Griffster

Hey Rick…… Thanks!!! I had a blast Sat. Hope we can do it again real soon. I have already been on the web checking out jet boats. Lol I can’t afford to pay attention either!!! Cg Found your article too... (Rick was nice enough to invite me out Sat for my first Jet boat fishing trip on the lower Meramec.... We caught a few nothing real big... but had a great couple hours on the river)

Floated from Bay Creek to Eminence. Great float.. water was fine. Had to drag a little bit. Fish seemed to be scattered out some. Caught a few.. but not what I was expecting on that creek this time of year. From Alley on down... lots and lots of people even on a Friday. Cg

Didn't we discuss this before.. it's glass food and bervarage containers ? Swim masks other glass items are OK. I know makes sense...but it is not a total ban on glass period. Cg

I knew I read or saw something about Native smallies in Mo not being totally native to all or some part of the Ozarks. Thanks for setting me straight Al? Spring Branch would be very tough to fish. I agree keep the public on the one existing trail. That makes sense. I guess I was all wrong about Brown trout on the EP. I still need to talk to one old fishing buddy in Troy... I will let you know when I talk to him. Cg Al you going to make any of my son's games this year. he plays in Cape at Semo this year too. Not sure of the date yet?

Ditto gavin...My biggest was about 19 too..I guess around 3lbs it was a fat one too. I don't keep records either. Al does some serious fishing. yea.. any day on the stream is a good one. I'm not half the fisherman Al or you are... but still fun to go and try. I would like a ride in Al's new jet boat sometime.. hint....hint... Cg

This little extended cold snap.. will be quite a dip in temperature from the two /three weeks of rather early warm weather we have had. What happens to the smallies now? Do they head back to winter holes? Probably still too early to affect the spawn any... and were the water temperatures even that much afftected by the warm and then chilly weather? Just curious as to everyone's thoughts... as to the the effect on the fish when we have these rather drastic temperature changes? Cg

Thanks Randall!! It will probably be a litte nippy down there tomorrow morning too. Good luck have fun catch a bunch and be safe.. we'll want full details too. Cg

Hey good to hear from you too. yea I'm still around.. lost a job a while back that took a little time to recover from..but I'm doing good. I got some vacation time now and should get out fishing some more too. Oh yea.. more ball then you can imagine. Offers from KU, Mizz, SLU and Purdue. Mizzou and SLU offered before he ever played a high school game. Louisville, Stanford Ill are very interested too. Made an Adidas national team this year. He'll travel to Akron, Houston, San Fran, Portland, New Orleans, KC twice, Tulsa and a few others probably. Tyler Griffey . net ......check out the media tab.. I have some video from his freshman year. I don't have any video from his sophomore year yet. Working on that. Had an OK year.. Conf. Player of the year, as a Soph, but we had a little team chemistry problem. He started along with 4 seniors and we'll.. you probbaly get the picture. But he did well.

Fished the upper current Monday... didn't do real well. But what a great day to float. Floated from Tan Vat to Cedar Grove.. river was up a little and a tad dingy. Fishing was tough.. but man what a pretty day. Peeled off the waders around 11am. And yes.. the dogwoods are really blooming now too. Big time. This cold weather sure will make it tougher for a while too. Cg We were actually fishing for trout..and caught a couple smallies, little ones but smallies none-the-less.

I floated from Hwy 8 to Scotts today. Every time I make that float once you get pass the good water I swear the wind kicks up and trys to drive you up river. What is it with that float and the wind...makes those last couple of miles even worse. But I'm getting a little smarter in my old age too.. We took a trolling motor today.. just to get thru that dead water in the lower sections. Man that sure does help. Put in at 7am off the river at 2:30 pm. If not for that trolling motor I would still be paddeling. Fishing was OK... caught some decent smallies up there? Kind of unusual? The trout are hard to come by on the second half of that float it seems too? Does anyone do any good with trout towards Scotts Ford. I sure don't. A canoe and Suicide or Cardiac..is CRAZY!!!! Hey Al? Is your spinner bait legal up there? If your not targeting the trout? Probably not... but I wished I would have had my other tackle today. Season kicks off Tueday for my little guy. Hopefully he stays healthy and has a good year. If you can keep 12/16 open. He plays in Perryville 5:30pm. I'll buy you a beer after the game.

Sorry haven't checked in for a while. Yes I was below the East Fork, but not that far below it at all, less then a mile. Upper stretches are probably better to get away from the floating parties...but there is not a whole lot of water up there either this time of year. Pretty shallow.. but good for walking and fishing. Ideal for that probably. Cg You just have to have the time and no kids to do that though.

Happy to report the Black River looks normal for August. A little low but the clarity was unreal. You could see the bottom in 10-12 foot of water. The river was pretty croweded on Sat.. but not as bad as some weekends. The drunks and women and language unfortunately is no place for small children anymore. How sad is that. Women taken their tops off..men and women cussing enough to make a sailor blush...it was pretty bad. Now the rivers are a place for stag parties on the weekends. It was crazy!!! I didn't get to fish much at all either. But after the incident in Dec. I was just happy to see the river looking so good. Water was cool and clear. Cg

Thanks for the report and pics too. Glad to hear the river...is not too bad. I hope to get down there a couple times this summer. Cg

Just wondering if anyone has been down to the Black River lately? How is the river? Is it still in recovery from the collapse of the dam on the East Fork. If anyone has some recent information I would be interested? Thanks!!! Cg

It was up and murky last Thursday. Not at all what I expected? Cg I did OK though. It was clear enough to fish.. about a 18in visibility.

Call me ...Griffster, I live far west Stl. county. Smallies is the passion, trout are for fun... Floating is a my favorite way to go too. I have aa Old town big barge canoe, works for me though. You will get tired of me talking about my 6'8" son too. Yes he's a freshman and plays a little basketabll. Bad news is he takes most of my time and money for fishing too. Glad I found this site. Neat to have a place to check before you go on trips. I love the river reports section. Good stuff. Thanks!! Cg

It's one of my favorites... been down there several times now, but not recently, Fishing is never great.. usually catch some though. Lots of funand one pretty river too. no one on one is out of the question...

Agreed.... he did not get to the line enough either. Cg

I have fished the little Piney a couple times now.. and always catch a few smallies with usually one good one in there somewhere.. Cg Al, Check out this web site..(below) particularly the pics under "media" I been braggin about him for a few years now too. Web site still needs a little work, it's not to bad though. He still takes all my time and money! TYLER GRIFFEY

I was down there yesterday. Walked in at Suicide..water was up. Made it hard to move around but the fishing was pretty darn good. Cg

My first trip to the point was in August of 1990, my wife was 8 months pregnant with my first son..and she still let me do an over-nighter. (What a trooper she is) Floated from Cane Bluff to Whitten. Caught smallies up the spring and trout below. Jerry from Richards canoe told me it my wife called he would hang a red t-shirt on the 19 bridge.. and that I better get out and get home. lol. He's 6'8" now Al.. and Keeps me so busy I don't have time to fish or post on these here boards.