jfrith

There are many posts made everyday on the fishing, hiking, kayaking, etc. Missouri Facebook groups from people that seem to be attention seeking or something else. Half the time it seems like the only reason they went outside was so they could take pictures and post about it on Facebook. When your main reason for getting out on a stream is to get enough views on your YouTube video to get monetized, I think it’s ridiculous. And it becomes an issue when everybody is trying to do it. All of the people that comment on the posts asking about where it is….. followed later by “I’ll check it out next weekend”. It’s silly to believe it hasn’t greatly added pressure on the streams/ CA. And yes, obviously we do the same thing to a degree with this forum, but FB and YouTube are in a whole different league of exposure. Some people value 1k “likes” on an internet post more than they do keeping a good thing to themselves.

Couldnt agree more with all of the idiots posting videos on youtube just trying to become youtube famous and get their channels monetized. There are a couple of these idiots on the FB Missouri smallie/trout pages constantly spamming with their vids. Drives me crazy.

Completely agree, but I dont think all plastic use is bad, just single use plastic. Youre also right that our recycling programs are a joke. Honestly, I'd pay a few extra bucks a month for a better recyling program.

Received my first dose after Christmas and my second dose mid-January. No symptoms to report for either round, other than a sore arm.

Curious what year the second picture was taken?

I fished the big lake a couple weeks ago around sun down and didnt have a single bite. Never done very good at busch. Would rather stick to the Meramec.

What environmental factors determine whether these fish are able to survive. Is it summer temps.?

Will be pretty tough anywhere with the current crowds.

Hahaha that’s funny

Didn’t look at the breakdown but for a single person it was $52 for general admission and 2 hours of fishing. They charge by the hour. We fished for almost 4 hours though. Very few trout in there. And about as unnatural looking as it gets.....There are some other species though. We've been going as a family since the early 90’s (such a fun place back then when few people new about it) and the fishing section gets smaller and smaller every year. Now it’s pretty much a theme park, fake waterfalls and all. You guys think they turn the power off to those at night? 😂 The guided fishing in the upper sections of the park cost an astronomical amount.

Haha yes. I would never normally, but it’s what my dad wanted to do for Father’s Day. We also hiked the park. Despite the dent in the check book it was a good time, there are some huge bass to play with in there.

Yessir! That Longear, I should say, actually came from Dogwood canyon. However, there were a ton of beautiful, bedding Longear on the Mac as well. It’s that time of year for them.

Was able to hit the upper river this past Monday after a few days spent at table rock/the white. Started out early that morning at 5am. Told myself this would be solely a fly fishing day so I packed up my 7 wt. and backpack and left the car and spin rod behind at the low water bridge. I first tied on a sculpin (the ones with the helmet) and was able to get a couple smaller smallmouth to run it down in the shallow water tail outs. The big fish however didn’t seem to pay much attention to this though so thought I would totally change it up. I tied on a popper, placed my first cast behind a turned up roof wad and BAM. Huge blowup from a 13 inch smallmouth. I tried a couple more pools and then remembered I had some mouse flies in my box and thought it would be pretty cool to get one on that and I did! Caught another 5 smallmouth on that and then picked up several more fish skipping a crawdad across the bottom. Was finished by noon and didn’t see another person the entire time. Success on this stretch, and I’m sure any stretch of skinny stream is greatly affected by the amount of people using it that day. I tried this exact same access two weekends ago and did not get one fish, but counted over 50+ people floating the river that day. Anybody care to share some favorite Smallmouth flies they use in the ozarks? I was hoping to see how a Game changer would work on these fish but I left that in the trees down below Gaston’s.

@Quillback Any idea when this 14 foot mark might happen? Was thinking about coming down next Monday (6/22) for a day to wade fish. Thanks.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think these are a mutation rainbow trout and aren't the true Golden trout that come from California?

That’s a shame to hear. Is there any way to eradicate a species of fish from a stream? Doesn’t seem likely other than just killing all that are caught and even then I would imagine they would come back up from the Mississippi. I know it’s been talked about to death on here before but why are the spots just now (relatively recently) establishing themselves in the Meramec and other Missouri streams?

Dam that really sucks. To think we used to have big smallmouth in stl blows my mind

Hmmmm, that’s interesting. Wonder why it’s changed. Pollution, more large flooding events, spotted bass?

Got out today after work for a bit at a Eureka area Boat ramp and found the river up just a tad with a little color. Hooked a couple of smallmouth though so I was pretty satisfied! Where’s the furthest south on this river you have caught smallmouth? Below 141? The Eureka boat ramps are where they stop for me. Also, found a ton of stinging nettle. Luckily getting in the water quickly after being pricked diminishes the effects quickly. I don’t remember this plant ever being around when I was a little kid and spent a whole lot more time in the woods. Is this new to the area? Looks like it’s indigenous to Europe.

Palomino? didn't know they were stocking those. I remember when they started stocking those at Dogwood canyon back like 20 years ago. Easy prey for the eagles.

Same thing with the Asians back in the day. Me and my dad would go when I was younger and would just sit there scratching our heads as they pulled out fish after fish at high noon underneath the bridge. They were dialed in.

Way to go! Off topic... but, do largemouth males guard fry the same way smallmouth do?

Liars, haha.

I don't think they hatch any fish at Maramec springs. Is this correct? All ive ever seen is grow out/ holding. I assumed they were brought from other hatcheries.