Catfish

[Wormser]

Going Smallie and Trout fishing at Meramac Springs next weekend during the day. We had talked about doing some night fishing and were wondering if any catfish are that far up river (above the spring) in some of the bigger holes?

Thanks

[Al Agnew]

There are some channel catfish up above the spring in the bigger pools, but I certainly wouldn't classify it as a GOOD spot to go catfishing. If fishing with pole and line, you'll probably catch quite a few bullhead catfish if you're in the right spot, but the channels will be a lot less common.

[Wormser]

Thanks Al, I figured they'd mostly be small. We just want to be out on the water as much as possible. Trout and Smallie by day, and the cats by night.

[shawncat]

Dont pass up topwaters for smallies at night.Jitterbugs,zara spooks,hula poppers.You can also catch a brown of a lifetime at night in August on the Mac'.Good luck.

[Wormser]

I have never fished for Smallies at night. Night fishin is just fun all around, I'll give it a shot too with some topwaters. Thanks

[sms_alum]

Be careful in what areas you are thinking of fishing for catfish. Right above and below the park is a trout portion of the river, meaning no live bait or soft plastics. The areas are fairly well marked.

[mhall02]

Good point, my wife and I were fishing with worms above the spring for goggle eye and a park employee warned us it was a 'trout' area, no bait allowed. I stated the water was too warm to support trout (in the summer above the spring) and I've even shocked it with the University (MU) years ago, no trout (lots of smallmouth though). E-mailed Mike Kruse about this issue and he said they made the Hwy. 8 bridge the upper end of the trout area, since the bridge is a easily identified land mark and during the winter trout may potentially make their way this far up. Glad I didn't get a ticket, here is the link (page 3) that talks about the 'red ribbon' trout regs:

http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Documents/2925.pdf

[Wormser]

Good point, my wife and I were fishing with worms above the spring for goggle eye and a park employee warned us it was a 'trout' area, no bait allowed. I stated the water was too warm to support trout (in the summer above the spring) and I've even shocked it with the University (MU) years ago, no trout (lots of smallmouth though). E-mailed Mike Kruse about this issue and he said they made the Hwy. 8 bridge the upper end of the trout area, since the bridge is a easily identified land mark and during the winter trout may potentially make their way this far up. Glad I didn't get a ticket, here is the link (page 3) that talks about the 'red ribbon' trout regs:

http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Documents/2925.pdf

Good to know. For the Catfish, we were just gonna use stink bait.

But, for smallies, I had been using 3.5 inch soft tubes and had no clue they were illegal. I also used small soft crawdads for Goggleye. Guess I better change my game plan.

Were you Fisheries and Wildlife at MU? I graduated F and W from there in 2002. We used to electroshock a small lake in Ashland.

[mhall02]

Good to know. For the Catfish, we were just gonna use stink bait.

But, for smallies, I had been using 3.5 inch soft tubes and had no clue they were illegal. I also used small soft crawdads for Goggleye. Guess I better change my game plan.

Were you Fisheries and Wildlife at MU? I graduated F and W from there in 2002. We used to electroshock a small lake in Ashland.

Yep, F & W, graduated from MU in '93 and we shocked that Ashland lake as well as I did South Farm lake once with Mike, a few nice bass in there back in the early '90s. Did work study under 2 grad students on Grand Pass Wildlife area, worked for the Department of Conservation on an hourly basis for about a year after graduation under Pflieger and Kruse, then a 5 month EPA sponsered project at MU, shocked 48 streams and 2 lakes (one was the Meramec right above the spring) and that was it. Realized that if I ever wanted to work/stay in Missouri, I had best find a different occupation (unless I wanted to work for minimum wage with 0 benefits). I've been an environmental consultant with a small firm in St. Peters for over 12 years now, help companies with EPA/OSHA compliance. Seen others I went to school with doing the same thing. My daughter we adopted from Guatemala has a better chance than I ever had at getting a job with MDC if you know what I mean. Too bad, nice people to work with, maybe things have changed?

[Wormser]

Yep, F & W, graduated from MU in '93 and we shocked that Ashland lake as well as I did South Farm lake once with Mike, a few nice bass in there back in the early '90s. Did work study under 2 grad students on Grand Pass Wildlife area, worked for the Department of Conservation on an hourly basis for about a year after graduation under Pflieger and Kruse, then a 5 month EPA sponsered project at MU, shocked 48 streams and 2 lakes (one was the Meramec right above the spring) and that was it. Realized that if I ever wanted to work/stay in Missouri, I had best find a different occupation (unless I wanted to work for minimum wage with 0 benefits). I've been an environmental consultant with a small firm in St. Peters for over 12 years now, help companies with EPA/OSHA compliance. Seen others I went to school with doing the same thing. My daughter we adopted from Guatemala has a better chance than I ever had at getting a job with MDC if you know what I mean. Too bad, nice people to work with, maybe things have changed?

I know exactly what you mean about a good MDC job. It's hard. After I finished up school, I worked out at CERC (Columbia Environmental Research Center) for a couple years as a tech mostly radio tracking Silver and Bighead Carp on the Missouri River with the USGS and briefly with the USFWS. It was a dream job for a river rat like me, but had to keep deferring my student loans and was on a 3 month contract basis with little job security. A couple of my buddy's were working on there master's and had problems getting jobs too. One day out of the blue, I decided to go back and get an MBA in finance (with many pre-requisites) and now work in Saint Louis. I miss those days, but am paying off the loans now.

Again, thanks for the other info on the park zone