Hog Wally
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Posts posted by Hog Wally
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The smallmouth bite has been off the charts this week. I’ve been to 4 areas 45 miles total of river. It was 3.5’ high and dirty to 2’ high and 1’ visibility. Caught fish in fast shallow water to 17’ deep dead water. Kinda crazy compared to what I’m used to seeing in January. Yesterday was the absolute best for size. No walleye were caught.
- Seth, Johnsfolly, Bushbeater and 4 others
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8 hours ago, Al Agnew said:
It's an interesting question. I aimed for many years to own a home on a river, where I could walk out my door and fish whenever I wanted. Got it in Montana on the Yellowstone. But I also wanted a home on my favorite Ozark river. Just moved in August to a home on the Meramec. In either place, I can fish from my own land, though neither place is really perfect for wading. But in either place, I have 50-75 miles of river within 45 minutes drive, and the nearest boat ramp is less than 2 miles away. And I can be pretty darned happy fishing the same stretches over and over, given that I have that many miles that close. Big River used to be my "home" stream, the stream I grew up on, and I always fished it a lot more than anywhere else. I'm sure I'll still fish the same stretches of Big I always have, as well, and now I'm pretty close to the Bourbeuse, so I'll fish it more than I have in the past. In Montana, I have the Boulder and the Shields that are not far away, and I'll fish them quite a bit.
But it's always fun to fish new water, or even just water I haven't fished in a while. Every late summer I do a multi-day solo float somewhere else in the Ozarks. Most years, I'll fish someplace else in Montana with my buddies. I once had the goal of fishing a river in every state (well, except a few that simply don't interest me, like Kansas or Mississippi). I guess I no longer have that goal, because I don't have the drive to travel that far every year anymore. But there are sure streams I haven't fished that I want to, like the Devils River in Texas, the Smith River in Montana, the Snake in Idaho. And a bunch of streams I want to get back to at some point, like the Penobscot in Maine, the New in Virginia, the John Day in Oregon, the Salmon in Idaho. And a lot of Ozark streams that I floated many years ago and haven't been on them since.
Other kinds of fishing? Not really. I love rivers too much. Give me smallmouth or trout or river walleye and I'm happy, though I wouldn't mind catching some of the more obscure bass species, like shoal bass and guadalupe bass.
I do usually go on one or two trips a year to places far from my homes. But other than that, I have enough water within an easy drive that I don't really wish for a lot of exotic locales.
I keep thinking I want to go after them Shoal bass also. And now that I think about it more, the North Branch of the Susquehanna river for Smallies.
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1 hour ago, jdmidwest said:
Hammering the same water all the time makes you really good on that body of water normally.
Several years ago, I made a motion to fish some new waters each year to change things up. Those trips are not usually productive as the normal spots I pound, but add some excitement to the sport.
I carry a license for MO, Ark, and TN and will travel to each during the course of the year. And I switch it up, lakes and rivers. Boats and wading, sometimes a kayak.
This year, I fished Truman in MO for the first time, Chicamagua in TN, and Degray, Greeson, and Quachita in Arkansas for the first time. None fished better than Pickwick or the TN River, Current River, or any other of my normal streams. But I saw new places and want to go back and do all of them some more when time permits.
Truman is my favorite lake in this state. I have fished there more than all other impoundments combined.
- Johnsfolly and Terrierman
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3 hours ago, top_dollar said:
Ya know, I get bored when I fish the same bodies of water over and over again. I like to mix it up and fish for different species, and use different techniques. That said, the reason you're one of the best at catching walleye out of the Meramec is because you're always fishing it. I would love to catch a 12# river walleye, but doing so requires all the time and effort spent fishing that one particular fishery. If you're willing to put in the hours, you're likely to be rewarded with something special. I fish all over Missouri, but generally no one body of water more than say 10 or 20 times per year, so Ill never really get to master any of them. If I fished one lake or river 100 days or more a year, id probably be one of the best at fishing it. It kinda seems like you wanna see something different, so go for it!
Actually, I just have to cycle through several rivers around me that I feel the constant urge but conditions on the BigRiver and Bourboese aren’t always favorable, even for my RiverPro jet boat. I hate crashing my stuff up, but I will.
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9 hours ago, FishnDave said:
Not really a list of destinations. There are places I like to visit each year, and hope to get back to them each subsequent year...like NE Iowa streams for smallmouth bass, trout, rock bass, etc. If it doesn't happen, no biggie. Life happens. There are places I've fished that I enjoyed so much, I certainly want to return again. There are some new-to-me places I'd like to fish, but no set-in-stone timetable for getting there. Generally, if I've picked a place I want to fish, its because its a good place to catch a new species.
I can understand if some folks might want to hit all the top bass tournament lakes they've heard so much about...or the top crappie lakes, or walleye tournament waters, for example. That's not as interesting to me personally, but I can understand the draw.
You living on the Meramec...the fishing is probably so good, why go anywhere else, right? 😜
Well, today wasn’t so bad
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Question: Does anyone else have a checklist of fishing destinations that they try to fish every given season? Do you start freaking out if you don’t get to hit each spot? I live on the Meramec river so I really just want to fish anywhere but here. But here I am, going back on the river.
- Johnsfolly, Greasy B, grizwilson and 2 others
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2 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:
Thats a big sauger. What were the stats on it?
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1 minute ago, Johnsfolly said:
@Hog Wally That would be awesome if it is a pure sauger. Good luck.
I try really hard. Like everyday.
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14 minutes ago, Gavin said:
Saw it on FB...Super nice fish...Maybe a state record Sauger or maybe a Saugeye. We know you can catch em.
MDC took a DNA test today and they have the fish. Should know in a few weeks. If it’s a pure Sauger, which they think it is , it crushed the state record by a pound.
- Greasy B, nomolites, MOsmallies and 6 others
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Fished a little tournament on the Osage Saturday and had this beast eat my little cricket !!
- ColdWaterFshr, MoCarp, MarkG52 and 20 others
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I’ve never been a huge fan and or impressed with the Smallmouth on the Nade. But, yesterday I changed my mind. I put in at a public ramp solo and ran a couple miles up before I noticed my fuel gauge was at 2.6 gallons !! Not cool. I guess I fish nearly every day and sometimes it slips my mind but I reacted instantly and decided that whatever looked good in the next mile or so I would sit on it and figure something out. I guess I’m a good judge because I set down and immediately see I am in 16’ of dead water with maybe a slight bit of back flow. That means water is literally running the wrong direction. I immediately toss a swim bait as far as I can and let it slowly fall to the bottom. As soon as I moved it a few inches that oh so familiar feel of a winter smallmouth loading up on my rod. I fished for 2 hours without moving off the same spot. 40-50 fish. 8 smallies and the rest were spots. All keepers or bigger. 4 of the smallie were big imo. I didn’t try any different baits on them because it was clear they were on bait fish and the 3.5” swimmers I throw were the ticket. Water was dirty and deep. Fish were glued to the bottom. I don’t know any other method that would’ve worked. This is strictly my opinion, but the Meramec has bigger Smallmouth, and the Nade has the numbers. Don’t attack me on this one. Just my opinion. I think I’ll go hunting tomorrow.
- MOstreamer, Daryk Campbell Sr, rps and 5 others
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Deep water, or close to deep water, have been getting good. Shallow structure bite is going away quickly.
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MDC doesn’t recommend crappie in ponds. I have fished this 1/2 acre pond 10 times and have mostly caught bass, some big (over 5 lbs). I’ve caught 2 crappie over 15”. The pics are of my PB crappie yesterday at 3 lbs. So who is wrong ?
- timoH, Greasy B, top_dollar and 8 others
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18 hours ago, ColdWaterFshr said:
"A roaming wolf-pack of big smallies on their way somewhere" . . . . . . . .nice imagery. Makes we want to leave the office and go fishing.
Lol. This happens at my ramp during migratory times. Prespawn and Fall. Get out of the office !!!
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I was sitting At the kitchen table enjoying my supper when I kept noticing splashes on the surface. I sat and watched Shad getting herded on my gravel bar for at least 15 minutes before I finally decided I should check out the situation. It was a roaming wolf pack of big smallies on their way somewhere. Pretty freakin cool. I only caught 3 big ones but I had limited time and was without a chase boat.
- MOPanfisher, Seth, evilcatfish and 8 others
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On 7/3/2020 at 10:49 AM, rps said:
Raise your hands and dance. In a couple years they will be worth the trouble.
I tried to look it up on line. It appears the Meramec has a natural spawn, and I found this at a web site called family outdoors:
If I followed their fishing advice on this article for the Meramec, I dont think i would catch a single walleye.LOL
- MOsmallies and nomolites
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On 7/1/2020 at 8:55 AM, top_dollar said:
Are you catching more little ones than normal? I guess dinks are a good sign.
That’s what surprises me. I’m catching dink’s by the truckload.
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Anyone else catching walleye? I have been catching a ton of little guys and an occasional beast .
- Johnsfolly, BilletHead and nomolites
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3
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Males are somewhat still on beds, guarding fry, In my opinion, it’s a great spawn. Had a huge blow up on a buzz bait today in shallow riffle. Followed it up with 3.5” swimmer and connected on this girl. 20” long and 4.4 lbs.
- Terrierman, Gavin, riverrat and 11 others
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14
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All Spots. And very good eating size !
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On 7/15/2019 at 11:59 AM, Keiththom said:
It's been many, many years since I've pulled in a Walleye. And I fish the meramac a lot for smallies. What's a good method, if someone wanted to target these fish? Or at least have a reasonably decent chance at pulling one in.
Find current that’s too violent to safely fish. In specific weather conditions and or times of the day, the walleye will be there feeding. 1’to 10’ water, depends on conditions.
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2 hours ago, Al Agnew said:
Well, I had kinda the opposite experience on a different section of the Meramec yesterday. Started out looking for the situation that Hog Wally had told me about on his sections of the river. Couldn't find fish. Tried about everything I thought might work. Was catching only the occasional small fish. So I went to fishing a big walking topwater just because if I'm not going to catch fish, I'd rather not catch them on topwater! Fish, fish, fish for about a half hour with nothing...then KAWOOSH! It was a very thick, though spawned out, 19 incher. Then back to nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, until the thunderstorm started rumbling...one more cast. SLURP! 17 incher. Hey, if you're only going to catch two good fish, I'll take those two on top any day!
I haven’t caught one on topwater yet Good to know that is starting up.
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With a little break in the storms I dropped the boat in with my daughter Macey and ran a short distance and literally caught this big one on my first cast Followed by several dandies, then the sky opened up and we high tailed it home
4 trips in 5 days.
in Meramec River
Posted
The guy is dialed in. Very humbling