BronzebackWarrior

nice looking fish , must be nice seeing having that boat and getting them bronze , i just bought my first truck , so hopefully next will be a lil jon boat so i can actually get on the river , care to eloborate on what your targeting current wise , and depth?

Have not been seeing much on this forum lately figured i would post , And hopefully hear some of your guys recent patterns or catches Ive been wading and bank fishing my area , hitting eddies and creek mouths , , with doll flys ,spinners , and doing some slow cranking . thrown out a live blue gill our two at dusk for a catfish . I found some white bass and 4 crappie in a bank eddie that was right off a strong flow and moderate drop off , One was a massive table rock lake worthy sized one that caught me off guard , biggest crappie ive ever seen on the river. fried em up real nice . ussualy i can hammer the spots this time of year and occasional smallie , but i have not caught one decent black bass yet , i know im not in prime smallmouth or even bass waters for the meramac, still im used to see some jumping bass in the amount of water and time ive fished . Whats the deal? some of yall nearly always can find a nice bass if you try hard enough , any body catching the bass ? Cant complain , , got a a coulple meals , foul hooked a 15 20 pound grass carp quite the battle , also had a massive gar or cat rip my bluegill and drag out like mad , but i diddnt get a hook in it still a rush i dont even pretend like i can go catch more crappie they always dissapear on me and cant track em down which seems normal on the meramac, anyway love to see some more posts , and some feedback . Take care be safe

nice fish , glad to see you on water, best of wishes to the family

very impressive , looks like a one of a kind day .

reading your trip reports always make me wanna get on the river.

I thought it was a young common black snake , I'm not sure though. ui always am watchful when brush bustin.

4/4/17 been busy and haven't had chance to post my last couple trips , i went to my higher water spot , i had a sense the fish would be their and active ,threw a road runner to start the 8 inch to 10 inch spots were loving it, then whack somethin with a lil more weight hit , a goood crappie , darn ive never caught crappie here caught 4 total crapie 2 shorts , found numerous 10 to 12 inch spots , all the fish were coming within the same small swimming pool size area , some hitting as the road runner settled to the bottom, some hit as the bait was gonna rise out of the the water as i finished retrieve , a drum drum tested my drag , i thought where are the smallies ? there always a few mixed in at thish spot with the spots ,so i switch to the Mitch craw i call it that cause i acquired mine when they were known as the mitch craw , after a few twitches the smallies instantly responded i hooked the one pictured the way it should be done , but two others that were a lil bigger got off as i was about to bank them , caughts some drum and smaller mean mouth, i caught about 15 fish , missed 5 mostly on the craw drum spots meanmouths crappie small mouth , few that drop jaws though the 2crappie were niccce but it was a fun time , and all the action was in a very small area ,it was a good time , and the instant reaction to the craw on the same angled casts in the same area as the road runner was cool to see, know im sitting at home thinking how a nice smalles still roaming at that spot , and it gives me a bad itch to be twitchin a craw

darn nice i thought i measured a 19 incher last year , but i dont got a big numbered tape like some of you and was alll jittery and shaking from the fight , seeing some a the fish you picture make me know mine was nott a 19 inch fish, tthanks for sharing

sounds like a good day, especially when you slip it in before a cold snap .

i have been enjoying the sights of fall on the river a lot lately, mostly wading and bank fishing around stl county , i haven't had a truly consistent day yet or find a pattern i could grasp. been fishing riprap and eddies , shallow rocky runs , front of rapids, been using jigs , crankbaits , top water,, craw imitations. i caught a white bass and sauger back to back casts on white jigs in a place i have seen whites caught before but have yet to have consistent success keeping on the whites, , been able to take 3 spots home , released 2 good 11 -13 inch smallies . and had 3 sauger that were all around 13inch, this is all over a couple outings and the fishing is sporadic at best , i try to be attentive as i can to how the bait was being presented at time of strike the depth and structure ,it seems though i never find a stack of fish ,? is it just fall tendency and there spread out searching for bait ? or should i be focusing on deep water and try and find a steep drop off?? i wanna hear some the veterans fall fishing tactics, whatt you look for ? and why ?

thanks to all its cool to share with a community who appreciate fish like this .

9/20/2016 Went to a decent spot I know on the big river , , I was throwing flicker shad tiger stripecolor off the bank into an eddie created by the higher water when I had a violent strike it struck near the middle of my retrieve in about 3 oe 4 foot of water i think , at first I thought it was a gar as it made some quick and HARD runs right away , I had also a couple of follows from gar and they were surfacing in front of me constantly , after some battling and violent head shakes the fish showed itself when it jumped darn near a foot and half out of water and splashed down like a heavy rock thrown from shore , my heart raced at the sight of that brown flash as it launched itself not once but twice , , andrenaline surged as I fought the fish knowing I had something big and brown it wasn’t a long fight , prolly two mins tops , I had to do the slow glide backward walk eeasing the fish onto the shore , I lipped the fish l and let out a loud explicit cheer i had a smallie in my hands that I knew might push 20 inches , the adrenaline rush I had from watching a massive smallie jump 5 ft in front me was top notch and had me trembling , I couldn’t get a great picture of the fish let alone one on top of my measuring tape, it was hard enough getting my phone and tape measure out with one hand and fish in another , bc I didn’t want it flopping about on shore . in the mayhem and rush of occurences you could can see I could hardly get a good picture =(. Important thing is this beauty swam off intact and It hit the the magic 20” mark, my biggest smallie on lake or river by 2 inches , the belly on this fish was what had me odling , this was a thickkk an spunky fish , that will only continue to grow i know . After releasing fish I sat down on shore and basked in beauty around us at all times and the moment I just experienced, the adrenaline was still pumping through me I guess they’re could of been another their but I had already cast that area rigorously for 2 hours before I I found that pot of gold , I fed off the rush for ten or so moments ,jus sitting back and experiencing and observing the priceless ancient things around us the leaves swaying in the wind , rhythmic buzzing of sakadas , dragonflyw bunching on branches , , slowing down and appreciating time . celerabatry thoughts ran rthrough my mind , i thought that’s what the hell I do this for , I sent some pics and celebratory texts to some fishing friends and family , , I then headed back where I came , as I had plans in town I caught a 14 or 15 inch largemouth along the away, this fish hit on topwater , my first top water strike in a while for some reason . the ectasy that these types of experiences produce far out way the gloom of some hot fishless snagged days and Moloch time one gets sucked into in society . , get your fall gear ready , theyre plumpin up .

I got down two days with family then a buddy came down for last couple days , another good time at the lake. started the first two days only fishing off dock, got an 18 inch smallie spooning in 15 20 foot off top of dock, and an 18 inch large mouth (diddnt have my phone though) it was in a group of three ,ive toyed with this pack of bruisers before this year to no avail , i was planning on going up to cabin at the moment i spotted them they were taking turns ramming into a herded minnow or blue gill school right on shore , i went grabbed my most trusty rapala threw into an inch of water, this was all happening between the dock cable and dock walkway, i slowly eased bait deeper, the smallest one hit it the other were 20 or so inches imo, the other two competitively tried to steal the bait out of mouth that set the precedent to come for next days in boat. also got that 16 incher on jig right off dock . We recently got a 86, 14 foot yamaha we got an old merc on it , 1000 or so invested came with good trailer , this was my first time taking a buddy out and being the handler of the craft . was fun exp , cudos to all you captain showing the ropes to young guys thats how i came to love fishing . it was hit or miss but was crazy when they were hitting every time we found fish they were fighting over our bait . my buddy tore it up in one main lake cove while i cursed at the trolley motor, buttons stuck hah , i like seeing fish caught we had to search for them extensively i had prior knowledge of some state fish attractors and usual spots weve done well , all fish caught in boat were from seven to 20 foot of water, TIger stripe flicker shad , jigs , we got lucky to find competitive feeders imo , we rarely changed tactics , just beat our heads against wall till it produced , no depth finder on boat yet hah work in progreess i hoooked a 10 incher off some man made rock piles of some sort , when i hear my buddy say holy cow theirs two nice ones going after the hooked fish , i diddnt pull the fish out let it fight and allowed them to stay in frenzy he cast crank bait and caught this nice one , awesome to catch miday fish in august , weather was mild as i recall and water temp dropped 4 degrees or 5 degrees from 8/12 ti 8/20 according to pontoon depth finder fat kentucky friend really loved colors on this one Get out there and do some work , appreciate the valuable reports and info shared , I Enjoy And Cherish these times

haha thanks i usually dont butcher it.

Greetings I sure enjoy reading the well written reports and valuable info that gets put on the TR forum, first time post on theTR forum but i do post on Meramec forum when i can , i generally lurk the good info and tactics used by you people ,I get down to the family cabin as much as possible, during those treasured times im fishing with my pops and Grandpa out of the pontoon usually trolling points and drop offs ,and searching for whites. They're not so much up for casting and actively fishing these days. I have some more cool walleye pics and other decent bass we have caught i cant find em right now i might put them up later. Stay cool , btw i recently got a boat and will have some questions thats for another post.

thanks mr agnew darn youl be back HogWal, i cant look at your posts they raise my expectations to much,setting me up for disappointment i gotta expand my horizons get up to the mid mac a bit , safe travels

very generous may the fishing karma be with mee

Nice fish , water looks beautiful

I love that sort of fishing clear water, secluded earth , stealthy approaches

Got out early, fished lower mac on foot , a hole past the big confluence a way . slow to start couple dink smalls on jigs , started throwing a crank bait around submerged boulders , nice smallie came in slack area behind a boulder , continued fishing same general area and hooked this walleye ? is that white mark on bottom of tail fin a determining trait? fished another couple hours catching some darn drum . slow but the couple quality fish make me happy .

A friend and I Put my canoe in at Pacific Palisades Monday around 1030 am , water looks pretty darn good in moderate and fast water locations , we hooked a few drum right off the bat fishing crankbaits through riffles , some small spots came in a seam of slack water behind an island, pretty darn slow really, at a mild bend in the river that has a very small island diverting the current , my buddy had a nice 2 or 3 pound channel cat fish wallop his green off brand crankbait , it hit the crank right near the boat . he had it boat side but rushed the landing and ended up with a hook in the hand . mild distraction , back on the water and along a shaded bluff wall i had a 10 or 11 inch or so small mouth hit my rapala minnow just as it touched the water, managed 3 high leaps and a mildly fun fight , fished that area thoroughly with no more action. maybe the jumps spooked any others . at another promising spot i caught a 9 inch catfish running a deep runner through fast water , had some line ripping fights with more freaking drum , My freind had a dink smallmouth but we could not find a darn pattern. Tried jigs , spinnerbait assortment of different running cranks. still a nice day on river . we hit a lot of promising spots during the heat of the day i think that affected our bass catching. we hit allenton by 530 or 6, i caught a beautiful sunfish at the island before allenton put it on stringer for bait , as sundown came we kinda fugged up and got to picky about our camp site. we past the big river confluence saying " well find a decent or better little gravel bar" when we should have stopped their and settled down and fished the hell out of it , lots of paddling later and running out of day light quick with no suitable camp sights in eye shot , we settled for a not so level sand bar in a dead zone , slightly pissed at our rookie mistakes we started a fire and pounded beer and ate snacks . Around 11 or 12 the half dead sunfish i had rigged up off our crappy sand bar got hit , at first i thought i was on a stick because the lack of pull , but I soon realized it was a fish , after a fun fight i pulled in this channel cat this the only bright spot of our campsite , sleeping on sand is worse then rocks, it compacts and feels like concrete, we continued to fish with store bought bait but did not produce any more fish . the Following Morning we got up and on water round 6 and headed toward routee 66 boat ramp wheir we would take out it was only like 30 mins away , we had spent wayyyy to much time in canoe not enough time meticulously fishing prime areas , i need to get an anchor and remember the net lol and other basic stuff , to truly make the most of these trips. any way i had a gar and another too small to eat channel cat take my lure , we ended up sitting on a sand bar before the 44 bridge fishing that in front and behind the riffls till 3 pm tuesday. Caught another keeper channel catfish on a crankbait lol they are stalking it and smashing anything right now . I thought i had a walleye the way it waited till last second to hit . saw what looked to be a couple of young smallmouth ambushing and chasing minnows above the riffles , could not entice a bite though , Thanks to the fights of the drum, meat of catfish and beauty of river it was a good float. I would loved to find a dandy pattern on the bass , even some chunky spots to take out would have been acceptable or to find some whites . Me and the fam are having catfish for dinner tonight Always next time for the bass.

Those are good looking fish.

"serious pucker factor " haha thats awesome , enjoyed the read as always . nice fish as well . glad you made it through .

Caught a 15 to 20 pound carp last week on tablerock , was sleeping off an overnighter on the pontoon with a 2 doll flys rigged 1 foot apart, suspended off the bottom, out of rod holders , half conscious i heard drag hissing , had an arm tiring 20 minute fight , thing went right, left, under dock, everything but jump. tried 1 man netting it couldnt pull it off . took it all the way around from the far slip of the dock and under the dock cable to shore where i unhooked it from the mouth, tried to hoist it up and examine my catch at eye level, but it flopped intensely out of my grasp, i laughed for seconds afterwards as it swam away , wake up calllll , carp and me have a connection when i was 12 me and a slightly older cousin were paddle boating around a cove on table rock trying to catch bass but mostly catching blue gill , i decided to bait fish a small half dead bluegill, god knows how on a hook and the thing got snagged on something hugggge, it was pulling us around in the paddle boat my cousin coaching my drag for me haha and paddling with the fish . luckily my rents and such were on cocktail cruise to come back seeing us fighting a large fish. they grab the old video camera and a net . prominently having cell phone with quality cams were like 5 to 7 years away my grandpa who i still fish with to this day netted the fish which was a 20 pound carp foul snagged in the fin. i fought that fish for an hour at most, 40 mins at least . and its all recorded on vhs lol. really hooked me on fishing to say the least. to mention also oc i had a estimated 10 pound carp hit my top water and give me a good fight on the meramac , freaking carp , thought i had a bronze to remember that day ....

Been back and forth from table rock and stl for the past month, a little work and a little play , helping put in new floor in the cabin etc. i have been able to hit the mac up lately on foot only when the waters right from a spot downstream from the big . I try and find the cooler clearer water and then head towards the murky stuff from their , Working a jig i found a couple 8 or so inch smallies sitting along a submerged rock ledge , as the water got murkier the fish got a little bigger caught a couple small spots. Got to chocolate milk water and switched to a nice tight wobbling crank bait. Managed a 14 1/2 inch spot? and lil sauger?. heres a couple extra fish from tablerock i thought id share we specifically troll main channel points , pea gravel banks, and chase the whites around , i fish with my grandpa and step dad down their, (something i trully cherish) theyve converted into trolling their reasoning being its easier to have a beer and they dont want to cast as much these days, At both The lake and the River the monster Smallie eludes me