A Lot Of Water...

[Al Agnew]

The Meramec was still up more than a foot above what it was before this last round of flooding, and even that was well above what it should be this time of year. I knew it when I left home this morning, so I was sweating a bit awaiting my first view of the river...would it be clear, murky, too murky?

It was murky but fishable, I thought as I put the boat in. The stretch I wanted to fish was a long way upstream, so I bundled up and took off on a long run upriver. About halfway up, I suddenly noticed the river was a whole lot murkier, almost to the point of being brownish instead of greenish. Not good. But I kept going, and by the time I reached the pool I wanted to start out fishing, it had cleared again, to visibility of about 3 feet. The temp gauge on the depth finder said 51.5 degrees.

The river was really honking on. I stopped just below the head of the pool, and by the time I rigged up a couple of rods I was two or three hundred yards downstream. Had to start up the motor again to get myself back to the head of the pool, where a quiet backwater was that I wanted to fish.

Spinnerbait, crankbait, and jerkbait produced nothing in the backwater. When I got out into the main channel again, even though this is a long, usually very slow pool, I knew it was moving too fast to fish the jerkbait well. I had to keep the boat pointed upstream and the trolling motor on medium to slow myself enough to fish the quieter water along the bank.

The crankbait worked, though. By the time I reached the tail end of the pool, I'd put 7 smallmouth, 2 largemouth, and a half dozen goggle-eye in the boat. Nothing real big, but three of the smallies were 15-16 inchers. One of them shed a lamprey as I lifted it into the boat. Bet it was glad to get rid of the lamprey, which was attached to its throat just behind the gill connection and was as long as the bass.

Alright, I'm thinking...this is going to be a good fishing day.

Nope. By mid-afternoon I'd fished all the pools I wanted to try in a 5 mile stretch of river, and hadn't caught as many fish in all of them combined as I'd caught in that first pool. So I motored back downstream to one of my favorite cold water pools.

The slug of very murky water had reached it. The visibility was maybe 18 inches. I caught two little ones out of it. Since it was getting late, I motored on downstream to another of my favorite pools, not far above the access. The muddy water hadn't reached that point yet, and I caught a nice 15 incher and had a bigger fish on briefly. And then it was getting dark and I had to quit.

Gotta wonder what caused that little slug of muddier water. I'd be curious to know if it came from Maramec Spring. Sometimes, in high flows, there are apparently collapses of sinkholes full of mud, or little mud-filled side caverns, that temporarily muddy the springs. This long after the high water, there shouldn't have been any slugs of mud coming down the river or out of Dry Fork.

At any rate, it was an interesting day. Final tally of my catch was 15 smallies and 8 largemouth, with none of the largemouth over 12 inches but 8 of the smallmouth between 14 and 16 inches. Oh yeah...and a half dozen different eagles and a big flock of turkeys and no other people. I'll take that any day.

[eric1978]

Gotta wonder what caused that little slug of muddier water. I'd be curious to know if it came from Maramec Spring. Sometimes, in high flows, there are apparently collapses of sinkholes full of mud, or little mud-filled side caverns, that temporarily muddy the springs. This long after the high water, there shouldn't have been any slugs of mud coming down the river or out of Dry Fork.

At any rate, it was an interesting day. Final tally of my catch was 15 smallies and 8 largemouth, with none of the largemouth over 12 inches but 8 of the smallmouth between 14 and 16 inches. Oh yeah...and a half dozen different eagles and a big flock of turkeys and no other people. I'll take that any day.

Sounds like a tough but successful day (you know my requirements for "success").

I was thinking the same thing about the shot of muddy water before you mentioned your theories. My guess would be a slump. Even if just the foot of it slipped into the river it would make a real mess but could be washed away for the most part in minutes. You see scarps all over the muddy bank sections of rivers , but I've never seen one happen before my eyes.

Saw a bald eagle soaring above my house today in the middle of suburbia. We're only about 5 miles from the MO river, though, so I guess it's not that odd.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Took a bike ride down to Castlewood last Thursday I think it was. The river had just crested earlier in the day and water was inches from being up into the parking lot at the boat ramp, as it evidently had been a few hours earlier with all the mud that was around. Most of the bottomland trails were submerged or too muddy to attempt to ride. Anyway, as I was about to ride off from the boat ramp area, a huge section of 15-20 foot high, steep, mudbank on the opposite side of the river let go and completely startled me. It was like a glacier calving. I imagine this goes on for some time after a significant flood -- the big banks are weakened or undermind(ed), and as the water drains from these banks, they let go. That might explain the slugs of murky water. And if you look at the last 60 days of USGS watergauges, there have been 3 or 4 pretty major spikes in water levels on most rivers, not just the Meremac -- the ground just isn't having time to dry out and reharden. I imagine there is calving going on all over the place. My 2-bit geological theory anyway.

[Al Agnew]

Makes sense to me...I hadn't thought about a bank caving, but that's probably the simplest explanation (and the simplest is usually right).

[eric1978]

Makes sense to me...I hadn't thought about a bank caving, but that's probably the simplest explanation (and the simplest is usually right).

Occam's razor...twice in one night.

[joeD]

It shouldn't be Dry Fork, but I think it is. Dry Fork drains such a long watershed, and that watershed has changed for the worse, I believe. Certain sections of the Meramec are not clearing as fast as they used to, plus, the Meramec has been quite full almost all year. Combine that with ground that is saturated, especially over the last month, and I think you get a murkfest. I've noticed more high mudbanks, from Blue Springs on up, this year. I think it was due to the constant high water events this year, so, consequently, any rain event seems to erode those banks and dump more mud in the water. That's my theory, and I'm sticking with it until something better comes along.

[Gavin]

Must be jet boats !

[ozark trout fisher]

I have a quick question unrelated to the conversation at hand that will probably make me sound like a total idiot. I have never caught a fish around here with a lamprey on it, and I was just wondering if you thought it was of those same nasty kinds they have up in the great lakes that's really hurting the trout/salmon fisheries up there? Or have lampreys always been here? just curious.

[Adamg]

I don't think it is the same species of Lamprey..The one that is common in Missouri streams is called the chestnut lamprey I believe. I could be wrong though..

[ozark trout fisher]

I don't think it is the same species of Lamprey..The one that is common in Missouri streams is called the chestnut lamprey I believe. I could be wrong though..

Thanks for the answer. I had no idea there were lampreys of any sort in Missouri, that's kinda interesting.

Still, I sincerely hope I never catch a fish with one of those nasty buggers attached to it