Nice Afternoon On A Meramec Trib 03/08/09

[msamatt]

My buddy Steve and I hit the middle stretch of a Meramec trib this past Sunday afternoon. We both felt like doing some wade fising and figured that between the recent warm weather and the rain which were supposed to get on Saturday night might stir some of the smallies into action. To make a long story short we hit the water around 12:30 and fished until about 4:30. I hadn't fished this particular stretch of the stream for about 2 years and was a little suprised at some of the changes. Holes have filled in but that's not too much of a suprise given how some folks like to cut down as many trees as they can. Anyway, even with the bluebird skies and strong winds we both managed to catch seven and eight fish each. My biggest smallie was 15" and Steve caught a 17". Even though this stream gets hit pretty hard it can still produce some quality fish. If it wasn't pressured so hard and folks didn't keep as many fish it could really provide some consistently good fishing. I caught all of my fish on a 3" little otter which I've never really used but wanted to try. It's easy to rig on an 1/8 oz. jighead and I could skip it back into the tight spots in which the smallies in this steam like to hide. Steve was throwing some homemade hair jigs he ties. Even with some of the rain we had the water was still low and clear and we didn't have great hopes; until Steve caught a fish on his second cast. The fish in this stream all use every little bit of cover they can find and if we saw any holes which looked like they might hold fish we hit em. This was my first trip out this year and as far as I'm concerned it was a success.

[brownieman]

Pretty fish...appears to be a nice little stream.

[DoctaJ]

nice fish

[DD'sMC]

Nice smallies...looks like a fun time was had.

[ozark trout fisher]

Nice smallies...looks like a fun time was had.

Nice fish. Bet I know what stream you were on, but I won't say.