cwc87

I am going this Friday down by Coffman (dam area) Jerkbaits and A-rig is what Im gonna try and I havent been on it since October. I'm curious to see how many fisherman respond here?

Check out the Jackson coosa. If u dont want all the bells and whistles i have plenty of the Jackson riveras for $300 each that are 2010 model that are used but are in excellent condition. My cell is 573-259-3124 or pm me.

That 1652 alweld with a four stroke forty should all u need. Get a whales tale and power trim with electric start. Use ur starting battery as part of ur 24 volt trolling motor setup. Have Troutt cut into ur bench seat for gas tank and a dry storage. The perforated sheeting in the floor is the way to go.

Hey Al if you run across a falcon six foot eight inch low profile Eakins model bait casting rod pick one up. Or not no big deal. I kicked mine off into the Osage river last winter and I'm at a loss without it. Med hvy. Have fun being around all those pros.

About a 1/3 mile below the springs be careful trees n river. This stretch has been like this for a few years. The water flow is great u should have decent fishing.

Ten four Jerry. Thanks for the reply. Only fished Clearwater twice both derbys. First time I had a personal best 24 lbs. all on a pointer 78 jerkbait. That bag had twin 7lbers. I haven't fished it in five years. O'well great memory!

Are they biting the wart yet? How is fishing below the dam now?

Anyone been upstream of the prongs? Like if there was a big rain? Is the north prong bigger than the south ?

I had one of those adventures on the gasconade last September Tree across river. Shallow s- curve around it going upstream in my jet. I made it up. On the way back down when I floated in to the down sycamore the hole thru the tree was narrow and just up out of the water to walk my 1650 express thru. Barely the motor got wedged for a spell until I heaved my brains out pushing the boat thru. Boy a guy sure does stuff to get to the smallies!!!

Nice rise last Wednesday almost spilled over the banks but we will take what Mother Nature gives us. Now if we can figure out how to retain our rainfall instead of it getting sucked down the Mississippi !

1. Bolt action 223 2. Boat 60/40 jet 3. River Meramec 5. Bait caster old curado on a loomis bronze back 6.lure top water Sammy / dog x/ chug bug 7. Color jig blk headed 3/8 chomper 8.Green pumpkin blk flk Yamamoto 9. Lures only 10. SMALLMOUTH !!

1. Bolt action 223 2. Boat 60/40 jet 3. River Meramec 5. Bait caster old curado on a loomis bronze back 6.lure top water Sammy / dog x/ chug bug 7. Color jig blk headed 3/8 chomper 8.Green pumpkin blk flk Yamamoto 9. Lures only 10. SMALLMOUTH !!

River just topped out with a 6.5 ft rise which is just seeping out of its banks in spots. The water temp topped out at 53 and now is staying at 49. These creeks need a good flushing to get rid of rock snot and hopefully throw some gravel around to create new fishing holes. Things should b fish able by later Friday I'm planning to go Saturday afternoon.

I'm not too worried most folks on this forum are catch and release. Plus the gates are locked on all four sides at HWY 8.

Last Wednesday water was 37 degrees today it reached 53. A nice rain and the fish will start moving upstream . I did see a pack of 20 smallies hanging in a deep hole above hwy 8 today. I will try to keep reporting here at least once per week.

While we're on the topic of harvest regulation I believe shorting the catch n keep season. November- Memorial Day Saturday should be a closed catch n keep period. U still can fish and catch them just turn them loose. I see way to many people with stringers around springs and it seems our bigger smallmouth are easier to catch during this time period. Great points guys!!!

My take on the changing of streams. Our streams are wider from bank to bank = shallow holes. When we get slow soaking rains it pushes the banks wider and fills in the holes. When we get a real gully washer 3-6 inches in 8 hours r less it carves the holes out and throws gravel up on the banks. These drought like years when we get rain all it does is fill every pond n lake up and it never makes it to the stream. I am for gravel removal but only if done responsibly. It's unfortunate when gravel is mined and the best critter rocks are crushed when they could just haul them back to the mining site to create habitat. I've seen Alot of change on streams and still can't figure out forsure how it happens.

As in most cases I try to put myself in others shoes. The mdc people worked really hard to get the info ready and I'm sure it became apparent to them from the very start of the question asking that no matter how they answered questions they were going to b a dart board Hence, future meetings are in jeopardy . Now, I understand how frustrating it must be for us fisherman fighting to better smallmouth fishing and the agonizing snail pace MDC moves to make this happen. Heck, I'm sure it's painful for some of the hands on MDC employees involved with this project to see a wrath of resistance on harvest regulation change! On a short story, when I was invited to float fish with the MDC fisheries heads several years ago and on the gravel bar at the confluence of the Huzzah and Courtois one of the top biologist was holding my 3/8 oz spinnerbait in his hand and commented " from my stand on this lure why did I witness smallmouth eat this lure today?" I told him I don't know but it sure brought many smallies to the boat! Call it how you see it.

My top water baits are. Chug bug. Sammy Dog-x. Black buzz bait or white. Stanley ribbet frog for certain situations Some lakes if I'm after bigger fish the giant Zara spook. Smallmouth on streams a 5/8 oz black jitter bug is hard to beat after dark. Don't waste ur money on the 3/8 size. Very finicky ultra clear water bass try the Sammy 65 or mega bass dog-x jr.

In short, I've also met mr clunn. My zone is what I call PMA. When I fish its all about Positive Mental Attitude. Sometimes my casts may not hit the prime spot however fish don't care they are not in the prime spots all the time. When it's ur day it's ur day. Mitch you have been watching moonshiners too much!!

I'm n the zone each day whether I'm fishing r not.

Great report Al. My partner fished it Wednesday and had a great day too. I'm headed to that river soon!!

Nice looking smallie!! Congrats.

I live in the meramec headwaters. Our water table was great from the winter/ spring of 2011 until the fall of 2011. Since then our rivers, stream, ponds, and lakes have suffered. The bad, no new habitat in the water for the fish( cover and food). Water temps stayed at high levels since early spring . With the low flow and quick jump in water temp this year the spawn was totally off. ( I never saw a 15 in or bigger smallmouth on a nest in the upper meramec areas that I normally do). The giggers are out in full force with ultra clear water and with out new downed trees they lack cover to hide. The good , with record breaking heat fishing pressure was held in check when the fish really needed a break. Vegetation on gravel bars is taking a good foot hold for the next flood. Farmers fertilizer are not getting washed into the stream. Without cover the fish are more easily caught. I wish the weather would just b normal instead of setting records. Kind of depressing talking to others about how we live in a totally different climate. One thing I tell myself is that I can't change Mother Nature I might as well just deal with it!! In my opinion our biggest fight is water retention. (How do we slow down every rain drop?)

Fished from 9:30-2:30. Stayed close to familiar water ( took smallie bigs advice ). Biggest was a 15 incher. Caught around 30 fish Only one 6 inch spotted bass caught. Seen bigger bass swimming around. Once the suckers got to running around the big fish wouldn't bite. As the day wore on the fish were more scattered( shallow logs, giant deep rocks, deep logs lodged against boulders were the best ) caught one smallie with a gig scar. All in all kinda slow day from my previous trips.