Brian Jones

Ditto Tackle warehouse. Free shipping on orders over $50.00 and 2 day shipping for $5.00 more. I can't drive from Bonne Terre to St. Chuck for $5.00. As for hunting stuff, Rogers Sporting Goods in the KC area is a fine store with really good service.

Ditto what Seth said. I'll add that there are couple of "sketchy" areas to run below Riddle Bridge. One is log/root wad/wood infested and the other is rocky/boulder strewn. Ease of navigation depends on water level. But If you put in at Jerome, you should have fairly easy running up to about three miles above Hwy 28 in most water conditions.

I've heard more good things about the BPS fluorocarbon than any of them. My problem is that I'm just sooooo turned off by all fluoro right now I have no interest in giving it a chance.....

My trouble was between the reel and first guide. Lost a four plus pound largemouth in one tournament and a 2 1/2 to 3 pound fish in another tournament. Removed fluro and re-spooled reel with a mono I had used before and after and never had another problem.

Had same problems with invsisix as well as red label. On two different occasions I had good fish on and was fighting them to the boat and my line broke just as you described. Flouro ain't worth the aggravation to me.................

Have to agree and disagree. Our girls are 15 and 13. Oldest dances and cheers, youngest plays volleyball, basketball, and track and is a weight lifting machine, Compared to some of my friends with boys who play baseball on a regular team plus a "prospect" team, have 500 dollar bats, 300 dollar gloves, 150 dollar cleats, pitching or hitting instructions three nights a week, tournaments every weekend 4 hours away that requires fuel, lodging and eating out at least twice a day, girls really aren't that expensive.

Once again Mr. D- in his usual state of insomnia- posts a good hearted, yet truthful analogy which very accurately summarizes the previous 15 pages of posts and makes me giggle like a twitterpated middle schooler. As always, thanks Joe for making sure things stay light..............

Are they for sale????

I agree wholeheartedly when it comes to creek fishing Jerry. If you have a gooden you better keep it to yourself. The bigger waters are a little different. The one thing about the Meramec smallies is that with the exception of winter they don't seem to stay very long in one place; at least not in large numbers. In regards to "river rats", you're exactly right. But most of them ain't fishermen. They're the guys who have been run off LOZ because their boats became too small and their pockets were no longer deep enough to hang with the big dogs. So they've brought their loud rooster tail throwing inboard jets, as well as their frat boy center of the universe syndrome mentalities to the rivers where they can be the big fish in a small pond.

A meanmouth is a "mongrel" in my eyes and I only acknowledge pure anglo saxon smallmouth as the supreme bass................... Joking aside, yes we remove the meanmouths that we catch; just as if they were a spot. But we take them home and eat them........ Yes they are that bad; especially on the middle and lower sections of the river. We had a couple of trips in October where I would compare the fishing to that of fishing an overpopulated farm pond where the majority of the fish are small. In fact, we've taken over a hundred out of this stretch of the river since October and only around 10 percent of them have been over 12 inches with the MAJOR majority of them being between 8 and 11 inches. I certainly don't condone throwing them on the bank as that is considered wanton waste IMO. But there's definitely too many of spots in the lower river and not enough people removing them.

Well done Mr. D.

That was my first thought too. Glad my eye is getting keener......

If you're speaking of a boat such as the one listed below, they're basically a lake boat with a Mercury sport jet and NOT a river boat IMO. The ones that I'm familiar with run decent, but are VERY transom heavy when running at slow speeds and while fishing. The sport jet tracker may be great for the water that you're speaking of running. But in our part of the Ozarks there are FAR better options. Also, as wrench said, the intake is on the bottom of the boat which can be a problem should you ever suck the pump full of rocks, leaves, or other debris; especially in winter, early spring and late fall. A stomp grate would eliminate that, but I've never seen one on a tracker jet. If the boat you saw did in fact have an actual jet ski engine in it, then it is the product of someone's workshop and not a product of Tracker Marine. Unless you are a great tinkerer and fabricator with detailed knowledge how all that stuff works, I'd avoid a boat like that altogether. Having around twenty years of personal jet boat experience, the only way I'd go inboard is if I could afford the River Pro. They are without a doubt the Cadillac of jet powered fishing rigs. That being said, there are several quality boat dealers in the Ozark Anglers area with quality fabricators that could build you a boat that would run the same, if not better, than the boat the one you originally referred to.

I scanned through the comments pretty quickly so I may have missed some things. But a couple of questions I don't think anyone asked is are you looking new or "nused"? Are you paying ca$h or planning to finance for twenty years? Where are you going to use it? How far are you going to pull the boat? And the big question for me would be what outboard brands do the marine mechanics closest to me service? Example: In our area, the closest marine mechanic only services Mercury, Yamaha and OMC Johnson's and Evinrude's. The closest dealer that services E-TECs is over an hour away.

just sayin'....................................................

If I referred to my wife as wide I'd be the one having surgery....................................

If I told Aaron we've caught fish in this hole, then it isn't the hole I think it is..........

And to think I told Paul the other day that wasn't a good winter hole.........................

Not mine, but my "guide's"............ Posting as an FYI only and mainly as a water temp report. He fished the lower middle or upper lower river yesterday for a couple of hours. Had several bites on a jig which was about all he was able to fish due to the wind. Ended up catching 4 with the biggest one being 3.70. Water temp was 38 and the river was predominately ice free. He was supposed to go again today. If he does, I relay the details.

Is the meeting open to public or members only??

Agree wholeheartedly with tube trailers; especially if you store your boat outdoors or in a barn. Not to one up you, but four years ago my buddy and I had an early spring trip to the river planned. We were to take his boat. He calls me right before bed time and says his engine is locked up and that we'll need to take my rig. Later that week he took his boat to Troutt's and come to find out mice had packed one of the cylinders with acorns. Luckily they were able to just pull the spark plug and dig out enough of the acorns to allow the engine to turn over and push the rest of them out the exhaust. They told him when he picked it up that, with the open exhaust on OB jets, they see that fairly often.

Felt the same way. Actually voted for him twice. Initially, I liked his stance on the second amendment and felt that he was more of a centrist who would work with both parties for the good of the whole. Have really disliked a lot of his decisions since and felt he really pandered to the far left in his last two years of office which I figured was in preparation for a future senatorial run. I'm probably being selfish but I doubt I ever visit a state park with no facilities. However I'm sure there are those who'll really enjoy the rugged aspects and primitiveness (sp?) of the area.

Rarely do I go to the river anymore without my side arm. And I mean RARELY. At the same time, I pray for safety each trip before leaving in hopes that I don't end up in a situation that would force me to use it.

Fished out of a couple of different accesses on the upper lower meramec Monday and Tuesday with very different results. Monday's trip was great. Caught roughly 18 "keepers" including two smallies over four pounds. In all, we had 8 smallmouths over 18 inches with 6 of those weighing over 3 pounds. The best five were 4.07, 4.01, 3.57, 3.52 and 3.28 for a total of 18.45. Water temp ranged between 41 and 43 degrees. A couple of pics are below. Tuesday's trip was a big dose of reality. Caught seven "keepers" with only two being smallies. The rest were spots. Nothing bigger than 14 1/2 inches. Positive was that we took 11 more spots out of this stretch of river; increasing our total of spots kept this fall/winter to 108. Hopefully we're making some difference. Water temp was pretty much the same.

I can't help but think that the recently full moon had an influence on this thread................. That's one crazy testimony oneshot.........................................