1st Time Trip for River Smallies

[senile1]

I have fished for Largemouth bass most of my life.  I have caught some smallies and some spots at Table Rock and Stockton Lakes in Missouri, but I have not made it a goal to specifically fish for these species, since the lakes in my immediate area do not contain these fish. Here's the deal.  I'm really getting a desire for fishing some smallmouth streams in Missouri as the seclusion of these streams cannot be rivaled by any of our lakes.  Anyone who knows anything about the Missouri Ozarks and the area around the Mark Twain National Forest knows that we have a bunch of smallmouth streams in those areas.  I've been doing some research and I've settled on fishing a section of the Gasconade River that is known for good smallmouth fishing, both in numbers and in size.  My plan is to do this during the week to avoid most of those who party and float the streams on the weekend.  

I have some questions for all of you smallmouth aficionados.  

(1)  I plan to rent a jon boat or a canoe for these expeditions as I currently only own a bass boat which I'm thinking is too large for some areas of the Gasconade except for the last few miles before it empties into the Missouri River.  I assume that I should probably bring a trolling motor with me to use for holding the boat in place when I encounter specific holes and eddies to fish?  Any suggestions in this area are appreciated.

(2)  Due to my job responsibilities I will probably not be able to hit the stream until June at the earliest, since this is a good 4 - 5 hour drive from my home and I want to spend a few days there.  I have some assumptions about where to look for the fish and what to use during that time period but I would like to know what you, the experienced smallmouth stream fishermen, would use for lures and where you would be looking for the fish.  (In early June our lake water temperatures are generally in the mid to upper 70s and the largemouth spawn usually ends at some point in May, depending on how warm it has been.  I assume our smallmouth would be at some point in the post-spawn as well?  Also, most of these streams are fed by springs so I assume the water would be a bit cooler than our lake temperatures at that time?  Hopefully, Southern Missouri will have normal water levels and will not be flooded like last year.)

(3)  What type of rod and reel would you use under these conditions?

Anything else you guys can think of that I would need to know will be greatly appreciated.  And if there is anyone out there who is familiar with these Missouri streams, I'm all ears.  Thanks.

[Dan:]

I mainly use plastics for river fish. I like to drift plastics like jerkbaits, worms, and tubes in the current from shallow to deep water or fast to slow water. A lot of the time all you have to do is let them drift.

I also love to use shaky head worms and crawdads. Use the lightest weight necessary to get to the bottom.

Another thing to try is topwaters. I like to use prop baits and walking baits for smallmouth. They will hit them all day, but I do best with them right before sundown. Try some poppers as well.

For rod and reel, I would use your finesse rigs that you use for smallmouth for shaky heads and drifting plastics. If you decide to use weights, jigs, topwaters, spinnerbaits, etc then take the tackle you would normally fish those baits with.

[senile1]

Thanks for the response, Dan.  I thought I would get more responses but maybe I didn't provide enough info.   :-/  I'm not sure.  I feel fairly confident in my choices but since I haven't floated a river for fish before I was hoping a few people with experience could fill me in on how they approach this.  Tight Lines.  

[roadwarrior]

For the most part, I would fish 3 1/2" tubes rigged on 1/8 oz

inserted jig heads; 5" GYCB Single Tail Grubs and Rapala

X-Rap (XR08, GGH, Pearl). You will only need 1 spinning rod

and 1 back-up. Line diameter and visibily makes a difference,

trust me. Nothing more than 8 fluorocarbon, but I would probably

fish #4 Hybrid original formula (.009" diameter, 8.5 lb test).

Take plenty of jig heads and tubes, you will hang-up a lot and

they are very difficult to retrieve in a canoe. The grubs are

fished on a steady retrieve, so you won't lose many of them.

Good luck!

8-)

[senile1]

Thanks, Kent. I was hoping I would hear from you as I know you are on the river all the time. Thanks for the confirmation on the baits too! I was planning on taking my tubes and my X-raps. I have some Mister Twister Grubs. Do you believe the GYCBs are better, and if so, why?

[roadwarrior]

Probably not, I'm just a GYCB fan!

Colors:

Smoke and/or clear with white and silver flakes,

or whatever you think looks like a baitfish.

-Kent

[Blade-Runner]

Topwaters and soft jerkbaits.

[bass wrangler569]

Jerkbaits like slender pointers or x-raps. Spinnerbaits: war eagle spinnerbaits in mouse for clear water and chartreuse/white for stained water would also be excellent. Also tubes, green pumpkin is really the only color you need. like RW said take a lot of tubes and a lot of tube heads. When you think you've brought enough, double it. You will be shocked how many tubes and jigheads you'll go through if a tube bite is on.

[Paul Roberts]

You are in for a treat. What fun! In my book, some of the best freshwater fishing there is bar none.

Here's a jumble of advice:

Remember, you can always beach the boat and wade-fish good stretches. If you end up really liking this kind of fishing, consider bringing a tent and make a few days of it. You'll get to see water few do, even in well populated areas. Streams (with current) are less affected by bright sun than stillwaters, so I often abandoned the lakes and ponds and hit the streams on such days. Slow rivers though can be more stillwater-like, so cover and shade becomes helpful on such waters. In faster more open waters, the bass may bite with abandon under bright sun.

I don't know that river (size, lake/pond-like, current, cover-wise) of course, but I'd stay with lighter tackle -L or ML spinning rod and 6#. I actually often use an UL and 4# -even on good sized rivers. But my waters didn't have lots of wood -mostly cobbles and boulders, so I'm fighting them in open water. I often used a fly-rod too.

I also wade-fished small creeks a lot, with an UL; very simple and just great fun. Many little creeks I knew could give up 50 to 100 fish days, "lunkers" being 14 to 15inches -spectacular fish on an UL. River smallies are often aggressive and my word do they fight!

I liked small twister type grubs (bring lots of heads), in-line spinners, floating Rapalas, small topwaters I think you can keep it pretty simple. River smallie fishers nowadays just rave over tube jigs, but either they weren't available or I wasn't aware of them back then. One trick that really worked to add catches is to switch lures. Fish a pool or pocket and catch a few, then switch lures say a jig then an in-line and often you'll catch a few more that had become jaded to the first. I say liked and used bc there are no smallie streams near me now and that is a real loss.

Time of year? June (early summer) will be GREAT! Spawn over and bass feeding like crazy. I also liked late summer when flows had receded which consolidated habitat, and the bass too. I've actually located areas with such concentrations that I could catch 15 to 25 decent smallies from each small pool!

A bit of safety advice: If you are drifting a stretch of river (two cars), don't bite off too much water on your first outings. Three miles of road can be 10miles of river if it winds much.

Do check maps before you go. I once drifted a section of the Genesee River in NY in a canoe. I have a habit of wanting to cast to anything remotely interesting and pulled out at the head of a wide riffle to cast to a log and eddy. Too shallow, but I noticed the river bottom was flat as a billiards table. Intrigued, I waded down the riffle, and found myself peering over a 100ft falls! There were people below and they looked like ants! There was no warning. If I hadn't pulled out to fish that ridiculous spot, I literally would not be sitting here typing this.

[reo]

Here in Ohio I have had great luck with small stuff, 2 1/2" tubes 1/16 or 1/8 inserts 3" trick sticks small rapala type stick baits and twister type grubs. For the plastics watermelon pumpkin and motor oil with white working on occasion too. Also have had some luck on really small white spinner baits. 6-7' L or ML spinning gear with 6lb line. Small floatable rivers in Ohio eat lures and lots of spare ammo is needed.

Hope this helps

reo

[Upriver88]

senile check into the upper current river also phenomenal smallmouth fishing.I would probably go with a canoe unless you're clumsy like me.

They are a bit more manuverable. The trolling motor is only good for spots where you cant beach the boat and fish it.(like paul said) I would recomend ML spinning gear. 4 or 6 pound line. Make sure you bring sun tan lotion don't want to get stuck out on the water cooking all day.

I'd go with some small jigs and cranks but thats just what works for me. Good luck.

[senile1]

Good stuff, guys! Thanks for all the info.

Paul, I was thinking about bringing a tent as you suggested. The Gasconade is larger than most of our streams, twisting and turning almost 300 miles before it dumps into the Missouri. The area I'll be fishing is managed for smallmouth and, as you stated, most of the fish will be in the 12 - 15 inch range, but there are fish over 18 inches in this stretch of the river and I've seen pictures of some smallies caught there that were in the 4 - 5 lb range. (I would be so stoked if I could nail one of these!) You make a really good point about the length of the float and I've been looking into that. I've floated rivers before while in college but I wasn't fishing. What length of float should I be looking at while fishing?

Upriver88, I floated the Current in the early 80s but I wasn't fishing. It was gorgeous scenery. Thanks for the info about the trolling motor.

Again, thanks everyone.

[Paul Roberts]

What length of float should I be looking at while fishing?

Gosh, depends on how tortuous the river, current speed (low flows can double your time), how you fish, etc... . Better to end up with a shortened trip, than too long I think, remembering back to "The Death Float" a couple friends and I endured when over-ambitiousness combined low flows turned the trip into a haul rather than a float. We also had a hard time recognizing our take-out in the dark. Good idea to make a real good mental note of your take-out, and I know some guys that use a reflective marker that a flashlight beam will pick up.

I'd suggest, if it's new water, you make a shorter run first. If it's good water you'll catch plenty. Get more ambitious after you know the playing field.

18-20" fish -that's likely pretty big water. If there are decent numbers of them, and it sounds like your water may have that (large and "managed" for smallmouth), it probably isn't whether you will find such a fish, but whether you bring it to hand. Often, when stream smallie fishing, you can catch so many "lesser" fish, and they are so strong, knots and line gets weakened. All the while the call to re-tie nags. "Ah just a couple more..." Then, you set the hook and feel something really solid, that you can't move, until it realizes it's hooked... :-[

One more technique that is useful: With all that water you see on a float you simply don't have time to do them all justice as you work your way toward your take-out. Cast (even pull out and wade) the real obvious spots, but with those longer deeper pools try this:

Drag an appropriate weight jig directly below the boat as you drift through the pool, staying as close to bottom, even ticking or dragging it. We picked up a lot of fish this way, and often added walleyes and cats to the catch -both make for a great camp supper.

[senile1]

The water level of the Gasconade is always floatable except for maybe some of the upper sections where a portage here and there might be necessary. I will be floating in the middle portion of the river. It receives abundant water from numerous springs along its path. The current is gentle and slow except for a few fast chutes in some of the bends where trees may have fallen. It sounds like a slow float with plenty of time to check out fish holding areas. I have already staked out one location to put in that is a 14.5 mile float and it takes me through the smallmouth management area, but at the speed of the river I didn't know if I could cover this in a day of fishing. I may have to do some research and find a place to camp, making it a two or even three day float for that section.

[Paul Roberts]

14miles is A LOT of fishing!

I added a couple things above.

[senile1]

Thanks for the tips, Paul. Below is a picture of a couple of decent smallies from this section of the Gasconade.  This came from the following web site:  http://www.dixoncamping.com/Our%20fishing.htm.

[Upriver88]

14 miles is atleast a 2 day float. I avererage about 6 miles a day on the big river. But thats fishing like crazy.  You could probably do 10 or 11 if you fish fast. I don't know what the gasconade is like but on the big river it's pretty secluded in spots so me and my buddies just take and camp on whatever gravelbar is avaliable at the time. Im not sure how legal this is but i've done it probably 4 or 5 times and haven't had any trouble. Except for racoons, i hate racoons.

[rll]

The only place I have ever caught smallmouth is in the Mark Twain National Forest. I go down to the Black river in Reynolds county at least once a year. Where I fish the river is not much wider than my bedroom but it is LOADED with smallmouth. They may not be big but they are fun on ultralight gear. My biggest out of the West fork of the black was about 2 pounds.

In july when I usually go they are schooled up in the deeper holes with fast current and they hunt like a pack of wolves. It is cool down there because the water is so clear you can observe the fishes behavior really well. I use soft plastics that imitate crawdads and small spinnerbaits. I have heard stick baits and buzzbaits work well too.

And if the Gasconade is anything like the Black the water will be cold. Icebox cold in the middle of july.

Good luck

[Copen1822]

A couple quick ideas that have always worked for me are:

1. For numbers, bring some larger size Beetle spins and hang a 3 inch curly tail grub in chartruse/red on it. When floating down look for areas of farily fast and deep(3-4 ft) water with thick tall grass hanging in the water off the bank. Float past then anchor or wade and cast along the bank so your coming right past the tips of the grass. Reel as fast as you can and hang on because they will charge out of the undercut bank and smash that spinner!!

2. For bigger fish, look for deeper pools with rock bottoms and carolina rig a soft pastic craw (I use Zoom speed craws). Cast down stream and drag very slowly up stream. I have caught some 18"+ out of some tiny streams doing this. 8-)