If you never took the opportunity to float one of Missouri's Ozark spring fed streams, you are missing out on an opportunity to experience not only memorable fishing, but Missouri's outdoors at its best. Recently, fellow Heartland Hunter, Matt and I took a trip to Pulaski County to experience the Big Piney River.

The Big Piney, may be one of Missouri's best kept secrets. It flows NE from Cabool in Texas County and flows approximately 114 miles to its confluence with the Gasconade River. It has a special Management area along the way for trophy smallmouth bass, but fishing can be great anywhere along the river year long. We camped out at the Wilderness Ridge Resort, who took good care of us and supplied us with our canoe and transportation up river.

You can opt to do a one day float that will take you 7 or 8 miles, or if you want to truly experience the River, you can do a 15 or 23 mile, 2 day float on the river, spending the night on one of the many gravel bars along the way. Matt and I opted for the 23 mile trek, which turned out to be more like 25 according to our GPS. We packed light with enough water, sandwiches, and primitive camping gear to get us to our destination. But we did pack some foil and butter for a riverside shore lunch to accommodate a few fresh caught rock bass.

The river along the way evolves and changes as you go. Some sections are wider with slower moving water, lined with lily pads and other vegetation. It was here that we saw swarms of gar cruising the surface and huge carp exploding out of the vegetation as they fed. What I wouldn't have done for a bow fishing rig in these parts. But there were plenty of narrow sections, where the tree canopies closed out the sky above you. It gave you a feeling of paddling through some version of a North American jungle as the current swept along and a faster pace.

It was these spots we caught majority of our fish. We used a combination of lures along the way. I caught by best smallmouth (17", 2.2 lbs) on a 3" gulp minnow, and Matt caught his best (16") right after mine using live crawfish we caught along the way. But we also had great success on Rebel's crawfish crank baits, soft plastic grubs and top water buzz baits.

I highly recommend trying the top water bite when fishing for smallmouth. They're known for fighting like a Sherman tank when you hook up with this muscle bound welter weights, but if you tempt them with downsized buzz bait, they will crush it like a torpedo on steroids. This was certainly one of the hi-lites to the trip. I think my heart skipped each time they hit my buzz bait.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a true adventure if we didn’t have a few perils along the way. The 100 degree heat was manageable with the occasional dip in the cool river. But my luck also came with me turning my one piece ultra-lite St. Croix into a 2 piece 4 hours into our trip, black flies that would swarm us any time we hit certain areas of the river, thunder storms at night that had us having one way conversations with our maker as we huddled in our one man tents, and one lone rock at the beginning of some fast water that dumped one unsuspecting fishing partner into the river. I was happy to just stay dry and save the canoe and all out gear from becoming river ornamentation.

But during our 20 plus mile trek down river, we got to see every thing from deer, turkey flying over the river, otters, a bald eagle, raccoons, soft shell turtles, one of the largest snapping turtles I have ever scene swimming by, countless gar, blue herons, king fishers, ducks, you name it. Folks have even scene black bear and wild hogs along the Big Piney. Even on one of the hottest days of they year, the rivers aesthetics were nice to take in. I could only imagine what a fall or springtime float would be like when the fishing is at is best.

The Big Piney is known for one of the best small mouth rivers in the state, and we were not disappointed. It also supports a large rock bass (goggle eye) population. The nice thing is, the rock bass hit on smallmouth lures, so you have an opportunity to catch both species easily along the way. We even hooked up with a few largemouth, just to keep things interesting.

Whether you are looking for a relaxing day on a cool Ozark stream or a multiple day adventure, the Big Piney has it all. You are missing out on a great opportunity to experience what Missouri has to offer if you are spending all your time fishing big lakes or small ponds, when you can take advantage of one the many smallmouth streams in southern Missouri that are close to home. We will be back again, that it for sure. I only wish I hadn’t taken so long to experience it for the first time.