Haris122

Been really wanting to finally hit up this stretch with the kayak after seeing part of it recently from the Glassberg conservation area overlook while hiking. Today I figured out a way to get shuttled to Palisades and made it down to Allenton. Was a fun trip. Overall there was a decent amount of cool scenery but I had to rush through it since I got there kind of late. Didn’t have any luck trying to catch anything throwing around a couple crankbaits which was a bummer but I enjoyed the float, even though it involved a lot of paddling.

Personally haven’t had much of a problem catching them on normal crank/jerkbaits.

I was down there briefly on Wednesday night and Thursday evening. Went wading in the trophy section by the hatchery, throwing mostly crank/jerkbaits. I got a grand total of maybe 3 bites, as did my fiance, and she usually has better luck than me. The trout kicked my rear those days.

Unfortunately a lot of people still seem to dump their fishing trash around there, when they go. In my experience they still have a lot of carp in there. That’s what I have the most luck with there. Can be fun. Occasionally still can find some gar, crappie, bass and such in there too, at least last few times I fished it regularly. Got to make it out there again soon.

Went to Unger to do some walking, as part of PT for the ACL, and towards the end of my walk I ran into a member here. Joe I forgot your screenname, something like riverrun (sorry) but was cool talking to you. How’d you do with the kayak on the lake if you read this?

Yeah I definitely can’t say it’s the most awesome place to fish for trout but I still enjoyed going there. Even the few times I’ve been during the opener. Not usually as much as wading downstream of it and having more water to yourself but I did like going there, and seeing what the opener also was about. Not usually my type of fishing but once a year I could do it. I usually picked the less used spots to try my luck in anyway, so I still had a little bit of room. Last few years I think in general I kind of shifted away from fishing quite as much back to shooting more (I know, kind of backwards with the way the costs have been going) but I will definitely find some more time for fishing this year once I get to better mobility.

Guess no one on the forum made it there this opener. Once my knee heals up good enough I’m hoping to make it down there and try it out. Haven’t been there in a few years.

Anyone go, and if so how was it. Any nice catches, funny stuff happen, etc?

I wound up tearing my acl, but then couldn’t do the surgery for half a year due to an accompanying condition that happened at the same time. Started getting around ok but just couldn’t do certain things like crouching and such and finally figured let’s do it. So far post surgery is rougher than I thought but it’s not been that long yet so hopefully that changes quick. Hope you guys are able to get your knee situations squared away without problems.

I messed up my knee last summer and been having to wait to get it fixed until sometime this or next month. So this year my goals sound a bit simple, but I just want to get that fixed up smooth, shortly, and then hopefully get out and be able to fish with the kind of mobility I had before I messed the knee up.

Looks like some trout have been stocked around the local parks. Yay! Went to Suson briefly, Thursday afternoon and got skunked. Continuing the general pattern of my urban trout fishing experiences from the past few years, lol. Plenty of time left though.

Resurrecting an old thread, but started thinking of getting a pedal style kayak eventually. Was wondering how do you steer the mirage and prop style kayaks. Do you just kick more with one leg or is there more to it. I’ve read about the difference in reversing between the two types but not sure about steering it. I’m currently leaning towards the mirage style drive since I like kayaking rivers and such, as well as lakes.

What creek did you fish, Joachim?

True. I feel like the argument was that the odds of the shark finding itself in many of the locks at the right time to get very far up after the dams and locks start, are pretty slim. But yeah true, technically it still could happen.

Guess I didn’t remember things right then. I guess Stl is where they’re likely not to make it past. Think the incident I thought happened in the 2000’s was maybe the Rush Island one from 95.

Well darn. I could’ve sworn there was some barrier mentioned. No other similar blocking structures such as locks either below STL?

I remember reading that nowadays due to all the locks and dams it’s practically impossible for them to make it all the way back up to St. Louis, but still doable somewhere by Cape Girardeau. Think I remember reading something in the early 2000’s about one being caught by fisherman down that way or a bit further south by a boat of fishermen.

I imagine I’d have more things I’d think of at a later time but currently got a few things that are very easy to think of for next year’s goals. 1. Fish more than this year. 2. Actually go on a fishing float. 3. Take the waders out more and wade fish in general a bit more, in some nice scenery. 4. Take the kayak out way more than this year for fishing outings. 5. Just in general be out in some nice natural scenery more, fishing or not.

Not sure we would have a specific area in mind. Probably wherever a good combination of relatively cheap lodging and good fishing (without too much risk of ruining a boat) would be. From the fishing prospects, the whole place sounds good.

Throwing the idea of Truman out to my fishing buddies for our fall trip (if we end up going at all) to see if it sticks. If they’re interested, do you guys know of some relatively cheap places to stay at there?

Not to hijack the thread but met up with a fishing buddy and we kayaked around George Winter last Friday. I got skunked but he hooked into a real nice Longnose gar with a chatterbait I believe. Probably a 4 footer. I tried to unhook it without getting cut by it as it thrashed around, but just as I got some actual leverage with the pliers, it thrashed around one more time and I guess the pliers gave him enough leverage to break off the line and take off, unfortunately with the chatterbait still attached. Hate to have them swim off like that but it was a hard fish to calm down enough to not get cut up bad, even though by that time it had to have been pretty tired.

I would imagine in Missouri it would probably be mainly a thrill/experience thing. Some of the shows I’ve seen mention eating them but I got a feeling most people wouldn’t be doing that with them here.

Personally feel like it’d be better to let the population grow another 5 or so years. Current estimate is what, 500 or so. That’s still really small number for a state the size of Missouri. Let them make a little more of a comeback before opening a season for them.

Me and a fishing buddy were planning on hitting up Mark Twain Lake sometime next month, but recently someone told me that the boat ramps are about to close down due to the virus situation. Tried to find more info on this and I think I did come across something saying most of the ramps will be closed, but I figured I see if anyone here has any more info about it. Like how long that’s supposed to stay that way and such. Thanks for any info in advance.

Unfortunately I still didn’t make it down there. Maybe next week I will instead.