stlfisher

Well I know that next time I call in "sick" to work to not fisher under the bridge. Then again I could call one of my buddies at work and tell him to tune in to the web cam, give him a wave, and ask him how his day is going. In all seriousness it doesn't bother me and probably cost very little to set up. In saying that, I am in favor of fish cleaning station as well. While I don't keep many fish the "gut" hatch needs to be addressed. I do like that I can see the water before I would choose to head down...that is 3 hours drive for me and opinions on fishable water aren't always the most accurate.

I think the best bang for your buck is the Shimano Citica E. If you can squeeze another $20 or so in your budget. They retail for $119. Properly maintaned this reel will last forever. Pair it with a St. Croix Mojo split grip rod and you have a quality little all around setup for an ecomical price.

Looks like they have sold about 2000 tags at each of the trout parks for opening day. Looks like I will be at Montauk or Bennett on Saturday March 20th. In the meantime here is a live cam of the madness at Bennett. http://www.mo.gov/Recreation/Outdoors/Fishing/

I do very well fishing a #12 crackleback. I like to swing it with short strips. They will smash it. I have also done well with renegade's, griffith gnats, black/olive buggers, and olive mohair leeches. All the nymph's/midges mentioned above work great as well....especially the scuds. Montauk is my favorite to fish...it is less crowded...but I really enjoy Bennet. Meramac only during the winter season. I have not fished Roaring River yet, the lack of wading might turn me off. I will give it a shot one of these days though.

Those look nice. Good job. Some fish catchers I am sure.

Bill must have visited the same Perkins as Tiger. I am not defending Tiger by any means, but nothing really surprises me these days. I am sure Tiger is not the only one. He was just dumb enough to get caught. It didn't help that he tried to portray the perfect image and that just fed the fire. I kind off think if you are the wife of a professional athlete you have to figure this might happen. I am not condoning it by any means, but money and fame bring temptation that most of us will never have to deal with. Most people just simply can't handle it. I feel bad for Elin, but I doubt she is a saint. I wonder if she would have given Tiger a second look if he was an average Joe? This whole thing is just sordid anyway you look at it.

While the majority of my fish come with slow presentations I always start off fishing fast and then adjust accordingly. It is easier to start fast and then slow down versus start of slow and then speed up. I also don't want to miss out on those magical days when they are super agressive and chasing down everything. On these days you will catch more fish by fishing fast and covering more water than by fishing slow. If you start of slow you may miss these types of days. You may still catch fish, but not as many....in my humble opinion. I think you can tell quickly if they will respond to fast moving baits. If they don't, which is the norm, then I begin to slow down and go deeper and more methodical.

I much prefer the winter C/R for the same reasons. Lack of crowds and good numbers of fish. I tend to fly fish for bass more in the summer months.

I agree with both these statements. Harvest at trout parks and White ribbon areas doesn't really bother me and there is a time and place for it. I would rather fish in solitude or with a few select buddies. So opening days aren't my cup of tea. For me fishing is more about the experience than the actual catching. So when areas close to home get cleaned out by people who seem to be dead set on doing it as fast and efficiently as they can it does bother me. In these instances my C/R fishing doesn't appear to have nearly the effect on the fishing of Catch and Keep guys as the Catch and Keep guys have on a C/R fisherman. I think this is most acute during the Winter Urban Trout season. In STL, to my knowledge, there are 4 C/R lakes and 12 Catch and Keep lakes. For the life of me I don't see why they can't extend the C/R season until March 1. There are plenty of other lakes for Catch and Keep. In a perfect world there would be enough water and fish for everyone, but that is getting harder and harder to come buy. On a side I stopped by Boathouse lake in south city (I rarely fish it, but use it for fly casting practice) and there appeared to be a massive fish kill. There were dead Catfish and a few dead trout everywhere. The Catfish that weren't dead were all very close to shore and hardly moving. There was a guy with a net fishing out the half dead ones and taking them home. Had close to a dozen fish. I think the combination of dead leaves, colder weather, and thicker ice has depleted the oxygen to the point the fish can't survive. If Catfish are dying it can't be good for the other species. That lake is way to shallow.

Out of curiosity do you see a lot of agent's at Busch? I have only seen them at the entrance occasionally checking cars for illegal game and fish. I would like to see more of them around at the actual lakes, but I am sure they don't have the funds for that.

I think you can access Dardenne creek at Busch although that is very near the Hwy K fish kill.I hadn't heard about the fish kill. A few write ups I have seen on Creve Ceour indicate it is not a good lake for bass, but i have never fished it. I imagine Busch doesn't allow personal watercraft simply because of the increased pressure it would bring. I imagine with the proximity to the highschool it could create problems. If they allowed kayaks and such I think you would see an increase in traffic from pleasure boaters and Busch has plenty of traffic as is. At least now you have to jump through a few hoops to rent the boats. There are some small ponds that I would love to explore with a Kayak or Canoe though. It is shame the some of the fishy looking spots in the smaller bodies of water are pretty much not acessible. I say they bring back the daily tag type thing at bush and make people pay a few bucks to fish. It might thin out the crowd a little. I would like to see them make more of the lakes C/R as well. I do like the fact they have drained, deepended, and added structure to many of the lakes. It seems like they do 1 or 2 each year. Those lakes fish better than some of the older ones.

8lb's is great bass...especially at Busch. I have caught one that weighed 5lb's out there, but no bigger. There are still lot's of carp and some giant grass carp at Busch. I may need to try that this year.

Yeah, that would be nice wouldn't it. There are some spots they would work great in. I also wish they would let you fish after 9pm. If there are any big fish, I bet they put the feed bag on when everyone goes home.

I am definately not offended so no issues there. I like most others have issues with the way the program is managed. Given my choice I would be a stream any day of the week. I don't have the secret formula for when dissolved oxygen and water temperature result in a kill and I am sure the MDC has a better idea of it than I do. I would think they could extend the season somewhat. Anwyay, I agree I would rather them be caught than have them floating dead in the water. It seemed like once the ice opened up enough to fish it was time for Catch and Keep. I like your take on the new beginnings. I think I am suffering from a serious case of cabin fever. As far a fly tying I I have been tying almost every night and running out of storage space. Good problem to have though. Can't wait until the bass start moving. There are some nice ones in lake 16 (C/R) lake and a lot of small bass. Lot's of fun on fly rod with an olive bugger or a Crackleback. Hit that lake when the mosquitoes hatch (if you can stand it) you can catch them one after another. If you go there I have a few spots on that lake that produce well...just pm me if want. Casting is a little tricky, but doable. The MDC site has a good write up regarding Busch and the lakes best for different species. There are some giant Redear sunfish in some of the lakes as well. 34 comes to mind for them.

For me the Urban Trout program is the only close to home trout fishing that I have. Otherwise I am driving 90 minutes to fish or 3 hours to where I really want to fish. So when the slaughter happens my fun is over for close to home fishing. That sucks especially since I can't get away any weekend this month. As mentioned it is comical/pathetic to watch these people attack the lakes in droves armed with powerbait. I called the mdc game thief line 4-5 times this year to turn in poachers during the C/R season. There are many lakes that are catch and keep that I don't see why another month of C/R would hurt. It is usually mid May before the water warms up to much for the trout, but Forest Park will be cleaned ot in a few weeks. It just seems like it could be managed better.

I got done with work early yesterday and headed up to forest Park to find it jammed packed with the massacre well underway. I actually forgot it was Feb 1st and just went home. There wasn't even a place to fish if I had stayed. No one on the ice at Forest Park, but those 4000 or so fish will be cleaned out in no time. It is just depressing to watch and kind of makes me angry. I really don't see why they don't delay the harvest a few more weeks until the middle of February or maybe even March 1st.

I avoid opening days. I just don't like the crowds that much. I do agree though that trips with friends whether on opening day or not are something I look foward to each year. If I want to fish in less crowded conditions I usually go in the winter time.

Well I am little embarrased! Thanks for the clarification on the regulations. I never knew that about accidentantly foul hooked fish. I always thought intent was the key, but I guess you can't prove poaching (purposely snagging a fish in this case) vs. accident (one that strikes and get's foul hooked). Now that I think about it it would leave too much room for interpretation. I obviously do not keep fish during the winter C/R season. I really don't keep them at all.

I quit smoking in August and it was tough. I had tried a dozen times. I was smoking a pack a day and realized that at close to $5 a pack I was spending $150 a month to basically purchase cancer while making some executive at Phillip Morris rich off my inability to quit. That did the trick for me. That is a lot of extra fishing tackle I can buy with that money. Whenever, I really feel the urge to smoke (mostly when I fish) I hit up my buddy for a dip. Not healthy, but better than smoking. It has been almost 6 months and I really do feel so much better now that I have quit. Another way that helped me to quit was the strong desire to retire as early as possible. $150 per month 12 months per year total spent per year $1800 I want to retire at 62 and I am 32 now. 1,800 per year x 30 years = $54,000 $54,000 invested over 30 years (150 per month, $1800 per year) @ 10% return for 30 years = 342,007.97 I haven't smoked since.

I almost always practice c/r but I always keep an empty stringer on hand. That way when I invariably foul hook a fish, deeply hook a fish, or stress a fish I can keep those that might otherwise die after release. If I am at trout park and tearing them up this usually will get me a fish or two to eat that would have gone to waste. I would rather people keep these fish than see them die later and go to waste.

The way I look it as both sides operate on the extreme ends of what is acceptable. Both sides are wrong and the antics of both do nothing besides inflame the dispute. At some point someone may loose a life because of it. I like whales and don't want to see them over harvested,but if greenpeace disowns you that should tell you something about the captain.

This C/R season has really been shortened by all the ice this year. That is really kind of irritating considering the Feb 1st massacre is only a few days away.

I only use the tripod in private...j/k. It was really just a point and shoot type thing and I got lucky. I am not what you call a skilled photographer.

This was picture taken in late May as I was loading up and heading home. It is one of my favorites....

Biggest trout I caught was 18 inches at Busch and a 19 at Forest Park, but I see people catching some really nice ones all the time. From what I understand they stock the "lunkers" in a few weeks after the intitial stocking. I have seen the truck at Forest Park. I do think some trout have survived at 28 and 21 from last year. The water never really got much above 80 this year and 28 and 21 have been renovated in the last 10 years and made much deeper.I think that combination may make it feasible for a few hardier trout to survive the summer in the deeper water.