Tri-Rivers Sporting Co.

Tri-Rivers Sporting Co. Hunting, fishing apparel and outdoor gear inspired by life on the river and in the field.

08/22/2026

Waters hot fish aren't biting but the views are worth it

08/19/2026

HEADS UP — BRUNSWICK GRAND RIVER ACCESS CLOSURE

For anyone planning to fish, boat, or use the Grand River at Brunswick around Labor Day:

The Brunswick Access boat ramp will be closed August 31 through September 8 for invasive Asian carp removal efforts on the Grand River.

A closure sign is currently posted at the boat ramp.

As of right now, I have not been able to find a public notice from the Missouri Department of Conservation posted online, so I wanted to get the word out to local fishermen and boaters who may be making plans for that week.

MDC has conducted similar removal projects on the lower Grand in past years as part of efforts to reduce invasive silver and bighead carp populations.

Please plan accordingly and help spread the word to anybody who regularly uses the Brunswick Access.

— Tri-Rivers Sporting Co.
Built on the River. Driven by Adventure.

Tri-Rivers History Series: Part 11The Story ContinuesFor ten parts, we've followed these rivers through hundreds of year...
08/17/2026

Tri-Rivers History Series: Part 11

The Story Continues

For ten parts, we've followed these rivers through hundreds of years of history.

Before Missouri was a state, Native people traveled these waters. French traders followed. Lewis and Clark came through in 1804. Fur traders worked the rivers, early towns rose along their banks, steamboats connected them to a growing nation, and eventually steel rails changed the way people and goods moved across the country.

Through all of it, one thing remained.

The rivers.

The Missouri. The Grand. The Chariton.

They fed families, carried commerce, flooded towns, carved new channels, and shaped generations of people who learned to live with the rivers—not against them.

Today we travel them with outboards instead of keelboats. We hunt the bottoms, fish their waters, and watch the same sunsets people have watched here for generations.

The equipment changed.

The towns changed.

The rivers changed.

But that connection to this country never really did.

That's the history behind the place we call:

TRI-RIVERS COUNTRY

This won't be the end of our history stories. There are plenty left to tell.

But summer is winding down. Getting all the fall work done.The mornings will soon get cooler, the leaves will begin to turn, and another Pecan Festival, Goose Festival and my favorite time of the year to be outside Ducks and Bucks is just around the corner.

So we're going to let the history series rest for a while and turn our attention to what fall means in Tri-Rivers Country—deer in the timber, ducks and geese overhead, fishing these rivers, and another season spent outdoors.

We'll come back to the old stories.

For now, it's time to start making some new ones.

Built on the River. Driven by Adventure

Tri Rivers Sporting Company

08/09/2026

Tri-Rivers History Series: Part 10

When Steel Rails Changed River Country

For generations, the rivers ruled.

If you wanted to move people, livestock, crops, mail, or merchandise through this part of Missouri, the Missouri River was the highway.

Brunswick grew because of it.

In 1849 alone, Brunswick recorded 534 steamboat arrivals and departures—a reminder of just how busy the Missouri River once was.

Then came the railroad.

By the 1850s, railroads were pushing across northern Missouri, and suddenly the river wasn't the only way to move people and goods.

The change didn't happen overnight.

Plans for a railroad connecting Brunswick with communities to the north were interrupted by the Civil War. Work resumed afterward, and by 1870 a railroad connected Brunswick and Chillicothe.

Steel rails began reaching places the river couldn't.

Farmers could ship crops and livestock more reliably. Merchants could receive goods without waiting on river conditions. Mail, passengers, supplies, and news traveled faster.

And the railroad didn't just change existing towns.

It helped create new ones.

Triplett grew because a railroad station was needed.

And farther up in the Grand River bottoms, another community would eventually owe much of its growth to the railroad.

Sumner.

Before Sumner became the town we know today, the surrounding country had been home to an early trading post and scattered settlement. Flooding and marshland had kept a large town from developing there.

That changed when the railroads arrived.

Sumner was laid out in 1882, and the railroad helped turn a patch of Grand River bottom country into a growing community.

For generations, the rivers had determined where people traveled and where towns grew.

Now steel rails were beginning to redraw the map.

The rivers built Tri-Rivers Country.

The railroad helped connect it to a changing nation.

Built on the River. Driven by Adventure.

Keeping an Eye on the RiversI recently started using an app called RiverApp to keep a closer eye on the local rivers and...
08/07/2026

Keeping an Eye on the Rivers

I recently started using an app called RiverApp to keep a closer eye on the local rivers and what they’re doing.
So far, I’m pretty impressed with it.
It pulls together river stages, flow rates, water temperatures, and whether a river is rising, falling, or holding steady. You can save the gauges you use most, which makes it pretty handy for checking conditions before fishing, boating, or just keeping tabs on the water.
This morning, the Grand River near Sumner was at 14.68 ft and rising, flowing around 6,340 cfs, with a water temperature of 75.7°F. The auxiliary gauge below Sumner was showing rising fast.
Meanwhile, the Missouri River gauges through our area were mostly showing steady, with flows around 49,000–59,000 cfs. Water temperature at Napoleon was still 80.4°F.
I’ve only been using RiverApp for a short time, but so far it looks like a pretty useful tool for keeping up with the rivers around Tri-Rivers Country.
Might make this part of the regular river report going forward.

Did You Know?When Wildlife Was a Way of LifeLong before modern conservation laws, Missouri's wildlife was more than recr...
08/05/2026

Did You Know?

When Wildlife Was a Way of Life

Long before modern conservation laws, Missouri's wildlife was more than recreation.
It was a livelihood.

During the 1800s and early 1900s, market hunting supplied restaurants, hotels, and growing cities across America. Ducks, geese, deer, wild turkeys, fish, beaver, otter, muskrat, mink, and other wildlife were harvested by the thousands and shipped by river and railroad to markets hundreds of miles away.

In those days, there were no daily bag limits.

No hunting seasons.

No game wardens.

For many families, hunting, trapping, and fishing weren't hobbies—they were how food was put on the table and money was earned to support a family.

The Missouri, Grand, and Chariton Rivers made this region rich with wildlife, and generations depended on those natural resources to survive.

But as wildlife populations declined across the country, people began to realize that if future generations were going to enjoy the outdoors, something had to change.

The conservation laws we know today weren't created to end our hunting heritage.

They were created to protect it.

Because of those efforts, we can still watch a flock of mallards drop into a slough, hear a gobbler sound off on a spring morning, catch a flathead on a summer night, or watch a whitetail step from the timber each fall.

That's a legacy worth protecting.

Built on the River. Driven by Adventure.

08/05/2026

Help Protect the Duck Factory

The Prairie Pothole Region is North America’s most important waterfowl breeding ground, producing more than half of the continent’s migratory ducks.

Hunters, conservation groups, landowners, and taxpayers have spent generations protecting these wetlands.

The current U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule
helps keep nearby drain tile from draining or damaging wetlands that Americans have already paid to conserve.

This is about more than one hunting season. It is about protecting breeding habitat, preserving our hunting heritage, and making sure future generations still see ducks and geese filling our skies.

Ducks Unlimited is asking hunters and conservationists to submit a comment in support of keeping these protections in place.

Stand up for ducks. Stand up for wetlands.

Protect the Duck Factory.

A couple evenings on the river.My brother-in-law and I put our lines in Sunday evening, then ran them after work tonight...
08/04/2026

A couple evenings on the river.

My brother-in-law and I put our lines in Sunday evening, then ran them after work tonight. We were treated to two beautiful sunsets and brought home a nice mess of eater-sized catfish, including one that tipped the scale at 22.75 pounds.

One of these sunset pictures was taken near the confluence of the Grand and Missouri rivers. The Grand is pretty messy right now, with quite a bit of fish kill showing up, and the water temperature is still running in the upper 80s.

Hopefully August isn't too brutal with the state fair and all those willing to get out,. Can't wait for that little drop in water temperature to help the fishing—and make those evenings on the river even better.

Built on the River. Driven by Adventure.
Tri-Rivers Sporting Company

Tri-Rivers History Series: Part 9When the Steamboats Ruled the RiverThere was a time when the Missouri River wasn't just...
08/03/2026

Tri-Rivers History Series: Part 9

When the Steamboats Ruled the River

There was a time when the Missouri River wasn't just a place to fish or hunt.

It was one of America's busiest highways.

During the 1800s, steamboats became the lifeline of river towns like Brunswick. They carried freight, passengers, mail, livestock, lumber, and supplies to communities that depended on the river for nearly everything.

The sound of a steamboat whistle meant business was arriving.

Merchants prepared for new goods.
Farmers shipped grain and livestock.
Families welcomed visitors from places many would never see.

The Missouri River connected this part of Missouri to St. Louis, Kansas City, and the growing American frontier.

Life on the river wasn't easy.

Sandbars shifted without warning.

Snags hid beneath the water.

Floods could change the channel overnight.

Piloting a steamboat on the Missouri demanded experience, patience, and respect for the river.

Even today, anyone who spends time on these waters knows one thing hasn't changed...

The Missouri River still demands your respect.

More than a century has passed since the great steamboat era, but the river continues to shape our communities, our traditions, and our way of life.

The boats may have changed.

The river never did.

Built on the River. Driven by Adventure.

Address

209 Gottschalk Street
Brunswick, MO
65236

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