually empty. There's trout and smallies in the lower section and bass only now in the upper.

Its a great river,but unfortunately when the state DNR should have been looking at restrictions to preserve the experience, they chose instead to go into the canoe rental business themselves.

Oops, there is the park store and Larry's fly shop as you are leaving the parks east entrance. I would hit Larry's first.