Good wade fishing river access near Fenton

[jb1976]

23 hours ago, Tobey said:

Thanks for warning on Bootleg Smalliebigs!  I'm not familiar with upper Castor River, do you know an access point I could look up?  Yes fly fishing only.

Closest access to you for the Upper Castor will be Amidon Conservation Area, just outside of Fredricktown. The Castor River Shut Ins are in the upper part of the CA (NOT Johnson Shut Ins, but similar), and its a popular spot with swimmers.

Best bet would be to plan to arrive early. The MDC Area sign is at a fork in the gravel road. Go right at the fork, which will take you to a deep ford crossing at the lower part of the CA. You can park off to the side right at the river. Fish upstream until about mid-morning when the swimmers start crowding the water a bit. After about midday, the water will most likely be too crowded with swimmers to fish easily down to the crossing, so downstream from midday on would probably be your best bet. It's rare I see the swimming crowd too far down from the lower crossing. And, almost everyone is there to enjoy the water and swim and splash about. I rarely see other fishermen in the water. Smallies are in there to be caught if you're willing to work the water to find them.

Another possible point of interest would be Kingston Access on the Mineral Fork. It may be a bit closer to Fenton, although probably not by much. Again, early is the key, since it's also a popular spot with the swimmers. By late morning, there will generally be swimmers clear down to the Big River,  so if you get there early enough you can wade downstream, and then work your way upstream after that. Mineral Fork is pressured pretty heavily, so you may have to work to find the bass, but they're there.

If you just want to catch fish and enjoy some time sloshing through the water, and aren't too particular in targeting bass exclusively, a size 8/10 surface popper will allow the long eared sunfish and bluegills to keep you entertained between bronzebacks and goggle eye. The upper Castor is practically choking on longears, and I'm generally able to catch one every few minutes for as long as I want to, as long as I don't overwork a specific hole and nothing funky shuts down the bite.

[jb1976]

25 minutes ago, Tobey said:

Thanks Jeff I know where that's at but have never been there.  Have you done any fishing and wading here?

I've only been there a few times, and certainly no expert, but the few times I was there the fishing was decent. Because the area sees regular fishing pressure, it felt I had to work for it, but I've consistently caught smallies in the 12" - 15" range (albeit in limited numbers) and some of the healthiest sized goggle eye I've landed anywhere. 

The water at Kingston access has always been wadeable for me, with the exception of one hole that is on the downstream end of the gravel bar. I'm guessing that hole is permanent, and it's easy enough to pick up the path at the very end of the gravel bar that has been blazed by all the other waders trying to get to the other side of it, and walk the bank to one of several well worn points where you can slip back down into the river bed and continue downstream.

[Tobey]

Great thanks for the information.  Now I need to decide which one to try.  I was thinking of doing St. Francois state park saturday morning and then castor sunday morning but maybe I'll try Kingston over St. Francois.  My new Orvis is being delivered today so I'm just anxious to get out there catch some fish.  Any preference on the better bite out of these 3 places?

[Gavin]

I'd suggest you do your own scouting...Buy a map, and burn the gas. It's more fun that way.

[Tobey]

4 minutes ago, Gavin said:

I'd suggest you do your own scouting...Buy a map, and burn the gas. It's more fun that way.

Unfortunately with work and kids I don't have a lot of time to run all over the place and honestly I have not had a lot of success in the past fishing these rivers that is why I'm trying to get some suggestions.  I'm not trying to muscle in on anyone's honey hole just trying to get some suggestions.

[jb1976]

18 minutes ago, Tobey said:

Great thanks for the information.  Now I need to decide which one to try.  I was thinking of doing St. Francois state park saturday morning and then castor sunday morning but maybe I'll try Kingston over St. Francois.  My new Orvis is being delivered today so I'm just anxious to get out there catch some fish.  Any preference on the better bite out of these 3 places?

Haven't fished St Francois State Park so I can't comment on that. Between the Upper Castor and Mineral Fork...I would honestly call it a toss up. At either place, I've caught enough fish to keep me entertained all day, and just enough larger fish that I didn't feel like I was just out fishing for trotline bait.

I like to fish surface poppers in the summertime, so this is my subjective experience and opinion...

Like I said, the Castor at Amidon CA is practically choking on longear sunfish, and that area would probably be my preference for pure numbers. Plus, the pools tend to be separated by longer shallower riffles, so there seems less current to contend with if you struggle with the finer points of surface presentations like I do. The streambed will vary from uneven bedrock, to large stone, to freestone, with some coarse gravel, depending on exactly what stretch you're walking on. Wading is very doable, but some areas like the large stones just upstream from the crossing at the lower part of the CA can be a mild pain to wade through. (Make sure you aren't wearing sandals that fall apart on you in the middle of the river, because having to walk back barefoot will be a long, slow, miserable experience...don't ask me how I know this...) I have NOT fished the stretch above the shut-ins, so I can't say if that is any better worse or different. I always intend to but fall victim to being a creature of habit. 

Mineral Fork seems to produce smallies a little more readily (although not by enough that I would swear that was any more than just my feelings), and seems to produce a few more in the "keeper" category, but in my case of just hoping to enjoy a day of sloshing in the water and catch whatever will bite my hook, the overall action just felt a little slower. Not enough of a difference that I would say it's anything more than a false impression. The current is a bit more consistent and a little stronger, and the stretches immediately up and down stream from the gravel bar are more freestone and coarse gravel/coarse sand. 

I would be very surprised if the bite at St Francois State Park is any different, because my experiences in feeding my smallmouth bass addiction have been pretty consistent. The classic smallmouth streams are fairly popular with anglers and swimmers alike. They to have limited public access points and those points tend to draw a fair amount of attention. There are plenty of fish in the water, but there are a lot of other people trying to catch them too. Any honey holes that exist are generally not going to be found at those places.

The access areas that are remote enough that they don't draw throngs of people,  like Tea Access or Mint Spring on the Bourbeuse River, Bootleg Access on the Big, and even Kingston on the Mineral Fork until this year when COVID-19 forced everyone to discover what "outside" is, you are well advised to maintain situational awareness at the very least, or just plain stay away from. I haven't found the fishing in those areas to be phenomenally better, and not every single person who lives in those areas is kind, friendly, helpful, good, moral country folk. Let me be clear...I have NEVER had a problem in any of those places, but I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who have gotten back to their vehicles to see the window has been busted out, had encounters of varying levels of discomfort and danger with drug addicts , and been forced into just plain weird interactions with random people at unexpected places along the riverbank, that I absolutely believe them to be real. 

 

[jb1976]

1 hour ago, Gavin said:

I'd suggest you do your own scouting...Buy a map, and burn the gas. It's more fun that way.

It can be, and the internet, with access to Google maps and satellite views, makes this easier than ever.

But, even that will only get you so far, and I have empathy for people for whom time is a precious commodity and may not have enough of it to be willing to spend 3 to 4 hours on a pure gamble. So, I share my experiences with well known public access spots pretty readily. 

Guaranteed, if/when I ever discover that little hidden gem of uncharted water where the smallmouth bass hatch 15" long at spawning , and are so numerous that you can walk from bank to bank without ever getting your shoes wet simply by stepping on their backs, except that they are all too busy leaping out of the water to grab every bait thrown at them out of midair, my response will be deceptive silence. As of now, I'm fairly convinced that those places don't actually exist, and there really are no secrets.

[Tobey]

JB thanks for all of the information, I really appreciate it.  I think I'm going to run down to Kingston Saturday just because it's 1/2 hour closer and then hopefully I can sneak out Sunday morning too and then I'll try hitting Castor.  Thanks again!!

[jb1976]

17 hours ago, Tobey said:

JB thanks for all of the information, I really appreciate it.  I think I'm going to run down to Kingston Saturday just because it's 1/2 hour closer and then hopefully I can sneak out Sunday morning too and then I'll try hitting Castor.  Thanks again!!

Hope you find my ramblings helpful. Be sure to come back and report on how you do.

[Tobey]

1 hour ago, jb1976 said:

Hope you find my ramblings helpful. Be sure to come back and report on how you do.

Thanks again JB, you gave me some good suggestions.  My new Orvis Clearwater outfit showed up yesterday and I'm ready to wet a line.  I'll give a report Monday morning.