I ride the Kaskaskia at New Athens and on down..pretty nice since it's dredged for commercial. You have to watch the asian carp there though, they'll flop up from the noise of your machine and smack you in the face...I know a lady a few years ago that got her face busted open from that.
Kinkaid is great also, used to live in C-dale. Mainly stick to Carlyle or the river now as I live in STL. (With the exception of two weeks at Ozarks)