Blazerman

I may have had to call him out on it just to hear what he would say in his defense. Then maybe next time he would think twice. But probably not seeing how he was using a fly rod. We all know what kind of people use those things.

I have caught a ton of catfish, big and small on Junnie's wicked sticky catfish stink bait. Even caught Flathead on it and it does a good job of staying on the hook with the dip tubes. Also caught some good ones on minnows last year. If I was going after strictly flatheads i would only use live bait. As far as that stuff you have outside the shop, it will probably work but I would use rubber gloves when using it and put a clothespin on your nose.

Sculpin, one of these days I will haul the Blazer to some different water, but yesterday I did my usual. I keep my boat in our garage at my property on the river by the K bridge so it is real easy to get there grab the boat and launch at Redhorse. Easy to fish half a day and get some chores done as well. From there I usually head upstream. I usually fish between the bridge and Plum ford but have run as far as the caverns. When I was a kid we had a place at Twins Springs which is downstream from Sand Ford. Guess that is why the section of river between the caverns and the K Bridge has a special place in my heart. Nice to hear the eels don’t really bother the fish much but I could see how the bite marks could get infected after seeing the one spotted bass that had a bunch of bite marks.

Got out for a few hours yesterday. Had the Blazer in the water by 10:30 and headed upstream. Really nice water color right now and plenty of water but the wind was brutal. Had some whitecaps on the long straight stretches. Had a plan to fish some slack water areas because the water would be warmer there and thought the fish might move in. At the first one, I tried the spinnerbait and got nothing. So i switched to a jig and trailer and caught two really nice spotted bass plus a couple small ones. Moved to the second area which is a large cove and couldn't fish it effectively because of the wind. At the third area which usually has slack water, the high water had the water flowing through the area so i skipped it. At the fourth spot I threw the spinnerbait again and caught two beautiful smallmouth on back to back cast. Plus one a little smaller. At the next stop a couple more. Then quit for the day. All told caught 9 fish with 5 over 15". Water temp in the slack water areas was 54. In the main channel 49. All the fish came next to lay downs, most on logs but also a couple of large rocks or boulders. One weird thing i have never seen. 3 of the large fish had the eels attached to them when I puller them in never seen that before.

I have been telling my 3 kids for a while now, live your life like somebody is watching you because more than likely someone is. So they say what does that mean? And I say don’t do anything illegal because you will end up on a camera somewhere and try not to do anything really stupid because you end up on YouTube. Of course the second part is easy to say now that I am older and I’m really glad there weren’t as many cameras around when I was a younger. I’m sure I might have ended up on YouTube a few times.

Looks like the MDC fishing report has been updated this year and has a lot more information than past years. I like the fact that there is more info. Just hope it will be more accurate then years past. As far as Ozark rivers and streams were concerned, while other reports were saying stream bass were hitting great on topwater or crankbaits, seemed like smallmouth were always “fair on soft plastics” unless there was a bunch of rain and then they “were high and muddy with all species slow”. One thing I have never understood though. The MDC has stated they would like to see reduced numbers of Spotted bass in Ozark streams to help the Smallmouth. And they have taken off the length limit and raised the creel limit as well. So why not leave the Spotted bass season open all year in Ozark streams so the spawning females could be taken out in the spring before spawning. Seems like that would reduced the numbers even further.

I went down Friday morning to fish for crappie. Couldn't get anything at the private docks i fished in the Gravois so headed around to fish some condo docks by the Grand G bridge. I ended up catching about 30 but only 6 were big enough to clean. [For me that would be 10" or over]. All of them came at about 15' in 30' fow. I tried my usual jigs, Bobby Garlands in pearl and blue/white tube jigs and kept getting very light hits and missed most of them. So i downsized from 1/16 to 1/32 and went to a smaller body tube jig, which was pearl with silver specks. Once i did that i finally started getting hit to where i could get the hook set and started catching them. Like i said most were small males but i did get 6 10"-12" females. Tried again Saturday but could not get much going after and hour so i gave up and headed home. A buddy i stayed with was fishing for bass in his boat both days and he said the bass bite was really slow as well. I believe with the weather the way it is by next week everything will start turning on.

There is a private ramp at Ozark Village resort which is at the 2 mile mark on south side. Last time we were there is was $6 to use it.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/fishermen-rescued-from-from-black-river-after-boat-sinks/article_1bb2cc7a-f79e-5800-a493-444b5fa1cf02.html Sounds like these guys were very lucky. if someone had not heard them, this could of ended a lot differently. With the water as cold as it is right now and probably flowing pretty good they more then likely would not have lasted very long clinging to a brush pile. It doesn't say if they were wearing life jackets but i would hope they were. Which is good advice for everyone especially early in the year. Be careful out there.

Great pic WalleyedMike. I have to believe there are some people who would be ready to shoot old Phil about now.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/snow-aims-for-kansas-city-ozar/8513660 Remember last March? Seemed like everything was about 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule weather wise. Think i had cut my grass 4 times by now and everything was green and growing. Fish had already started spawning in many lakes and even some of the streams. This year, the way it's going, it looks like spring will be 3-4 weeks behind. Funny how it evens out.

I keep seeing where these Umbrella Rigs, or multi-bait rigs are tearing up the bass at the lakes. That got me to wondering if they might work in some of the larger Ozark streams like the Meramec or Gasconade. Seems like in some of the bigger deeper pools they might work for smallmouth, spots or largemouth. I have never used one so I have no knowledge of them. Do they catch other fish as well like walleye, whites or hybrids? Also, I think I read where in Missouri you can only use three hooks. Seems like I usually see them with five baits. So do you put five on but only three have hooks? Also, what type of bait is most commonly used? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks for the reply Justin. We have a Bluebird house that has had a pair of Bluebirds for at least 5 years now and every year they raise a bunch of young ones. Hope to have the same luck with the Purple Martins.

Last year when some folks up the road were moving they had a moving sale and I stopped by. Along with all the other stuff I bought that I didn’t need, I purchased a large purple martin house that the guy had taken down from his yard. He said he never did get purple martins in it so he cleaned it up to see if he could sell it. Since it included the pole and everything I bought it thinking I could it up at our property on the Meramec. I did some searching on line and it looks like March is a good time to put it up so I am getting ready to do it. I know a lot of people on here are into all kinds of stuff so I was wondering if anybody has any experience with purple martin houses and could offer some pointers. One thing I am wondering is do you put it up and plan on not taking it down? Or do you install the pole in the ground so it can be taken down from time to time? Like to clean it out? Also, from what I read, it says try to put it up where there are not too many trees nearby. How far does it have to be away from them? Any help would be appreciated.

I haven’t grown much from seeds sown early. I just wait for the weather to warm up enough to start them outdoors. Will be doing the radishes, spinach, lettuce, and peas as soon as the snow quits falling. Last year I built raised beds along a fence that sloped downhill and they work out really well. I had more of everything then I knew what to do with. Even in the heat I was surprised how everything kept growing. I had about 12 bush bean plants and ended up with more beans then we could eat. A ton of hot, hot peppers too. Not sure if it was the hot weather or what but the peppers seemed hotter than normal.

You can't go wrong with a Blazer. This set up I have is great for fishing and with the 60/40 Merc, it can carry 4 people comfortably upstream or down. It is the 17/54 with a modified V. The V actually does help some with waves on windy days on opens stretches. Also has two live wells under two of the four seats plus storage under the front deck. Love it and will be getting another one set up the same way soon.

Good job, MIC. Very informative.

I have fished the Meramec a long time and caught at least 4 that were 20" or over and the biggest was a long time ago also back in the 70s. Amazingly I caught it fishing from our dock at Twin Springs. A buddie and I were getting ready to head out in our john boat to go fishing and while I was standing on the dock I cast my Rapala across the river to the other side. The fish hit as soon as it landed. It was a tad over 22" and and was just over 4.5lbs. We measured it and weighed it and let it go. Didn't even carry a camera back then. Also got these that were 20" and 20.5" within the last few years. Plus another nice one my son got a couple years ago in March.

Wow the is an amazing amount of post about walleye and has been fun to read. I only have one complaint. No pictures! I love checking out the fishing reports and seeing all the pics of big fish while i sit here at work. Nice to see some lucky folks are living the dream and why i love this site. But after reading all the way through this blog today and hearing about all these big and little walleye catches, where's the pics? Bill and others, bring a camera along once in a while to show us some fish porn.

When somebody posted about this Reeds Sports having the buy 1 get 1 free deal on these rods back in November I bought the two listed below. Absolutely love them. I used the 6’6” medium to throw jerk baits and the rod is perfect for throwing these. Gary's Freshwater Signature Series Spinning 6'6" L 1Pcs. Fast Action Line Wt 4-8 Lure Wt 1/16 (1/4 - TFG FWS 662-1) Gary's Freshwater Signature Series Spinning 6'6" M 1Pcs. Fast Action Line Wt 6-12 Lure Wt 1/4 - 3/4 - TFG FWS 664-1 I have used and loved the Falcon rods and these are every bit as nice as the Falcons.

Ob, hope your analysis is right on. Also, would be great to see this kind of effort spread to many more Ozark rivers.

This seems like it should be a good thing. http://www.arkansas.com/blog/post/white-river-recognized-as-national-blueway/

I posted these pics before but I caught both of these from the Meramec on a black and orange hair jig with a #11 black pork trailer. Love using these jigs when the water gets cold.

I was there yesterday and there was very little open water. Saw a guy on 22 with a long limb trying to break some of the ice by the dam and it didn't look like he had much success.

This video is really cool. Beautiful water and river. Love the underwater shot of the fish being released. Thanks for posting.