I have a buddy who builds rods for RL Winston rod co. He came back home to stclair last year and he flyfished out of my boat. It was pretty cool but time consuming for a busy guy like myself.
2012 was lower than this. That's the year I threw in the towel and decided to buy a river pro. I just got off a run from stclair to meramec caverns and back. Not even a touch on the bottom of my boat. It keeps dropping too. I'm planning on putting a gauge in here that I can see with binoculars from my bedroom window so I can decide if it's fishable. I'm gonna call this level 0".
Only a select few of us release a walleye, numbers are good on brown bass( could always be better) flatheads, numbers are okay but giants are far and few between. I caught a 42 lb near my house. Have never seen or heard of one that big below 30 bridge from a reliable source.
Would love to have some real regulations on the meramec river for all game fish. Slot limit on flatheads too Slot on walleye Catch and release Smallies.
I ran from my house to the caverns and had ice cream cones with my girls. Sitting under the zip line I had a massive swing and a miss on topwater followed by a doubled over rod on a hidef craw that miraculously came off without a visual on the perpetrator. I was able to beg the girls to allow me a few stops on the way home to feed my addiction. I caught at least a 15" at every likely spot.
I took this guy out today He's 70 years old. I was curious why he was so excited over a average sized smallie. It was his first smallmouth bass he ever caught in his life It made my week.
The public access was littered with at least 50 gar, drum , carp,suckers and I think it's just a great sport. I'm sure they only kept the Smallie's, catfish and walleye.
I find our meramec fish to be a little skinnier than other waters. Although I usually only catch summer and fall fish. I have a very accurate and calibrated scale now but I think my brother caught a close to 10 lb walleye about 5 years ago. A 9 3/4 lb was gigged upriver from me that I personally laid eyes on and it was clearly a 30" fish.