up AGAIN !

[fishinwrench]

Doggonnit....the Niangua can't get a break it seems, soon as it begins to clear up and stabilize...here comes another gully-washer.

Then again, maybe this is just "the break" it needs.

Ya ever wonder what the floor of lake Niangua looks like? Gotta be covered with bottles, cans, sunglasses and strings of multi-color beads.

[Goggle-Eyed]

We beat the rain and went on a two day float Friday and Saturday. We caught alot of nice fish on Friday. We had one rain shower that lasted about 30 minutes friday afternoon. We set camp on a high gravel bar with a couple of escape routes Friday night, the rain started about 8:30pm and quit about 4:00am (we checked river level every 2 hours). The river only came up about 2" overnight and actually dropped about 1/2" Saturday morning by 7:00am (We were about 1.5 miles below blue springs). By the time we got to Lead Mine the river was up about 1.5' and the fishing had shut off. We got off the river well before the flood water reached us and all in all had a great trip. Probably wasn't our brightest move floating this weekend but it ended well and we caught several nice fish. I have been on this river when it was rising at about 1-2' per hour...

All smallies but ONE were taken on some sort of soft plastic we did have one 14.5" taken on a spook. The goggle-eye fishing was probably the best it has been in several years.

Joe

[gonefishin]

The floods are good for the river. Flushes some of the junk out and gives a big influx of fresh highly oxygenated water.

[fishinwrench]

Took a look at it today (Monday), it's still moving alot of mud and I considered it "boderline fishable", we decided to play in the park. Lots of Browns caught today and a massive tan caddis hatch on the lower end began at about 5pm.

[GotaFish]

Has anybody looked at the river since Monday? Am planning to float on Friday and Saturday. If we don't get any more rain I think it should be in pretty good shape by Friday.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Watch the area over toward Buffalo back south to I-44, that area to Windyville has a lot to do with the river level, more so than rain in the west laclede county area.

[BrianK]

hey Joe.

wow, looks like you got out just in time.

the gauge at Tunnel Dam shows that it came up 5 or 6 feet after you got off the river!

you almost needed that escape route. (scary)

good work! gonna try to visit the Gasconade this wknd.

bk

[tarpon14]

Stopped at conservation area near Bennett and also at Barclay on Wednesday afternoon. Swimmer's in the riffles near the Park, still high and muddy at Barclay. Didn't look good enough for this amateur to try - left the waders in the car and headed home.

[Goggle-Eyed]

Has anybody looked at the river since Monday? Am planning to float on Friday and Saturday. If we don't get any more rain I think it should be in pretty good shape by Friday.

How was the fishing? Hopefully it was good. I saw you all at the Mike's General Store before your trip but didn't have time to stop and visit. You have one of the only firberglass boats in this area!!! Anyway, I hope went well and you were able to catch a bunch. Let us know.

Joe

[GotaFish]

Floated on Saturday and Sunday from Prosperine to Bird Island. The weather was great on Saturday, but the river was up and flowing pretty fast and still a little murky. Fishing was not that good, however we did manage to catch a few smallmouth, the largest being 17 inches. Sunday started out overcast with the river looking better, then the thunderstorms came with the heavy rains and lightening. We were still above Lead Mines when the rain started and were stuck on a sand bar for a couple hours. The river began to rise quickly and looked like chocolate milk, so we tied everything down and rode her down to Bird Island. We didn't catch many fish on the trip, but the four teenagers we brought along will have some good memories of a fun ride down the river.