New Jet Boat In Fenton, Need Advice On Meramec

[Shores]

I recently bought a jet boat and have started fishing on the Meramec. One thing I am getting tired of catching is DRUM especially when I know there are smallies, largemouth, white bass, and crappie in there. Anybody mind telling me a good place to put in besides George Winter or Valley Park? I would like to get into game fish and somewhere where the water is clearier without driving a couple of hours? What about Route 66, or any other ramps? Any advice would help. Also I'm guessing bowfishing about anywhere is good but if you know of a good place or need a buddy to join let me know.

Thanks Ryan

[Bman]

Hi Ryan, I run a jet on the Meramec, and put in at the Rt 66 ramp a lot because it is just one exit west of where I live on Antire Rd. It is a good ramp and is safe as far as vehicle vandalisim like you might see at more remote ramps. At low water levels, you might have some trouble getting above Big River, which enters just upstream from Rt 66. I know what you mean about the Drum, when they first hit, you think wow! nice bass!then you realize YUK, a Drum! All I can say is the further upstream ya go the less Drum ya catch. Another close ramp is the Allenton ramp close to the Six Flags exit. But it is a more remote ramp and I am aware of some vandalism there. I have caught some decent Smallies up stream from there, running up to the Pacific Palisades area.I caught and released a 18 inch smallie there the other weekend. If you don't mind a bit of a drive, less than 1 hour west on 44, go to Campbell bridge near Bourbon, or to Onondaga State Park...but watch out! those areas can be PACKED with canoes & floaters during summer months between Memorial day, and Labor day! Another choice is Browns Ford on the Big River near Hillsboro, but that water can be real skinny on low flows in summer.

You might do a search on this website for posts by Al Agnew. The guy is a wealth of knowledge for smallie fishing on the Meramec! and that in my opinion is an understatement. How about it Al, if you see this post, could you grace us with your knowledge? A P.M. ?

Ryan, maybe we can hook up some time and run the river, what kind of a rig ya run in case we are both on the water in the same area.

Hope this helps,

Bruce

P.S. The only place on the Meramec where I've caught decent White Bass was down stream of Winter Park during high water flows.

[Shores]

Hi Ryan, I run a jet on the Meramec, and put in at the Rt 66 ramp a lot because it is just one exit west of where I live on Antire Rd. It is a good ramp and is safe as far as vehicle vandalisim like you might see at more remote ramps. At low water levels, you might have some trouble getting above Big River, which enters just upstream from Rt 66. I know what you mean about the Drum, when they first hit, you think wow! nice bass!then you realize YUK, a Drum! All I can say is the further upstream ya go the less Drum ya catch. Another close ramp is the Allenton ramp close to the Six Flags exit. But it is a more remote ramp and I am aware of some vandalism there. I have caught some decent Smallies up stream from there, running up to the Pacific Palisades area.I caught and released a 18 inch smallie there the other weekend. If you don't mind a bit of a drive, less than 1 hour west on 44, go to Campbell bridge near Bourbon, or to Onondaga State Park...but watch out! those areas can be PACKED with canoes & floaters during summer months between Memorial day, and Labor day! Another choice is Browns Ford on the Big River near Hillsboro, but that water can be real skinny on low flows in summer.

You might do a search on this website for posts by Al Agnew. The guy is a wealth of knowledge for smallie fishing on the Meramec! and that in my opinion is an understatement. How about it Al, if you see this post, could you grace us with your knowledge? A P.M. ?

Ryan, maybe we can hook up some time and run the river, what kind of a rig ya run in case we are both on the water in the same area.

Hope this helps,

Bruce

P.S. The only place on the Meramec where I've caught decent White Bass was down stream of Winter Park during high water flows.

I have a simple 16 ft camo john boat with a 30hp engine. Thought it would be a good rig for starting out. Thanks for the tips. It sounds like my best bet is putting in at Route 66 and heading south, up stream, or just puttin in at Pacific Palasides. I have caught a few whites around the Valley Park area. Definitely let me know if you need someone to go with, just trying to learn the river. Let me know if you run into any good action.

Thanks

Ryan

[Bman]

Ryan, One tip about running rivers, try to run upstream of your boat ramp! If the motor quits ya can at least troll/drift back. That Allenton ramp I mentioned is a good one to run up from, the only vandalism I'm aware of was when operation clean stream floks were floating by canoe down to it. They spotted their cars down there and left wallets and purses in cars. The cars got broke into. What a bummer, folks doing a good deed and thats what they got. Wish the police would set up a sting for the deadbeats!

Bow fishing for Carp? In the spring when the cottonwood trees are dropping their fuzz ball seeds, carp tear them up where the Big River dumps into the Meramec just upstream of Rt 66 ramp! If you fly fish you might try some big dry flys. A big ole carp on a fly rod is a blast! I plan to do that this spring when the cottonwoods are doing their thing, missed it last year because of floods. A member of OA that goes by the nick JJTROUTBUM knows how to target big carp on a fly, search his posts. Maybe JJ will share a secret fly or two.

If you are ever running the Meramec around Allenton up to Pacific, and see a Bass Tracker inboard jet with a dude running it by himself, thats Mike. Mikes a cool dude and targets and does well with the smallies all the time. Pull over and talk to him, he's always willing to help with about running the river or fishing. Try not to run over his line like I have.

[Al Agnew]

If you're not very experienced at running the boat, I'd probably advise staying downstream from the St. Clair area. There are good boat ramps at the Redhorse access off Hwy. K south of St. Clair, at River Round CA east of Hwy. 30-47, and at Moselle at the mouth of the Bourbeuse, as well as the ones downstream that Bman mentioned. There a a number of good ramps farther upstream, but during the summer those stretches of river are tricky to run, not only because it's smaller water but because of the hordes of other river users. Between the Redhorse Access and the Chouteau Claim access at the mouth of the Bourbeuse there are a few tricky spots in low water.

As for smallmouth, they get pretty scarce once you get below the Hwy. 66 access, but there are decent numbers of them, along with a lot of spotted bass, upstream from there. Just concentrate your efforts anywhere there is decent current and cover in warm weather and you should catch a few smallies.

I also watch the river gage at Sullivan on the internet. If the river is flowing less than about 600 cfs, I know that it'll be tricky running some of the riffles above St. Clair, even if you're experienced and know the river fairly well.

[Bman]

Al, Thank you very much for sharing that with us.

Question, why do you watch the cfs, instead of gage height?

I was running up from the Allenton ramp today, the water temp was 57-58 degrees. Caught & released three smallies with plump bellies, now I can't ell a female smallie from a male, I'm wondering if they were full of food or eggs. Caught two largemouth... and two thick Drum wow they give me a thrill at first before you realize what ya have on.

Thank you, OB-Wan!

[Al Agnew]

I've just gotten used to watching the cfs instead of gage height because it's a whole lot more useful when comparing different streams. The gage height that's "normal" varies greatly from one gage to the next. But the cfs is the measure of the actual volume of water that is going down the river at that point. So you know that 500 cfs is 500 cfs no matter which stream you're on--it's the same volume of water. In addition, all you have to do is look at the little triangles on the same graph, and you're able to compare present cfs to the triangles, which represent the median volume for that day of the year--that's a very good approximation of the "normal" level for that day.

Of course, if you know what the river is like at different gage heights, you can use the gage height level just as effectively. But then if you look at an unfamiliar gage, you can't go by the gage height at all.

Right now, the Meramec at Sullivan is in the 500s in cfs, which translates to a gage height between 2.3 and 2.4 ft. Median flow for this time of year is in the 1500s in cfs. Since I never go by gage height in judging river level, I don't know what that would translate into, but I'd guess it would be over 3.5 ft. at least. So the river is at least a foot or 1.5 ft. below normal, and is pretty marginal in places for running a jetboat unless you really know the river.

I do use gage height for one thing, however. If we get a rain and the river has a rise, I can get a better idea of how much of a rise it is by looking at the gage height before the rise and afterward. Although you never know for sure unless you look at the river, as a general rule a rise of less than a foot will seldom make the river too muddy for good fishing, but a rise of 2 feet or more almost always will.