moturkey

I have chased smallies in many of our local creeks and rivers on self-guided outings in my kayak, but my passion is shifting towards flyfishing which is quite difficult to do from a kayak. I have taken a few guided smallmouth trips in Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Indiana and am looking for something similar in our home waters. Anybody have any recommendations for smallmouth fly guides based out of STL or that guide within 2 hours of STL? Driftboat, raft, jet boat... doesn't matter to me so long as someone else is driving (or rowing) and it's stable enough to stand and cast. Thanks!

Al, you have a knack for romanticizing our collective passion in a manner that few of us are equipped to proffer. Beautiful story and great pictures. The John Day is new to me but now on my radar. Thanks for sharing, and congrats on what appears to be a wonderful experience.

I managed to fill both tags with two really nice birds this year. Opening day brought a 22lb bird with 10.5 inch beard and 1.25 inch spurs. Bird #2 came Saturday, weighing 23 lbs with a 9.75 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs (they were busted up pretty good). I also learned a valuable lesson about using GPS tracking apps while hunting. After bagging my bird on Saturday, I packed up my bird, blind, and decoy and hauled it all down through the valley and over the next ridge about a mile to the cabin. Only then did I realize I had left my shotgun leaning against the tree. After making a deposit in the swear jar, I was able to re-trace my steps and find it with relative ease thanks to the GPS. Good luck all!

Congratulations on the new product launch. I just ordered a bag of each color. Merry Christmas to me!

Any guess on opening day 2019? I would assume April 15, but that would mean opening weekend overlaps with Easter (which is late next year - April 21). Anyone think its possible we have an April 8 opener?

I have a trip to Captiva in 3 weeks to chase some snook and redfish, but the red tide doesn't show any signs of relenting and I'm fearful that we'll have to cancel. Has anybody been to SW FLA recently that can share any personal observations beyond the media reports? Also, any recommendations for other forums that have more active content on this topic that I can follow for the next few weeks? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the feedback all!

My brother and nephew caught these over the weekend and I have no clue what they are, so I'm calling on the collective wisdom of the group. Caught at a pond in KC (Kansas). What do you all think?

Rotten carp ceviche. Yum!

I would have been happy to hook a rotted carp this weekend... and double the number of fish I caught.

Al, your numbers (and writing) are humbling. Well done. I rue the day I have to do the string trick on a solo float. I’ve been close a few times, but never past the barb. PS - what’s a guy gotta do to get some paddle-measure pics out of a day like that!? lol.

Would love to but too much going for mother’s day weekend. Lots of outfitters will shuttle your car for you if you can’t find a partner. I’ve used 3 Rivers Canoe rental to shuttle my car on the middle Meramec a few times. Congrats on the upcoming baby... get your fishing in now!!

Yesterday I revisited the same stretch of the Meramec I floated last October and wrote about here: It was particularly interesting to float the same stretch under slightly different conditions. In October, visibility was about 7 feet, flow was about 310 cfs, nearest gage height was about 3.3 feet, and water temps were 56-60. Yesterday, visibility was about 4 feet, flow was 1100 cfs, nearest gage height was 3.7 feet, and water temps were 58-62. The higher flow rate made it more difficult to hold my kayak in spots I wanted to fish more thoroughly, and even though gage height was only about 6 inches higher it seemed like it was more than that. Sandbars that I saw in October were under enough water to float over. The numbers were about the same - 8 smallies, 12 spots, 3 goggle eye, and a flathead. The flathead really surprised me... I was throwing the large HD craw in about 8 fow when it got thumped. At first I thought it was a drum and I could tell it was big. It held tight to the bottom, but when I finally got it up to the surface I had an 'oh s**t' moment. It was way bigger than my net and I was struggling to keep the kayak from drifting into some sweepers, so I dragged it over to shore. Got out of the yak, grabbed the beast by the jaw, got it unhooked and it started going crazy on me and got loose before I could get a picture. It was easily north of 30 inches and 15 lbs. I found a nice rootwad that produced about half of the fish for the whole day, but they were all under 12 inches in that spot. Despite the small sizes, it was blast to get bit on almost every cast for about 15 minutes. Vast majority of fish came on PBJ ned, and the top prize was an 18" beauty on a squarebill. This post has been promoted to an article

I don’t skip jigs with mine, but I can cast cranks dead into a stiff breeze on 12lb copoly with no fear of backlash from my tatula. I use one of the Lews speed spools (don’t recall which one) on my jig setup, and get far more backlash there with 80lb braid than the tatula. Plus, the levelwind assembly on my Lews often gets stuck, which stacks my line on one end of the spool. I’m strongly considering swapping out the Lews for another tatula on my jig rig.

I've been fishing a local tributary creek of the MO River for the past few weeks, hoping to catch some whites making their run. I haven't seen a single white bass yet, but i did get surprised by a 10+ lb carp yesterday. I've never targeted those hideous fish before, so this was my first time hooking up with one. Given my intended quarry, I was only armed with a 5' UL spinning rig with 4lb mono. As soon as i saw what it was, i was certain it would break off but i was able to play the drag for about 10 minutes and get him to the shore. It was a heck of a fight and a ton of fun. MoCarp, you can count me among the converts! Phone was dead, so i couldn't get a picture but it was so ugly it probably would have broken my camera anyway.... So that was fun, but I'm still trying to find the whites! MO river water temps have been in the low 50's in this area for a week or so... has anybody seen them running up the tribs yet??

I use one on my crankbait rig and like it.

Three weeks is plenty of time to get on some birds so I'm not in a big hurry just yet. Im with you on that Seth. For the first time in many years, I think opening day is ahead of the peak mating season due to the slow spring. That’s just fine with me. I’m going to ride out the first week, since a hunt for me isn’t as easy as stepping out my back door. I really hate suburban life this time of year.

Get in line Boobie! Ha. Seriously, Jim. You have a built-in market on this forum and I’m sure many others would be eager to join me and Boobie waiting for the virtual shop doors to open. Holler when the eBay page is up and running. Did you get a chance to test out the batch you made? I’m interested to hear the field test results.

That’s a healthy piggy! Congrats on the PB. Your jigs look incredible and from the supplies in the background it looks like you’ve got plenty of raw materials. Are you taking orders!?

Meh. I really like checking this forum every day to see no new activity - that way I don’t have to read anything new or informative. Far more enjoyable than fish stories, tips and pics. I can’t wait to join the industry-changing fishing forum snoop must be working on with no fishing content. Sign me up!

I love the (mostly) good-natured needling that goes on here. This one gets my vote for zinger of the day! I wonder if SIO3 had to borrow Al's paddle for measuring the install....

Too cold for my taste, but it looks like it was well worth it. Was that the big craw or its little brother?

Wow billethead, that’s impressive! I wouldn’t have the attention span to finish the framing, much less bring it to completion with a custom paint job!

Hadn’t even thought about that, but it’s a great point.