Something I have always enjoyed in the early summers are hitting the smaller rivers with one of my buddies in the kayaks. Packing a small amount of gear which usually includes some turkey sandwiches, a few beers, a pill bottle full of beetle spins, and an open faced reel. These trips is more of what I would call a stress free day of fishing. Though most days of fishing I would consider stress free, something about packing light and enjoying the weather and being on the water creates a very relaxing day. Going forward my girlfriend has shown a great deal of interest in this style of fishing. We are interested in possibly traveling to do this same style of fishing. If anyone does anything similar or has some places in Missouri that we could do this, I'd love to hear how you fish on those  "stress free" days. Share your location as well!!! Thanks

I float the salt river . I'm lucky enough to access private property to put in and take out . Salt river is very unpredictable and they will raise it without any notice . Fishing trips are hard to plan because the banks are steep and the water swift when they open'er up . 

 

I have never done it but I heard Otter creek above Mark Twain is a nice float with good fishing .

Check out ozarkanglers.com.  Lot of info in the forums pertaining to your area

My mind won't let me do that anymore because I'm always thinking what I could be doing if I was completely prepared haha. That's how I end up with 6 rods in my kayak.

 

Sometimes I convince myself to just take a spinning rod and a bag of trick worms though.

I definitely know where you are coming from. Of course you can never have enough gear but the other day i went through everything and was really shocked at my collection. Theres no telling how much money i've spent already. But when it comes to getting out to fish its extremely hard to pack light. Just when you think you have everything you need once youre on the water you wish you had something else! 

We float the big piney a few times a year, so nice to go out there and float and not worry about boat traffic or ever seeing another person! Those goggle eye are good eatin too!