New To The Forum, Not New To The Niangua

[Rivr_runnr]

I began fishing the Niangua river in 2000 when my tournament fishing partner let me in on the secret he grew up with. My first trip was spectacular with well over 200 fish boated and my personal best to this day, an astounding 21 1/4 incher. Needless to say I was hooked on the Niangua. Today I no longer tournament bass fish and have found no better river in the state to catch quality smallmouth than the lower stretchers of the Niangua. In 2003 we lost our regular put in when John Reagan sold Blue Springs Resort. We began the search for our own piece of the "paradise lost" and in 2005 we built our cabin a couple miles below Blue Springs. The cabin is situated halfway between Prosperine and Bird Island giving us access to some of the most secluded and desireable sections of this fantastic fishery.

The river has changed a great deal in the 12 years since I first floated it. Many of the fantastic holes of years past have filled in and new holes holding aggressive bronze backs and voracious goggle eyes have emerged. We went through a two or three year spell in the late nineties where we wondered what happened to the big fish on the river. I can tell you with certainty that the big fish are back. I have not found the elusive 20 incher, but 18's and 19's abound; its only a matter of time.

For the record, we do not keep any bass we catch. Goggle eye occasionally make it to the table, but only if they within our self imposed slot limit of 8-10". We have released numerous Master Angler goggles this year, and all members of my family proudly hold the Master Angler title.

In short, we genuinley love the Niangua River. We have raised our ten year old son on this river and it is special to us. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about this stretch or suggestions on new hot baits. We are always looking for new things to try.

This picture is from this past weekend, my son and I hooked and landed the largest double to date; mine measered 19' and my son's was 17.5". Normally my net man, he has really come on and I find myself landing more and more big fish for him on our trips.

This fish is my sons largest so far caught a couple of weeks ago right above our cabin while wade fishing, a nice haevy 18 incher

This is a picture of a 10.14 lb. walleye caught below the spillway by a friend. A trophy for sure that was released to fight again another day! Fiberglass replica looks fantastic in his living room...

And finally, this is a fish that we all dream about. It came on the lower Niangua, technically the Lake of the Ozarks, but it weighed 5 lbs 9 and 1/2 ounces and missed the state record for Meanmouth bass by less than an ounce. Amazingly, this fish was caught and released two weeks prior about 1/4 mile downstream from this location by another angler. We were targeting walleyes with Megabass stick baits...go figure

[fishinwrench]

Good Gawd-Almighty!

I've seen that boat before

[GloryDaze]

Welcome! I too have recently "discovered" the Niangua. I've always avoided it due to the reputation of the party river I hear a lot here in KC. However, after floating darn near every stream in the Ozarks and many long drives, my past 2 experiences in the past month have me thinking otherwise.

I've enjoyed floating, camping and fishing the river and see many trips in the future. Like you, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for an opportunity to buy some property and build my little piece of heaven. While that may be further down the road for me, it's nice to hear you were able to pursue that dream.

Thanks for the post and pics.... Makes me want to skip out of work and head down there this weekend.

[Smalliebigs]

Wow!!!!!! sweet pics and that Meanmouth is crazy!!!! also do you know the people selling the cabin you listed or is it you???.....kinda interested. thank you in advance....you can personal message me if you would like.

scott

[Rivr_runnr]

The cabin we have listed is next to ours. We own it. I will PM you.

[Guest]

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[Rivr_runnr]

24 incher

I emailed the picture to my buddy Greg Stoner who is the fisheries biologist for Lake of the Ozarks. He responded right away with the incredible tale of the fish being caught earlier. I thought "yeah right". He also got all the details, length, weight, certified scale info etc... and informed me it wasn't a smallmouth as I had believed. He then emailed me the picture of the guy holding the fish two weeks prior...sure enough it was the same fish! He then checked the recod status and my fish came up a little short for the record...but who cares???!?!!?!?!? the thing was a pig and I caught it and my kid netted it!

It is one hell of a story though!

[Guest]

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[dennis boatman]

...OK, now that we are focused on the Niangua...I am still to catch a trout below NRO...Whats up with that?

[Gavin]

Those are some awesome catches! Good for you!

There are probably some spring holes around NRO. They probably arent huge.....but fish seek thermal refuge when it gets hot, or really cold.