One of the crookedest rivers in the world flows North and its 300 miles is contained entirely in Missouri. It was named by the French settlers who were reminded of their Gascony Province in France.

Much of it is in the Mark Twain National Forest and has steep limestone bluffs, dense timber and plenty of wildlife along the float.

The trip to the put in point reminded me of the movie Deliverance.



Lots of overhanging trees and brushpiles make for great smallmouth fishing.



Lunch time - note the long drift boats used on this river.



A double! A black backed perch and a smallmouth on the same lure at the same time

I live about 45 min from Current River I have never fished the Gasconade but have always wanted to.

Nice smallies Ted. Looks like I need to try the Current river.

I have fished the 11 points a lot but never the Current.

I like the Gasconade early in the year but usually switch to the Big Piney or Niangua in summer because of the colder spring waters that flow into them.

Nice fish.

Very pretty river.

I once canoed the Arkansas part of that Current River. We tried to camp out on a sandbar and the mosquitoes (Arkansas' state bird) chased us back to the river where we spent the night drifting with the current. I remember seeing folks out frog gigging along the way, and made note to try it some day myself...

I've never been to the Gasconade but in your photos it has the same clean and cold look as Arkansas' White River out of Lake Norfork. I have fished there lots. It also has smallies and you catch them alongside rainbows and browns. What I really like is from those kind of waters the bass just look cleaner and healthier in my opinion than from the more usual warm still waters. That may just be over active imagination at work, but who knows.

I do know the White was historically famous for smallies long before anyone ever thought of trout stocking. I don't know if bass and trout share the same waters in Missouri or not.

quote:

I do know the White was historically famous for smallies long before anyone ever thought of trout stocking. I don't know if bass and trout share the same waters in Missouri or not.

Actually they do. Often while drifting the colder sections of Missouri rivers for smallies we will catch a rainbow. They seem to cross over in some places. The Eleven Points is a river where the upper section is almost strictly trout water and further down its smallies but in between you could catch either.

Taneycomo, where I live has just trout up by the Table Rock dam but there are bass down by the dam that starts Bull Shoals. They do seem to cross over in between however. In fact, on the way to lunch on Bass Pro's White River Fish Companies floating restaurant down on Branson landing I saw a nice largemouth Friday in water that I thought was only trout water.

Looks like some beautiful water and country!

Congrats on the smallmouths and great pictures!