Loutre River, Montgomery County, Missouri Sept 5th, 2011: lots of fish in shallow pools- but you have to get to them!

This was a challenging kayak fishing trip on the Loutre River, Missouri.  The word "river" really should be replaced with "stream".  I ended up going about 4.5 miles total, but I think half of that time was spent portaging with my kayak cart (really glad I decided to bring it along!).  No complaints, however.  It was a really nice day to be out, cooler than normal, and windy. 

As I looked at the water on this stream, I really started to wonder if there were any fish.  Some spots had quite a bit of bright algea growth (I bet some of it had to do with some agricultural run off- some was probably natural). 

About half way through the trip, I caught the shadow under the kayak of a huge Gar..big fish, small pool!.

As you watch the film , you will see the typical catch on this stream.  No smallmouths, but all Largemouths.  I also caught quite a few really small sunfish as well.  I had a gold mini spinner, with a red jig head and a plastic minnow.  This seemed to really tear them up.  Almost all of them were laying deep in structure or in grass next to shore with heavy rocks...structure is key in a small stream. 
Now here is what is great about small stream fishing- you are probably the first fisher they have seen!  I could tell that this is a spot that a lot of people do not fish.  Probably due to the fact that the fish are typically smaller and the effort to get to some of these spots is intense at times.  It is a lot of fun to see what you will pull from a stream in Missouri!

fish ON!

Mike