esox niger

some of my guys from this year...I mostly see grass carp. not much clear water carp fishing around here...accept maybe RDP fingers crossed.

its been a while since i saw this post... and i can only add so much to this gem. lots of this "river" dries up, but there is always some water in the lower sections. as for legality? who realy cares. imo. at least thats what im saying now! lol despite my desire to fish the RDP i only managed a drive by scout mission in between some work i was doing out that way. and yes! large rippled disturbances coming from large fish!!!! Im not 100% on whats the most discreet way to access but I know it can be done! Ill go a step further... I will Fish the RDP in 2010! my first and only newyears resolution . you may have thought this thread died but it has not my friends.

i must be boneheaded, but decided ther'd certainly be a place to park around the power plant and walk. nope, everything posted. so i had to resort to plan b and do a little off-season kayaking. bit of a haul actualy 1.4 miles up i think and then accross, couple little whirlpools at main channel was as freaky as it got. i kept looking upstream at the discharge thinking all i have to do is get there and i will be in fish heaven. wrong! i may have had a bite immediately after one cast but im not even sure about that. saw two fish downsriver of the outflow, not sure what. a carp slurping and a bass thrashing? . i was using some larger heavier flies maybe i shoulda tried a smaller clouser but ive never found the fish to be very selective personaly, my other thought was a surface fly but i didnt realy see any top action. the water seemed very warm, illusion? it was steamy up in there like a sauna, if my hands got cold i just put them in the water. next time i go i will wait till the river goes back down to 10-11ft on the st.charles gauge for a couple days and settles out. do people typically fish right up on the spillway or start where it meats the river and work down? also i was wondering what depth is typicaly fished there? Much appreciated

Uh? if you go over the bridge and go right and take 140something...just stay right ...go about 2 miles till u get just past the dam, which you can see as your driving, and make that right. should be your second possible right after your on 140whatever. theres some parking there and i walked down. maybe i wasnt supposed to be there but why not? anyway, there some ice free water right under some permanent barges...???? i fished there. snagged asians . think they were in deep sleep. no fight. slow current dont know how deep. 8-30 ft deep for a guess. yeah, dont be surprised to see me out there. ill be the guy with outriggers that look like potato cannons, hollar. lol .

I think thats a UE plant there. i was actualy just looking at dresser island on yahoo maps and noticed the powerplant. scketchy walk! i can get a kayak out there and then drag it over whatever that is in the satelite image (rock wall/leve/dyke?) and get to the discharge. either way an adventure for some distant later date when the ice clears. i got a couple hours in below the dam yesterday. snagged two bigheads on the upermost il side and thats all to tell. went back to the missouri side...fished half and hour and split...water was down around 7 ft on the gage. better fished with boat if you could even get out there. il side choked with ice except extreme upper section, muddy... firm mud in most places but up by the water you might go to your mid thigh in mud if surface layer mud ice breaks. i speak from experience. all in all pretty dangerous conditions on both sides of the water. thanks for the heads up on dresser. 2wt? reminds me of my first grass carp which i hooked on a 3 wt. nice fish.

.oops

looks like first day above freezing is going to be monday and then the rest of the week. dont know when i will make it out there again, but there should be plenty of opportunities the rest of winter. do u know anyting about labadie or other warmwater discharges? (i need foot acess. say withing 1/2 mile hike). and whats that your holding in your pic...buffalo? if you do go this weekend let me know how it goes.

and more

the rest of em

just some stuff ive been working on...thought i was going to do some blue cat fishing beneath the alton dam...12 deg farenheit is too cold! made about 12 casts and guides were clogged and fly was ice. even holding the rod in the water did nothing to reduce ice buildup, my hand was going to freeze in 10 more min anyway, called it a day...lots of new flies though, check em out.

yeah, specificly traditional round "ish" versions. stu thompsons ddh leach is the inspiration here, and hes got a list of around 78 different species this fly will catch, (two of which i added; grass carp and gar). great all round fly ! whitebass love it as do catfish and common carp any fish realy.

Havent been on here in a while, sorry for the long delay. its very easy to tie this fly, like tying a wooly bugger with some lead eyes / bead chain eyes / or no eyes. size 2-6 salt hook or freshwater whatever. tie in eyes u want. I use one to two maribou quils for the tail. then u can wrap the but ends up to the eyes and tie off. or just wrap over the quills gives slightly smaller body , or cut maribou right behind tie in point and dub from there for the thinest body. i secure all that and prior to starting my dubbing loop i will " post" the tail with 4 wraps of threa aroud the tail and then secure. the tail will be holding up off the bend and straight back. i make my dubbing mainly with yarn and a coffee blender adding sparkle/synthetics/fur/maribou etc as desired...i play around but like white brown and black best. make the dubbing with loger cuts of material roughly 1/2- 1+ inches depending on how big u need the fly . for a little bluegill with a round profile id use 3/4- 1 inch material and then blend it in the blender. however you want to do it... be creative and use what uve got. dub the body tie off, trim to desired shape...add weed guard. love the weed guards...helps me fish bottom and snags in muddy water 70-90% easier than without. used to lose 4-5 flies a day now lose them onece every 4-5 days.

...so called tackle store in alton. they think missouri side with the boat ramp can be parked 24/7 and the IL side i can just park on the highway and walk down...

can i fish the tailwater at night from both sides of the river? thanks

Hi, I live in stl. right between the mec and the missouri and ive been fishing both along with some creeks for catfish with my fly rod. all in all ive had a good season. really my first season targeting catfish and other rough fish. ive landed two 28 inch channels with a couple 20-24 and a bunch of 18-20 and less. fishing has been in spurts with one late spring day bringing 27+ cats (on a fly) to my kayak . darn it, that was a good day. hooked a couple bruisers that busted me off or fly pulled out of. those lost fish keep going back like a crakhead looking for a rock. anyhow, Ive been dedicating some time to the meramec.. i got a couple cats over about 2-3 weeks, admittedly they were basicly accidents, though i had gone looking for them i pretty much gave up. I fish downstream of the 44 bridge. the other morning i hooked into three, one escaped as i tried to get him up so i could see him, never did. next day out nothing. this spot holds massive gar is quite deep...around 16ft so i think its a good area generally, deep to hide and shallows to hunt. but ive been wondering if late in the summer with near record low river level if the cats arent migrated somewhere either up or downstream. im guessing up stream. anyone know what section of the river holds the most catfish? or any good night spots to fish.

what did you catch on the upper middle? smallies or cats?. little surprising to be cats with a buzzbait i think...

i guess you are using bait. .. i was catcin um pretty good in the spring with a fly rod. slow crawlin a small crayfish pattern on the bottom. think you should be able to get em with clam flies too if your into that sort of thing, they got those big crusher teeth in their throat. I havent seen em around for some while, but then again havent been fishing slow on the bottom either, weedless is the way to go with the slow crawl. something to think about maybe.

this is my little vicious minnow. slight variation on some more cylindrical big buggers I was tying these are size 1/0 saltwater hooks tail - maribou ..tail posted with three wraps thread. then posted one wrap with dubbing rope. keeps the tail from fouling body- yarn and synthetic dubbing 1/2inch-3/4 length eye- large bead chain dubbing picked out on top and bottom , trimmed to liking. leave cylindrical for minnow/crawdad fly these flys have great shape in the water. the dubbing creates a transparent boarder around a dense dark midline. the more cylindrical fly is a good sculpin/crayfish immitation. tied thinner and you have a leach/ thin minnow. also, alternate colors of dubbing to get mottled effect. or use marker

just curious to see how deep the water is below the dam. I dont have a boat, ive got a kayak with outriggers. Ive made it out into the missouri a couple of times. its doable up from st. charles when usgs real time is around 14 ft. i see the usgs real time data for the tailwater to be at least as low as 5 ft on the gauge ...what does that translate to on the water say 200-300 yards down from the dam. also, would it be suicide in a kayak? i know i cant just go up near the darn or i could get sucked down, but aside from that. anything to worry about? lol

ive got a sage with stainless guides but i fish so much brown water that my guides have worn clear through in less than one season. some of its my fault for not breaking the rod down for long periods, or cleaning the line(wich is largely futile when on cast 5 its already coated in mud/sand what have you, i know stripping basket). none the less im seriously concerned about guide abraison and line destruction even if i do everything i should, (which i intend to start doing). this year its going to cost me around 150$ to get a new line and send my rod in and i will still have stainless guides. so i want to replace the guides with fuji SiC guides but sage will not do it and it will void the waranty if I do it. Id realy like to get a rod with the fuji sic guides that remains under waranty. is there anyone who will do this? thank you

long maribou tales and ep/maribou dubbing

Hi, ive got a "secret" oxbow ive been fishing mostly this spring . was back a couple days ago. the lake has been cutoff from the main flow for about 1 month plus..the conection is on a creek about 1/4 mile up from where that creek empties into the missouri. in the spring the the cats were up near the edges but i asume any cats in there last week were down in the thermocline. lake was max about 12 ft deep. now the missouri has risen 8 ft and temps have droped about 10 degrees. of course the lake is once again conected and the thermocline has been obliterated by the doubling in depth...anyone think this might be a good time to get the cats around the edges and flooded shallows? my hunch is its certainly possible, i may try tonight but still looking for thoughts and feedback. Thanks

i just made it out to a sandbar that id seen on google maps, wasnt sure i could kayak out to it, but it was a breeze. talk about alot of accessible water. but wouldnt you know it, the river is rocketing up...how long are the cats hitting the shallows to feed. do they keep coming into the fall and winter. figure they disapear in the winter...if the water comes back down i might get into some fish out there. great night and early morning spot i would imagine just need the river at 14ft or below. fingers crossed thats sooner than later.

just wondering what the difference between the runs was. I know spring is spawning but whats the reason for the fall run. any difference in #s or locations

well 35 views and no replys, kinda how i expected this thread to go.