Blazerman

I usually check this website every Monday to see what kind of carnage there was on Missouri waterways each weekend. http://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP03/search.jsp This time it was a little too close to home for me. The incident on the Meramec above the k bridge happened as we watched and I ended up calling 911 and then used my boat to help the paramedics get the injured people to shore for the trip in the ambulance. If you have run the river there just above the k bridge, you know as the water drops, the big rocks become a hazard in the middle of the channel. You have to stay to the right there as you go upstream. But every year I have seen guys going up and down right in the middle and every year I see and hear some hitting rocks. There was two on Saturday and the first guy was lucky. The second guy not so much. We were standing on our dock as the guy came by heading down stream and as we watched I said to the group that was with me, hope he steers left. But he never did and when he got to the big rocks he hit hard. The boat hit, careened up in the air and did a corkscrew kind of thing, and all the passengers flew into the water. And there was the usual whine up of the motor. When it came down it was sideways and took on water right away. But with the water as low as it was, it stayed right there on the rocks. We heard the screams of the injured people so I jumped in my boat along with my daughter and headed to him by going left and coming back to him slowly from below. Once there I could see it was bad so I called 911 and helped as best I could till the paramedics got there. There were some other there that helped hold the lady and my daughter tried to comfort the boy. Once they arrived, the paramedics ended up wading over from the shore and the injured lady was strapped to a back board and we used my boat to bring her over to their shore. We found out later that the lady had a spinal injury as expected and the little boy had a broken jaw, a skull fracture, and had to get stitches. The boat was totaled as well.

wow you kidding that is a big kid. congrats!

Yeah I have no problem with snakes and I am always amazed how people freak out over them. I had a large black snake that lived at my place under the wood pile at the river and he was around so much that I started thinking of him as a pet. I caught and handled him so much that he got to where he got used to it and whenever we had people down and he showed himself I would pick him up and show him off. Even when I would pick him up from the middle of his body, he never tried to bite. I would let kids touch him and if they were older they would hold him. I know I never had any mice all the years he was there so I was happy to have him around. But there were a few times he scared the bejeezes out of me by showing up where I never expected him. Like over the top of the door one time as I walked in and another time in a bedroom. My daughter wasn’t too thrilled with him right then. But sadly I have not seen him in a few years so I guess he has moved on.

HW, took your advice last weekend and did very well on a double prop topwater bait. Got quite a few smallmouth in the faster water and spotted bass in the slower water areas by laydowns. Nothing real big but sure is a fun to watch them blast it.

Wow this is really sad. i guess he didn't know a snake will bite when you pick it up? And that if you do want to pick one up, don't pick up a poisonus one. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-charles-man-dies-after-being-bitten-by-copperhead-at/article_3937b4bc-bc33-5966-8ebe-112f0dd0fe0b.html

I forgot one thing that happened this weekend that I have never seen before. Wife was fishing with minnows and hooked a smallmouth. It was about a 13” and jumped right next to the boat. We could see the hook in the jaw and the minnow hanging out. When it came back down the wife is looking down and she says hey what the heck there is another fish there and he is chasing my fish. Then she says ah man he smacked my smallmouth and the hook came out. Then she says wait he just ate the minnow. Turned out she ended up catching the other fish which was about a 14’ spotted bass. Pretty wild. Smallmouth jumps next to boat and 20 seconds later she brings in a spotted bass. With I could of got it on video.

HW. I was not out yesterday and that may be part of the problem. All my fishing has been on weekends. Also the river has done a lot of going up and down this year with all the rain which has kept it dingy most of the time. I actually caught a few a week ago on Saturday then we had all the rain Saturday evening and i got up to go out and the water had come up and had more color than Saturday and i got zilch Sunday morning.

I haven't seen much posted for the middle Meramec so i thought i would throw out my two cents worth. This is a report is for the Meramec around Redhorse for the first half of the year. Basically it has been terrible. At least for me anyway. I really haven’t done a whole lot of fishing but what I have done has been horrible. I have gone the last two weekends and caught very few. By that I mean 3 or 4 smallmouth along with a few spotted bass in 3-4 hours of fishing. And nothing of any size at all. Now granted I have not done any of the get up at the crack of dawn and fish all day excursions. My fishing is usually get on the river sometime after noon and fish for 3-4 hours and head in. But even the wife who is usually fishing with minnows has not done much better. And I know I am not near the fisherman that a lot of the posters on here are. Actually you’re just as likely to find me sitting on a gravel beach having a cold one with friends a lot of times when I am supposed to be fishing. But for comparison in years past fishing the same way and times we have always managed to catch a decent amount of fish and usually some nice ones. By that I mean smallmouth over 15”. This year we have very few fish period and none over 15”. I am not sure what is going on and wonder if anyone else is seeing the same thing. One thing I have noticed is there seems to be more people on the river. More boats mostly and bigger boats. We have been seeing a lot of river pros and big shoal runners and other big loud v8s that are running up and down all day long. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Beautiful smallie for real. Nice to see they are biting somewhere unlike everywhere I have tried lately.

Blasting higher again today. Up over $7 and half bucks so far to 38.65 and heading higher quickly. Like usual wish i would of bought some yesterday which i was thinking about doing. Now it is hard to get in with it running like it is.

The IPO was today and it is trading at 31,60 right now which is up 31% from the opening price. 40 million shares traded so far. The CEO rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq exchange and CNBC was all over it. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Yeah it does sound sweet and brings back memories Many years ago I used to fish that same stretch. But I would usually park at the park and fish the opening siren for a limit of trout then hit the river heading upstream and down like you describe. Getting a limit at the open was normally about a 20 minute deal if that and then it was on to the river. Like you say too I always thought of the smallmouth and Brown trout being very similar. Unlike the rainbow, the Brown prefers to hang near cover and will dart out to attack a bait like a smallie. And I would normally use the same baits for both and the baits would be big. Husky Jerkbaits and Rogues, or big floating Rapalas. With Browns especially, bigger baits would get bigger fish. I even caught them on buzz baits before while fishing for smallmouth below the spring. Again this was many years ago and it sounds like there were more trout then. Sorry to hear it seems to be in such a decline.

Scott, i did not notice and thought that was another one. But i was thinking this sounds a lot like the other one i read about on the current. When i first clicked on the link yesterdat they did not have the first part about it being two years old and i did not notice the date.

I added the strange story part because the guy was having chest pains for a few days and apparently didn't go to the doctor. Then gets bite by the copperhead and dies. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/copperhead-bite-kills-camper-on-current-river/article_ad3fafde-c504-11e1-933b-001a4bcf6878.html

Jibro, here is a great place to start. Find and buy this book. it is well worth the price and has all kinds of creeks and streams you can find and access safely without trespassing. http://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/discover-rivers-streams-mdc-revised-paddler-s-guide-missouri-0

I was thinking gar as well. The wife and I were out for a little while Monday and the gar were all over everything we threw. She ended up getting one in that was about 20” and had the line wrapped around it long nose. I was throwing a spinnerbait and was getting bit on a lot of my cast but no hook ups. I couldn’t see the hits so at first I was getting aggravated thinking they were bass. I finally slow down and watch the gar follow and hit the bait all the way to the boat without getting hooked. But I think Smalliebigs is after a different toothy creature.

Good article Mitch. Thanks for sharing.

Very cool pics.

I have been visiting this website for a while now and have noticed, for the most part people on here seem well mannered and courteous. There are a few who don’t really bring anything positive to the board but over all they are harmless. So I doubt anybody has ever been sued from something said here. But I thought this article was interesting and a good lesson for those who think what they post is always done anonymously. “Some people have this illusion of anonymity and it emboldens them to engage in activities using words that harm or attack,” Richards said. “People do have much more of an expectation of privacy using the Internet than is there.” Jefferson County Circuit Judge Gary Kramer last month ordered AT&T and Charter Communications to provide the names, addresses and phone numbers connected with six IP addresses, specific codes assigned to each computer. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/jefferson-county-libel-lawsuit-looks-for-someone-to-blame-for/article_aa8bbee5-f46b-5208-a873-43b79282e7f6.html

If you mean me, i was not.

I was out for a while on Sunday and parked and waded up the left side where the river splits before jumgle run. Saw the usual big loud v8s that are always running around this time of year. Also saw 3 river pros. Figured it might have been you and your brother. I caught one 15" smallmouth and a few green ones from around the logs there on a baby brush hog. only fished a couple of hours.

Her smallmouth was a little over 21 and was really fat. i was guessing it was over 5 but we didn't weight it.

When my wife caught her monster smallmouth last year it was let go right away. And i also let another 20 incher go the year before that i had caught. When i was young we did keep some to eat. But now I don't see me keeping a smallmouth again in my lifetime. But to suprise my wife I went ahead and had a replica made.

also what is the retail for the rod with the reel? i love the reels- have 3 now.

If you are able to get out on a weekday and fish an Ozark stream you are blessed. Catching some is a bonus. Looks like you guys did great. Beautiful fish.