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Home › Waters › Missouri › Huzzah Creek
Spring creek · East-central Missouri, Crawford County, the Ozark hills and Mark Twain National Forest above the Meramec River near Steelville · Missouri

Huzzah Creek Fishing Guides

A clear, spring-fed Ozark float stream running out of the Mark Twain National Forest to the Meramec, with a gauge at Steelville reading temperature, flow and stage together.

A small boat on flat water at first light against a wooded shore
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Huzzah Creek

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Huzzah Creek

Huzzah Creek rises in the Ozark hills of Crawford County, gathers water from springs and from the Mark Twain National Forest, and joins the Meramec River a short way below the gauge near Steelville. It is one of the classic Missouri float streams, and the reason is the water itself. Springs keep it running clear and cold enough through the summer that it holds fish when the freestone creeks around it have gone warm and thin, and the gravel bars and bluff pools give it the shape people picture when they think of an Ozark creek.

The gauge is unusually useful because it reads water temperature alongside discharge and stage. On a spring creek that temperature trace is the number that tells you the most. It shows how well the springs are holding against a summer heat wave, and it explains why the fish are where they are on a given day far better than the flow number does on its own. Flow still matters for floating, and the creek is shallow enough that a low reading means dragging the boat across gravel.

Smallmouth are the fish of the creek and the reason most people come. They hold on the bluff pools, at the heads of the riffles and under the rootwads, and an Ozark smallmouth out of clear water fights out of proportion to its size. Rock bass, Ozark bass and the sunfish fill in around them, and a cold-water stretch near the springs holds stocked rainbows in the cooler months.

This is float country. Steelville calls itself the floating capital of Missouri and the outfitters there run the Huzzah, the Courtois and the Meramec as a connected system, so a shuttle is easy to arrange. Go in a canoe or a kayak, fish the whole of a long pool rather than the obvious spots, and take the gravel bars for what they are.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Huzzah Creek.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Huzzah Creek cfs

Now: 62 cfs, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 07014000, Huzzah Creek near Steelville, MO).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Steelville - the outfitting town for the whole system, with shuttles, canoe rental, lodging, food and tackle.
Huzzah Conservation Area - Missouri Department of Conservation ground on the lower creek with access and camping.
Mark Twain National Forest - public land through much of the upper watershed with forest road access.
Meramec River - the larger river the creek joins below the gauge, floatable and fishable as a continuation.
Courtois Creek - the sister creek to the west, commonly floated on the same trip.
Onondaga Cave State Park - on the Meramec nearby, with camping and developed facilities.
Cuba - the nearest interstate town, with fuel, groceries and additional lodging.

Seasons

Spring: high, cold and pushy at first, then the best smallmouth fishing of the year as the water drops and clears through May.
Summer: the float season, with clear water, warm gravel bars and fish that want an early start and a shaded pool.
Fall: low and very clear, with spooky fish, the best colour on the hills and excellent wading once the crowds go home.
Winter: cold and quiet, with fish stacked in the deep bluff pools and the stocked trout water fishing best of anything.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Huzzah Creek?

As of Oct 18, 5:30 pm, the USGS gauge Huzzah Creek near Steelville, MO reads 62 cfs, with water temperature 62.6 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Huzzah Creek?

Anglers target Bluegill, Bullhead, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Creek Chub, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Longear Sunfish, Ozark Bass, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Shadow Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, White Sucker on the Huzzah Creek in Missouri.

Are there fishing guides on the Huzzah Creek?

GuidedFloats lists 2 guides and outfitters on the Huzzah Creek. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Huzzah Creek?

Steelville - the outfitting town for the whole system, with shuttles, canoe rental, lodging, food and tackle. Huzzah Conservation Area - Missouri Department of Conservation ground on the lower creek with access and camping. Mark Twain National Forest - public land through much of the upper watershed with forest road access. Meramec River - the larger river the creek joins below the gauge, floatable and fishable as a continuation. Courtois Creek - the sister creek to the west, commonly floated on the same trip. Onondaga Cave State Park - on the Meramec nearby, with camping and developed facilit...

When is the best time to fish the Huzzah Creek?

Spring: high, cold and pushy at first, then the best smallmouth fishing of the year as the water drops and clears through May. Summer: the float season, with clear water, warm gravel bars and fish that want an early start and a shaded pool. Fall: low and very clear, with spooky fish, the best colour on the hills and excellent wading once the crowds go home. Winter: cold and quiet, with fish stacked in the deep bluff pools and the stocked trout water fishing best of anything.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Huzzah Creek?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Missouri agency site: https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations