Kayak fishing the beautiful Flat Creek in Barry County, Missouri....outstanding ozark stream!

Flat Creek in Barry County, Missouri is a place I have wanted to kayak for sometime now, so I was grateful to get a chance to explore it over the weekend.  I had a feeling that the water was fairly skinny, so I knew I would most likely have to portage and fish upstream, then kayak back, which is exactly what I did.

This would be an excellent float with several parties to make it a one way float....real challenging going up stream, then back down, but we were able to make it happen.  The water is nice and cool (due to several springs along the way) and is a prime environment for smallmouth bass.
Fishing wise, the Chomper hula grub on the stand up jig was what they were really hitting on (orange colored).  A lot of times when I am smallmouth fishing, I like to throw a texas-rigged zoom trick worm, but they were not liking these on Flat Creek...they like the hula grubs!

I would say we caught approx. 10-12 fish (all caught and released), most being of a smaller size.  There were a couple that were not bad sized (as you can see in the video).
The Missouri Ozarks have some of the most incredibly beautiful waters in the U.S.....worth it to get out and explore!

Click HERE for a map of the trip

Paddle ON!

Mike

Kayak fishing the BEAUTIFUL Kings River in Northern Arkansas- August 18th, 2013

Nice Largmouth- last fish of the day!

This is one of my favorite rivers to kayak fish on. The scenery, not only getting there, but once you put in is incredible. I put in at the Romp Hole access just south of the Missouri border. If you paddle from this point downstream, the water starts to get "wide and fat" due to going from river to becoming Table Rock Lake. I think this transition makes the fishing potential at this point incredible, especially for large bass and white bass that come in from the lake in the spring.

When I am kayaking I like to paddle up stream, then drift fish down. Due to the rains a couple of weeks ago, the river still had a fairly good flow (unlike last year when it was in drought conditions). Due to the flow, there were several points I got out and portaged, wade fishing the whole time. The biggest surprise of the trip was catching a walleye mid stream. He hit the lure (orange hula grub on standup jig)on the retrieve, so when I got him in, I was very surprised.

I know that Table Rock Lake has a good fishery of walleye (at least that is what I have been told), so I figure he came upstream for some of the cool fast water. I am glad I had enough foresight to not lip him when I brought him in...that would have been a painful surprise. I spent the entire day out there, met some really cool canoe folk and could have spent even more time there....even saw a roadrunner when in the car on the way out.

 

Click HERE to see the map of the trip

 

"Life is better on a kayak"

 

Mike 

 

Kayak fishing Table Rock Lake in the summer: topwater plugs work VERY WELL!

In this short video, we are fishing Rebel topwater plugs early in the morning.  In the summer time, especially on Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri, early morning and evenings on topwaters with structure fish very well.  With the heat and sun, and with the water temperature higher this time of year, a lot of the big fish stay deep, and then come up on structure to forage before and after the heat of the day.

"Life is better on a kayak"

Mike

Our very first "Kayak Fishing The Midwest Podcast" with lifetime kayaker Ray Schroeder

Our very first podcast turned out to be a great conversation with lifetime kayaker, Ray Schroeder. A ton of great tips from the guy who taught me how to kayak, "Captain" Ray. You will enjoy this podcast- if you get a chance, give it a listen. We are planning our next podcast as we speak

Listen to internet radio with Kayak fishing the midwest on BlogTalkRadio

Kayaking the Lamine River, near Blackwater, MO: Deep steep shores and tons of rough fish!

The Lamine River just west of Columbia, MO is a river that one crosses on the way from St. Louis to Kansas City.  I have been eyeballing this river for years and years, and I finally had an opportunity to spend a couple of hours on it last week.

The water quality, in my opinion, is fairly poor.  It is very common of rivers in the northern part of Missouri- true mud bottoms, slow flow, and due to the proximity to flowing into the Missouri River, chock full of rough fish.  I do not think I have ever seen that many gar in one body of water- they literally were swimming around like sharks!  There were parts of the river that had a green algae like film, which are typical of bodies of water that have an issue with farm run off chemicals, etc.
I ended up kayaking about 4 miles total.  Heading up stream to one of the bridges (fishing for bass the whole way) and then turning around and coming back.  I also went down river just a bit to see the confluence point of the Blackwater River.   One of the more interesting highlights was about a 5 pound Asian carp literally jumped from one side of my kayak to the other side of the kayak.

This is a river I will probably not come back to fish (although it probably has some very large catfish in it), however it would be a great river to get the touring kayak out and go for some miles in the winter- very few people appear to use this river- probably due to the way the river lays out and possibly the water quality.

"Life is better on a kayak"

Mike

 

 click HERE for a water trail map of this adventure

 

Kayaking Estero Bay, near Lovers Key SP Florida and Whiskey Creek, Ft Myers, Florida

Great day of kayaking and fishing in Estero Bay, Florida over the 4th of July week, 2013.  The weather was incredible in regards to the amount of rain and sudden storms, but we got a nice opportunity to get out and get a little kayaking and kayak fishing in.  I have to admit I am not the best saltwater/brackish water fisherman, but I gave it a great try.  We are considering coming back in December to give it another try.  Lovers Key SP is one of the most beautiful places in the world.  We did get an opportunity to surf fish the Gulf side the next day, with similar results in regards to fishing.

Later in the week, we got a chance to kayak Whiskey Creek in the Ft. Myers area.  It is a residential area but the kayaking was enjoyable, and I managed to catch a small catfish right by where the creek enters the river.

Kayak fishing on the Meremac River near Moselle, MO

The kayak fishing is really starting to heat up across the Ozarks.  Here is a video from the June 15th trip on the Meremac and Bourbouse Rivers in Franklin County.  This is a great paddle, even if you are not thinking of fishing.  The water on the Meremac side is clear, and absolutely incredible to paddle.  We have some more post available at www.fishmissouri.org

Kayak ON!

Mike

Arkansas River- Palarm Creek, Arkansas- fairly swift creek, wide part of river

It is amazing the temperature and weather differences between Little Rock and St. Louis. While my friends and family were experiencing 50 degree weather, I was basking in central Arkansas 85 degree temperatures. Time to kayak!

Put in at the Palarm Creek access point. This creek has quite a quick flow (it is the creek that comes out of Lake Conway upstream). I had kind of a bad situation in regards to my steering rudder. Got launched, put my feet on the peddles and "snap"! The guide line on the left of the rudder snapped right off. Looks like I am going to have to order another rudder and install it (or go without) I paddled up stream- quite a bit of trees and "sweepers" in the creek with a quick little current. Went about 1/2 mile upstream and then went past the launch and headed to the river.

The Arkansas River is fairly wide in this spot. There was more of a current on the creek than there was on the river. I fished the shore a bit, but was not going about it proper...still trying to to figure out how to bass fish the Arkansas- is it a lake, or is it a river? My plans are to come back at the spot and go quite a bit further up the Arkansas next time

Paddle ON! Mike

 

 click HERE to view the water trail map of this adventure