Fishing Report

[Sam Potter]

The rivers are HIGH and running HARD. I don't know if you have been paying attention to the stream levels this week, but if you didn't and drove to this area to fish you were pretty surprised when you got here. The Gasconade River, at Jerome, got up to about 31 feet and Interstate 44 was shut down for awhile. It has been a very long time since we have had this much water in our streams. I know the Little Piney Creek was up over 14 feet, the Upper Current River at Montauk was up to 10 feet. The Big Piney was up to 25 feet and the Meramec was up to about 28 feet... So did we go fishing today?.. yes we did. Did we catch any fish ? Yes we did. One small rainbow, one shiner and lost two small rainbows... The rivers are pretty dingy, the water is pushing very hard and the fishing is very difficult. When there is this much water in the stream, the fish can be scattered everywhere, but generally they are going to be on the very bottom, along the banks or in some slack water.. just about anywhere they can get of the main current. The bottom and the stream bank slow the current down, compared to the middle of the flow, and it is easier for them to hold in those areas during heavy flows.

It will probably take three or four days for the upper Current river to get back to fishable conditions. The water further down stream will take much longer. The Big Piney, Gasconade and Meramec may take a week or longer to get down to anything close to fishable water. If you are looking for a stream to fish this weekend, find a small one and go all the way up to the head waters and start there. If you can't find that scenario, you might as well enjoy the NIT and NCAA tournaments with a pizza and a beer and a chocolate Easter bunny for desert.

"A Bad Day Fishing is Still a Great Day"

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