Haris122

Corn huh, never thought about trying that for them before. Cool, thanks.

To be fair, I tend to struggle at Meramec Springs even on the good days, so who knows. I just didn't see too much action for others either, but I did have to leave earlier than I really hoped to. Either way though, that area frequently keeps things interesting. Aside from trout, with the water always on the clear side, you get to see and sometimes catch some fish I rarely run into down on this section of the Meramec. Always fun to see the variety of fish there seems to be. Just got to figure out how to catch them too. And yeah, the cold water has always deterred me from wading barefoot in there, but from now I'll try to be even more careful where I step when I do go wading. Seth, you know what kind of suckers those dull gray ones in the park are? And ever get them to bite on anything?

Finally made it down there again today. Got there around 1, started fishing around 1:30, and kept at it mostly fruitlessly until 6:30, at which point we had to leave. I only caught 1 12" size stocker rainbow, on a 1/24 oz single hook black with gold spots and gold blade roostertail, casting into somewhat turbulent water past a riffle. It took me a bit to get release that one since it somehow got the hook stuck in one of it's gill rakers (think that's what those slots in the back end of the mouth are called). After that I figured since we were most likely not going to keep much, I bend the barb to make it easier to release any other ones. Well, I think that came back to bite me a bit in the rear, as I got 2 other good bites later on where both fish got off pretty soon into it. Oh well, my girlfriend got 2 trout and a sunfish and hers kept escaping too, without the bent barb so maybe it didn't really matter. Anyhow, she got 3 fish total, a little sunfish, and 2 trout including a nice 15". All 3 on a white 1/24 oz roostertail with gold spots and gold blade. She got the 2 trout before I even had my first. Aside from that I tried a little kastmaster spoon, some trout magnets under slip floats, one a normal size, the other the extra small version, and a 2.5 or 3" silver minnow style crankbait. The kastmaster got a couple close passes by, and the minnow had a less enthusiastic follow too, but inside the park that was it. I cast out some of the hard lures in the red ribbon section a couple times too and got a bite from something on the crankbait for a second but didn't get to see what. A few things of note...1. I could've sworn I saw a little pickerel of some sort halfway down the spring at one point. It was only about 8" or so, but everything about the shape of it seemed to look like it was a pickerel. Guessing probably a grass one because of it's small size. I tossed a few lures by it, but it never seemed interested, so I can't confirm with 100% certainty but I can't figure out what else it would've been. Do they have those in the Meramec? 2. I really wish I could figure out how to get some of those suckers in the park to bite a lure. I tried the trout magnets by them a few times, but they wouldn't have any of it. Any hints on that? 3. Also very surprising to see, but while casting in the red ribbon section just below the park, I saw a good size snapping turtle make it's way underneath the water. I also didn't think they had those that far up. I thought snapping turtles only live in warmer, dirtier water.

That's one reason I like my glasses. I need them, but that aside I wouldn't trade them for contact lenses just because it provides that much extra protection. Luckily I've only had one real deep tricky hook in me, from a flicker shad treble where a single point dug itself in my finger right underneath the edge of the fingernail. I thought like Mitch I would have to loose the fingernail, but luckily it was just close enough to the edge that I managed to get it out without damaging the fingernail. Oh well, only fair to feel that displeasure once in a while when the fish feel it too. Aside from that I hit myself pretty good in the eye while tightening the band that closes the lid on a barrel at a prior job. Thought I had really messed up my eye, cause I thought I was seeing differently out of it than the other one, but thankfully what really happened was that the lens absorbed most of the impact, deflected towards my eyebrow, and in the process got knocked out of the frame, and it took me a second to realize that. Sweet Bass by the way.

So jealous.

Can't say I'm a die hard Smallie fanatic, but I'm happy about any improvements to fish conservation, regardless of what species, especially when it involves an area I've actually had some experience with. So with that being said, though the changes aren't much to brag about, at least they're in the positive direction. And personally I'm pumped that with time the meramec red ribbon section, might become an even more fun destination than it already has been. In general what kind of quality habitats are the new additions? I'm a little familiar with portions of the red ribbon area on the meramec but not any of the others. And, I know you guys mention the red ribbon section isn't that good compared to downstream, but if I may ask, is it poor? I know there's stretches with some pretty thin water and seemingly few resources there, so is it going to basically be only as good as it is now, just with a different makeup of species, or is there room to grow both without a lot of slowed growth to either type of fish?

What do you get out of that map as far as potential access points if you don't mind me asking. I'm interested in finding some more spots to access it beside the conservation area.

Dropped by Unger park after work to go for a quick run and fishing afterwards, and situation was the same, the Meramec in the Kirkwood/Fenton area was still somewhat high, and plenty muddy.

Not to minimize the negatives here (using the red ribbon section as the expansion to the smallmouth special area on the meramec is a bit overly convenient/lazy of them), but from what you've guys mentioned in the past, I'm perceiving a few pretty good things that could come from making that the new expansion. So here's how it seems to me anyways. Let me know where the flaws in these points of mine are. 1. I know you guys mention some of the bass use that area as a refuge from the coldest water in the winter, so making it tougher for people to keep more numbers, and smaller ones there than just a few miles downstream, would in theory save even more good smallies that come up from the current special management area to spend the winter there. 2. From my experience the area is relatively lightly used and several of the accesses I know of, require you to put effort into just getting down to the river.Just the prolonged treks to the river and back would make people more nervous about keeping illegal fish. And the extra effort involved would root out the lazy poachers. 3. The area isn't the best boat traffic spot already (where's the nearest good boat ramp even?), especially when the water is low, so the impact from people is shifted more to those persistent people willing to either cover ground wading, or paddling. Neither of which should put as much pressure on the entire area as motorized boat traffic. 4. My hope is there's enough food for the assembly and quantity of fish, that in the future both the Trout and Smallmouth in the area are on the bigger ends. So you'd be more likely to experience some fun, strong fights with both types of fish in a single trip. 5. With there being 2 management areas imposed on that stretch, there would be more incentive to actually enforce the regulations, and force people to be honest, while hardly spending any more resources than they would anyhow if they actually check people already. (Granted this all hinges on them bothering to go through the effort to patrol the area from time to time) 6. And last but not least, if you have the urge to just catch and keep fish without putting a lot of work into getting there, the trout park should be a lot more appealing if you've already made it that far, than climbing down some steep rocks, walking down a lengthy trail, or fishing just shy of the trout park at the Hwy 8 access.

That's a creepy looking skeleton. Wonder what that belonged to. How far below the park did you go?

No details yet as to what the exact special management area expansion proposals are, I take it?

I made it out there on Sunday, and tried my luck at the big lake (Monsanto lake), with hardly anything to show for it. My total tally was 1 little largemouth, 2 green sunfish, and a bluegill, while fishing there most of the afternoon up until 8. I guess cause I came up there on the weekend, it was louder than I thought it'd be, with the occasional off-road vehicles on the trails right alongside the lake but in regards to noise it still wasn't too bad. I noticed pretty soon that this lake had a good bit of milfoil under the water along the bank. For me that's a problem cause I still have no clue how to fish structure like that without constantly hanging up. The water was pretty warm, in the low 90's-high 80's, and initially I started seeing fish primarily below 10 feet, out in the middle of the lake. I tried a bit of everything I have some confidence in, including shallow diving crankbait, topwater heddon torpedo, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, roostertails, all alongside the shore and stumps and trees a bit further out from shore. As far as deep water stuff, I just tried a deep diving crankbait (a storm wiggle wart I think), casting from closer to shore out into deeper water. In the end I really only got frequent bites on a plastic trout worm under a slip float, fishing close to shore, that being how I got the 3 sunfish for the day. The sole bass bite I got on a spinnerbait. Hopefully whenever I try Pim Lake, I'll get better results.

Are you able to get into that old river channel area to fish there, or is it somehow completely cut off from the river now?

Those kinds of adrenaline pumping contests between man and fish are what it's all about.

Meant to go today in the afternoon down there with the kayak, but then they forecast rain around 4 for the area so I held off. Hopefully get to go Friday.

I only have limited experience in regards to this on taneycomo, but while wading south of the ramp a little bit downstream of the hatchery, there would be plenty of boats that would drift from upstream all the way down to where we were by the little "island", see us wading there near shore, and still gun it back upstream full speed, even though a slower start that gives you a bit more time to move close to shore, would be appreciated. There were also some kayakers out and about when it was iffy. I thought of bringing mine there actually, but opted not to bother. One thing that would suck there, is getting dunked in that cold water if you were to flip over somehow. Other rivers it's not as big a deal, but down there you're going to be cold for quite a while, especially if that cold fog shows up.

Yeah, they're all very secretive about it up there it seems.

Anyone been out there on Mark Twain recently?

I'm pretty sure I'd probably just fish it C&R anyways. If I were to keep something, it would probably be in very small quantities, but that being said, I think they have a map that shows levels of lead still in the nearby soil. Unfortunately there's no information for the lakes themselves, but if the bordering soil samples relate in any way, the lakes would be among the cleaner areas. I'm still not completely sold, and wouldn't make it a habit to keep much, but it helps a little bit. https://mostateparks.com/sites/default/files/sept-map-grid-trail-mult-colors-33x44-600-2[1].pdf Funny about Busch, it looks like one of the cleaner areas in the St. Louis area to keep fish from. Certainly gives a better impression than most areas of the Meramec south of 44. Again, I haven't kept much from there either, but I feel relatively at ease keeping the occasional fish from there. Maybe it's just a false sense of security, but I hope it's just that things have gotten much better than they were in the 80's. Either way, hope I can give St. Joe a try shortly.

Anyone fished any of those 4 lakes before? If so, how did it go, and what could we expect. I went swimming there several times, and always thought I'd like to try out fishing the lakes from the kayak. Next week I may actually go ahead and do it.

I'm not sure myself. It wouldn't surprise if they left out some details during the upgrade of the website.

You mean this map, or another one? http://mdcgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=aa720aaaf06b49269b355b5a6e049d28

How did the weekend trip to Meramec Springs go Burton?

Good advice guys, appreciate it. Hopefully will learn to utilize it properly in short order.