Walleye ?

[dan hufferd]

I have heard that there is a population of walleye in some of the river systems there. I am 5 1/2 hours away, so I would appreciate any shared info. I used to do a lot of back packing and small mouth bass fishing when I was younger, I remember it as beautiful country, that was 30 yrs ago. I hope it is still the same. 

[Al Agnew]

Native Ozark river walleye are found in most of the larger Ozark streams, but in most of them, the populations are low enough that it's tough to actually target them except in a few specific wintering pools where they congregate, and in some cases during the early spring spawning run.

Just for your information as far as the eastern MO/AR Ozarks, without actually going into the specific spots to fish for them, they are found in appreciable numbers in Black River from Clearwater Dam to Poplar Bluff, Current River from Big Spring on down, Eleven Point from Riverton on down, Spring River below Hardy.  There are also some in the St. Francis above Wappapello and Castor River below Hwy. 34, but the numbers are pretty low.  They make spawning runs, apparently out of the Mississippi River, up the small tributaries between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. 

Other natural stream populations are found in the lower half of the Meramec and Gasconade, with some making spawning runs up the Bourbeuse and Big.  They are also found in all the Ozark reservoirs except for Clearwater (hence none on upper Black River), and make runs up the larger streams running into these reservoirs.  Some live in those streams year-round.

The southeastern MO/AR streams, especially those of the Black River system, once grew some of the biggest walleye in the country, and probably still could if they were managed for it.  Unfortunately, when it comes to walleye, not many local anglers even give a thought to catch and release angling for them.  There is a small but very effective subset of local anglers who target walleye in the wintering areas, and they keep everything they legally can, cropping off most of them before they can reach trophy size.  If there was some way to improve this situation and allow more of the females to grow to their potential, 10-20 pound walleye could be caught in these streams, as they were in the past.

Back 40 years ago when I was spending more time fishing for them, I saw a bunch of big ones caught, including several over 15 pounds and one that was 17.5 pounds.  My biggest was 12.5.  I'm still in touch with a few anglers who fish for them, and these days fish over 10 pounds are very seldom caught--the biggest I've heard of in the last 10 years was a single 15 pounder.

These guys fish for them ONLY in the winter, from November til the middle of February.  By mid-February they have left the wintering pools and headed for holding areas near spawning riffles.  

[dan hufferd]

Thank you very much, I think it would be a precious treasure to find and catch a walleye of any size from what might be the most beautiful natural area in the state. If I were to land one it would go back in for sure, the picture would be great !

It sounds like it would be a costly quest for someone like me who lives so far away.

Thanks for taking the time to share the info, might be something for the bucket list.    

[Ham]

Yeah Dan, I don't mean to rain on your parade and I have been known to joust with the occasional windmill myself, but long odds to try to catch a walleye in the Current in 1 or 2 days. I think I have spent five 3 day trips on the Current (if I am remembering correctly) where we threw baits that should have some appeal to walleye and neither I nor my partner have caught any. 30 full days of fishing and zero walleye BUT we were well above the area MDC indicates is better fishing for them.

[Al Agnew]

Well, you can actually target them in the winter...the easy time is about over now.  If you concentrate only on the deepest, longest pools, that should at least put you where some are, both winter and summer.  But I agree with Ham, summer is hit or miss at best unless you're somebody who really knows the river and knows how to catch them.

If I was specifically going to try to catch an Ozark river walleye, and knew enough about walleye fishing, I'd just go to Black River at the Hwy. 67 bridge.  There's a huge, deep gravel pit hole there, has a real nice boat ramp on it.  You'd need a boat and a good depth finder.  It would be almost like fishing a lake, reading ridges and drop-offs, with the added complication of reading currents, but there are always walleye in that big pool.  Way back when my dad and I fished it a few times during the summer, mostly trolling deep diving crankbaits, and caught a few.  Of course, it gets pounded mercilessly, so the fishing is far from easy.

[dan hufferd]

No rain on this topic for sure, I would rather keep it real.

Sounds like a real juicy snip- it of info on the 67 bridge area. The last time that I was in SE Mo everyone had river jets I am not sure how my deep V walleye boat would do ( I fish for walleye on Stockton Lake with this boat ) but it sounds like I could be possible where you mentioned.

I mentioned this general location and possible adventure to my wife she said "We could take off a couple weekends and spend the night..." So I figure 7/8 of the battle is over.

I will take a look on the map. Hendrickson ?? Thanks for all the help, I just think it would be great to catch a walleye in this area !  

[Ham]

If you want a river walleye, I think I would look at the river below the dam at Stockton first. I love the Current River and I would suggest you fish it when you get the chance.

[Al Agnew]

Yes, I think you could use your boat on that pool at Hwy. 67.  It's about a half mile long, several hundred yards wide, up to 50 feet deep.  Lots of structure coming off the banks where gaps between the drag line anchoring points were that are good feeding areas, and some fairly deep structure even in the middle of the pool, plus good drop-offs at both the upstream and downstream ends.  You can easily spend a day fishing it.

You could possibly use your boat in the settling basin below Clearwater Dam.  It gets pounded, too, and is not nearly as deep, but supposedly holds walleye year-round, though I've never caught many there.

Everywhere else that I know of that holds good numbers of river walleye pretty much requires a jetboat, or floating in a canoe or kayak or river johnboat.

[dan hufferd]

Thank you very much!

The plans are for Pomme this weekend, the wife wants to try for a muskie for her birthday, then we will start planning a trip to that area.

I guess this will be the year for the obscure catch. It should make for some interesting weekends !

Many folks on this forum have been really helpful. I am very thankful for the help. This trip should make a great video ! 

[MOPanfisher]

Don't be surprised if a toothy critter that grabs your lure on Pomme is a walleye.  If I were targeting rivers don't discount the western front, the sac upstream from lake and downstream as well, osage river as well has a good population.