Missouri Stream And River Fishing Questions

[EddieRay]

I have been a bass fisherman for many years but most of my fishing has occurred on lakes. Only on rare occasions have I fished a stream and that was from the bank. The last couple of years the desire to fish while floating a river or stream has become a goal of mine. I have been doing some general reading about some Missouri streams and the special management area on the Gasconade River in Phelps and Pulaski Counties has really piqued my interest. I have a number of questions about fishing this area (or any others that you might recommend) that I want to post here for those of you with lots of experience on these streams. I prefer to fish an area known to produce larger smallmouths and to fish on an uncrowded stream, but these characteristics are somewhat negotiable.

1. What are the crowd levels like on the special management section of the Gasconade in the months of March, April, May, or June?
   
2. I prefer to float rather than use a jetboat. What type of craft do you recommend (canoe, jon boat, kayak, etc.)?
   
3. Based on crowd levels and Springtime water levels, what would you recommend as the best time to fish the Gasconade Special Management area?
   
4. What outfitters would you recommend for the Gasconade area that I am looking at?
   
5. What other sections of the Gasconade would you recommend for smallmouths (size and numbers)?
   
6. What other streams or rivers would you recommend other than the Gasconade?
   

Thanks for any information you can provide. Since I haven't nailed down exactly where I want to go I placed this in the General Angling section so I hope this is in the correct forum.

[Al Agnew]

Books could be written filling you in on all that info!

The Gasconade special management area is excellent fishing, but gets fairly heavy pressure from good anglers. It's runnable by jetboat most of the year, so a lot of jetboat anglers fish it. It isn't the EASIEST place to catch big smallmouth, though there are plenty of big ones in it.

Weekdays, that section won't usually see many anglers. Weekends it will if the water conditions are good.

Boiling Spring Campground rents canoes for that section. Look them up on Google (make sure you're going to the Boiling Spring Campground in Dixon, on the Gasconade--there is also a Boiling Spring Campground on the Big Piney!)

Different people like different floating craft, but I think I can back up my opinion that a canoe is the most versatile float fishing craft. We've hashed out that whole thing on here before! Short version is that kayaks won't carry as much gear, jonboats won't paddle well enough to cover much water unless you take along a trolling motor.

As for best time to fish it, every month has its good points, but the period from mid-April through mid-September will give you your easiest fishing, though not necessarily your best chance at big fish. If you really want to concentrate on big fish, February and March are better, but catching big fish in cold water takes knowledge of the river and somewhat more specialized techniques. From mid-April on, you can use just about anything in your tackle box and have a good chance of catching fish.

The Gasconade is good fishing just about everywhere. Smallies begin to get scarce once you get below about Rollins Ferry, which is many miles downstream from the special management area. Jetboats get scarcer above the special management area, and almost disappear above Hazelgreen (where I-44 crosses the river) except in the higher water levels of a wet spring. There are few canoe rentals on the river, so only a few places get heavy canoe traffic even on weekends. The biggest canoe rental on the river is Gasconade Hills, not far off I-44 near Hazelgreen, so I'd avoid that area on weekends.

Really, the differences in fishing among the various Ozark streams aren't all that great. General rule of thumb is that the less pressure a stream gets the easier the fishing is. Streams big enough for jetboats get the heaviest EFFECTIVE fishing pressure, so they are the toughest for the novice river angler to fish, but they usually have some big fish. Streams that have a lot of canoe rentals get a lot of pressure, but most of it is from weekend warriors who generally don't have a clue how to catch fish, so if you go during the middle of the week you can find good fishing. Stream sections that are not served by any canoe rentals and that are too small for jetboats have the easiest fishing, though not necessarily the most numbers of big fish.

[Mitch f]

I don't know where you live but I would also consider the Bourbeuse river. The good thing for you is it's not that jet boat/gigging friendly. It's a smaller murkier water river that's great for a canoe, not that many put ins and has plenty of bragging size smallmouth and Largemouth. After you catch these large fish please don't thank us or post any pictures of your giant smallmouth...we hate that.

[Smalliebigs]

I don't know where you live but I would also consider the Bourbeuse river. The good thing for you is it's not that jet boat/gigging friendly. It's a smaller murkier water river that's great for a canoe, not that many put ins and has plenty of bragging size smallmouth and Largemouth. After you catch these large fish please don't thank us or post any pictures of your giant smallmouth...we hate that.

Mitch, you crack me up!!!!

[EddieRay]

Al Agnew, thanks for the excellent reply! I appreciate the information.