Jim Spriggs

i've never fished that part of the river. I'll have to try it. I'm hoping to get out on Sunday, and fortunately this rain will have the water level up a bit. Last weekend, I went to the Gasconade near Jerome, since the water was flowing better than on the Meramec. Caught some decent smallies on slow-moving jigs. They we're hitting on a Bomber 6a, too.

Thanks for the information, Al. I think the flow is too low for my current comfort level with my boat. I'm going to wait for some rain before hitting the Meramec.

Hello fellow fishermen. I am new to this forum. I recently bought a jet boat (17' Blazer with a 90 hp Evinrude E-TEC), and I've received terrific advice about running it on local rivers from the Intruduce Yourself forum. I plan to go fishing for smallies this weekend, and forum participants suggested the River Round, Sand Ford, or Sappington Bridge accesses as good places from which to jet upstream and fish for smallmouth. Have any of you been to these locations recently? Any advice on either running the boat there (I'm a novice) or locating fish? Thanks in advance for your help. I want to be safe on the water and, I hope, catch (and then release) some fish.

What do you think about starting at the Huzzah Valley Conservation boat ramp, floating and fishing down near Blue Spring Creek, and then jetting back to the ramp? Is that stretch of water more difficult than going from Sullivan to Blue Spring? I am glad I found this forum. The information I'm getting is terrific.

Thanks, Al, for the information about cfs. I'm trying to learn as much as possible before I get on the water. I want to stay safe as I'm trying to catch some fish (and then release them to grow bigger). I'm hoping to go fishing November 14th and 15th. Any suggestions for where a novice jet boater like me can have a decent change of catching some smallies while not having to navigate water that's too treacherous?

I'll continue learning by trial and error, hoping for only minor errors. I'm planning to make the Meramec my home base, and I am really interested in fishing for smallmouth. It seems most of the prime smallmouth water is currently too shallow for my skill level. Here's wishing for some more rain... Thanks, guys, for giving me information; it's helpful for someone like me who knows liittle about jets.

Thanks for the advice. I am definitely a novice jet boater and am learning that it is quite different than running on the lakes. Any advice on where I can go to learn more about how to safely maneuver in the rivers. I have searched the web, and I was hoping there was someplace one could go to get lessons, similar to lessons one would get to learn to drive a car. But, so far no luck.

Hi all. I recently purchased my first jet boat--a used Blazer (17' x 52") with a 90 hp Evinrude 2 stroke. I am looking for appropriate places to fish for smallmouth. I live in St. Louis, so the Big River, Meramec, and Bourbeuse are the closest rivers. I went to Brown's Ford on the Big River, and the river (due to log jams) was too narrow to go downstream. I also went to the Meramec at the Onondaga Cave access (the Huzzah Valley MDC area). It was too shallow to run a trolling motor but the depth was fine for running the boat (but the logjam below the boat ramp is quite tricky to traverse). I would also like to fish the Gasconade in Jerome. I was told if the river gauge at Jerome is below 2' (it's about 1.5' now) that I should avoid that area. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!