Haris122

Floated Friday afternoon from Meramec state park down to Meramec Caverns and then fished a bit around the Caverns and Sand Ford Access too. It was a decent trip number wise by my standards (key words right there) but no real size. I got 13-14 fish, but that's including about 6 Longear Sunfish. I'd say biggest was probably just a 12-13" Largemouth, with an 11" Spotted as #2. All the rest were shorter than 10". Of of the remaining 8 that weren't sunfish, 2 were Spotted Bass, 3 were Smallmouth Bass, 2 were Largemouth Bass, and one was a Rock Bass/Goggleye. I had to be back to the rental place by 6 so the last 2 miles I probably didn't give it the time I should've as far as checking out some of the spots. I did have a nice Spotted Bass on at one point that looked to be at least 15", maybe even more, but my reel kind of screwed me on that, and the line got cut. Water was definitely on the low side.

What Access was that at?

I don't know why, but I almost never seem to catch anything far from shore. Be it in a kayak, canoe, boat or whatever. Wish I knew how to fish that area better cause there's so much more area of that, compared to shoreline ones.

Met up with a friend of mine to fish Lake 33 last Friday afternoon. I got there around 1, and we fished out of a boat for 3-3.5 hours, then I fished by myself from the bank another 1.5-2 hours. Didn't catch anything big, but it was an unusually productive day for both of us, as far as bass went. When I say productive, I mean by my standards, in that we each got numbers up to the high single digits, which is not that common for either one of us up there. I would say biggest were only in the 12-13" range, but nonetheless it was surprising how specific the catching was. We almost caught no other type of fish.

I just find it baffling that things were allowed to get that out of hand there that you have to be essentially rich to fish. Hope Britain is the exception to the economics of fishing. But then again, when I hear stories on this forum on how there's barely any public access in certain states here in the US, that also baffles my mind, that it got to that as well.

Man, sounds like they somehow made fishing in the UK a rich person only, type of hobby. Glad they don't do it the same way over here. I couldn't afford a fishing license that costs several hundred dollars.

Just my own opinion on this, but I feel like for fish where a mid teen size in inches is considered an average or slightly better size fish such as trout, bass, or your average sized channel catfish, the limit shouldn't really exceed 6. For typically smaller fish like Crappie and Bluegill I would say 10-12 fish would be a good daily cutoff. And for anything like 2-3 foot size flatheads or blue catfish it would be 2 fish. Big species or specimens like a 5 foot muskie, catfish, salmon, etc. etc, I would say would almost have to be a 1 fish ordeal. And of course in each of these instances, if said species grows slower, or is harder to get to that size I would go with an even lower limit. Any more than that, and I just don't see people really eating the majority of what they catch in a timely fashion, instead they're mainly just doing it for some photo shoot where they think they look cool. Granted, limits probably should get broadened for species that become too prolific at the expense of others due to being invasive or such.What I really don't get is the limits they have for non-game fish. They seem too big considering not every non-game species is as fast to replenish itself through natural reproduction as some others are. I feel like that too should become species dependent, but that's just my take on it. Half the time really I don't even bother keeping a full limit of trout at the trout parks, and that's about the species I eat most often. And there is some leeway depending on growth within a certain body of water.

Honestly the full size trucks that have non-towing highway gas mileages in the teens I probably wouldn't really even consider. I'm not even sure how likely a scenario me having a boat is, much less one heavy enough to need the big trucks. That's kind of why I'm leaning towards the smaller ones (though if I see a good price, some of the newer year full size ones do come close to acceptable mileage that I'd consider it). So far, if the V6 Colorado's/Canyon's really can tow 7000 lbs I'd almost think that would be my top choice (how the v6 gets twice the towing potential out of the same chassis as the 4 cylinder, I'm not sure, but that's what they claim). Cause that seems only a 1000 or so less than the smaller engine full size ones tow, and yet I can get one of them for a good 3-5k less than one of those extended cab full size one, and the gas mileage is still seemingly close enough to make driving it to work and such not too bad in gas costs.

What year was his Colorado, do you know? I think the newer ones are supposed to get 20/26 for 4 cylinder, and 18/25 for the V6. Granted it really isn't much better than some of the smaller motor full size trucks, but they go for more too. I imagine if I do get a boat somewhere down the road, it will be on the cheaper, lighter side and the new Colorado's/Canyon's are apparently decent at lighter hauling (3500 lbs for 4 cylinder, and 7000 lbs for the v6). What's a good average weight for a fishing boat and accompanying trailer?

Don't know how you do it with just shorts on. That water is freezing to me.

When you say Outlet 3 are you talking about what they call Outlet 7 on the Shepard of the hill's map? Or are there several additional outlets aside from what they call 5, 6, and 7 there.

Met a fishing buddy at lake 33 early on Wednesday afternoon, and we went around the lake in a boat trying to catch something good. Nothing much to add really, besides me getting a fat, 2 foot channel cat on shrimp, near the lilly-pads. We didn't have a working scale so, not sure how heavy it was, but I'd wager it was in the 4 or so lbs range. Definitely the best catfish I've ever caught there.We released it and kept on going, but aside from my friend losing a small bass, and us catching a few Green sunfish along the shore, nothing else cooperated, be it on lure or bait. I had to head home around 7 so we called it a day around then.

I personally suspect a good chunk of the people that have the "trash fish" mentality and leave them to die on shore by the bucket load, or mistreat them some other way when they catch them, do it cause they themselves are too "delicate" to risk dealing with the teeth to get the hook or lure out like they should. I try to release them as unharmed as I can. They are a bit feisty sometime and don't like being handled, but most of the time it's pretty straightforward, and they're a lot better off for it. That being said, I did have one cut me above my lip once at George Winter. I got one on a crankbait, and it was muddy. By the time I got close enough to the water, not to just chuck it after unhooking, and release it gently, I sank knee deep in mud. So while leaning over it to get the treble out, it thrashed around and caught me with its teeth.

Yeah, I think they almost seem like they take it for granted that regardless of what species of "rough fish", that people don't hit them hard enough to deplete their population. I'm not too sure if that's really the case though.

darn, wish I would've paid attention enough to see those back then.

Just to piggy back off this older thread, my dear to me Oldsmobile Alero seems to have hit the end of the road (was just about 7k short of 200,000 too). And while I'm trying to troubleshoot and identify the cause, and hopefully figure out that the problem is actually not as serious as it seems, I've also been trying to figure out what my next vehicle might be, if I can't fix it within a reasonable amount of time. My first branching off question is whether I would get a truck or a regular car. I'm a big fan of little trucks, since my dad really got a lot of use out of his for diy building projects, and furniture moving and such, but at the same time I'm also for more eco-friendly fuel efficiency and I'm kind of disappointed that I'd barely get any better mileage out of the most efficient common light truck I can afford if bought new or lightly used (think 4cylinder, 2wd extended cab Canyon/Colorado), as I would out of my 14+ year old Alero if it were running like normal (low 20's city, 26-27 highway). So I'm trying to figure out what you guys think my best choice would be? Whatever I get would also be my work commute vehicle, which is where fuel efficiency is a big deal (I live about 35-40 mins and probably 30 miles from work). I also have a lot of random fishing and other hobby related stuff that I carry in my car at all times, so I don't have to drive back home when I don't have much time, to the point that just about all the space in the backseats, and the trunk is kind of used up, and my fishing rods are constantly leaning along the front passenger seat into the back. One of the pro's of the truck would be that it would help me haul my kayak around more conveniently, as well as a deer if I got one during deer season and accompanying items to get it out of the woods. I'm pretty much just a rifle hunter and the deer scenario would basically just come up one week a year, though I hunt public land and drive an hour and half each day down 44 to get to it that week, and while scouting it out. The kayak situation would definitely be another story, and I think I would use it a bit more frequently and further away if hauling it didn't involve strapping it to the car roof and hoping it doesn't come loose somehow. In the past it wasn't as much of an issue since I only had a 9.5' regular kayak I modified for fishing use, but since, I've got a 12' Shadow Caster and man, it's heavy to put on the roof, and it sticking out more past the roof also makes me more leery about taking it out when it's windier, cause driving at high speeds is not comforting when you see the wind lift up the front of the kayak even if just a bit. Putting that on the truck should be easier to do, but it would still stick out quite a bit past the bed, seeing how that's 6 foot, and the kayak 12. Though with a few straps it would probably be a lot more comfortingly secured, since the wind wouldn't be having as much an effect on it, with the cab of the truck cutting through the wind/turbulence first. Another pro for the truck would be that I could potentially get a small boat and trailer later on (how big of a boat you guys think would be safe to tow with those?), and that I wouldn't have problems getting building supplies right when I want to, such as fencing material and lumber and such. On the flip side driving just to wade or bank fish spots more than an hour away would be better with a regular or small sedan. I guess I'm trying to weigh all the pro's and cons appropriately, so that's why I'm posting this.

Good program. Did this use to be on local TV or something back 10 or so years ago?

When I went there last week, the number of fish also seemed pretty low. It was a hot Tuesday though, so maybe they didn't expect as many people to show up as actually did. Think I saw 150 trout stocked in the office when we got there in the morning, which sounded pretty low. I don't know if they stock them any more during the day though.

Yeah I can see what you mean. It definitely feels like a little more direct of a connection to the fish than regular rod and reel.

I went down there last Tuesday along with MikeH, and did ok. Probably the biggest thing of note, was that I caught my first fish fly fishing, thanks to Mike's tutelage. He got the fly rod ready and all, and I'd just cast it around, eventually getting a 10 or 11" Brown Trout on it a bit downstream from the bathrooms on one of the flies he set up. After some more time casting it out without further bites, I switched over to my usual light action combo and slowly accumulated 4 Rainbows over the span of the day. It was kind of weird to switch back fishing with regular gear, after the fly rod. Of the remaining 4, 2 smaller ones I caught cycling through a variety of stickbaits, another one that was ~13" I got on a black and grey 1/16 roostertail, and best one, maybe a 16" or 17", I got on a little blue/silver kastmaster type spoon near where the two spring arms meet back up, past the island. We just did catch and release. That big one was a real good fight actually, best in quite a while that I caught inside the park, and I'm kind of surprised it didn't manage to throw the hook before I got it in. I also lost another 13" or so Brown Trout on one of the stickbaits, close to net. Mike had some better luck fly fishing, but in the end it was kind of slow but gradual going for both of us. Water actually seemed a little down in the park that day as well. One of these days I'm going to go down there just to fish for the suckers there.

Seems actually a touch on the high side between Fenton and Arnold at least.

Yeah, I'm all for checking people more often, but if you gave someone a ticket for following the rules, and then throwing his tag away as they're in their car and headed home, that's not the right way to go about things. And short of anything real serious (such as drunk driving, or loaded gun by a felon), all non-fishing related offenses shouldn't even be considered.

Just a quick, pretty boring report from last Tuesday. I took my kayak out to route 66 state park that afternoon, and caught 1 12-13" channel cat on a jointed minnow of all things, and had something else get off of a shallow diving crankbait in the 4 or so hours I fished there. That's the extent of the excitement. I thought of floating downstream and paddling back up, but knowing myself I knew that would get me in trouble as I'd wait too late to head back upstream in time, especially trying to paddle against the faster water around the 44 bridge, and down from the old route 66 bridge. So, instead I got down to the gravel bar there, walked it down to a run in-between the bridges and cast out a roostertail and jointed minnow into it to no avail, before I headed upstream in hopes of seeing the Big river confluence. Sometimes I'd troll a crank/stickbait behind me while paddling, other times I'd try to hone in on what looked like good structure with a roostertail, stickbait, or crankbait, but in short, it was pretty fruitless. I saw a few gar and sunfish along the way, but didn't get the gar to bite, and only got teasing taps from the sunfish. Eventually my slow pace caught up with me and I realized I was still about a mile away from the confluence, with maybe 35-45 minutes left to get back to the ramp and load up the kayak, so I turned around and started hauling posterior back. Essentially I fished until probably THE best time remaining, and then had to forego that to make it back downstream on time. Once I got close to the ramp I cast out a bit more, which is when the bite on the shallow crankbait came, but shortly after I decided I better get packing before they lock me in. As an interesting aside, when I got there I saw a boat going back and forth near the boat ramp, and for a moment I thought they might be with the MDC sampling for fish, but pretty soon I decided that wasn't it. Upon asking them, it turned out they were surveying the river around the oil pipeline that runs under the park and across the river around there.

I watched how Phil and Duane jig, and try to mimic them, but I still don't seem to do it right. I have a hard time judging when to jig it back up, when current comes into play, cause it's harder for me to tell if it's on the bottom again. I was getting it to the bottom though cause I lost several jigs to snags and actually setting the hook on a rock or something on the bottom, when I initially thought it was a bite.

I got one, maybe two trout the entire time I've been fishing on jigs (probably even less of anything else), but I just can't seem to get bites regularly on them for whatever reason. I fished the same color jig as you when I was down in the trophy area last week, but after a short while of no bites I gave up on it. Did have what looked like a fish scale on it once, when I thought I had a bite, so who knows.