How many rivers have you floated the whole thing?

[fishinwrench]

It isn't the obvious spots that bother me, it's those spots that you don't realize are tricky until you're already committed.  

There are 2 between 64 and NRO on the Niangua that I'm surprised don't cause serious problems for hundreds of folks every single weekend.  I think "bumbling through" with zero respect for what ALMOST happened just might be the best strategy for canoeing.  I'm probably guilty of over analyzing the sketchy spots. 

[dan hufferd]

12 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

It isn't the obvious spots that bother me, it's those spots that you don't realize are tricky until you're already committed.  

There are 2 between 64 and NRO on the Niangua that I'm surprised don't cause serious problems for hundreds of folks every single weekend.  I think "bumbling through" with zero respect for what ALMOST happened just might be the best strategy for canoeing.  I'm probably guilty of over analyzing the sketchy spots. 

It's all fun until you almost die once then it kind'a changes things, if I am alone, I'm good, if I am kayaking or canoeing with someone, I get extra alert.

Considering weather, and the time it takes to plan and float safely, this is an awesome accomplishment, a lifetime of float trips, I can't imagine all the neat scenic views ! 

[dan hufferd]

On 8/21/2019 at 9:40 PM, Al Agnew said:

I guess I just love rivers, and want to see a whole river, see the changes as you go downstream, see what kind of fishing water there is.  See if there are any surprises in the fishing.  A friend and I did most of the Meramec in one trip many years ago, from Short Bend (Hwy. 19, not that far from Salem) to Times Beach, 163 miles in 12 days.  It was a terrific trip, and it was so interesting to see the river change from a small, clear, barely floatable creek to a large, murky river.  And back then the fishing was pretty darned good over the whole river--we caught some nice smallmouth even getting close to the end.  I didn't fish any farther downstream until a couple years ago, when I was writing a book on the Meramec River system and took the jetboat on several trips to see the rest of the river.  I only had one trip where I didn't catch a few bass at least, as well as quite a few drum...on that one the only fish I caught was a 10 pound buffalo.

I floated lower Big River from Morse Mill to Cedar Hill before the spotted bass invasion--I had floated everything above there many times.  It was actually excellent smallmouth fishing, with a couple of 18 inchers thrown in.  Later, after spotted bass took over the lower river, I floated the last 20 miles from Cedar Hill to the mouth in a daylight to dark marathon float with my brother-in-law.  We caught a LOT of small spotted bass, but he also caught his personal best Ozark river smallmouth, a 20.5 incher.

There are some rivers that are simply really good throughout.  The Big Piney is pretty darned sweet from Dogs Bluff to the Gasconade.  The St. Francis is endlessly interesting and if you hit it right, any stretch of it can be excellent fishing.  

Other rivers, like the Bourbeuse, get pretty sorry by the time you reach the lower end.  The Gasconade, though, would be nice until the last few miles (and it's got 250 plus miles of floatable water) if it wasn't for the proliferation of jetboats from Jerome down.  I guess the last day's float on the Current, below Doniphan, is pretty boring compared to the rest of the river, but if you didn't already know what the rest of the river was like you'd probably be okay with it. 

That sounds wonderful !

[Brian Jones]

I guess I would say I'm more of a dabbler as I've only floated one creek from start to finish, but here is my list.

Big River:  Belgrade to Mammoth in the canoe.   Mammoth to about 4 miles below Brown's Ford in the jet boat.  And then a little bit of river above Morse Mill and above Rockford Beach in the jet boat as well. 

Mineral Fork:  Hwy F to Big River confluence. Would like to explore above F sometime...

Cedar Creek:  Hwy 32 to Big River; in the canoe obviously..

Meramec:  Scott's Ford to Garrison's in the canoe.  Garrison's to Big River confluence in the jet boat.

Huzzah:  Some put in above Hwy 8 that Huzzah Valley uses to put floaters in down to the confluence with the Meramec

St. Francis:  A float on the upper, upper river in  "Sims Mountain/Manion" country, then from Cedar Bottom to Coldwater in the canoe.  Also, Greenville to about two miles above Bounds Creek in the jet boat.  

Little St. Francis:  A short float in the middle section of this creek; in the canoe. 

Gasconade:  From about 3 miles above Riddle Bridge down to Second Creek/Helds Island; all in the jet boat.

Big Piney:  Mason Bridge to Slabtown in the canoe, then from the Gasconade up to the first railroad bridge in the jet boat.

Osage:  Bagnell to Wardsville and from Mari-Osa up to the old lock and dam; all in the jet boat.

James:  Hootentown to Galena, both in the jet boat and canoe. Cape Fair up to a rock ledge.   We were to scared to run through it in the jet boat.  I guess we went past Blunk's. 

Beaver Creek:  Can't remember exactly as it was a one time trip and it was too many years ago.  But it was about a 5 mile float that didn't leave much of an impression......