Big Piney Float

[briant]

Planning a over night float on the Big Piney. Any ideas for river sections that are good for floating/wading. Also any suggestions on outfitters that do over night camping foats. Good fishin' to all.

[405z06]

I usually go down to the Duke, MO area. There are 2 outfitters right next to each other: RIch's Last Resort, and Wilderness Ridge Resort. They each have cabins if that's your thing, and also plenty of tent/camping area. The 14 miles of river that ends at their places is the special smallmouth management area. If you want to camp on a gravel bar, do the 14 miles and split it into 2 days of floating, or if you want to stay at the resorts, do the 7 mile from Six Crossings.

My buddy and I floated the 7-mile form Six Crossings on both Sat 5/11 and Sun 5/12 staying at a cabin at Wilderness. There were lots of beds, though most bigger beds (bass) were empty. Tons of google eye on bed everywhere. We were targeting smallies. The numbers weren't what we were used to for this stretch, but we caught a 19.5" inch smallie on Sat, and 3 over 18" on Sunday. That's pretty darn good for us.

[briant]

Thanks! Sounds like you had a great trip to me. A few fish over 18in. is good for anyone as far as I'm concerned. Good fishin'

[ozark trout fisher]

I like Slabtown to Ross for a (relatively long) overnight float. The first half is not crowded at all.....might go an entire day only seeing 7 or 8 canoes on the weekend if you're lucky. below Six Crossings crowds grow exponentially. But it's all very good smallmouth water, and better scenery. Wouldn't plan anything there (or anywhere else) soon though, given the weather.

One thing about this float (and most others on the Big Piney) -you have to do your fair share of paddling to keep a decent pace. You'd think it'd be a quick moving stream, since it flows through some pretty rough, hilly country. It isn't....it's about as slow as any stream I know of in the Ozarks. It certainly doesn't seem to hurt the fishing but it means you have to work a bit to cover 16-17 miles in a couple days. But it's not too bad.

I've never used any of the canoe rentals on the Big Piney but given the number of rental canoes on it, you shouldn't have any trouble finding something that will work.