Blazerman

Like Al says, you might want to include rivers as best for big walleye. We make an annual trip to the White right below bull shoals dam to fish for trout every year in February. Always get a bunch of trout. But the last few years we have also started seeing walleye in the deeper holes. The guides there say they see them every year but nobody really fishes for them. Every year guys pick up some big ones fishing for big browns with crank baits right below the dam. We got these two on lucky craft pointers from a deep pool right as it was getting dark. The big one was over 8 and the other was 5.5.

http://www.stltoday....1a4bcf6878.html

405, I will second the fact that the Meramec is fishing really slow this year. It has been one of the slowest years I can remember. Al, I will also second the fact that the river is so low there aren’t many motorheads or any other jets running right now. It was so low over the weekend I gave up trying to hit some of the spots I love to go to which are 4-5 miles upstream from my place. I did get out Sunday morning right at sunrise and managed to get a couple small smallmouth and one decent spot which were all let go. Fishing topwater, I had some real nice fish blow up on the bait, but never hit it like they wanted to eat it. I was using a Zara puppy, then went to a tiny torpedo and had the same results. If we don’t get some decent rain, I think I will be using our kayaks for the rest of the summer.

Meramec River at Pacific is already at the second lowest point on the low water records. -1.47 is the level right now and it is early June. Might see the rivers dry up by end of July and August. Scary stuff. http://water.weather...=lsx&gage=pcfm7 http://water.weather...m7&hydro_type=0 When I checked it this morning it was -1.47. Looks like the rain has helped a little.

Yes if i remember corectly

Gavin, I think you floating by us. My son and I put the Blazer in about 2:00. Put in at Redhorse and went about 5 miles upstream. River is as low as I have ever seen it for early June. It is scary to think what July and August will be like. My guess is you won’t see many motorized boats of any kind. Plan on doing a lot of dragging even in canoes and kayaks. (For the record I still have one nice flat back Grumman canoe and now own two kayaks). We caught some decent fish. Mine came on jig and trailer. He was using live crawdads. He had a blast catching some of the big drum that are swimming all over the shallows.

Smallie, I’m a not sure who your last post is aimed at, but I mentioned earlier I never keep smallmouth. Funny thing is, based on your pictures in some of your post, I was probably catching and releasing smallmouth when you were eating strained peas and carrots. I was thinking about your comments while I was catfishing over the weekend. I grew up fishing the Meramec and back in the 60s and 70s you didn’t hear much about catch and release. The old timers who had the cabins by us taught me a lot about fishing a river and the first thing they taught me was how to catch bait. They showed me the best places to dig for night crawlers and seine for minnows. And they showed me how to use a screen to catch crawdads and hellgrammites’ by overturning the big rocks in the shallows. Once we had enough bait we would head out fishing. I would usually wade downstream and the old timers would jump in their boat and head upstream. Back then I was not into cleaning fish so I let everything go. Those old guys would catch a ton of fish and keep everything. They had a big fish holding tank, which was basically a small aluminum swimming pool and they would throw everything in there until they were ready to clean them. I remember seeing big catfish, drum, and carp swimming alongside smallmouth, bluegill, goggle eye, and the occasional big sucker. Then they would have a big fish fry and everyone was invited and man that was some good eating! They were not the only ones catching and keeping everything in those days. I think that was normal back then. The thing I remember most about those times was how good the fishing was. Seems like we always caught fish. Never saw an area get “fished out” even with everybody keeping fish. But I also know the river was different then. More deep water and not near as many fisherman. So I will continue to let smallmouth go and continue to fish with minnows on occasion. I used crawdads yesterday fishing a slack water area and caught some good size spotted bass which I cleaned to eat. Like I always do.

Junkman, thanks for the great report and write up. When fishing with rod and reel, I have been using mainly stinkbait and minnows and normally save the perch for trotlines. Think i will start using perch on my rods from now on.

Smalliebigs, I am probably not half the fisherman you are. I have read many of your post and you seem to get after them pretty good. While you were hammering the bass at the rock over the weekend I was getting skunked on the Meramec. I only fished a few hours of the 3 day weekend but when I did fish, I could get nothing going at all. Saturday and Sunday I threw all my favorites baits that usually get plenty of bass and got zilch. Well I did catch one 13’ bass on a zoom centipede. But that was it. By Monday I was frustrated and went to minnows. Same results. I had a friend with me and he caught as many as I did. We did not try fishing any crowed beaches. Truthfully it was not the first time for me minnows have not produced. Like I said I am probably not as good a fisherman as you are. I like to fish minnows because I like to catch fish and they normally catch anything that swims. But not always {for me anyway}. Around logs and boulders in deep water I will many times get Spotted bass or the occasionally catfish, white bass or walleye. Which I keep and eat. When i do catch them, I have not had much problem with deep hooking smallmouth personally. A couple of taps and I set the hook and normally the hook ends up in the lip. Smallmouth are always let go.

Greasy, I hear what you’re saying about not wanting to fish around crowds. It does take some getting use too. A lot of the time people look at you like you are crazy for wanting to fish. Until they start seeing the fish I catch. Then they start pointing and saying things like, look at that he has another one! One time at the caverns I had to ask an overweight lady sitting in the water to move so I could stand where she was sitting to cast to a specific spot by a large underwater tree. She said you want to fish right here? Like I was nuts. So I pointed out the large tree with the deeper hole and told her the spot had held a bunch of smallmouth the weekend before and I thought it still would. So she said to her two kids “look guys this man says there are fish right over there”. I was standing in water about 2’ deep and casting to the hole that was about 4’. And preceded to catch about 10 bass in a row, all them between 13-16”. And then she couldn’t believe I was letting them all go.

Hey coldwater don’t be too hard on jet boaters. As far as I know we are allowed to use the rivers too. I know some are a-holes but that is true of some of the non motorized group as well. I usually try and slow down around canoes and yaks but sometimes that is not possible. I am not sure how many people know a jet boat runs shallower on plane then at idle. I can run in about 4-5” of water but cannot slowdown and go off plane in shallow riffles and other low water areas. If I do I will be hitting bottom quickly. And if I do slow down and come off plane it is almost impossible to get going again in shallow water. There have been times where I enter a narrow shoot where the river bends and see floaters coming in from upstream and my option is to blast through and get too close to them or slow down and stop knowing that I will not be able to get going again. I always stop and float downstream until the floaters pass and I can safely get going again. And I know there are many jet boaters who do not do this which cause hard feelings.

I have decided to share one of my favorite smallmouth spots that I am not sure many people know about. You can find these spots on probably any Ozark smallmouth stream in summer but truthfully I have only tried it on a couple different rivers. But it has always worked and has been working for years. First let me say if you don’t like to fish with other people around forget this tactic. Because the key ingredient for these spots seems to be the people. The more the better. Because what I have discovered a long time ago is people on gravel beaches bring in fish. My guess is they are eating and drinking and playing which is leaving food in the water that bring in baitfish. Which in turn brings in the game fish. I have caught two of my biggest smallmouth with people all around. I usually wait until late afternoon or evening and then start fishing using minnows for bait. But I have also done great in the middle of the day. One hook and a split shot is the only thing on my line. What I normally look for is the deepest water close to the beach and start fishing there. I will start fishing off a gentle sloping bank once the depth gets to 3’-4’and move out some if there is deeper water. Most times once you find the fish you will find a bunch. I discovered this tactic while camping at Meramec caverns a long time ago. I had my 3 kids and wife with me and we decided to try some fishing after swimming most of the day. We were fishing by the parking lots and it was late afternoon and using minnow traps I had caught a nice bunch of minnows. So we baited up 3 kids rods and preceded to catch probably 50-75 fish in less than 2 hours. Many people stopped to watch the action and many couldn’t believe it. I was so amazed I had to try it again the next day and the same thing happened. Since then I have tried this tactic on other beaches that draw crowds and the same thing has happened. If you have ever seen Shady Beach on the Meramec on a warm Saturday afternoon in the summer time, you know how crazy it can get with people and boats everywhere. I usually wait to late afternoon and fish the Indian creek side and have had some of my best catches. There are always people around and they are always amazed when they see the fish I catch. For the record all my smallmouth are released. At Shady beach I have also caught walleye and catfish. Next time you see a crowd on a beach try this and let me know how it goes. The fish in the picture was one of my best ever and was caught with people all over on the Indian creek side of Shady beach, (which is in the background).

On Sunday my wife and I headed out on the Meramec for some much needed r&r. For us r & r involves running the Blazer upstream a ways to get away from the crowds then hanging out on a gravel beach. Most times she will kick back in a lawn chair and read while I wade and fish or fish from the boat. Yesterday I decided to try some cat fishing so I headed to one of my favorite honey holes. At this spot there is a nice beach with over hanging trees and then a nice drop off with a bunch of dead trees in the water. Got her set up in her lawn chair and cooler and then I moved the boat a short distant away from the back and tied up to one of the trees sticking out the water. Got my first line baiting up and in the water and before I could get my second line out I had a nice cat on the first one. Landed that one and got it in the live well and then noticed all these blue jays around us going crazy. My wife said what is up with all these birds and I said probably a hawk or owl in the trees above us and went back to getting my lines out. Right then there was this big splash in the water between her and I and we both look up and it is this large snake that had fallen out of the tree. Now I was only about 10’ from the bank and this snake landed about 5’ out from the bank so 5’ either way and it would of landed on one of us. The snake was kind of stunned from the fall so I looked up to see where he came from and it had to be a 30’ fall. That explains why the jays were going crazy. The snake ends up slowing swimming to the log right next to my boat so I took the picture of him. I am thinking it is a king snake or black snake but I have had a couple people tell me the head looks like a triangle. Never heard of a moccasin climbing trees. Anybody know what kind it is? My wife was freaking out a little so I took my pole and swished him away and he ended up swimming over to the bank a little bit downstream. Talked her out of moving and got my lines back in the water and things settled down. About 20 minutes go by and splash, snake falls in the river again almost in the exact same spot. He ended up swimming across the river this time but for some reason I couldn’t convince her to stay there.

They are running all over at my property alongside the Meramec south of St. Clair. We have always had a few but on Sunday we saw quite a few and they were calling all day long. Saw one running across my front yard where there is no cover at all and it ended up under my big white pine that has the branches to the ground. Stayed there all day calling and calling. I am thinking the warm winter and warm spring with not much rain has the population on the rebound.

Fellows lake?? oh I heard of that place. Nobody goes there anymore cause it's too crowded!!!

I use the exact same bait (baby brush hog) rigged the same way. Actually my son uses it now more than I do. I also like a culprit jerk bait on a 1/8 oz jig head with the hook exposed. I usually tear off some so that is about 3.5” long. It is great for skipping up under trees and letting it fall slowly with twitches. Or letting it fall into deeper holes. Catches everything. My son got these two on back to back cast with the brush hog.

We only saw a couple other boats once we got upstream a couple miles. With the water as low as it is, there are some areas that are a little spooky to get through unless you know the channels. I am sure this keeps some folks from venturing too far. I didn’t see any beds but the water wasn’t exactly clear. Seems to have a greenish tint right now like an algae bloom is taking place. My best guess is they are bedding since he got bit twice on the salamander right away. Plus the way the crazy fish acted. I threw a spinner bait to take a couple small fish. And a jig and trailer with the same results. Didn’t try top water with it being so hot and bright but maybe I should of.

My son was wanting to hit the river real bad this past weekend and with everything going on, we didn’t get the boat in till 3:00 Sunday afternoon. Launched at Redhorse and headed upstream. Couldn’t believe how hot it was (91*) and how crowded the river was around Shady beach. So, like usua,l we blasted upstream about 5 miles and found some gravel bars had moved around some and some trees were there were none before. River does needs some water. Fishing wasn’t great. Picked up a smallmouth here and there but nothing real steady. The biggest fish was caught by my son and came on a salamander that was carolina rigged. It was about 15” and he caught it right away so we thought we might be onto something. Then he broke it off on the next fish and it turned out I didn’t have any more salamanders in the boat. So we tried some other soft plastics but things slowed down from there. I threw many different baits and never really got into any big fish. 10”-13” was about it. Had one weird deal though. Floating in a slow pool alongside some bluffs about 5’ deep, I had a smallmouth jump towards the front of the boat two times in a row. He wasn’t on a line or anything. Just jumping at us like a crazy fish. So I dropped my spinner bait down and he attacked it instantly. I am guessing he was bedding and was trying to scare us away. Or he was trying to commit suicide. It was about a 13” fish.

Since you mentioned Indian creek I thought I would add the fact that the access to Indian creek and the Meramec by Shady beach is now closed off. The parking along Project road that was used to access Indian creek was shut down by the land owner. Many people used the small lot to get down to the creek and Meramec river but the lot has been closed down.

5. You might be a smallmouth snob if you think an Ozark smallmouth is pound for pound the hardest fighting freshwater fish that swims.

2. If you think a smallmouth bass is the best looking fish that swims, (which it is) you might be a SMSOB. i was thinking I might want to say river smallmouth is the best looking but I haven't caught enough lake smallmouth to know if they look they same.

I really haven't been smallmouth fishing much lately so I don't know about how their biting. Water looked really nice yesterday while we were doing some chores. But about the snagging issue and losing lures. Way back when I first starting fishing it was out of a 14’ john boat with a 7.5 prop motor. Jet props had not been invented then. So we spent a lot of time running upstream and floating back. Even then we had the problem with getting snagged and losing stuff. I ended up using a floating Rapala about 90% of the time. I learned to cast those things into every decent looking nook and cranny. Many times I would let it sit a few seconds floating and then give it a slight jerk and a fish would explode on it. In the faster water you can cast across the stream and jerk it as it floats and swings below you and many times fish will hit it as it works across the current. In some of the backwater pools I would throw it and just use a slow steady retrieve and it would get hammered. Used mainly silver and black. I think they were 3.5”. But one time, using a bigger model in Blue, I threw across the river at a turn where there was faster water and let the bait swing through the current. I got nailed and ended up with the biggest smallmouth I ever caught. It was 22” and probably close to 5lbs although we never weighed it. I kept it in a fish basket for a while and all the people in the cabins around us came by to see it. Some said I should eat it and a few said I should have it mounted. I think I was about 18 then and even back then I didn’t think twice. I let it go. Funny how things go. I don’t use a Rapala much anymore but I would guess they might still work and not get snagged much.

Found this site a week or so ago and enjoy it a lot. Thanks

For the record I am not living there yet, but have a very nice place and may be at some point in the future. I personally have not seen anyone gigging smallmouth but it would not surprise me. One thing for sure, there is plenty of gigging going on. Like most endeavors having to do with fishing, there are probably lots of folks who abide by the rules and some that don’t. Unfortunately, the ones that don’t ruin it for the rest of us. One fall morning many years ago I was putting in at Scotts Ford at first light and had to wait for some guys with a gigging boat who were pulling out. Once they had moved on, we launched and notice all the remains of the fish they had cleaned right at the ramp. I was saddened to see many large walleye heads in with all the suckers and other rough fish. By large I mean walleye over 5lbs. I have no doubt these guys were not gigging these fish by mistake. There were too many of them. But I agree with your assessment on how good the fishing is in my area. Like I said in a different post, I think the main reason for this is there is not much easy access between Redhorse and Scotts Ford which keeps the crowds down. That is about 20 river miles that does not get hammered like the upper sections. Here is proof. one 5lb largemouth and one 4lb smallmouth from last year.

Smalliebigs, after reading your "rant" had to wonder how you feel about keeping spotted bass. I fish the Meramec around the k bridge and catch as many spotted bass as I do smallmouth. Sometimes more. I have always released the smallmouth. But a few years ago I started keeping and eating any spotted bass over 10" since that is what the Consevation department says to do. The CD says this should help the smallmouth so I feel I am doing my part and found them to be quit tasty too.