August 1St Report

[stlfisher]

Took a last minute trip to Maramec Spring branch today. The reviews of late have not exactly been scintillating, but my curiosity got the best of me. I fished pretty much all day and caught 3 fish. I saw very few fish, and lot's of empty water.

I am guessing the cold front put them off, because the few fish I did see were super spooky. It is a bad sign when they are running away from every fly you toss and I literally threw everything at them.

Most everyone I talked with reported tough fishing. I do think the new habitat and structures will help,but you have to have fish to make it worthwhile. The new additions do a good job of catching the moss etc. Overall, it was crowded, but everyone behaved themselves and it wasn't too bad for trout park at all. The stream looked ok as far upkeep, although I did fish out some trash.

Interestingly enough and the highlight of the day was when I came across two of the largest bass I have ever seen in my life. They were both LMB, which sure surprised me. I guess they are feeding on trout, because these fish were very fat and healthy. I hesitate to say home much I think they weigh, since no one would believe me anyway.

All I can can say is I threw the kitchen sink at them as well. The Bass exhibited the same manners as the trout and seemed terrified of my offerings. A Pheasant Tail can't be that intimidating, but you would have thought it was a 14 ft shark the way they bolted.

I will give Maramec one more try during the C/R season since is close to home, but as of right now it is on the very bottom of my list to fish.

[eric1978]

I will give Maramec one more try during the C/R season since is close to home, but as of right now it is on the very bottom of my list to fish.

Ditto. Too bad they'll never turn the whole thing into a Blue Ribbon section...then it would be worth something. The place is a joke the way it is.

[stlfisher]

It is certaintly an interesting place to fish. The few times that I have fished it I have stuggled to catch fish. Maybe I haven't figured it out yet, but the only time I really struggle is when I go there. I don't know if it is related to the economy and flooding etc, but it seems to have a lot of empty water. One of my buddies refers to it as the "confidence buster." Some of the best water seems to be in area you can't fish. Why not have the area above the bridge at the top of the park C/R only?

I will probably keep trying during the C/R since it is relatively close to home and maybe I just haven't figured out what works yet, but it is just kind of dissapointing when it could be much better IMO.

[mhall02]

No doubt something has to change there. I took the kids earlier this year and we caught nada. My last trip there for sure, Montauk, Bennett or RR for our next trip. If I'm going to pay to fish at a trout park, there needs to be some fish there to catch (or at least to look at and say...humm wonder what they are biting on ).

[eric1978]

Why not have the area above the bridge at the top of the park C/R only?

Why not make the whole thing C&R and put some nice browns in there? They'll lose the bucket brigade, but gain an entirely new set of clientele...I know I'd go there more often. They can charge the same amount to fish and their overhead wouldn't be so high since they wouldn't have to stock thousands upon thousands of fish.

Yeah, right. That'll happen.

[stlfisher]

Yep, it would be nice to at least see them if I can't catch them. Hopefully, it was just a bad weekend. Oh well, back to the Current I go.

[Flyflinger]

Ditto. Too bad they'll never turn the whole thing into a Blue Ribbon section...then it would be worth something. The place is a joke the way it is.

You know its a darn shame....they have a great healthy cold spring and they go and put a sidewalk on one side so the water is chanlized. There really are only 3-4 places with good water to fish in the whole park (not counting above the bridge). I live like 30 minutes from there and have been there quite often in the past few weeks with the kids. It has been a disappointment everytime. I mean how many lawn chairs can you stack up on one hole?

I wish they would break up all that sidewalk and throw it in the water to give it some structure and for heavens sake get rid of the dam at the end of the park! It might give these trout the opprotunity to become more wild and God forbid breed. I don't even want to get started with the none exsistant C&R area.

This place reminds me of those pay lakes where the trout are stacked up in a 1 acre lake and people pay by the pund caught, its very depresing, because it could be so much more.

I will probably go back for the C&R season with my fingers crossed....

I wonder if its a management problem? I can't imangine whoever runs the place is a trout fisherman.

[stlfisher]

Why not make the whole thing C&R and put some nice browns in there? They'll lose the bucket brigade, but gain an entirely new set of clientele...I know I'd go there more often. They can charge the same amount to fish and their overhead wouldn't be so high since they wouldn't have to stock thousands upon thousands of fish.

Yeah, right. That'll happen.

I would be all for that without a doubt, but you are right we are dreaming. I would settle for a C/R area or even a zone type set up similiar to the other parks. Even less harvest (2 fish) would be helpful IMO. I just don't see the the thrill of filling a stringer as fast you can and it seems most apparant at Maramec.