Paydown Access on the Gasconade

[nymphermaniac]

I am looking to wade and fly fish for smallmouth. Is Paydown access a good place to do that? Please, if anyone can provide any advice for access to river smallmouth wade fishing I would be so very grateful.

[Seth]

You are gonna have to go way up the Gasconade to be able to wade fish it. Paydown access is in the middle of a deep hole.

[Gavin]

Cut to the chase and get a canoe or kayak if you want to chase smallmouth & trout. A tent helps too. 

[Al Agnew]

Paydown isn't one of them, but there are plenty of good places to wade and fish for smallmouth.  But I doubt that any of us are going to tell you much about them.  There are two main reasons for that.  One is that they are small streams that can't take much fishing pressure and the anglers who know about them probably aren't going to want more people fishing them.  But two, and more importantly, the access to wading size streams is often iffy at best.  If it isn't a floatable stream, in Missouri it is basically private water.  While we all have our creeks where either we know the landowners or we know the landowners are okay with people fishing them, that can change quickly, and the more people fishing them, the more likely it is that the landowners will shut them down.

Your best bet is to do some of your own exploring.  The upper, but still floatable, sections of the major float streams are always good wading possibilities where you are not likely to get hassled for wading them.   As Seth said, you have to go pretty far up on the Gasconade, for instance, to find easily wadeable water, but it's there.  Same with Big Piney, Niangua, Meramec, Big, Huzzah, Courtois, etc.    

[nymphermaniac]

Thanks for the replies. I’m an older trout guy. But, I enjoyed smallmouth fishing in my youth. I was just hoping to find some close by areas. They are such great fish. 

[timinmo]

The small streams are there and you can find them.  The upper ends are where you want to look, as Al said. but it will take a little exploring.  The Paddlers Guide published by MDC can help but it usually stops on any stream before the fishable water stops.  My best suggestion would be pick a stream you are interested in and them follow it on a map to the upper reaches.  There are some public access on the smaller water but it might take some searching.  Good luck.   

[drew03cmc]

At Paydown, there are countless good areas close, but again, nobody will publicize them. Many of the older heads on here have spent decades exploring and refining the lists of wading accesses and keep these lists super close to the vest. I have several in that area that are special to me.