jfrith

Made it down to Cardiac today for several hours. Found a couple fish to play around with. But I counted more gig boats than I saw trout in this section. I wouldn’t waste your time.

Lmao was that a real thing?

Thoughts on the smallmouth on the Upper Meramec right now? They’ve begun to move right?

I’ll keep you all posted. Is the red ribbon section open to gigging?

Yep, that’s about what I figured. Thought I might go check it out though and walk up to the spring. Try for some smallmouth if nothing else, but I’m sure they’re on their way to their wintering holes about now.

Anyone fished here lately? Holding any fish? Anything to report on?

It was my first time fishing the little piney and let me tell you it did not disappoint. Started out right above where Lane spring flows into the main creek at about 7am. Saw several fish spread out rising to what appeared to be very small blue wing olives. I tied on a size 22 BWO and tried for those fish for about an hour and gave up fishless and proceeded downstream (these also may have been creek chubs rising on the hatch so may have been wasting my time). Fished another stretch with confirmed trout with BWO still on, but still had no luck. It was now 11am without a fish, so I continued on downstream. Switched flies to a soft hackle with a green copper John dropper and it was on! Landed my first Piney rainbow, and it was probably one of the most beautiful fish I’ve ever caught. Fished for about another mile downstream and picked up maybe another 20 fish until calling it quits around 3pm. They did not seem to want my dry fly presentation, but anything small and on the bottom (emphasis with on the bottom, bumping across the bottom) and they were on. The fish in this creek are beautiful and the stream is pristine. Reminded me a lot of the neighboring Current in terms of water clarity, size, aquatic vegetation, microfauna, river bank composition, substrate, etc. which makes me wonder why the Current River can’t support a reproducing rainbow population? Could it be due to Montauk at the head waters maybe? Anyways, incredible day spent and I will be back. This post has been promoted to an article

Found them up a creek a couple days ago busting schools of shad. Pretty wild actually, like something off of the Planet earth tv series. Both spots and whites/hybrids. Went back the next day and nothing.....

Yep found the whites middle of last week on a creek that feeds the Lower Meramec. They were gone though the next day when I went back.

Al, with the size of the most recent flood what kind of effect does that have on smallmouth populations? Specifically in the upper meremac.

I used to live there for a short bit. Unfortunately didn't have much time for fishing, as I was always working. Feb isn't the best month for fishing, but I would think there'd still be some residential tarpon that stay year round. Might also look into bonefishing out on the flats. Caught this guy while working/long lining for sharks.

Lot of people in the park?

Hey all, I'm thinking about investing in a boat sometime this year. I would mostly use it on the meramec im thinking. Would you all say it's absolutely necessary to have a jet/riverpro on this stretch of the river? ... I was originally thinking basstracker. And also sorry for kind of hijacking the thread, I should probly start my own! Just thought I'd ask this quick question cuz Al mentioned the riverpro earlier. Thanks for any insight!

I was down there this past Sunday fishing below Baptist and was amazed at how much the runs, deep pools, and riffles had changed in location since my last trip down there in December. I also would agree with others that there seem to be less fish in the river now. I did see several browns and rainbows but not nearly the numbers of fish or the large sized browns I'm used to seeing in particular holes when I've been there in the past. I gave it about an hour and a half and then decided to go see if I could find some smallmouth on the Meramec up-stream of the spring branch. Glad I did.

Thank you all, I'm really glad you enjoyed my report. Yea Mitch, it seems this time of year with the cooler temps, slowing down the retrieve and action of the jig is a must. Several years back before I knew what I was doing I would reel my bait in way to quick and jig it way to often. Its amazing the difference you have in catching when you slow it down to only a single short pop of the jig once every 6-7 seconds. This can literally be the difference between catching 10 fish and catching 0 fish in a run. Additionally it seems key to keep your line very taught so that you can feel the very slightest tap of the bait by a fish. If I wasn't keeping my line tight like this I was missing multiple bites and refusals every cast.

With the weather in the upper 60's I was finally able to make it out last weekend to a local spot on the Meramec. I had considered the night before making the hour drive south to fish below the park at Meramec springs for trout and bass, but decided against it as I wasn't sure what river conditions or how the crowds would be on a day like we had Sunday. So I decided to give the Stl section of the Meramec a try and headed to the Castlewood/ Valley park area. I made it to the river around noon and walked down an embankment to the river. After throwing some Jerkbaits and skipping a Huddlebug on the bottom I had had no luck and started walking upstream. I found a little feeder creek and started fishing a deepish looking rocky pool at the tail of a long run about 100 yards up from the main river. Eventually I was able to hook into something small on the huddlebug for a few seconds but it eventually came off. With no real luck in that first spot I was starting to think about giving up and heading back downstream. I then decided to hike up to the head of the run and started bouncing a huddle bug very very slowly across the bottom right where the riffle dropped off into the deep pool. On my first cast I was able to ease into a very soft bite and brought in my first bass, a nice little 12"er that put up a pretty decent fight for its size. I continued on with the huddle bug fishing all sections of this upper section of the run. I caught a couple more dinks but then eventually had a very strong POP on my lure and the fight was on. This fish I could tell was a lot bigger than any of the others and I thought it might be a hybrid by the crazy bend it put in my new St. Croix rod. I eventually pulled this hog up from the depths and realized it was a very girthy largemouth. This fish seemed kind of lethargic at first but honestly felt like pulling a log off the bottom of the stream. I got the fish to hand and was able to get several pictures before releasing it. On that high note I decided to call it an afternoon after 2 hours of fishing and 10 fish to hand. All in all, not what I expected as I've heard this section of the Meramec is very challenging and have experienced this on previous trips to this section and nearby Simpson lake. I'm not sure if this was just a day where everything aligned perfectly or what but it was definitely a Sunday afternoon well spent. Additionally I would like to say I think a lot of the tactics and subtleties in presentation Hog Wally and Al have described in their reports have helped me with my fishing on this river and I appreciate it guys. Thanks!

Definitely big bulky streamers/ articulated streamers.

Not as big as most of the Smallmouth posted in this thread, but did catch my own PR smallie this past summer 2015 on the upper Meramec. Went 18.2". Really like the way this picture came out also:

Just wondering with all the recent major flooding we are having, what effects does this have on stream fish populations (smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, etc.)? What about non-native species like trout in our Ozark streams? And also where do these species seek refuge during these extreme flooding events? I think this topic might have been discussed a year or so ago but I couldn't find the post. Anyway, thanks for any insight you can provide. Joe

How are you all fishing these? Slow skip along the bottom?

Man, they sure are in a hurry. Seems like such strange behavior for amphipods. Have you seen them swimming in the water column like this in past years?

I don't have an exact answer to your question. But there is some information in this thread about Missouri Browns.

Took this short video this past week on one of our rivers that I thought you guys might find interesting. Bigger one looked to be the female with the darker colored one the male and then several smaller browns trailing them. The Browns are definitely starting to go through the motions it appears and getting some really intense rust orange colors. Very cool to watch! Also, attached a couple pics from the same day. Enjoy.

Meramec is the one park open every day of the week during the C&R season.