Blazerman

Back when I worked on a golf course, the course had 5 lakes and they all had grass carp in them to keep the weeds down. Whenever I cut the grass by the ponds, I would shoot the grass clippings into the pond and the carp would slurp them off the surface. It was fun to watch because they were some as big as 30”. When I told some guys I worked with about it they didn’t believe me so I told them to come and check it out. Once they saw it one guy went back to his truck and grabbed a rod and came back to fish for them. He ended up catching them by using a small treble hook baited with grass with no weight. After that we all started doing it until we ended up having a contest to see who could get the biggest one. They were really hard fighters and fun to catch.

That is the main reason we always head up to Plum ford (and sometimes farther) from our place by the k bridge. We very rarely see many others boats. Yesterday we only saw two all day and only one was fishing. I have said before on here that I think the middle stretch of river from the access at Sand ford down to Redhorse actually doesn’t get near the pressure you would think. It is something like 18 miles which is tough to float in a day especially if you are trying to fish it productively. You would probably need to camp a night or two. We hardly ever see more then a couple canoes on each trip. We do see other jet boats but they are normally cruising and parking on the beaches and not fishing.

I was at LOZ all last week and the fishing was terrible. I want out every morning from Sunday to Saturday and never caught a keeper. Some of the mornings I had others with me but the last 3 I was alone. I ended up with a few small bass and some crappie from the dock but didnt keep anything. Everybody we talked to said bass fishing was really slow. We came back from the lake Saturday and yesterday morning headed to the river. Fishing was very slow there too until like a bolt of lightning my wife caught this monster smallmouth on a minnow. We had run up to Plum ford like we usually do and I was wading and fishing while the minnow trap was catching minnows and once we got enough we started floating. I tried topwater early and then I was pitching laydowns with a jig and trailer. Also tried a crankbait amd spinnerbait. Got a few small ones but nothing big. I normally keep the front of the boat pointed upstream and the wife fishes from the back of the boat which means she gets the first cast to new water. She usually fishes with a minnow under a small bobber with a small splitshot and she was fishing about 18" to 20" deep. She doesnt like to get snagged so she usually doesnt cast real close to cover. She ended up fishing her minnow about 10' from shore and it was about 4-5' deep. There was nothing around cover wise that we could see when she hooked the fish so I guess it was cruising or there was something below the surface that we couldnt see. The water color was not real clear and the area we were in is a big long stretch of slow water with a lot of boulders and logs. The fish jumped once and pulled the drag a lot and at one point I had to move the boat out with the trolling motor as we were headed for a tree. She finally got it to the boat and we landed it and measured it and took the pictures and let it go. It swam away with no problem which I was happy to see. It was a little over 21" and although we didnt weight it I would guess it was easily over 4 lbs and might have been close to 5. It was definitely one of the biggest smallmouth I have ever seen in person.

There are not near as many boulders as there used to be but there are still plenty and my Blazer has a big dent to prove it as well. The river is a lot wider now there too. The big cove that is on the right once you get past the cave is where i caught my biggest river largemouth. it was 5.5 pds and 24".

Like a few others on here I started fishing the Meramec as a kid back in the late sixties. My grandparents rented a place a little ways down from the Caverns called Twin Springs where there was a group of cabins with docks. We had the last dock in the row and when you stood on it, you could look downstream a ways to see the big cave opening tucked into the big bluff wall on the left. We didnt have a boat right away, so most mornings I would start fishing off the dock then wade my wade downstream fishing behind all the big boulders that formed the rapids almost all the way to the cave. Back then all I ever used was a silver/black floating Rapala and a yellow Tiny Torpedo. It had silver bars or stripes on the sides. At first light, with the mist rising off the water, I would slowly wade downstream and fish the torpedo alongside the weed beds in 2-3 fow or throw it passed, then pull it back behind the boulders and tear up the bass. Once I got down close to the cave the water would get deeper so I would turn around and head back. By then I had usually been fishing an hour and a half at least and I would switch to the Rapala and catch a bunch more coming back. It was amazing how many fish I would catch in that little half mile stretch and the catch would usually include a few fish between 15-18 every trip. Even back then, I never kept the smallmouth. Once we got our 14 john boat with the 7.5 motor my cousin and I started branching out to fish a lot more of the river. The biggest difference I have noticed between now and then is there were a lot more deep holes back then and a lot more rapids with big boulders. Seems like now the deeper holes are not near as deep and the rapids have all been filled with gravel. Also, it seemed you could catch fish everywhere back then whereas now it seemed the bass have their spots where the group up and there will be stretches of the river that dont seem to hold many fish. The other thing as others have noted, we never caught spotted bass. It was mostly smallmouth and a few largemouth in slack water areas. Another difference, back then I could sit on my dock, and using worms, I would catch 10-15 goggle eye anytime I tried. And they were big ones some would go 8"-10". I cannot remember the last time I caught an 8" goggle eye. There were not near as many floater in canoes back then but there were plenty of others from the cabins running around in john boats fishing. After we stop renting that place I went through the years fishing from canoes that I owned. I probably had 6-8 different canoes over the years and fished the upper Meramec along with many other streams. Now I have the place by the K bridge with my Blazer jet boat and can run and fish pretty much anytime. But one thing has not changed. I still love the river and still love wading for smallmouth. Even though I can run the river and fish from the front of my boat, I still park it a lot and get in a wade fish just like I always have. To me, getting into the cool clear water on a beautiful summer day with the lush green woods all around and maybe a bluff nearby has always been the best part of smallmouth fishing an Ozark stream. The pic here is from the top of the steps leading down to the dock i used to fish from as a kid. The big cave is downstream on the left.

http://www.riverpro-boats.com/

Very cool pics. Apparently you have a great knack for spotting wildlife. Thanks for sharing.

Mitch, the water is at a really nice level right now but I wouldn't mind seeing it get a little lower. My little Blazer can handle it fine but it would stop all the big v8s from running all over. Some of those guys are nuts the way they fly up and down. I do not understand the pleasure in running 4 or 5 miles upstream. Then turning around and running back down. And they do this over and over. But to each his own. I am sure there are people who don't want to see my Blazer either.

The wife story is true. Here is some backgound. Hog Wally has posted before about the river splitting at the big left turn about a mile above the k bridge. Where you used to go left, you now have to go straight through the jungle run. The left fork is too low with to many logs to run a jet boat. But it has a some nice pools with water that is 3-4 ft and a ton of trees and logs along the left side. I had walked up there after parking the Blazer and actually caught 2 nice spotted bass from some logs on my jig\ trailer. As I was walking upstream, the guy I know was floating down in his small john boat when i saw him. After we had our conversation, he went on by and I could not see his my wife around the bend. So there was really nothing I could do. My wife was wanting to walk upstream but like I said, I did not really want to get in the middle of it .I also think he had been tipping quite a few back and she might of been jumping in his fishing holes to spite him. BTW, Yesterday there were 3 jet boats with guys that cut a bunch of down trees in the jungle run so now it is easier to get through and not such a jungle. Mitch, I did clean all the green bass in the picture. Got a nice bag of filets. Most of them were spotted bass.

Like a lot of people I had 4 days off over the 4th. The wife and I ended up spending two days at LOZ and two days at our river place. For me, the river was the best part. The river is in great shape right now and there were plenty of people taking advantage of it. The big boys with big jet toys were out and running all over. Yesterday morning we took the Blazer upstream to Plum Ford and found the fishing surprisingly good considering all the activity. The wife was using minnows with a bobber and I was using a jig and trailer and sometimes a crankbait. The bobber with a minnow is great for her because while I am flipping the jig to laydowns , she is tossing the minnow around and doesn’t get snagged and the fish she catches are normally not deep hooked. She usually catches more than me with a wider variety, but mine are usually bigger. She did get a couple nice smallmouth around 15”-16”and my biggest smallie was about 18” on the crankbait. Think we had about 25 - 30 fish total. I am not one of those people who keep count with a clicker like some on here. We did catch and keep 8 green bass that I cleaned. They were all over 12” and fat. We also had an interesting incendent when we ran into a buddy coming downstream in his small boat. When I saw him he did not look too good so when he came by I asked him how he was doing . His reply was, you don’t want to talk to me right now. I am not a happy person. He looked like he had smoke coming out of his ears. I said, what’s going on? He then says,if you see my wife sitting up there on a rock, leave her there. I kicked her out of the boat. So of course I said why’d you do that? And he says, everytime I come to a nice deep pool she jumps in before I have a chance to fish it. She has done it 5 times even though I keep telling her not to and I finnally got fed up. She can rot on that rock as far as I’m concerned, I am through with her. With that he preceded on downstream. My wife then says we need to go get her and I said no we don’t. He left her therefor a good reason and I am not about to get in the middle of it. Last I heard, he was looking for a new wife.

HW, Shady Beach puts in a bunch of floaters every weekend that float from their place down to the 30 bridge. They also haul some up to Plum Ford to float back but not as many as the other way. I was down there Sunday for a short time. Just long enough to throw the Blazer in and run upstrean a ways to throw my son and some buddies in with their tubes. Didn't really fish. Just sat on a beach visiting with some friends. The river was looking like a RiverPro convention. I asked one of the guys at the ramp about all the new looking RiverPros (like he had),, and he said they sold the heck out of them after last years low water everywhere. HW, guess you were not alone in buying one this spring.

Redhorse has become a lot busier since they shut down the Indian Creek access off Project road. Seems quite a few off the folks that used to park and access the Meramec at Indian creek have migrated down to Redhorse and use it to wade and fish from the bank. I have seen people with lawn chairs sitting on the ramp fishing and barely move when I was launching. They were lucky it was me backing down the ramp and not my wife. She would of taken out a couple for sure since they were only giving me a couple feet on each side to fit the boat through. Hog Wally, is the boat ramp at your new place usable or do you use Redhorse?

You didn’t mention what type of fish your fishing for so that would be the first thing to help determine where to start. Other things that come into play would be time of year, weather conditions, water conditions and your available area to fish. I too fish mostly out of a jet boat so I have the luxury of being able to get away from crowds which is what I normally try to do. I tend to fish away from boat ramps and other public accesses like campgrounds and developed areas that draw crowds. After that it is just deciding where they should be based on time of year and water conditions. One other thing I would do is check this website before heading out. If you are planning on heading to a fishing stream located in the Ozarks, this website more than likely has a recent fishing report on it. I also go back a few years on the forums for a particular body of water to see what was working at this time of year in years past. Obviously things change year to year but you can usually find a year similar to the current year by looking back and at least find a starting point.

HW, guess you got to that spot and now know the only way through is going right through the narrow jungle. The left side run with all the down tree trunks that used to be the way to go is no longer an option in low water. That right side is so narrow you're right about stopping to listen.Two boats blasting through there could get dangerous. For anyone floating downstream in a canoe or kayak it would probably be better to take the right side to avoid any jet boats headed upstream in the narrow jungle shoot.

Anybody else see the article from the MDC that was about a guy who was turkey hunting in the woods next to a cove at Mark Twain on a Friday. This was a few years ago. While he was sitting in the woods completely in camo, two guys showed up in a bass boat and tied up next to a tree in the cove. Then they pulled out a fish basket and tied it to the tree and then pulled 3 nice bass out of their live well and put them in the basket and then let the whole thing sink down out of site. The guy in camo apparently thought that seemed like a good way to cheat at a bass tournament so he call the local MDC office to tell them what he saw. They ended up finding the basket and marking the fish somehow and videotaped the whole thing. The next day when the two guys ended up winning the tournament, they check for the fish, found them and the two dudes were arrested in front of everyone for fraud.

Never seen a badger but if you have ever had a fox den nearby while they are raising a bunch of young ones you would be amazed at how efficient they are at killing everything they can get hold of. I am not sure that is why he killed them but it would be a good guess. We had one on a golf course where I worked once and I was amazed at what they killed and brought back to their den. Rabbits fur and squirrels tails where everywhere at first but soon they moved onto everything else around the course including chickens and a rooster and at least one cat. One neighbor came by looking for his small lamb and we found the pelt from it too. One morning I watched them pick off about four baby guess which was amazing. The pair of foxes kept circling the two geese with babies and every time one of the geese would run at one of the foxes the other one would dash in a grab a baby and shake it real quick I guess to snap it’s neck. The other goose would then run at the fox with the baby in its mouth and he would drop it and run. Eventually the geese with the few babies left managed to make it to a pond and the foxes went back and grabbed all their kill and headed to their den.

joeD, you seem to be missing the whole point of this website. It is for people to share information. People get on here to ask questions or share info and other people ask about it or comment from time to time. Like 405 said, it is a lot easier to ask someone who lives near a river if it is floatable then to drive the 1.5 hours to see it and decide it is not. I know there are plenty of people who can look at the river level websites and know how high a certain river is but I would guess most cannot. Cwc87, nice fish. Nice to see someone is getting after them even with all the rain.

What kind of jig? a jig and trailer? also where? out on points or in brush by docks and or the banks? buddy is fishing a firemans tx tomorrow and wednesday so i would like to send him the info.

Wow awesome fish. Congrats. Makes me want to leave work right now and head out. The smallmouth looks like it could be over 20” and weigh 4lbs. Did you weigh it or measure it? Were you on the Meramec?

I just came back on Sunday after being there for 4 days. I was mostly fishing for crappie but did throw a crankbait and spinnerbait some for bass. I caught a few decent Spotted bass in the backs of coves on a Lucky Craft jerkbait. But I fished it more like a crankbait then a jerkbait. I was making long cast into 3-5 fow and holding my rod tip up and reeling it in pretty fast with a lot of twitching. You could not really fish anything shallow on the bottom with all the algae that would cling to the bait. I heard there was an at& t tournament Saturday where it took over 20lbs to win and the winner was using a spinnerbait. Your correct that the weather is crazy and the spawn is late for bedding bass. We did not see any beds and the water was 55-58 degrees but is probably above 60 by now. If you want to catch a bunch of fish, the crappie are biting really good right now. For bass i would use a spinnerbait or like braine said the carolina rigged lizard.

I was fishing at the lake for the last 4 days. We spent 3 of them fishing for crappie and caught our limits every day. We were fishing around the 6 mile mark by the Gravois in the big coves up to the 4 mile mark on the main channel. Many of our fish came in 2-5 fow on the banks but just as many came on dock corners and sunken brush in 10-15 fow. My buddy was fishing with minnows and I was using jigs. We both caught plenty of fish and threw back everything under 10". Someone else had posted about catching crappie on a small white marabou jig under a small bobber so I brought my zig jigs with me to try it. Have to say it worked for crappie on the bank in about 2-4 fow. I used a white 1/32 oz zig jig that had the silver strand and fished it about 20” down under the bobber and tore them up. Also caught white bass and an 16” LM on it. On deeper brush piles and dock corners I used a small tube jig on a 1/16 oz lead head in pearl color. We fished in the rain both Friday and Saturday but still caught fish. Water temps were 55-58 most everywhere. We fished half a day yesterday for bass and caught a few on crankbaits, nothing big. With the warm weather forecast for today I am sure the water will hit 60 and the bite will only get better.

Osage Beach Bait tackle is right by the entrance to PB2. I am sure you will be going over the Grand Glaize bridge to get to PB2 and the OS Bait & Tackle is just a little farther down on the right once you pass the entrances to PB2. They have all kinds of minnows and everything else you could want. http://www.osagebeachbaitandtackle.com/

Took a while to find this article so I thought i would post the link to make it easier to read. http://www.news-leader.com/article/20130418/LIFE06/304180036/1282/life0605/Phil-Lilley-knows-his-way-around-Taneycomo-trout Very nice article too. Congrats on the little one as well.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/missouri-conservation-officials-catch-remove-feral-hogs/article_5b980eff-680b-5b76-a1ae-64c1a594d1c2.html

http://newmdcgis.mdc.mo.gov/statewidefishattractorsver2/basicviewer%202/index.html If you click on one of the red markers you can zoom all the way to the lake cove and location.