Haris122

I don't know how it lends itself to fly fishing in comparison, but I actually had some decent trips on the red ribbon section of the Meramec, just throwing roostertails. I haven't gone there since earlier this year, but when I did the action was good.

Might not be able to give you much information but from the spots I've kayaked on it, and the ones I've fished from a buddy's boat, I'd say your best bet is the first few miles upstream and downstream of Flamm. Unfortunately a lot of sections of even the Lower Meramec seem to have just enough shallow spots/riffles, that it's tough to go any long stretch uninterrupted. I think there's a shallow section a few hundred yards downstream from the Highway 21 (Tesson Ferry) bridge. To enter and exit the Meramec from George Winter, it can be pretty shallow. There's a shallow section somewhere between the railroad bridge, and a little upstream of the 141 bridge. I think there's a shallow section somewhere around the bend by Unger, but not 100% on that one. At Route 66 there's a shallow section just downstream of the ramp/upstream of the 44 bridge. Sherman beach there looked to be a shallow section just downstream of the railroad bridge. I don't know how shallow you can go, and of course depending on water level some of those might not be much of an obstacle, but a lot of them looked like straight up riffles of only a foot or so most of the times I've went there (granted most of that was in the summer when the water is often on the lower side to begin with). So Flamm has a few miles both ways I think. George Winter a few miles downstream and maybe a mile or 2 upstream, depending on water levels at Mini Ha Ha park, and the bridges nearby. Just downstream of the railroad bridge in Valley Park you might have a mile or a few to work with before you hit the bend by Greentree/Unger. And upstream of the Hwy44 bridge at Route 66 you might have a few miles to work with.

darn Smalliebigs. That looks badass. Hope it heals up nice though. Not a flip flop wearer in general but man, that certainly makes one think twice about the choice of footwear while fishing.

Don't own any canoes, but if you're willing to settle for a not-so-fishing-only kayak, I think the sit-in ones are actually pretty light, and I'd say relatively easy to load. I have, a 9.5 foot Perception Swifty and it's plenty light, and you can reach inside the hull, basically having the seating area resting on your shoulder while holding the outside rim with the other hand, and from there on it's pretty easy to get it on the roof. I recently got a Field and Stream Shadow Caster, which is a real, sit on top fishing kayak, and in the water I like it, but I have to say it is a real pain in the butt to load and offload from the roof. That thing is about a 100 lbs, but what's worse is that there's very few good leverage points. It's really wide, long, and being a sit on top, just really doesn't provide anywhere near the leverage to rest it for a second before proceeding to putting it on the roof. Downside to the sit-in non-fishing ones however is that there's limited room both for you and you're equipment, and after a while, having to continue keeping your legs stretched out, just adds to the discomfort. But if you were to only have 1 or maybe 2 rods, and just a little bit of tackle with you, and not plan on being on the water all day, that kind could be made to work pretty good after installing a rod holder or two. Best of all would be that they're much cheaper too.

Nice belly button jewelry wrench. But you're just asking for a fish to bite you while you're swimming.

Now that I know what's all involved in the problem, I can live with that.

I have nicer reels, so thanks for the offers, but that's not my aim here. I just happen to like fishing the micro 33 as well. JoeD is right at one thing, I will continue fishing with it, hopefully after I tuned the drag good enough to get the job done, but I won't be "outgrowing" it regardless.

Fish 24/7, I may not ever get it dialed in, but it did what it was supposed to at some point, leading me to believe it could be done again. How dependably, I don't know, and sure, it won't ever be the equivalent of a $50+ reel, but it's got a drag, and it comes spooled with 4# line. Logic would dictate the two can be tuned to work in unison somehow.

For whatever reason I seem to get trout to bite them more than the bigger ones. The bigger ones seem odd for me nowadays as much as I've used these.

I also have spinning setups that I frequently use. I just use the micro 33 in combination with them. Just kind of depends what lure I got on what reel, as far as which I use at what point. Though I frequently use some roostertail on that one. As far as size roostertails, it varies, but most frequently 1/24 and 1/16 single hook ones.

Al, I have adopted the pump rod, don't reel while high, then reel while dropping the rod technique, since the last time you mentioned it when I asked about the drag. I feel like I'm getting that part down pretty good. I did set the drag of this particular reel also the way you mentioned. The hookset I guess I just need to work more on. In the past the exaggerated sweeps have not worked for me, but if I end up with lost fish either way, I guess I really have nothing left to lose. I do realize I'm not fishing with high quality equipment here, and as jim said the drag seems to jam up sometime, but I figured they wouldn't call the things "micro" 33's if the drag on them didn't work for the poundage line they'd frequently be fished with and even come spooled with. The fish size is a good reference as to when I should expect the thing to work if it works properly. Anyways, thanks everyone for the advice. I need to tune this reel's drag some more it seems. That and figure out the hookset part out.

Dude, the way you phrase this I'm picturing you expecting me to anticipate the exact fractions of a second they initially hit, which I don't have the reflexes for. In the past, it's not that I haven't tried setting it immediately when I felt the bite, but when they bite, and when they're already hooked are one and the same at that point. So that's when I've ripped them out of their mouths. Not long after they've been swimming with them stuck in their jaw.

I hope so Wrench. But I'd have figured 3-4 years into it, I'd get that by now. Jim, I feel like that's what I've been doing. I have gotten to the point when fishing those, that I don't do a really sudden set because it rips the hooks out, so I've tried setting it a bit more gradually I guess you'd say. So let me ask you guys this, short of fish at the upper end of what the line can handle (like I guess those 15-16" trout that did peel drag in my case for example), would a slightly smaller/weaker fish (like let's say a 13-14" trout to keep things consistent) at any point peel drag, or does it only end up fighting the rod the entire time. Because right now that's what seems to be happening to me. It seems to get to the point of them being strong enough to pull the hook, but not peel drag if that makes sense.

As far as what fish is in there that required 2# line, none really. I just had it already rigged up for trout, and in my experience I rarely get anything big enough there to warrant stronger line. As far as setting the hook, I just can't see how you set the hook with roostertails. Just about every time I really gave it a good "jab" all it did was rip the hook out and bye goes the fish. As far as make and model of the reel, it's a zebco micro 33, on a light action 5'6" rod. Why would 2# be more difficult for drag to work? Shouldn't the drag more quickly engage when set for line that light? Back-reeling, I can't say I've ever willingly done, and I'm not sure I trust myself, or a spincast reel to do that well. As far as the leader, I just had it rigged up for trout. But regardless when fishing roostertails I usually have a leader that attaches to a barrel swivel with a small weight above that, both to increase casting distance and reduce line twist. And in the past the bass have not really mind so I stuck with it.

Went today to Busch CA and at one point I hooked what felt like a decent fish. Unfortunately what followed was that the drag did not engage when it took off so within a few seconds the fish pulled the hook and went it's merry way. Now I've asked about this before, and I thought that by now this shouldn't be an issue any longer, but I had adjusted this drag to be a little below the breaking point for the line I'm currently using (2lb leader/4lb main line). I had attached the current setup someplace it would stay secured to, and pulled with the rod, adjusting drag until it just gave way shortly before the line would break. So the problem seems to be when fishing roostertails or crankbaits, especially if it's a so-so bite, the fish just get off from the pressure the rod exerts on the hook, with the drag not allowing them to run. The drag just seems too tight to have enough give, for most fish. To date I can distinctly remember a few 15-16" trout that actually peeled some of this drag, and even they had trouble. Most other things either break off from the force of the rod going against their run, or less frequently come in. I never really "set" the hook with things such as roostertails, since I don't think I can, it's pretty much up to the fish to do it, and the drag to respond appropriately. I do try putting more pressure on the hook with movement of the rod, but nothing too pronounced cause it otherwise results in an outright loss of the fish from me ripping the hook out. Any advice on this?

Cool, thanks merc.

Just wondering, when sharpening hooks, are you supposed to run the file or hook sharpener in a motion where you're basically sharpening first from further down the hook and on up to the hook point, or are you supposed to go from the hook point further on down the hook?

Removing "habitat" might be the case for some of the larger items, but most of the rest of that stuff I doubt gets used by anything. I have yet to see anything scurrying out of an old mud filled aluminum can, styrofoam cup, tire, piece of plastic chair, or can of chew tobacco that I picked up. Most of that either floats around and gets washed up on shore eventually, or gets filled in and covered over by silt and mud, like it never was there to begin with. Now, what the real harm in most of that stuff is to the fish, I don't exactly know. I imagine at least some of the coloring used in most of that stuff leaches into the water and has some bad side effects if nothing else. Some of the actual plastics I think also leach into the water and I think mimic molecules produced in animals. As far as the tires, I imagine they can do something more with them as far as recycling, seeing how they collect them separately. As to the larger items, nowadays when they build those artificial reefs by sinking ships, they end up removing a ton of stuff considered to be detrimental, before actually sinking the thing. Asbestos insulation, piping where some type of fuel used to be, and who knows what else. I imagine they're doing it for a good reason. By that logic, I think most of the larger items in the river that do provide habitat nowadays, were, and/or still might be, causing close to as much detrimental effects as good ones.

On occasion I try to. In all honesty you won't see me picking up trash on a weekly basis, but every now and then I try. After all I got a stake in it, as much as I go fishing. I see some older dude at Lower Meramec Park that seems to get there with his kayak on a weekly basis, and picks stuff up on the water. Now that dude walks the walk. It's more fun to do it in a group setting like the operation stream team but last 2 years, every time they had something like that going, it was on a weekend I worked. Messed up thing is, I'd say a good 60-70% of the styrofoam trash, bottles, and other smaller pieces of trash, are from people fishing.

Yeah, there did seem to be a lot of people. I got there in the morning, had to leave in the middle, then went back and it was getting hard finding enough trash. At least from 141 downstream to Unger. However, someone left a good number of bags at a trail (probably cause they were heavy), and no one picked those up. I think that was bad organization on their part. I waited until yesterday and then decided to pick that stuff up and take it to the dumpsters. Brings me to another point, they should've had a few dumpsters on the southern side of the river too. I could see the dumpsters at Greentree from Unger, but had to drive miles just to get somewhere to toss it. Do they ever do cleanup further downstream? Lower Meramec and especially Butler, are not short of trash.

Cool, looking forward to it.

Bkb, in some sense I was lucky Tuesday. It wasn't all that hot, which was nice when I'm wearing extra pants and thick socks under the waders. But on the other hand it kept raining more than I wanted. On and off. Cool side effect of it was that it started looking like Taneycomo, with all the fog. John, I don't know too much how to tell if the rod wasn't giving me enough power. I've hooked them good with that rod, in the past, but I have had plenty times where the same frustrating thing happens, especially at Meramec Springs, and I don't think it's limited to that rod. I bet the mono probably doesn't help, but again, it's worked in the past. Is there any mono that stretches less than other mono, and if so is it economical? The stuff I use isn't exactly top shelf stuff, but I have upgraded from the really cheap mono. I'm almost wondering if it has something to do with the spincast reel not reeling in fast enough, but then sometime you have to reel it in slow for them to want to bite. I know there's also been issues with the antireverse on this reel sometime not being instantaneous. It will go back for part of a turn and then kick in, but I didn't notice that happening yesterday. I'm starting to think like Seth said they weren't hitting it good. I've had this happen there before on several other occasions. But I did have a few good bites, that also got off right away too. Like the time the lure just slingshot back towards me right after the take. Wish I would've tried the lure on a different rod, just to see if some possible causes can get excluded. I did get some hook files to see if that helps next time. Seth, when they do that, is it just cause they're interested in eating it but yet really suspicious?

BB, I went yesterday and it was about the same for me (and most people I noticed fishing). I end up with too many of those kinds of days at trout spots. It's kind of frustrating to go to a place full of fish, spend all day there, and hardly even get a bite. We got fishing at 8:30 in the morning. My friend caught a little one within the first few minutes on his fly rod, and then lost a bigger one right before netting. I couldn't get a bite to save my life. Then the next 5-6 hours, it died down for him too. Somewhere in that time frame I got a little sunfish, but by the end of those 5-6 hours we had traveled the length of the park and back and forth, with nothing more to show for it. We went back and forth some more. He would get the occasional bite but it would get off right away, I wouldn't even get that. I was fishing mainly my usual assortment of lures like on Thursday, except with more frequent color changes, and eventually I tried a some other things too like a creme troutworm on the magnet jighead, marabou jigs, and a little moth looking fly under slip bobbers. Anyways, eventually he decided to try way upstream as we didn't try that all day. There, he found a spot where they started taking his flies and the action heated up for him finally. He called me over, I tried some stuff, got some bites, but they always kept getting off for me right at the bite. I wound up catching one, and fighting one close to net before losing it. That was the extent of my action. He wound up with about 15-16 trout by the end of the day, and another 4-5 sunfish of various kinds. I got my sole trout on a little 1" or so minnow crankbait that's marketed for crappie fishing. The really frustrating thing for me is that by the end of the day I had finally had 6-7 more committed bites on that little crankbait, and aside from those 2 fish earlier mentioned, each and every time they got off, right at the bite. Every time I would feel and see the bite, sense a few split seconds of tension, and then lose them right there (once slingshotting the lure back at me). I can't figure out what the deal is. What do you guys think might be to blame? Drag was maybe a little stiff for the size of those fish (as far as them being able to pull drag), but the last few bites I tried adjusting it a bit both ways, and the teasing hookups continued. The crankbait seemed relatively new, so I'm assuming the trebles were sharp enough that they shouldn't be the cause, but to be honest I've never sharpened my hooks before. Does that seem like a symptom of dull hooks, or what? By the way, I was using a light action 5'6" rod, and a pflueger trion spincast reel with that crankbait.

I thought the water on Thursday was pretty clear to be honest, but I feel like it usually is. Not clear enough to keep them from biting, but I will say I had quite a few times that they followed the lure for a while, and then just turned back around. Probably cause they saw me near shore, and thought "On second hand, let's not". Probably also why my best luck seemed to be close to turbulent water, where they didn't see me for a while, but could definitely make out the shine from the blade on the roostertail.

I can't say I ever made it down there at the buzzer. I think the earliest I ever got down there was around 9 and by that point the bites were only a bit faster than usual. The crowds on Thursday afternoon were surprisingly light I thought. Lighter than I remember it being any time in the last 3-4 trips I went during the catch and keep season for sure, and maybe even some of the catch and release trips. That close to the weekend I was expecting more people around when we got there, and they stayed light the entire time we were there. I've got another trip planned for this Tuesday. Supposed to meet up with a friend and get going at 6 in the morning so I might get there by 7:30. Might not be too late past the buzzer. Certainly would be the closest to it that I ever made it down there. I'm thinking I need to spool a reel up with 2 pound line all the way, just to see how much that changes things. In the past the 4# or 4# with 18-22" of 2# leader worked good enough most of the time, but maybe this will make that extra difference. I just get paranoid that I'd hook a monster and then either have it break off real easy, or have the reel seize up and chafe the line off in no time.