The Demise Of Cardiac

[Flyflinger]

I signed up for this guys emails....Missouri Trout Hunter. This is what he is saying about the Meramec.

Meramec River: The Meramec has been moody over the last month or so. The lower reaches of the river seem to be pretty much empty, which traditionally means that the bulk of the fish have migrated upstream. BUT, I'm not seeing the normal upstream crowds of fish or the more aggressive Autumn feeding styles either. There are certainly fish there, and they are biting, but the bites are quick and they're not moving much to feed. That means a fisherman has to make a good cast, mend his line properly to get that clean natural drift, and set the hook very quickly at the smallest sign of hesitation on the indicator. The fish are not pursuing prey, so stripping streamers and fishing a downstream swing method are not terribly productive right now. When I go out and fish for fun (and research), I've been fishing about 3 hours and hooking into about a dozen fish, which is a fairly low number for me. Clients are getting hits, but the hook-up rate is dependent on their mending ability, recognizing the hits, and their reaction time in setting the hook. Even so, the last couple of Octobers have been frustrating, which isn't normal, so I contacted the MDC to ask about their most recent shock survey results.

MDC confirmed that (1) the overall trout numbers are down on the Meramec, and (2) the number of big fish are also down this year, both most likely due to the ridiculous flooding we've had over the last few seasons. They only do the shock surveys every few years, but the numbers in general are down by about 1/3 from the previous survey, and the numbers of fish over 18 inches has shrunk significantly as well. It also looks like almost an entire age class of brown trout are largely missing in action -- the little browns stocked in 2008 should be in the 15-16 inch size range this year, but they apparently did not survive the fall 2008 and spring 2009 flooding. Even so, browns make up almost 2/3 of the total trout numbers they counted, although most of them were 12 inches or smaller. Even with the somewhat depressing news, the MDC was actually upbeat. The fact that the truly massive flooding only damaged the trout population to this degree was encouraging. They must have been expecting much worse results. In other words, the river will recover, and (barring more crazy flood events), the numbers should look good for next season.

End of his email.

I don't know...he must be crazy good at fishing. I would love a dozen bites on this river for a whole day of trout fishing. I don't even see trout when I go out...i know just because you cant see them doesn't mean their not there...but I am a pretty good spotter of trout and for me not to even see one is just plain crazy.

I'm staying away from this area until C&R starts at the parks.

[stlfisher]

I signed up for this guys emails....Missouri Trout Hunter. This is what he is saying about the Meramec.

Meramec River: The Meramec has been moody over the last month or so. The lower reaches of the river seem to be pretty much empty, which traditionally means that the bulk of the fish have migrated upstream. BUT, I'm not seeing the normal upstream crowds of fish or the more aggressive Autumn feeding styles either. There are certainly fish there, and they are biting, but the bites are quick and they're not moving much to feed. That means a fisherman has to make a good cast, mend his line properly to get that clean natural drift, and set the hook very quickly at the smallest sign of hesitation on the indicator. The fish are not pursuing prey, so stripping streamers and fishing a downstream swing method are not terribly productive right now. When I go out and fish for fun (and research), I've been fishing about 3 hours and hooking into about a dozen fish, which is a fairly low number for me. Clients are getting hits, but the hook-up rate is dependent on their mending ability, recognizing the hits, and their reaction time in setting the hook. Even so, the last couple of Octobers have been frustrating, which isn't normal, so I contacted the MDC to ask about their most recent shock survey results.

MDC confirmed that (1) the overall trout numbers are down on the Meramec, and (2) the number of big fish are also down this year, both most likely due to the ridiculous flooding we've had over the last few seasons. They only do the shock surveys every few years, but the numbers in general are down by about 1/3 from the previous survey, and the numbers of fish over 18 inches has shrunk significantly as well. It also looks like almost an entire age class of brown trout are largely missing in action -- the little browns stocked in 2008 should be in the 15-16 inch size range this year, but they apparently did not survive the fall 2008 and spring 2009 flooding. Even so, browns make up almost 2/3 of the total trout numbers they counted, although most of them were 12 inches or smaller. Even with the somewhat depressing news, the MDC was actually upbeat. The fact that the truly massive flooding only damaged the trout population to this degree was encouraging. They must have been expecting much worse results. In other words, the river will recover, and (barring more crazy flood events), the numbers should look good for next season.

End of his email.

I don't know...he must be crazy good at fishing. I would love a dozen bites on this river for a whole day of trout fishing. I don't even see trout when I go out...i know just because you cant see them doesn't mean their not there...but I am a pretty good spotter of trout and for me not to even see one is just plain crazy.

I'm staying away from this area until C&R starts at the parks.

That is some good info. 1/3 of a decrease in trout numbers is quite substantial, but it sounds like the MDC was expecting worse. A couple normal years weather wise and it should be back to "normal". It is definately a tough place for trout to survive with all the flooding. Hope it rebounds...it is relatively close to home for me.

[snagged in outlet 3]

Thanks Bikehikefish, the guy was my dad.

SIO3

[Al Agnew]

Great info from MO Trout Hunter...

When the water is low and clear and the fish are very subtly taking nymphs and rejecting them immediately, I've finally gotten to where, if I'm "in the zone", I can divide my attention between the indicator and the area underwater where I think the flies are drifting. It isn't easy (for me at least), and it takes good eyes, good polarized glasses, and a lot of practice, but you can get to where you can go a little "unfocused" and keep track of your indicator for any hesitation or movement at all, while at the same time watching the area where your flies are for any kind of movement. A tiny flash of white (the inside of the trout's mouth) is a great "indicator" that one has taken your fly, but any movement in the vicinity can be a trout shifting position slightly to take the fly as it drifts past.

Many years ago, my best fly fishing partner in Missouri and I acted as kind of informal guides for Bobby Knight on the Meramec one day. The fish were subtly taking nymphs, and Knight couldn't get the hang of detecting the strike and setting the hook immediately. My buddy finally tried standing at his shoulder and doing the divided attention thing, but of course by the time he saw the indication of a strike, told Knight to set, and Knight actually reacted, it was still too late. Knight didn't believe he was getting strikes when my buddy told him to set, so he watched while my buddy drifted a nice run. The indicator would be merrily drifting along, and without any warning my buddy would set the hook and more times than not have a trout on. Bobby turned to me and asked me if I was able to do that, too. It was the first time I'd ever really seen the "technique"...I'd always just watched the indicator. But, not wanting to look like an amateur, I said that sometimes I could do it. I waded in, and somehow immediately got the hang of it, catching two trout in consecutive drifts by seeing them as they moved toward the fly in the broken riffly water. I quit right there, and it took me years after that to really get to where I could do it, and usually even now it's only after I've been fishing a few hours that I can make my eyes do the divided attention thing. I've found it easier to do in Missouri than in the big, wide open streams of the West, because the light is usually better for looking down into the water on the narrow, tree-lined Missouri streams.

I suspect that we all get a LOT of strikes while nymphing that we never detect.

[ColdWaterFshr]

That'd be fun. Telling Bobby Knight that he was missing strike after strike, and that he was just a hair late on his hook-set. Did he give you that, "I'm going to throw a folding chair at you" look?

[Al Agnew]

No...I think I've told this story before, so don't read it if you've already heard it...

Knight was drifting nymphs in a run just above Dry Fork that was pretty well lined with logs, and getting snagged about every drift. He'd break off, spend five minutes tying on new flies, cast, drift, snag up, break off. After about four times, he started to walk away from the run disgustedly, and tripped over a log, falling flat on his face in a foot of water. As he got to his feet, he turned the air blue for miles up and downstream. It was some of the more creative cursing I've ever heard.

A bit later, we were walking the south bank around the pool just below Dry Fork, which at the time was too deep to wade. In the flood debris on the bank, I came upon one of those kitchen chairs that was made of square steel tubing with a particle board back covered in padded vinyl. On the back of it, somebody had written "Bob" in magic marker. Understand that this was not long after the infamous chair throwing incident. Without thinking, I shouted to Knight, "Hey Coach, here's a chair with your name on it!" Oops.

[ColdWaterFshr]

No...I think I've told this story before, so don't read it if you've already heard it...

Knight was drifting nymphs in a run just above Dry Fork that was pretty well lined with logs, and getting snagged about every drift. He'd break off, spend five minutes tying on new flies, cast, drift, snag up, break off. After about four times, he started to walk away from the run disgustedly, and tripped over a log, falling flat on his face in a foot of water. As he got to his feet, he turned the air blue for miles up and downstream. It was some of the more creative cursing I've ever heard.

A bit later, we were walking the south bank around the pool just below Dry Fork, which at the time was too deep to wade. In the flood debris on the bank, I came upon one of those kitchen chairs that was made of square steel tubing with a particle board back covered in padded vinyl. On the back of it, somebody had written "Bob" in magic marker. Understand that this was not long after the infamous chair throwing incident. Without thinking, I shouted to Knight, "Hey Coach, here's a chair with your name on it!" Oops.