Severe Deppression

[drew03cmc]

I never said the Largemouth were invasive just the spots and silver,bighead and grass carp and it is my observation that the Largemouth populations are going up with the spots and hybrids as the populations of smallies go down.Also there are big head carp in the Big river and plenty of them, i have had them jump in my boat there.I'm not worried about the carp competing with smallies for food, I'm worried about them killing everything in the river after they are done screwing up the food chain. the Largemouth are not bad sport persay they are some of the esaiest fish you would ever want to catch...very agressive and stupid, I just prefer Smallmouth bass.

Hmm, are big head carp present in the Meramec then? I am curious about this. It might be a seasonal thing like was mentioned already.

It's a warmouth, and a nice one!

I concur.

[Outside Bend]

Yes, bighead carp are present in the lower Meramec.

[drew03cmc]

Hmm, thanks a million!

[joeD]

Without fail, despite human attention, nature always has a way to balance things out.

By the way, WTF is a warmouth?

[eric1978]

By the way, WTF is a warmouth?

Sunfish family. Similar to a rock bass, but different genus and species.

[Al Agnew]

As everybody knows, I've had this lament for years, as far as spotted bass. And I'm pretty scared about the silver and bighead carp, which are exploding in population in every direct Mississippi tributary...and since Big River isn't that far up from the mouth of the Meramec, they have an easy shot into Big River (and probably the Bourbeuse as well). And considering that they have moved pretty far up into the faster, clearer sections of the smaller Mississippi tribs, it looks like they can thrive in typical Ozark stream habitat.

Largemouth have been the least affected bass species since the invasion of spotted bass in these streams, but the biologists have told me they are seeing indications that largemouth populations have also declined slightly in the waters where the spots have gotten really common. This could be a matter of catch and keep anglers keeping the bigger largemouth instead of the smaller spotted bass, and it also doesn't help that in many of these streams the spots are crammed full of yellow grub parasites, while the largemouth (and smallmouth) have relatively few grubs. Too bad the spotted bass seem to be able to survive with literally dozens of these yellow grubs infesting them.

But I like largemouth just fine, and I too have been catching bigger largemouth on average, including some really big ones, in recent years. A six pound stream largemouth is a terrific fish (and 14-16 inch largemouth, which are common in these streams, sure beat 10-12 inch spotted bass!)

[Smalliebigs]

As everybody knows, I've had this lament for years, as far as spotted bass. And I'm pretty scared about the silver and bighead carp, which are exploding in population in every direct Mississippi tributary...and since Big River isn't that far up from the mouth of the Meramec, they have an easy shot into Big River (and probably the Bourbeuse as well). And considering that they have moved pretty far up into the faster, clearer sections of the smaller Mississippi tribs, it looks like they can thrive in typical Ozark stream habitat.

Largemouth have been the least affected bass species since the invasion of spotted bass in these streams, but the biologists have told me they are seeing indications that largemouth populations have also declined slightly in the waters where the spots have gotten really common. This could be a matter of catch and keep anglers keeping the bigger largemouth instead of the smaller spotted bass, and it also doesn't help that in many of these streams the spots are crammed full of yellow grub parasites, while the largemouth (and smallmouth) have relatively few grubs. Too bad the spotted bass seem to be able to survive with literally dozens of these yellow grubs infesting them.

But I like largemouth just fine, and I too have been catching bigger largemouth on average, including some really big ones, in recent years. A six pound stream largemouth is a terrific fish (and 14-16 inch largemouth, which are common in these streams, sure beat 10-12 inch spotted bass!)

You make a very good point Al, with the size of river largemouth.I Have been catching and seeing some huge ones, I'm just jaded.The grub thing is that only with tribs that flow into the Mississippi??? or at least more common in those srteams.I don't notice other streams that don't nearly as bad.Why do spots get them so much worse??? i tried to give some fillets to a friend and when he saw me cleaning the bass he didn't want the meat anymore, when he saw the grubs.

[Smalliebigs]

Fished the Big this past Sunday below Hwy 21. The water looked as good as I've ever seen it. We fished from 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm. We caught about 30 fish, not great, but not too shabby for a spur of the moment October trip on a river that I've ignored for a few years. A few decent smallies, a few decent largies, no spots, and a wild card. I don't no what the cuss that fish is. A good trip, and one I'll make again, sooner rather than later. I was most pleasantly surprised.

Nice smallie and warmouth!!!! and great pics of the Big.

[joeD]

Thanks. My friends and I have also noticed an increase in the size of the largemouth we've been catching. Here are two examples taken from the Meramec this year

[fishinwrench]

The grub thing is that only with tribs that flow into the Mississippi???

The spots in the lake O tribs all have the grubs in their shoulders, but oddly enough the ones caught in the lake itself do not. You can thank the herons for the grub...Or so I've read.