2 Day Float In July, Want To Avoid The Crowds....any Recommendations?

[Yakman]

My buddy and I are looking to get out of town for a fishing trip on the river. I live in Dallas and he lives in Indianapolis, so we both agreed Missouri would be a great place to meet in the middle. I am not familiar with MO Rivers, so I'm looking for some advise.

Our trip is planned for the 3rd weekend in July. We are going to drive in Thursday, find a place to camp, put in the river Friday morning, camp on the river Friday & Saturday night, take out Sunday and drive home Monday. I had initally thought the Niangua would be a good spot for this trip, and it still could be, but some research I've done on this forum is telling me the Niangua gets a pretty heavy party crowd in July. We are looking to avoid the party crowd, and would like as much isolation from noise and high traffic areas as possible. We do not own a canoe, so we will need an outfitter to rent from. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[eric1978]

Having to rely on a rental outfit means you'll have little chance to be totally alone on any river...some are worse than others. Niangua is bad, Huzzah, Meramec, Current, Jack's Fork, Big Piney, NFoW...just to name a few...avoid them all if peace and quiet is what you're looking for. You can increase your odds of finding solitude by coming in the middle of the week...otherwise, prepare for some company. Or you guys can throw in on a beat up used Disco for a couple hundred bucks and drag it along. And since you guys are meeting halfsies and you'll have two vehicles, you can do your own shuttle. You're bound by nothing...go wherever you want.

[Gavin]

Might talk to Justin @ Sunburst Ranch on the North Fork of the White...see if he can get you to the Bryant or upper North Fork on Friday..the Bryant doesnt get much traffic and its one ridge over from the North Fork.. The Eleven Point would be a good option as well. It doesnt get the volume of doofus rental boaters that you will find on the Huzz/Courois/Meramec/Niangua/Jack's/Current/& Black.. but you will have some jet boaters to contend with. Brian Sloss at Eleven Point canoe would be the person to call for that one. We are in a bit of a drought right now...water levels may limit your choices.

[ozark trout fisher]

The Big Piney is about as good of an option as anywhere you can rent a canoe. It is one of the better smallmouth streams in the state, and the scenery is as good as anywhere in the Ozarks. The crowds aren't as bad as some other rivers in the area like the Niangua, Current, or Meramec, but you still won't have it all to yourself. I like the Slabtown to Ross float for a two day, one night camp trip. The first half of that float tends to be very uncrowded, but half-way through there is a popular rental put in called six-crossings, and below there the party crowd really picks up. But it's hard to avoid that on any river with canoe rentals. The Eleven Point is also a great option, and even though it has a couple canoe rentals, the crowds are usually very minimal. It's a wilderness river, or as close to that as we have in Missouri. For a two day float, I'd recommend Greer Crossing to Whitten. This is some of the best trout water in the state. The Gasconade is one final stream I can think of that you should look at.

Here is a list of rivers to AVOID if you don't want the party crowd...

Black River

Current River

Jacks Fork

Meramec River

Huzzah and Courtious Creek (don't even bother correcting my spelling on that people, I already know it's almost certainly wrong)

Niangua River

[Fishslayer88]

James river is pretty quiet, if we don't get any rain it will be low in July but so will all the other rivers.

http://www.google.co...hAdgxmaJ9oT3hJw

These guys are a pretty good rental outfit your cars will be in a locked campground at night so there is not a big chance of vandalism and they have showers and bathrooms for when you get done with your float which is pretty nice after a 2 day.

[The Kayak Kid]

Eleven Point. You'll love it.

[Stoneroller]

I want world peace and everyone to live together in harmony...

oh sorry, thought this was the wishful thinking thread.

[slayer of lunkers]

Hope for rain in the next few weeks to give you some more options or else you might only be able to float some of the spring fed rivers. The 11 Point is great - Alton, MO is the hub. If you want trout and smallies, put in at Greer Spring and start with the blue ribbon trout area and when you near Whitten you should start getting into smallies.11 Point Canoe is who we've used & Brian was good to us.

The Current is ok during the week, but if you're hitting it on the weekend it'll be what you're trying to avoid. The NFOW is spring fed, but mainly trout. The smallie section above the springs probably won't be floatable in July without some serious rain.

Good luck!