Getting Started Chasing Smallies

[Smallmouth Addict 12]

Hey, everybody! I caught the Smallie bug up at lake St. Clair on a guided trip, but I’d like to learn to catch them here in central Missouri! Any advice is greatly appreciated, rods, reels, lures, streams etc. Thanks in advance! Tight lines y’all!!! 🎣

[Al Agnew]

Welcome to the forum!  I think you've come to the very best place to get your questions answered.  However, I also think your question is far too broad, too much to cover.  My advice is this:  There are 20 pages in this particular forum, Smallmouth Talk, dating back to 2012. Click on page 20 and start reading, and read every post that looks like it might be useful.  It might take you a day or so to get through all 20 pages, but by the time you do, you'll have gotten a LOT of info.  Then if you're not tired of reading, go to the General Angling forum and do pretty much the same thing, skimming through the lists of posts until you find those that look like they cover stream smallmouth angling.  And at some point, do the same thing with the individual river forums.  Anytime you have a specific question, ask it here and I'm sure you'll get answers.  But we don't know how much you already know, what kind of lures and tackle you already have, etc. so it's tough to give you a lot of advice at this point.

As for streams, we don't know if you have a canoe or kayak, or even a jetboat, and we don't know how far you're willing to drive.  Central Missouri covers quite a bit of territory.  With a few exceptions, nearly all the smallmouth fishing in Missouri is south of the Missouri River, and there's a lot of it, some of it not FAR south of the Missouri.  If you can find it anywhere, Chuck Tryon's old book, "200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures", will give you a pretty good list of streams with smallies, even though the access information in it may be out of date.  Much easier to obtain is "A Paddler's Guide to Missouri", put out by the Conservation Department.  Even if you don't paddle, it will give you quite a few places to access streams and wade.  Don't expect people on here to give you their favorite spots, but it's actually pretty easy to find your own. 

Hope this helps.

[Smallmouth Addict 12]

1 hour ago, Al Agnew said:

Welcome to the forum!  I think you've come to the very best place to get your questions answered.  However, I also think your question is far too broad, too much to cover.  My advice is this:  There are 20 pages in this particular forum, Smallmouth Talk, dating back to 2012. Click on page 20 and start reading, and read every post that looks like it might be useful.  It might take you a day or so to get through all 20 pages, but by the time you do, you'll have gotten a LOT of info.  Then if you're not tired of reading, go to the General Angling forum and do pretty much the same thing, skimming through the lists of posts until you find those that look like they cover stream smallmouth angling.  And at some point, do the same thing with the individual river forums.  Anytime you have a specific question, ask it here and I'm sure you'll get answers.  But we don't know how much you already know, what kind of lures and tackle you already have, etc. so it's tough to give you a lot of advice at this point.

As for streams, we don't know if you have a canoe or kayak, or even a jetboat, and we don't know how far you're willing to drive.  Central Missouri covers quite a bit of territory.  With a few exceptions, nearly all the smallmouth fishing in Missouri is south of the Missouri River, and there's a lot of it, some of it not FAR south of the Missouri.  If you can find it anywhere, Chuck Tryon's old book, "200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures", will give you a pretty good list of streams with smallies, even though the access information in it may be out of date.  Much easier to obtain is "A Paddler's Guide to Missouri", put out by the Conservation Department.  Even if you don't paddle, it will give you quite a few places to access streams and wade.  Don't expect people on here to give you their favorite spots, but it's actually pretty easy to find your own. 

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much!!! I’ll definitely do that, I’ve done some skimming already and I see what you mean about a whole lot of info! Once again thank you so much for a constructive, and helpful answer to an impossible question! I’ll start crackin’ some books and reading up here! Tight lines and God bless! 🎣

[Gavin]

You best experience will be river fishing for smallmouth in MO. Table Rock & Stockton if you want to lake fish for them. Plenty of water. Would read Al’s stuff. Also join Missouri Smallmouth Alliance for the book. Attend a meeting or a trip. Lots more info gets shared around a campfire than online these days.

[Harps]

16 hours ago, Gavin said:

You best experience will be river fishing for smallmouth in MO. Table Rock & Stockton if you want to lake fish for them. Plenty of water. Would read Al’s stuff. Also join Missouri Smallmouth Alliance for the book. Attend a meeting or a trip. Lots more info gets shared around a campfire than online these days.

You get a book when you join MSA?

[snagged in outlet 3]

Just now, Harps said:

You get a book when you join MSA?

I joined last year and didn't get a book.

[Smalliebigs]

14 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I joined last year and didn't get a book.

YEP YOU SCREWED UP.....I was given Chuck Tyron's 200 Smallmouth adventures....just kidding actually you probably just didn't ask

[snagged in outlet 3]

No I didn't.  I went to one of their events last winter at a brew pub and joined just because.  It was interesting and I saw a couple guys I know there.  Beer was good.

 

[Gavin]

Missed you at the brew pub Pete, got there after work...You should call Matt Weir and ask if you joined, they used to give one out if you joined and wanted one.. Might destroy & scan one of my clean copies (no notes).

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Yep you got there after I left.  I’ll probably hit a future event soon as the weather turns cold.  It’s a good activity when it gets dark early and I get cabin fever. 

Caught a few on top water Saturday.