Wading trip Monday 7/15 REPORT UP!!!

[drew03cmc]

I'm taking my 12 year old son after his first smallie on Monday. We want to wade, preferably within 3 hours of south Kansas City, but I'm not sure how high up a few rivers can be accessed or how high we are wasting our time. If anyone has any public suggestions, give us a hand, but if anyone has any quiet suggestions, please PM us and know that your creeks or rivers will be kept quiet. We were thinking of going above Mule Shoe on the Little Niangua, but it's small at MS, so who knows how far up is really feasible. I only ask to minimize time driving from creek to creek as we aren't really able to slip away all that often. Thanks for the help, any and all is appreciated.

[Johnsfolly]

Good luck. Can't wait to hear how you did. All my favorite spots for that type of fishing are closer to Columbia. May be on the edge of what you are comfortable driving. Sending you a PM.

[Al Agnew]

This is a bad summer so far to be exploring small streams.  I like to check out creeks after a lot of dry weather when they will be flowing as low as they'll usually get.  If a creek is still flowing enough water to get your ankles wet in the middle of a riffle after an extended period of dry weather, it's almost certainly going to have some decent fish in it.

Above Mule Shoe should still have some decent fish.  Once in a while you'll encounter one of these smaller stream sections that seem devoid of fish--perhaps otters have cleaned them out, who knows?  But mostly if you look at where the highest possible put-in for float trips is in the MDC "Paddling Guide to Missouri" or the missouricanoe.org maps, chances are there is some decent fishing for at least a few miles above it.

[fishinwrench]

33 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

Above Mule Shoe should still have some decent fish.

I actually know of more 18+" fish coming from Muleshoe and above, than from the rest of the river below.  Spotted bass become rare above Green Ford and it's pretty much all Smallies from there up.

[drew03cmc]

3 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

This is a bad summer so far to be exploring small streams.  I like to check out creeks after a lot of dry weather when they will be flowing as low as they'll usually get.  If a creek is still flowing enough water to get your ankles wet in the middle of a riffle after an extended period of dry weather, it's almost certainly going to have some decent fish in it.

Above Mule Shoe should still have some decent fish.  Once in a while you'll encounter one of these smaller stream sections that seem devoid of fish--perhaps otters have cleaned them out, who knows?  But mostly if you look at where the highest possible put-in for float trips is in the MDC "Paddling Guide to Missouri" or the missouricanoe.org maps, chances are there is some decent fishing for at least a few miles above it.

The paddlers guide is on my bookshelf and it serves a good purpose. 

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I actually know of more 18+" fish coming from Muleshoe and above, than from the rest of the river below.  Spotted bass become rare above Green Ford and it's pretty much all Smallies from there up.

That makes this an exciting choice. I asked Braden and he wants to catch his first smallie where I did. Mule Shoe is a good starting point and then hit a few more bridges above. Thanks a bunch guys!

[drew03cmc]

The first access was deep right at the bank, so that was a no go, but we went upstream next, and waded up to the next bridge. We started slow, but fishing picked up about halfway. I caught 10 smallies and he caught 4. All of his were on either a grub or a Little Dipper in shiner. Mine were on a Jackall Dera Spin, 1/8oz buzzbait and Zoom Super Fluke Jr rigged on a Gamakatsu G Finesse 2/0 hybrid EWG. When we got to 42, the skies began looking ominous and a 2wd 4cyl Ranger on wet rocks going up that access did not sound like my idea of fun. We turned around and at this point, I'd only caught 4 smallies and he had 1. We decided to make time and hit the couple best pools again, which were in the upper half of that wade. I lost the big fish of the day that had to go 16+. It hit the Fluke Jr and immediately ran downstream yanking drag. My bait flew back at me as he only had the tail...drat. I caught 3 over 12, big fish at about 14. When he caught his first, the smile said it all. The rains ran us off the creek after about 4 hours, but a lifetime of memories were made and it's a creek I'll definitely be back to next month.

[Flysmallie]

Nice job pops!

[MOPanfisher]

Excellent!

[Jadesjigs]

That's awesome!!!  Looks like you have a fishing buddy for life now. Maybe some day your grandkids can have the privilege of catching their first smallie out there with you. Thanks for sharing!

[Gavin]

Good job, both of you!