Trip report: Poor fishing

[Gatrman]

Floated last week from Riverton down to Myrtle and stayed overnight on gravel bar a mile up from the 142 bridge. I was targeting smallmouth only and have to say it was one of the best fishing floats I have done in years. I have floated the majority of rivers in MO and being my first time on the 11 point I became a huge fan. Caught 80+ fish in the 2 days and 20 of those were over 14in. Majority of fish were in the swift water especially behind or in front of structure. Ned rig and tubes were the bait of choice. River level seemed fine to me as I never had to get out and walk any of it unless I felt like the river had some debris that I didn’t want to risk my canoe going into. I for one will be going back. 

[jdmidwest]

Water is alot clearer than 2 weeks ago.  We came in after a heavy rain, Fredrick Creek was puking mud probably on that gravel bar you stayed on.

I was running a jet boat.  Takes a little more water than your boat.  OP was way up river before many more creeks and springs dump in.  Riverton down is always a safe bet, as long as you don't need a trout fix.

Tubes and chartruese swim baits were working good for us.

[gotmuddy]

15 hours ago, Gatrman said:

Floated last week from Riverton down to Myrtle and stayed overnight on gravel bar a mile up from the 142 bridge. I was targeting smallmouth only and have to say it was one of the best fishing floats I have done in years. I have floated the majority of rivers in MO and being my first time on the 11 point I became a huge fan. Caught 80+ fish in the 2 days and 20 of those were over 14in. Majority of fish were in the swift water especially behind or in front of structure. Ned rig and tubes were the bait of choice. River level seemed fine to me as I never had to get out and walk any of it unless I felt like the river had some debris that I didn’t want to risk my canoe going into. I for one will be going back.

 The first time I fished the 11pt was a birthday float with my wife from riverton to myrtle.  We camped on a gravel bar and had an excellent float.

[budman]

We had a fun float on the river last week. We started at Greer on Monday about noon and got off the river on Thursday about 1 pm at the 142 Access. The water was a little low and we had to get off the kayaks and pull through several on the shoals. Started off with a #6 beadheaded Olive Bugger on the fly rod, and with a small white rooster tail on one spinning rod and the other with a Rebel Craw. The other three guys all tried something different and we wanted to see what would work best. I caught trout on all three rods with none really working better than the other. Everyone caught a few nice rainbows within the first mile of the float. We stopped on the right side of the big island around Graveyard Hollow where the river has a big S turn and a nice deep hole. We caught several trout each out of this area, some in the 14-15 range. One of the guys was using a hopper with a midge dropper. He caught two minnows on the midge that were about 2.5-3 inches long. That was a new one for us. Another first was catching a line, which I thought was a fish because it pulled back at first. When I got my lure up I notice it was another fishing line so I started pulling it in to get it out of the water. As I was pulling it in it started pulling back. Once I got it in it had a 12 rainbow on the other end. It was hooked on a white rage swim bait that was about half rotted. When I unhooked it it swam off like nothing was wrong. We kept fishing and started to look for a nice gravel bar to camp, the fish kept biting but we couldn't find a nice gravel bar big enough for four tents that wasn't on a flat island or over grown with lots of grass and weeds. We stopped at Turner Mill South and thought about camping there but didn't like the idea of having people drive into our camp in the middle of the night. We knew of a nice place down stream across from Stinking Pond.  It was a great spot and there was plenty of wood for a fire. We cooked some really nice ribeyes and potatoes. We always have steaks the first night out so we don't have to try and keep the cold too long. Breakfast is Burritos made from Mountain House Breakfast skillet, Cheese, and extra bacon. Coffee is Folgers Singles, two in a cup makes a good cup of coffee. I think everyone caught a rainbow right in front of camp before we started our day of floating. A couple of the guys switched to a ned rig or craw on their spinning rods. Well the ned rig was the ticket so we all switched to one and caught several nice rainbow each. I had never caught a trout on a ned rig before but will try it on all the place I fish for trout. Lunch was Jalapeno cheese summer sausage and cheese on crackers and a cold beer. Spent the second night just up stream from Greenbriar Float camp. It was a little smaller place but worked. I rained a little that night, about 3 am but not enough to make us worry about the river coming up any or making it off color for the next day. Breakfast was the same except had extra sausage patties instead of bacon. We use that precooked bacon and sausage patties so all we have to do is warm it up a little. Right after our launch the next morning two eagles landed in a large tree that was over hanging the river. It must have been a regular spot for them because they never looked at us coming toward them, they were watching the river. I was long until one just dropped out of the tree and headed for the water. After splash down it made it's way to the shore with a nice trout and flew off. They other one was waiting for it's turn and never moved as we floated right below it. The fishing changed and we started catching some small mouth and goggle eye. We all made it safely over the big drop down stream from Boze Mill. We floated under the Hwy 160 bridge at Riverton and headed into new territory for us. The small mouth were biting and I caught a nice 17 incher, my largest fish on the trip. We found a really nice large gravel bar maybe a couple miles downstream from Riverton but since it was only 3:30 we thought we should keep going so we wouldn't have a long float on Thursday. Well that was a mistake because we had to float about three more hours before we found a place for the night. It was actually the only place on the river were I found cell service. Everyone used my phone to call our wives and let them know we were still alive. We had told them there would be no service but two of the guys wives didn't believe them. One of them had called two other wives to ask if they had heard from us and they told them no and we won't until they get off the river on Thursday  afternoon. Our camp spot for the night was tree covered and kept the heavy dew off our tents and they were dry the next morning so we didn't have to put them away wet. We got to the Hwy 142 Access about 1 and our truck was there and we loaded up and changed clothes for the drive home. On our float we saw about 20 otters, one group of six that seemed as interested in us as we were of them. Another group of three left the bank and swam towards us and right under our kayaks. We must have seen about as many eagles, most were mature with white heads and tails, lots of deer with several feeding on the grass growing on the river bottom. Some would have their whole heads under water for maybe 10 seconds or so.  Also saw two dead ones in the river, one 8 point buck and a doe. Only saw four pigs this year and one flock of about 15 turkeys. The weather couldn't have been nicer. It would have been a perfect trip but two of us turned over and lost a rod and I lost a cot. Glad I also carry a nice sleeping pad or the rocks would not have been a nice to sleep on. One guy just wasn't paying attention, fishing too much and wasn't prepared to have to make a hard turn around a strainer. It took us about 20 minutes to get it out from under a tree. I turned over because I wouldn't take my own advice. Just down stream from Riverton I noticed a spot with a couple downed trees on one side and very shallow water on the other. I told Jon I think we better stop and drag our kayaks through this spot. Well I didn't take my own advice and just went for it. Shouldn't have done it. There was a limb just under the water where I was having to make a tight turn between a couple trees. I hit it and rolled over. Glad I always wear a good life jacket, because I couldn't touch the bottom and was grabbing for rods and other stuff. So next time I will listen to my better judgement instead of just going for it.  If it wasn't about 5 hours to get here we would float it more.