Heavy rains have kept many area rivers and lakes engorged and robust well into the summer. I, Al Harper, sought to capitalize on the conditions by pursuing fish with a fly rod in several venues. My latest outings were floats on a couple of rivers offering rewarding fishing experiences.
On July 16 I teamed up with four other anglers for an eight mile float on the Big Piney River which consists of a little more than 85 miles of floatable, fishable water in a beautiful natural setting. Although the river is fed by 10 major springs and almost that number of healthy creeks, some sections of the river can be tricky to navigate in dry summers. But that’s not the case this year, at least not to this point.
The Big Piney has imposing limestone bluffs and mature forests along its banks that make it a visual treat; and it is one of the best fishing streams in Missouri. Our float group included two inflatable drift boats and five fairly experienced fly fishermen. On this excursion I had hoped to experience the jarring surface strikes on poppers that I had on other rivers and lakes but on this day the bass were finding plenty to eat under the surface.
Conditions were good with overcast skies and an occasional light rain. Drifting a crawdad streamer in deeper swift spots resulted in smallmouths early on. Further downstream we tied on Murdich Minnow flys. These have a kind of neutral buoyancy that allow them to dart and slowly slink into drop offs or among submerged boulders and other obstructions holding fish. Other light colored woolly bugger-type streamers were productive as well. In addition to smallmouth bass, some caught spotted bass and one dedicated angler got a largemouth that appeared to weigh around three and a half or perhaps four pounds.
While there were a few gravel bars on the stretch we floated, we did most of our fishing from the drift boat. Water flow and clarity seemed ideal to help identify changes in depth and subsurface obstructions. There was only one section where we had to work our way through downed trees in the river. Overall, it was a successful float and my informal tally indicated that about 35 to 40 bass and a number of goggle eye and panfish found themselves into the net (and were promptly released to their watery refuge).
The float described above was somewhat impromptu, but I had scheduled another float a couple of days later on a section of the Big Piney near I-44. That float allows one to transition from the Big Piney into the Gasconade, another fine smallmouth river with a reputation for yielding larger bass. That float, while shorter in length, was just as visually appealing (although somewhat more urbanized) and it was very productive as far as the number of fish netted. Me and a fishing buddy, Bobby, ended up with about 17 bass a couple of which measured about 16” and fought very well.
A popper that imitated a frog produced a couple of bass on this section of the river but crawfish imitations and streamers were the best method to catch fish. Fishing flys deep in slower water without getting hung on underwater obstructions was very challenging.
The faster sections were where the action-packed part of our float occurred. And as fate would have it, just as we were starting to score numerous catches, several pleasure floaters in rented kayaks and rafts charged through the narrow rapids. We were anchored and focused on working our flys downstream with water surging around the Flycraft. For a portion of time we were checking over our shoulders upstream to ensure long backcasts didn’t accidentally snag an approaching floater.
Such are the hazards of floating and fishing popular sections of some of Missouri’s great rivers. I certainly don’t mind the pleasure floating/partying crowds. That’s a hazard well worth dealing with to catch good bass on a scenic waterway.
