A Day Of Wading The Upper Big River

[eric1978]

Didn't see a Big River sub-category, so I figured I'd put it here since it's the Bourbeuse's tributary partner to the Meramec. (Why no Big River sub-cat in the forum)?

Anyway, I've backpacked along some of the middle stretches of the Big River, and always wanted to fish it, but never have, so decided to give it a shot. Drove to an MDC access on an upper stretch, and arrived around 9:30. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I felt like I was in Canada in August instead of Missouri. Caught two smallmouth right at the access, a 12 incher and a 13 incher on a 4 inch Dog-X. Waded downstream a bit, but the water was a little big to wade for my liking. Long stretches of slack water 4-5 feet deep made mobility a little less than ideal, so I headed back to the truck. Caught no other fish in about an hour and a half on that stretch. Will definitely come back with a canoe some time.

Drove quite a bit farther upstream and parked at an unmarked access a little before noon. The water was much skinnier and I was a little worried that it couldn't even hold bigger fish, but it was clearer and cleaner looking water and was very inviting to wade so I gave it a shot. Spent the rest of the day wading this stretch. Not sure how far downstream I went, but I would guess somewhere around 2 miles. Started with the Dog-X and caught a 13 inch largemouth and about half a dozen smallmouth under twelve inches on my way downstream. The fishing seemed very slow; lots of half-hearted strikes. On my way back upstream I switched to a 4 inch fluke (pearl belly/golden-brownish back) and had better results. Caught about half a dozen largemouth and 15 or so smallmouth; three of the smallmouth went between 13-14 inches. I never came across any water that got me very excited. Lots of riffles, but they never spilled into water more than a couple feet deep. Caught most of the fish in semi-slack stretches between riffles (I'm sure the fish weren't all that thrilled with being trapped in these stretches, either). Made it back to the access around 7:30 and stopped to thoroughly fish the pool under the bridge, which was the best water I had encountered on that entire stretch. I was convinced of my suspicions that the water was too small to hold bigger fish when I caught a fat, healthy 18 inch smallmouth. He was in about two feet of water, tucked under the bank in the mouth of an eddy, and he creamed my fluke the second it touched the water. That made my day.

Kept fishing until dark and caught a few more smallmouth under 12 inches and saw a monster that had to go 20 inches, but he saw me before I saw him, so needless to say, he wasn't very interested in my offering. Forgot to mention I also saw 2 fish swimming together that I'm 99% certain were spots, both about 8-9 inches, but caught none all day.

So, summary:

Temp: 78 deg. F, sunny, slight breeze

Clarity: 3-3.5 ft. upstream, 2.5-3 ft farther down

Current: normal

Depth: all fish caught in 1-5 feet of water

Largemouth: 8, all 13 inches or less

Spots: 0, saw 2

Smallmouth: about 25 at 13 inches or less, three between 13-14 inches, one 18 incher

One sunfish who thought he was a bass

Not what I would call a great day of fishing, but the one 18 incher, the perfect weather and the isolation was all I needed to call it a great day in general.

Eric

[rps]

You are completely wrong. You have described a great day fishing.