Just A Cupla Big River Pictures

[joeD]

Fished the upper Big this past Saturday. More of a scouting mission really. I'd only done the last half once, many years ago. Due to my late (noonish) start, my main goal was to finish in daylight ( it was 6 miles) and get a feel for the river and it's stated distance. My fishing was cursory at best, using many different lures, with no obvious pattern emerging. Fishing was good I thought, all things considered. No monsters, but the action was steady, albeit unspectacular. I will admit, however, that I absolutely loved this float. The water quality, scenery, fishing potential ( I did lose a nice one that never came up after a topwater boil and run upstream) hit me in the right way. Many of you will probably recognize this area, it's no secret. No big whup. I've never done it and was suitably impressed.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Nice stretch, I plan on doing it this year myself. I have parked at a couple of the accesses, and contemplated how to do it, Troll up and drift back, have the wife drop on vehicle off and float to it, and so on. Glad to hear that you were able to do it and have a good time. That is what its about, although we are supposed to be getting the good ones in there.....

[The Kayak Kid]

Where did you put in, joeD? I've only done the stretch just below Wash SP, and lower stretch near House Springs. I've eyed several upper access points, wanting to try a new section, just haven't got to it yet.

[joeD]

The 6 mile float that Cherokee Landing does. Private put-in a few miles above St Francois State Park. Bonne Terre. You also might want to try Hwy 21 to Wash State Park, or Mammoth to Merrill Horse, or Merrill to Browns Ford (each about 5 miles, SMB Mgt Areas). Do your own shuttle. The Big is underutilized and underappreciated. As long as the water is a decent color and level. There are big fish in that river.

[Scott25.stl]

Dang! Nice pics Joe!

I was actually considering this stretch for a trip until I read a post from last year about the Big in this area being hit hard by mine tailings. http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/index.php?showtopic=30050.

Know anything about that? I may have to reconsider and hit up the Big on the next outing. Even if the fishing hasn't come back yet, that scenery alone might be worth it.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Yep too much lead, and lots of snakes, no bass at all.

[Gavin]

The stretches with alot of lead mine tailings in them...still hold bass...but you dont find them in areas with large concentrations of tailings..The stuff looks like sand on the bottom and nothing seems to lives on it...When you spot some...paddle down aways and find some better habitat the fish will be there.....The tailngs issue starts aways below the Leadwood Access and it continues in few spots between Cherokee Landing and Cole's. Its there, but not aparrent below.

[Al Agnew]

Upper Big River is my "home" river. The mine tailings issue is a big, continuing problem. The tailings are sand to fine gravel in size particles the are the result of crushing the dolomite ore as the first step to extracting the lead, and the crushed rock, after going through the rest of the process, was pumped into impoundments near the mines behind flimsy dams of more or less the same material. Over the years the dams partially gave way and the tailings washed into the river with each big rain event. The tailings areas are just now in the final process of being cleaned up (there were seven different areas and they are federal Superfund sites). The tailings that are now in the river will be there for the foreseeable future, though since the sources have been shut off, there are no longer large masses of them continually entering it. Some stretches of the upper river are about as bad as they've ever been, others are beginning to get a little better.

The problems with the tailings are threefold. One, the tailings physically fill in the pools, making the affected sections of the river more shallow and featureless than a normal Ozark stream. Two, they fill in the little spaces between the normal river rocks and gravel where the bottom organisms that form the base of the food chain live, up to and including crayfish. There are fewer crayfish and other bottom food sources in Big River than in normal Ozark streams. And three, the tailings themselves are rather sterile. Normal algae does not grow on them. The algae that does grow is a nasty variety that forms dense mats which eventually separate from the bottom and float to the surface, where they clump up on any obstruction in the current and make huge masses of smelly, blackish goo. By midsummer, the mine waste stretches of the river can be almost nauseating with this stuff.

The stretch that the Cherokee Landing canoe rental serves above Hwy. 67 is one of the worst. But from about two miles below the Leadwood Access down to St. Francois State Park is all very badly affected. There is actually a decent population of bass in it, though spotted bass now are as common as smallies throughout most of it (ten years ago they were basically non-existent up in the upper river). But due to the relative lack of food, the fish tend to be somewhat skinnier than normal.

[Scott25.stl]

Thanks for chiming in, Al. Man, that's kinda sad to hear.

Still might hit the Big sometime though. Sounds like this guy did pretty well!

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/index.php?showtopic=33027&pid=231233&st=0&#entry231233