Fished The Burbouse Sunday October 21.

[Kayser]

Unfortunately, yes, there are a fair amount of spots in the river towards Mill Rock. On the last trip, reduced 8 to limit- 2 at 10-12" and 6 at 3-7" from the seine. No, none of them were largemouth- didnt have any over 12", and they are easy to tell from the spots if you know what to look for.

Rob

[Al Agnew]

Yep, the spots are taking over much of the Bourbeuse...however, there are still a few big smallies, even down around Union. Caught this one during the Smallmouth Alliance Spotted Bass Roundup back in September. It was about 19 inches.

[Kayser]

Nice fish Al. Haven't seen any that big up there (but I'm only 18, so that's not saying much).

Yeah, they're getting kinda plentiful, so I'm trying to do my part for the smallmouth. Besides, the spots taste pretty good- grilled, fried, whatever.

Rob

[RedOakMo]

Hey Kayser!

I've got property near Mill Rock, and we often head down there to relax and wet a line or two. However, I've never learned any of the history of the area. Do you know anything about it such as if there was settlement or town there? It's a peaceful spot, and there are still some cabins on the northsdie bluff, so I can imagine it was probably "something" years ago.

Thanks!

[Kayser]

RedOakMo- are you upstream or downstream of Mill Rock, and how far? I might know the cabin(s) you are talking about.

Since it was a river, I guess there could've been an early settlement there, but the cabins mightve just been some old fishing/hunting cabins that people owned as a getaway, like mine. Besides, a town wouldve probably been located in the river bottom, close to the river, where it was easy to build and farm.

Rob

[bikehikefish]

Kayser,

I've slept in those cabins on the north hill. From what I remember, there are 2 cabins and a trailer there. The cabins were just basic "river shacks".

In the 70s a fraternity brother of mine from UMR bought the property and operated a canoe livery there - "Mill Rock Floats". For $9 a canoe he would take us up to the bridge at Hwy H and we would drag the canoe down the bridge embankment to the river and float back to Mill Rock. Once it took us 12 hours to float the 4 miles. We cut the float short when the beer ran out.

After he got married and had a family he needed a "real" job, so he sold the place and moved to St. Louis.

I still fish the area, sometimes with a kayak, a canoe, or john boat.

[RedOakMo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Kayser:

We've got property further north, along Red Oak Creek, but we'll come down to the Millrock access in the summer when the creek level gets pretty low. But the cabins I was talking about are the ones located on the north bluff, right at the access, that bikehikefish was talking about. I'm sure there was probably a town somewhere around there and that the MDC area was probably just the local ford. In fact, there's a surprising number of farms and homes along Millrock road. I just can't find any historical references to the area.

bikehikefish:

12hrs on that stretch from H to Millrock would be quite a feat! The river does wind a bit through there, but I'm sure the beer hampered swift progress for most of the journey.