Johnsfolly

Thanks Al. I appreciate the response. That's a lot of water with all kinds of opportunity for both big fish like smallmouth bass, whites, walleye, etc, and the little guys as well. I do like catching big smallmouth and trout as much as catching a new darter species. I'm just a bit obsessive lately about catching some new species and the darters are really cool now that I see them and can catch them.

I was pleased how it turned out. I've got the family out looking for more morels. Now it's up to me to bring in some more fish.

Al - do you know how many miles of water make up the Meramec river drainage system? Ham mentioned to me the other day that there were about the same number species found in the Current river system. It would take years to learn all the haunts of each of these fish and a tremendous amount of legwork to get access to all of those waters. I would love to just get 11 or so new fish and am really looking at the Meramec to get a couple of those species. Thanks for piquing my interest in this river system.

We had hybrid striper fillets that were placed upon and topped with thinly sliced onion and garlic, a slight drizzle of olive oil, salt/pepper, and a little oregano and baked until flaky. Some fresh cooked spinach. Topped the fish with a morel cream sauce with morels that my wife and daughter picked on Sunday. Went off the diet with the cream sauce, but you got to treat morels with some love. Extra salad and carrots today to make up for yesterday's meal.

Great fish! I've been fishing smallmouth for a long time and have not come close to a smallie that size. You guys are putting the work and just slaying (at least figuratively speaking) giants on the Meramec!

I used to catch a lot of pickerel in the Poconos when I lived in PA. In Missouri, I have only caught one chain pickerel fishing the 11-point River and a couple of grass pickerel in Crane creek. Fun to catch. I'm looking to tangle with a musky someday. I was hoping to post about catching a new life list species after this weekend. However, the topminnows are kicking my butt. On Friday I found a couple topminnows in a local stream known to have red and redfin shiners. The minnows were in the deep pool under the bridge. Went out Sunday with my wife spotting above on the bridge directing me to where the fish were headed and just could not get a bait in front of them. Again they were always 2 to 3' further than I could reach with my rod. I think I will have to break out the 9" flyrod and put on my spinning tackle to get the bait in front of these guys. My wife went off to look for morels (posted under the mushroom discussions) and I went to find fish that were more ready to take the bait. Caught mostly chubs, longear sunfish, but did catch my first couple of commons shiners for 2016. I also added white bass and hybrid striper to the 2016 list on Saturday down at Truman dam. I hoping that we get enough rain to get more morels out, but not enough to muddy up the streams.

I love the video. Looks like nice fresh morels are for dinner.

Congrats to everyone that got birds! Definitely jealous thinking about being out in the turkey woods or fields, while I am stuck at work preparing for a big meeting this week.

Also we need some perspective on its size, possibly held up against a hand or near a face. I agree with JD with my first thought that it is a young ratsnake.

There's nothing better than I can think of than catching a bunch of fish after a bad day at work or at home. Especially if the trip was as uncomplicated as your trip. NIce photos.

Still brewed in Pottsville PA. Nice morels by the way!

That's a good looking perch. In PA when fishing highly pressured lakes, the best perch you could hope for would be about 4 to 6 inches in length. Sounds like a fun trip.

You can't go wrong with any of those achievements. Congrats on a good day of river fishing.

Ham would have to bring us back to the pig conversation.

Haven't seen any at our feeders yet. We have a feeder above our porch just under the eaves and we love to sit out there and listen to them buzz by. Often one will hoover just looking at us as we sit there in the evenings. If we actually could understand their chatter as the dominant birds chase off the other ones, that they are just constantly swearing at each other.

She didn't want to diss me on this post, but did mention that I would find a lot more morels if I wasn't focused on looking under 1-2 feet of water all the time. Morels are on dry ground. Go figure. She hasn't found any of the large ones that you and your lady were finding this weekend. Maybe after this rain if we actually get rain.

Great haul. I haven't looked hard yet. Still focused on fishing. Hoping this rain will get some to pop and I'll get out looking.

Great post and photos. Love seeing thick healthy trout and big browns. Sounds like you had the pattern for these fish.

There did not seem to be any water running while I was there. A few shad were breaking the surface every once in a while, but it didn't seem to be driven by predatory, I.e., white or hybrid bass, feeding activity. The carp and possibly paddlefish were also breaking the surface, but not as much as I have seen on past trips..

A piebald deer has leucism where there is a defect in localized areas of cells that cannot produce any pigmentation, which results in the "pied" splotches of white hair or skin all over the animal. White tigers are another example. Albinos are slightly different in that they cannot produce melanin, but can produce some color with some albinos being pale yellow instead of white.

I typically don't carry two rods that have a similar function, I have carried a fly rod and a spinning rod at times and have used a back pack to hold the second rod. Now I have a Shakespeare travel rod that I use for microfishing that fits in the back "keeper" pocket of my fishing vest. So if when I am fishing for trout or smallmouth and come upon a bunch of sculpin, darters, or minnows, I will switch to that rod. Since I am switching my fishing style, taking the time to pull out and replace the rods in my vest or pack has not been a problem.

Al has me thinking about whether the copper sulfate may be a partial cause of the coloration of this fish. Pretty cool looking fish.

Go out late and didn't begin fishing until after 8 am. Partly cloudy with more clouds in the early afternoon. The wind was constant with heavy winds at times from the east. Made strike detection somewhat difficult. Some fish were getting caught on singles and tandem jig rigs. Seems like most folks caught at least one fish, but few had more than two or three this morning. One guy next to me had success with a stringer full of whites and decent sized hybrids. Most fish caught along the banks were whites and hybrids. Very few crappie and even fewer keeper crappie were caught. Lots of jigs lost during the morning, but I could not connect on any fish using the jig rigs. I was more successful with an olive green X-rap with a single white caught on both sides of the tailwater. I also caught a sub-keeper largemouth and my first Truman hybrid down near the boat restriction markers. The hybrid was 18" and over three pounds and should make a nice dinner.

Sorry about making this a pig thread. anyone find any morels this weekend?

Great report Phil. I look forward to getting down and fishing Taney again this year.