Maries River

[creek wader]

Finally got a chance to get back on the Maries. Haven't fished it since mid-May. Tried a new stretch. The river is down to it's summer levels and very clear. Ideal for wade fishing. Wade fished about a mile stretch and did real well. Caught arourd 50 bass. It was pretty much 50/50 smallies and largemouth. The biggest smallie was a fat 15 in. Caught 2 largemouth at 16 in. The rest ran between 8 and 14 in. Many green sunfish, one 9 1/2 in. fatty. Quite a few longear's, one goggleye, and a couple bluegill. Mainly used soft plastics. (senkos, crawfish imitations, and twister tails) and a teenycraw crank. The sunnies were on the beds and wearing their mating colors. The longears were bright orange and the male greenies fins were dark black. I added a couple of pics. Not sure if the attatchments will post. Never tried it. If it does, I start attatching more... Wader

[Guest]

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[GloryDaze]

Where is the Maries??

[creek wader]

It's a little south and east of Jefferson City. It runs north from near Dixon, to northwest of Westphalia, to it's confluence with the lower Osage river. The best water is from near Vienna to Westphalia. Normally it holds a pretty good population of smallies with a few black bass mixed in. I was a little suprised by the numbers of largemouth that I caught. I think all the high water this year gave them more access to the upstream section. They probably moved up out of the Osage. The Maries had been low for several years and I believe the slab crossings had been blocking thier migration. I'm sure the spots have probably gained some ground also.

[RSBreth]

Hey, great report and pictures. I'm just itching to get back out on Beaver or Bull, but the water keep falling from the sky, and the creeks stay up and angry. I always heard a couple of those Northern Ozark creeks had good Smallies, now I know.