MJREDDY

Thank you sir! Appreciate the help. Was not looking to drive in from St. Louis only to go searching for a plan B.

Hi all - Wondering at what level the Eleven Point is OK to fish? Currently after some rain last week (November 2019) it looks like it is high 500+ cfs, 1.2 height... Is this fishable? Thanks in advance!

Amazing fish and great photo to boot.

Figure it doesn't hurt to ask: Whereabouts - roughly - is your put in for these excursions? I've caught tons of smallies on meramec over the years, but rarely see fish this size - likely cuz I'm fishing WAY upstream @ Crawford county and above. Thanks again for a great read for this too-often desk bound computer jockey...

"Increased nutrients do contribute to the issue but the biggest contributor is the high amount of generation." Question: Is it "high amount of generation", specifically, or is the dam primarily just releasing oceans of water to lower a flooded reservoir? Thanks for your work. Really interesting stuff.

Howdy gents - I'm doing an overnighter with my brother this weekend on Jacks Fork. I would rather fish Eleven Point for trout, but my brother hasn't caught a decent smallmouth in years and is starting to act crazy. Thing is, while he was deployed in Iraq a few years ago, his brothers and I frequently sent him photos of big fat smallmouth, which, in hind sight, was just cruel and wrong. Anyway, it's time I make amends and put him on some fat Ozark bass. Long story short, I'm asking for approach suggestions for the Jacks Fork this time of year, and/or a straight up "don't do it, wait til spring" recommendation! (This brother does not like the trout, it's bass or bust with him.) Thanks in advance...

Great to hear those creeks still produce. Been a while since I've had a day like that on either one. Good stuff!

How's the Eleven Point look overall, Brian? If I were blindfolded and taken to some of my favorite spots on Current and Meramec I might not recognize them. Lotta flood events rearranging things.

Ha- that's great. Love the rig. I experimented on the Jacks Fork a few years ago with a saltwater style sabiki rig. I used 6 old #22 nymphs and dropped it into the riffles to catch shiners. That got some looks as well.

Johnsfolly- where do you fish in central MO? There were some creeks near Warrenton I fished as a kid, also seined a lot of minnow species but those creeks are either filled in or solid algea swamps now thanks to ag and residential encroachment. Kind of depressing to go back to my haunts and find them so changed. Gotta drive a little further to find good water.

Interesting. Can't imagine handling that much fry. Or farming fish, for that matter. Can't imagine the challenges. I breed guppies and the fry that get baby brine shrimp all survive and grow quickly. The fry that receive powdered "baby food" grow at half the rate and survival is maybe 60%. Many appear to never eat. Anyway, these observations support my theory that wanton gluttony is a positive survival trait/gene that should not be frowned upon.

I've managed to train darters when I've had them, although a few did not catch on and eventually fed the crawdads. Moving food was the trick for me. Even flake food that was pushed around the tank by a powerhead became fair game and my darters learned to chase it down. The lone darter resident in my deep 90 gallon right now will stalk and pick up motionless shrimp pellets... He's 100% domesticated I guess! He also discoverd guppies recently. I dump fry in the tank and the powerhead currents push whatever guppies survive the shiner ambush down into the gravel and the darter grabs what he can. He'll get hold of fairly large guppies too from time to time, which surprised me. --- Top minnow experiences are mixed. Black striped do well and learn to eat everything in my tanks. Studfish I could not feed and they would not acclimate. Seemed to be in perpetual state of shock. Was hoping to take advantage of this dry spring we're having and add some variety to my current set up. My big tank now is a rolling mass of overfed bleeding shiners from the Huzzah that probably have grown to state record size. Eat like kings since I work at home and walk by the tank hourly. BTW, thanks Al. My buddies hung posters of Demi Moore and Farrah on their walls. I opted for bass illustrations torn from magazines — helped keep me sane in winter. I knew i recognized your name from somewhere.

I look forward to seeing what darters you catch. I'm thinking about setting up more tanks and one specifically for darters. Few years back I started snorkeling with an underwater digital camera and discovered some truly huge (6" ?) darters that couldn't be spotted from above. These fish were down in swift runs, kinda turbulent around softball size rocks, maybe 4 foot deep. A shoal, I guess. Because of the current I couldn't get close to them. I think this year I'll try angling for those big darters. They were tan colored, no fin color to speak of. At a glance you might think they're suckers. The photo attached is a 12" smallie I found under a log on the upper meramec, not even 20" of water. I held the camera maybe a foot from his face. Used the flash too. He just sat there.

Prob. due to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook - messages go out on different wires these days. I prefer the forums, but then I sit at a desk all day.

Going to have to give the longears another shot after hearing that report. Bigger tank sounds like the key to maintaining the color and natural behaviour.

Chiller is great question. Have not tried. My sunfish tank was around 70 degrees through the winter in my office. Longears and darters lost color no matter what. I fed them live guppies and frozen brine shrimp. Could be oxygen, or water hardness issue? Minnows that I keep will "light up" when given premium food. And crawdads also keep their colors very well. In fact they clean up and get brighter over time. Somebody told me to try very dark gravel and decor for the fish. My main tank now is sort of "gravel bar" themed, with tan meramec river gravel and some drift wood. Fish seem to adjust to that dull color.

Wow. Really nice photos.

Thanks for the link. Anybody else keep Ozark fish indoors? I've kept most ozark minnows, plus gar, bullheads and an ocassional longear or small bass for many years.

Long time reader, first time poster. I figured I was only guy in the world deliberately targeting shiners from time to time w/my 3 wt. Did not know this was a socially sanctioned activity! Got a 90 gallon in my office with a powerhead to mimick a stream, and I spend way too much time watching my captured bleeding shiners "rise" to small bits of sun-dried shrimp. Couple thoughts: One of the most amazing of all "minnow class" fishes to get on a fly is the fully colored male plains topminnow. Crazy colorful and aggressive as heck. I've caught them up to 6 inches on dries, but they are smart and finicky. Also, back in college my buddies and I fly fished the Mississippi @ the Alton dam where 367 crosses into East Alton IL and we could get goldeye, mooneye, skipjack and white bass without moving our feet. Occasional drum and gar too. Darn near everything swam in those eddies, right beside or even IN the rushing spillway water. Also got bluegill, greenies, crappies, largemouth, drum, walleye and sauger. All on about 300 feet of bank. I don't think it's there anymore. Never occured to me to use flies for darters. I have a few in my tanks, but all were seined. I've seen some BIG darters in the Huzzah and prob. should get a few by rod. Great thread guys - thanks!