Gasconade River Q's

[MObassin95]

Hey all, I live in Springfield and am curious about the Gasconade. I'm just wondering what accesses you guys would recommend. I'm mainly after largemouth, but will take anything I can get at this point. I also have an inflatable pontoon boat so I am pretty mobile on the water.

Also, kind of on a side note; I've noticed the Gasconade originates from Hartville Lake. Is that lake worth fishing? I cannot find much information on it.

Thanks,

[Mitch f]

16 minutes ago, MObassin95 said:

Hey all, I live in Springfield and am curious about the Gasconade. I'm just wondering what accesses you guys would recommend. I'm mainly after largemouth, but will take anything I can get at this point. I also have an inflatable pontoon boat so I am pretty mobile on the water.

Also, kind of on a side note; I've noticed the Gasconade originates from Hartville Lake. Is that lake worth fishing? I cannot find much information on it.

Thanks,

Are you catch and release only?

[Al Agnew]

Not to be too vague about things, but the Gasconade is 250 miles long from where the forks come together.  I've fished most of it at one time or another, and it's pretty much all decent to good fishing.  Upper river from the forks to Hazelgreen is small to medium in size, and has plenty of largemouth along with plenty of smallmouth.  Spotted bass begin to show up around Hazelgreen but the fishery is still dominated by largemouth and smallmouth between Hazelgreen and the mouth of the Big Piney.  That stretch is sometimes jetboatable but in lower summer water levels is still pretty much paddle craft water.  Below the Big Piney the river gets bigger, gets a lot more jetboat traffic, and spotted bass get more and more common.  The farther down you go the fewer smallmouth there are but largemouth remain common all the way to the Missouri River.

Most of the river is slow by Ozark standards, with lots of long pools.  However, it's still best if floated, rather than trying to fish from a single access, and not all sections are served by outfitters who can shuttle you for floats.

Just pick a stretch and fish it.  You'll probably find some fish.

[MObassin95]

3 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Are you catch and release only?

Yes I am!

[MObassin95]

1 hour ago, Al Agnew said:

Not to be too vague about things, but the Gasconade is 250 miles long from where the forks come together.  I've fished most of it at one time or another, and it's pretty much all decent to good fishing.  Upper river from the forks to Hazelgreen is small to medium in size, and has plenty of largemouth along with plenty of smallmouth.  Spotted bass begin to show up around Hazelgreen but the fishery is still dominated by largemouth and smallmouth between Hazelgreen and the mouth of the Big Piney.  That stretch is sometimes jetboatable but in lower summer water levels is still pretty much paddle craft water.  Below the Big Piney the river gets bigger, gets a lot more jetboat traffic, and spotted bass get more and more common.  The farther down you go the fewer smallmouth there are but largemouth remain common all the way to the Missouri River.

Most of the river is slow by Ozark standards, with lots of long pools.  However, it's still best if floated, rather than trying to fish from a single access, and not all sections are served by outfitters who can shuttle you for floats.

Just pick a stretch and fish it.  You'll probably find some fish.

Thank you very much! I'm very willing to try explore it, but with going to school and working my time is a little limited. The more direction I have the better.