Somewhere Else On The Meramec...

[Al Agnew]

The Sullivan gage said the Meramec was flowing 2600 cfs. Normal for this time of year is about 1200 cfs. The 80th percentile on the table was right at 2600 cfs, and I usually consider the 80th percentile figure to be right at the very upper end of fishable. In addition, everything I'd heard pointed toward the river in the area I wanted to fish it being very murky. But Dad and I decided to take a chance that it was at least marginally fishable.

The first adventure was getting the jetboat in the water. The high water had washed away the end of the ramp, and it dropped off precipitously. I always just tie a rope from the front end of the boat to the front end of the trailer, unhook everything on the boat, and back it in until it slips off the trailer, then pull the trailer out. With Dad to hold the rope instead of tying it to the trailer, it should be even easier. Except that when the trailer dropped off the end of the ramp, the boat slid off but the strong current picked up the trailer and deposited it off the downstream edge of the ramp. We were both amazed that my Toyota Highlander pulled it out easily. We also figured getting the boat out at the end of the day might be interesting. But what the heck, worst case scenario would be for Dad to haul the Highlander to the next access, while I motored down to it, figuring that the ramp there would be in less current.

The river WAS high. Higher than I'd ever fished in this stretch. And murky, visibility about 1.5 feet. And the wind was blowing about 40 mph mostly downstream. Holding the boat back in order to fish was going to be an adventure, as well--the current was strong everywhere, no slack water. Even the side channels were flowing strongly. I figured there was no way we could fish anything slow and deep unless we could find out exactly where the fish were holding.

We took off upstream, running about 9 miles upriver, planning to fish our way back down. To make a long story short, we didn't figure out the fish. Using spinnerbaits and crankbaits, we caught a total of about a dozen fish, and most of them were less than 14 inches. I had the boat pointed upstream the whole way, using the trolling motor to slow us enough to fish. I have a 24 volt, 75 pound thrust trolling motor, and there were plenty of places where it wouldn't hold the boat even on maximum speed. I had it on medium to high all day, and after 5 hours or so the batteries started going downhill.

But...at the lower end of the deep pool where we started fishing our way downstream, throwing a white spinnerbait, Dad hooked into one. I heard him grunt, and then he said, "I don't know what kind of fish I have on, but it's big!" I looked back in time to see a LOT of bronze come to the surface, and told him it was definitely a smallmouth.

It's been a LONG time since Dad caught a really big river smallmouth, and he played it carefully. Finally I lipped it and held it up. Dad said, "Well, THAT makes the trip worthwhile!"

A bit over 20 inches, and definitely better than 4.5 pounds. The look on Dad's face made the trip worthwhile for ME!

We made it back to the ramp in 6 hours, covering the 9 miles and fishing as thoroughly as we could in that strong current and wind. And I was able to keep the trailer just above the drop-off and crank the boat onto it, although lining the boat up with the trailer in that cross-current took some doing.

[Thom]

Great story Al:

I thought I was reading one of those nostalgic Field and Stream stories. Thanks for the picture and uplifting article.

I was in dire need for a little elixer for my bad case of Cabin Fever.

[hank franklin]

Pretty, great story.

Just a wild guess, but looks to me you're about a mile or so below Highway N. Something about that left bank looks familiar.

[Al Agnew]

I ain't saying...

[DoctaJ]

beautiful fish, I'm leaving Saturday night and will be fishing it all next week...........can't wait!

[huz001]

Great story; wish I was doing that today. Lots of trips come down to that ONE fish.