Niangua River, Laclede County, MO. June 28th: Beautiful Ozark river with some incredible smallie fishing!

I have always wanted to hit the Niangua River in the Missouri Ozarks, and finally got an opportunity to kayak and fish it.  The water is fairly swift, so kayaking upstream and drift fishing down was a challenge, but I was able to get it done.  Did a little over 2 miles, due to the fact that I had to portage quite a few times due to the depth and swiftness of the current. 
If you take a look at the film, I caught the first small Smallmouth on a Rattle Trap.  It then got a tad slow for about an hour, but really turned on right before I was getting ready to take out.  River bend + current in grass + Gene Larew Salt Craw= success!!

Felt so good getting up on these incredible bass....I have quite a new addiction now- Smallie Fishing!  Caught one at 16" and one at about 14" and then the small one before I headed out.  This strip had quite a bit of canoe traffic, so I do not know if it would be a good weekend river (maybe in the fall when people do not float as much).

Fish ON!

Mike