Accesses are at Thomasville on Highway 99, at Cane Bluff off Highway 19 and at the Highway 19 access just below Greer Spring.

For a real smallmouth fishing adventure, call Ryan or Brian at Eleven Point Canoe Rental, (417) 778-6597, and ask for a guided trip in their drift boat. These trips take place further downstream from Whitton Access to Arkansas.

GASCONADE RIVER
The Gasconade holds the title of one of the most crooked rivers in the world. Less publicized are the towering bluffs, hairpin turns, and spectacular hardwood forests that line the river.

Justin Richardson of Rolla is a longtime fan of the Gasconade. "It is the perfect smallmouth river," he stated. "You can catch smallmouth far upstream, where you can only wade or very near where it runs into the Missouri 300 miles downstream."

The Gasconade contains 20 miles of specially managed smallmouth area from Riddle Bridge at the end of Highway Y, north of St. Roberts, to the Highway D Bridge at Jerome. However, Richardson prefers to fish above the managed area.

"The managed area has some terrific fishing, but tends to attract more people," he advised. "I prefer to put in at the Highway 17 bridge north of Waynesville. It is 15 miles to Riddle Bridge where the managed area begins, but I spend most of my fishing time in the first five or six miles below Highway 17. There are lots of big rocks in this stretch. The channels are deep, and the current moves right along."

Richardson has fished the Gasconade for decades and still uses a time-tested lure, the Twin Spin "Nugget." "I slow-roll the lure over rocks and logs. I look for this structure in 4 to 6 feet of water. Adding a No. 101 green and white pork frog to the bait makes it a killer."

Richardson rigs his favorite baitcaster with 10-pound P Line. "I catch a lot of 12- to 14-inch smallmouths in this stretch," he said, "but I like to be prepared for the three or four 2 1/2- to 4-pound fish I catch on most trips."

John Ackerson, the MDC fisheries management biologist for the Eleven Point River, indicated that both the numbers and the sizes of smallmouths in the Eleven Point have increased since the inception of the Smallmouth Management Area in 2000.

"The new regulations restricted the harvest," he stated. "Anglers are allowed to keep one smallmouth of 15 inches or greater per day in the managed areas. This essentially promoted catch-and-release fishing. Overall fishing pressure declined and the size and numbers of fish increased. Drought conditions in the Ozarks have also contributed to spawning success. Vegetation spread as water dropped. When the water level rose again, there was lots of cover for spawning smallmouth bass."