St. Francis River Info

[Al Agnew]

Those of you who are familiar with Ozark streams but haven't been on the St. Francis would find it to be VERY different from the "normal" Ozark stream. This is due mostly to the geology through with it flows. As it says in the introduction, the St. Francis heads up in the St. Francois Mountains (and yes, the two different spellings are correct--although the river can be spelled either way, it's usually spelled without the "o", while the mountains and the county are spelled with the "o"). To truly understand the St. Francis, you have to understand a bit about Ozarks geology.

The St. Francois Mountains are the geologic center of the Ozarks (though of course not the geographic center). The Ozarks are basically a gently uplifted plateau--or actually three plateaus--that has been eroded by the streams draining it. That's why the hilltops over most of the Ozarks are all about the same height--their tops are the remnants of the original plateaus. As I said, there are three separate plateaus in the Ozarks. The highest is the Boston Plateau, called the Boston Mountains, in Arkansas. It's made up mostly of Pennsylvanian rocks lying atop Mississippian rocks. The second highest is the Springfield Plateau, which makes up much of the area in the upper White River country and the Springfield area. It's made up of Mississippian over Ordovician rocks. The lowest, which covers much of the Missouri Ozarks, is the Salem Plateau, which is made up of Ordovician and Cambrian rocks. Now if you know your basic high school geology, you'll know that Pennsylvanian sediments lie over Mississippian over Ordovician over Cambrian, with Precambrian lying beneath all of them. Drill a hole deep enough through the Boston Mountains and you'll eventually get to Precambrian rock. But since the Ozarks have been uplifted and eroded, the closer you get to the center of the uplift, the closer the Precambrian rocks are to the surface. And in the St. Francois Mountains they are exposed, with all the other rocks eroded away.

The Precambrian rocks of the St. Francois Mountains are usually called granite, although they are mostly not true granite but other igneous (volcanic) rocks. What all of them have in common is that they are very hard and resistant to erosion, compared to the sedimentary rocks around them. So a stream that flows through igneous rock, unlike one flowing through the sedimentary rock of the rest of the Ozarks, cannot carve out wide valleys. And what this means to the St. Francis River is that, wherever it encounters igneous rock, the valley pinches in, gets narrow and V-shaped.

But what you also have to consider is that, not too many millions of years ago, those igneous rocks were still covered up by sedimentary rocks. They weren't a flat surface, but consisted of buried knobs and valleys. The St. Francis then flowed over the sedimentary rocks in a typical meandering Ozark course. But as it wore away the sedimentary rocks, it began to encounter the buried Precambrian. Those hard rocks actually formed "dams", backing up sediments behind them, with the river eventually pouring over them and starting to wear through them. Topographically, the St. Francis flows for a while in wide, flat valleys between low sedimentary hills, then encounters one of those Precambrian outcrops and pours through it in a V-shaped canyon with a lot of fast water, then slows down again when it comes to the next sedimentary rock valley.

The narrow canyons are called "shut-ins". Johnson's Shut-in on the East Fork of Black River is probably the best known, but the St. Francis has more, longer, and arguably more spectacular shut-ins, and that's what makes it a great whitewater river when there is enough flow. While the average floatable Ozark stream drops somewhere between 2 and 8 feet per mile, the St. Francis drops 20 feet per mile in two different 3-5 mile stretches. And in the shorter stretches of true rapids it drops a lot more than that.

The only problem with the St. Francis as a whitewater river is that it just doesn't have a dependable water supply. The same geology that gives it the shut-ins is not conducive to supplying it with a lot of springs. It will usually be flowing enough water in the spring, though not always. But in the summer it often drops to less than 50 cubic feet per second even far downstream at Sam A. Baker State Park.

So for the angler, the St. Francis is not a real convenient river to fish. If there's enough water to float it, some stretches are dangerous. If it's low, it's almost unfloatable. Wading is problematical because those igneous rocks are rounded and usually SLICK, with deep holes between them. Only one canoe rental services the river, at Sam A. Baker. Not much of it is normally jetboatable.

I've fished the entire length of the St. Francis above Wappapello. It's different in the composition of fish species (especially bass) as well. There are few if any smallmouths in the upstream end, above Farmington. Smallmouths don't really get common until you hit the first real shut-in stretch, above Hwy. 72. Largemouths are more abundant on the St. Francis that any other Ozark stream, and spotted bass are common throughout. For unknown reasons, smallmouths have actually become a lot more common than they were 30 years ago. Back then, you very seldom caught smallmouths anywhere on the river, but now they are quite common in fast water areas.

The river consists of a lot of long, dead pools, separated by riffles that are often willow-choked and rocky rapids that are usually tricky to float. The water is seldom truly clear, and often very olive green to olive brown in the summer.

Bass fishing on the St. Francis seems more of a feast or famine thing to me than other streams. When it's right, it's terrific. When it's not right, you'd swear there weren't a dozen bass in the whole river.

As for other fishing...catfishing is excellent over most if not all the river. There are walleye in the St. Francis, thanks to a stocking program by MDC that has tried to replace the vanished native walleye which once produced some big fish, including a former Missouri record. Sunfish and goggle-eye are abundant, and the St. Francis may be the best crappie river in the Ozarks. And if you like a different challenge, there are a LOT of big gar. Some years there's a white bass run out of Wappapello, but it's very inconsistent.

I love fishing it, however. You have to pay in effort and sometimes bruises to fish the St. Fran. I've encountered worse willow jungles on it than anywhere else. I've fallen on rocks, twisted ankles, crashed canoes, lost rods. But the shut-ins and the granite bluffs and the rapids make it worthwhile even when the fish aren't playing.

[Guest]

G

[RiverRunner]

That is a very interesting article, thanks for posting that. Its surprising how long of a river the St. Francis is. I grew up fishing the St. Francis, but it is an entirely different kind of river where I fished it, in NE Arkansas in the sunken lands. It used to be one of the best largemouth and Kentucky fisheries in Arkansas, but it has declined in recent years. It was always neat to me that I crossed the same river on my way to St. Louis, hundreds of miles from home, and it was remarkable to me how different the upper river was from the cypress swamp that is the St. Francis in Arkansas. Two different kinds of beauty I guess.

[Flysmallie]

Great post Al.

[Al Agnew]

Great post, what in your opinion would be the best section to fish?

I'm not sure there is a best section. But I can discuss the different sections:

Gruner Ford MDC Access to Syenite MDC Access--7 miles

The St. Francis at this point is being fed mainly by Farmington's sewage plant in low summer water levels. It actually dries up completely not far above Gruner Ford in a "losing" reach, although above that reach there is permanent flow and actually some interesting fishing if you can find access (and I ain't gonna tell you the access). So water quality isn't great in the summer and there isn't enough water to float it anyway. In higher spring water levels it's floatable and the sewage water is diluted, so it's pretty decent. No smallmouths in this stretch. No real shut-ins, either. But it still has some rapids that I'd call low class 2 in normal spring water levels, some log jams, and a lot of narrow, twisty riffles.

Syenite to Roselle MDC Access at Hwy. 72--10.5 miles

About a mile below Syenite you encounter the first real shut-in. The MDC float book says the "river begins to flow more rapidly. Next 3 miles has a gradient of 20 feet per mile." That's kind of an understatement. At the first shut-in the river drops about 10 feet in a half mile. Then it goes through several long, dead pools with short rapids between them for the next mile and a half, dropping maybe another 10 feet at most. That last mile below, it drops the rest of the way, a good 40 feet. The shut-ins are beautiful, but there is a big (and pretty shabby-looking) resort development on the right bank that kinda detracts from the wilderness character throughout much of this stretch. Below there it used to run into the worst willow jungle I've ever seen on an Ozark stream, but the last time I was through there it wasn't nearly so bad. Mostly long pools from there on down. Floatable in higher spring water levels, but you better be experienced in whitewater to do it. In late spring and early summer you can sometimes find it marginally floatable and doable if you're willing to get out and clamber over rocks in places. Class 2 to low 4 rapids, depending upon the water level. By mid-summer, it's a Bataan Death March in a loaded canoe. There are good numbers of smallmouths in the shut-ins areas, mostly largemouths and spotted bass otherwise. Almost every long pool has a school of crappie if you can find them.

Roselle to Silvermines USFS Campground--5.5 miles

This is the famous whitewater section. In this stretch the river drops 20 feet per mile through 3 separate shut-ins, with short sections of long pools between. The first shut-in starts a half mile below the put-in and goes for a mile or so, and it's the tamest. The second one is Tieman Shut-in at Millstream Gardens MDC area, and it's the roughest on the river, a mile of continuous rapids, including one 4-6 foot drop. The Whitewater Championships are usually held here, and at Silvermines, the third shut-in. The drop through the old Silvermines rock dam is the worst part of that one. This is all class 3 at "normal" spring water level to class 5 in very high water. The water levels are about the same as the stretch above, so it's only floatable in spring water levels, and a real bear to wade or float when it gets low. Hardly anybody floats it to fish it, but wading can produce some smallmouths in the shut-ins sections. Walleye were stocked as far upstream as Hwy. 72, so the long pools could hold some.

Silvermines to Cedar Bottom (Hwy. E)--4 miles

After the whitewater stretch, this water seems pretty tame, although there are a couple of nasty little riffles. The Little St. Francis comes in about halfway through it, adding some water. It's mostly a mixture of short and long pools, no shut-ins, some pretty sandstone bluffs. It can be pretty good fishing, with a good mixture of all three bass species. I've caught more channel catfish by accident while fishing for bass on this stretch than any other place I've ever fished. Class 1 riffles, with maybe a very low class 2 here and there. The Cedar Bottom bridge has a small informal parking area, but it's mostly highway right-of-way and not a true public access. There is a bit of Forest Service land with rough parking along the highway a couple miles below the bridge that can be an alternate access.

Cedar Bottom to the Dug Out Bridge (Highway C--or N, it changes somewhere in that area)--15 miles

This is the most remote part of the river. There is no public access between the Forest Service land a couple miles below Cedar Bottom and the Dug Out Bridge (called that because the highway crosses the bridge and "crashes" into a bluff, making a sharp right angle turn to go down the bluff and around the hill). The access at the Dug Out Bridge isn't great, either. It's actually a rough bit of gravel road turning off the highway about a quartermile below the bridge. Parking is tight and the drop to the water is a bit steep. Like the river above, it's got a lot of long pools, but there is one beautiful shut-in with a nice rapid that can be high class 2 or low class 3 at optimum water levels, and the highest, most gorgeous granite bluff to be found anywhere in the St. Francois Mountains. There is also another rapid of similar difficulty a few miles below. The river here flows past the Rockpile Mountain Wilderness Area on the left bank, and there is a limestone bluff with pedestals and natural arches. All in all a very scenic stretch, but one you almost have to float in two days--I've done it in one day during the summer, but it's a daylight to dark thing. Because of the lack of access, the fishing can be very good, with a good mixture of bass species. There's usually enough water to float it throughout June, and if you want to do a lot of dragging you can get down it in all but drought conditions, but trust me, it WILL be work.

Dug Out Bridge to Head Ford (undeveloped MDC access)--11 miles

There is an intermediate access at Shelton Ford, about 3 miles below the Dug Out Bridge. It's on a county gravel road that fords the river. Head Ford has a nice informal parking area and good access to the river. The river in this stretch is floatable most of the summer, and sometimes has enough water for jetboat use, but there are still tight turns and sharp drops that limit the jetboats. And it gets low enough by late summer that you'll still be dragging a lot of riffles. There are no real shut-ins, but still a lot of granite outcrops and sharp-dropping riffles. But the gravel bars are bigger and the river looks a bit more like a normal Ozark stream. Good fishing for all three bass species, walleye, crappie in the big pools, and catfish.

Head Ford to Sam A. Baker State Park--11 miles

There is a canoe rental in the park that puts in floats about 6 miles above the park, but it's not a public access. Big Creek, the highest volume tributary, comes in at the upper end of Sam A. Baker. This stretch is similar to the one above. While the canoe rental doesn't mind putting in novice canoeists, a lot of them end up wet by accident, because while there are no rapids, the riffles can be tight, partially log-jammed, and difficult.

Sam A. Baker to Wappapello (U.S. Highway 67 bridge access)--12 miles

There is intermediate access at Highway 34, 3 miles below Baker Park, and at several other points. The river is a bit bigger down here and always floatable, but still has some tricky riffles. It's often but not always runnable by jetboats. The smallmouths start to disappear through this stretch. The good access and size make it the most heavily fished section of the river, but it can still be good fishing. Wappapello backs water up to about 2 or three miles above Hwy. 67 at normal pool.

Wappapello Dam was built at the farthest downstream place possible, right where the river leaves the Ozark hills and spills out onto the flatlands of the Bootheel. So the river below the dam is a slow, winding, swampy Mississippi Delta stream. The St. Francis's one big spring, Davidson's Blue Spring--one of the 15 largest springs in the state--was inundated by Wappapello.

The Little St. Francis is marginally floatable from Fredericktown down, a distance of 15 miles. It's a spring or high water run, but can be float-waded in summer if you're willing to work at it. Accesses are at Highway 72 (poor access and difficult parking), MDC Thompson Ford access 5 miles below, and a concrete slab ford 4 miles below Thompson Ford. The next access downstream is on the St. Francis at Cedar Bottom. The Little St. Francis, true to its name, is like a smaller version of the St. Francis, with shut-ins, a beautiful granite bluff, and long pools. It's class 3 through the upper shut-in, class 2 at optimum levels along the granite bluff near the mouth. Smallmouths are present but not real common--the other bass species are plentiful.

Big Creek is the other big tributary. It's a lot different, being a very clear, fast creek with a lot of gravel. It has one beautiful shut-in with low class 2 rapids. It's floatable from Hwy. K, a distance of 19 miles, with accesses at Hwy. 49 and Hwy. 143. It's usually floatable from Hwy. 143 until early summer. It is mostly smallmouth water.

[Guest]

Th

[fishingwhitemike]

nice reading there!! wondering if you could give me a bit of info on the river bellow wappapello dam. will be headed that way to build a bridge over the river mid feb. would like to catch some bass.

[ozarks]

fishingwhitemike, what area will you be working in?

[snap]

I have fished the St Fran at the Silvermines. It is a difficult wade! What you actually have to do is jump big round rocks. Truly a different type of fishing adventure! While there, talked to someone associated with the grounds and he told me where a couple of guys come every Sunday from Fred'town to fish. Tried it and caught many 12 inch smallmouth. The hole at the campground on top of the hill produced the most fish. Also caught some nice smallmouth before the bridge. Below the bridge the water got ugly due to a hog farm across the river. I have spent a lot of time in a canoe and the whole time fishing the silvermines I kept thinking there is no way to get a canoe through these rocks/boulders. Finally, I have to agree with everyone else, Al. A great report on the St Francis River. You had to have been sitting in the front row of that Earth Science class at Semo while I was in the back row !!!

[fishingwhitemike]

fishingwhitemike, what area will you be working in?

will be working below the dam at wappapello