Any Fishing Lately?

[Mike Duby]

Hey everyone,

I am new to the site and just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Mike and I live around Cape Girardeau. I heard about the Bourbeuse River from a friend and was trying to get some details on it before I make the 2 hour trip.

It would be my first time fishing it and I have some questions. When is the best time to float/fish the river? I have a 15' jon boat, is that too big to use? I have heard there are some spots you have to "float" a boat through but is it dry land or water that is 3-5" deep? I was looking at going from Mill Rock to Wenkel Ford. Is that a good trip for the kind of boat I have or to just plain catch fish? I would gladly help with taking some of the Kentuckies out of the river. Any information I would greatly appreciate.

I grew up in Michigan fishing smallies and was looking for a nice stream to get back into down here in Missouri. I am not asking for specific hot spots or lures you catch them on, just looking for information so when I make the 2 hour trip it will not be a wasted trip. Thanks

[Fish Ogre]

The river shot up almost 2 feet today but it is still clear. Floating will be easy this weekend.

[drew03cmc]

Down around Cape, you will drive past several good streams going to a periodically mediocre stream. Namely, you could hit the Black, Big, Meramec, Huzzah and St. Francis off the top of my head. All of those are better (read: more consistent) fishing streams than the Bourbeuse.

[ozark trout fisher]

Drew's right. All the rivers he listed are more conistent. But they all, with the possible exception of the St. Francis, will have far more people on them. The Bourbeuse can be a good smallmouth fishery, but it is spotty and inconsistent, mostly due to the non-native spotted bass that have upset the population balance there. It's a pretty river though. You'll have to decide whether the solitude makes the downsides worth it. I love the Bourbeuse, but if I lived in Cape I'm not sure I'd drive all the way up to fish it. It's a fine river and one of my favorites but objectively I would tell you that it's just not a destination stream. The Bourbeuse is a water that I can drive 35-40 minutes from my house, float, catch a few smallmouth, on a slow and murky but still pretty river, and still come away feeling like it was a great day, something that I'd want to do again. But if I doubled or tripled the driving distance for the same experience, I don't know if I would come away feeling quite so good about it. That's my long way of saying that I think you'd be better off to get to know the rivers nearer to home first. You've got the upper Black and it's three forks, the upper St. Francis, and other Ozark Mountain streams much closer that by all accounts hold plenty of smallmouth. I'd say get out and explore those.

If you do go to the Bourbeuse, I like the 11 mile float from Reikers to Mayers for good scenery, solitude, and decent fishing for smallies. That's a long float that will take pretty much all day, but access is spread out on the Bourbeuse and there aren't many shorter floats. Further upriver will require more dragging and a slightly longer drive from Cape, but the smallmouth fishing is probably a little better-still not great by Ozark stream standards, but better. Up there try floating the Mill Rock to Wenkel Ford Stretch.

[Al Agnew]

In normal summer water levels the stretch you're talking about would be too low for your boat...you'd have to be dragging it at every riffle. This means dragging the boat for anywhere from a few feet to fifty yards at a time across gravelly or rocky riffles that are less than 4 inches deep. The stretch from Reikers to Mayers that otf mentioned would be better as to not having to drag as much, but the entire Bourbeuse has a lot of very long, dead pools that are not usually good fishing and must be traversed to get to the next good spot with some current. A trolling motor helps to do so, but also adds the weight of the battery to your boat, making it more likely you'll still have to drag over riffles in summer water levels. So it's doable in your boat, but be prepared to do some work unless the water is up.

I lived in the Cape area for several years. I did a lot of fishing on the St. Francis, the Black below Clearwater Dam, Big River, and the Meramec. Didn't do much on the Bourbeuse...just too far to drive. But I was always wanting to try new waters, so I did occasionally go up to the Bourbeuse.

[Mike Duby]

Thanks for the information guys, I really appreciate it!

Drew, Thanks for mentioning them streams I will have to give a couple of them a shot.

Ozark, Thanks for great tips. I will hit the bourbeuse at least once, I like to get out and explore areas but I will definitaly try some of the others you mentinoned too.

Al, Thanks. I don't mind a little work just dont want to get to a part where it is dried up and have to carry the boat 50 yards, I dont mind getting out and floating it.

Being a true yankee my first love is walleye fishing, I have heard there is some in the black river. Do you guys have any experince with that?