Hello, My Name Is Mic & I'm An Addict

[mic]

Where is the closest smallmouth fishing to St. Louis? Prefer a wading location.

[kevthebassman]

I don't know if it's the closest, and I suspect it's not the best, but for decent wading and fishing, I usually make my way down to the Riverview access on the Meramec. I usually manage to catch a fish or two there, and it's a little more than an hour drive. I have not actually waded this section of river in waders, but I'd suspect it'd get dicey in places. Wade carefully.

For better wading, you can try the Mineral fork of the Big River, Kingston access or Hwy 47 bridge (which isn't really an access, but it's supposedly legal to cross the fence and fish there) but from what I hear, be ready for a long walk before you get into good fishing, it's a hard fished river and I personally have never had much luck there. I hope to change that soon, as some members here have given me tips on how to float it to get into the good water.

I'll keep an eye on this thread for more suggestions, I'm always looking to try new waters. I wouldn't expect someone to post up their tiny creek for all the world to trample through, but it'd be nice to give a new spot a try.

[mic]

How's the fishing and wading at the Meramec accesses near 270 & 44...

172.5 Valley Park City Access (Valley Park).

173.5 Green Tree Park Access (kirkwood), off Marshall Road.

176.0 Ackerman Access at I-44 Bridge. No ramp.

[kevthebassman]

How's the fishing and wading at the Meramec accesses near 270 & 44...

172.5 Valley Park City Access (Valley Park).

173.5 Green Tree Park Access (kirkwood), off Marshall Road.

176.0 Ackerman Access at I-44 Bridge. No ramp.

The Valley Park access I've been to at least, you can bank fish from there, maybe wade for a little ways, but the river down this close to the Mississippi is just a slow, overfished, trashy wreck. I'm sure someone will be along to tell me how wrong I am, but I don't even bother with the Meramec down here. Wading very far will be impossible.

The main thing, is that from the fishing I've done, the Meramec isn't a smallmouth river in the St. Louis area. You may find a few strays, but I've never had much luck, especially wading. If one had a jet boat and knew where to fish, you could probably do better.

[mic]

The main thing, is that from the fishing I've done, the Meramec isn't a smallmouth river in the St. Louis area. You may find a few strays, but I've never had much luck, especially wading. If one had a jet boat and knew where to fish, you could probably do better.

Cool Thanks.

[ozark trout fisher]

Pacific is about the lower limit of any good smallmouth fishing on the Meramec. It keeps getting better until about Meramec State Park, at which point it is very good smallmouth water all the way to the headwaters. The Bourbeuse might be an option worth thinking about too. The river above Union, while negatively affected with spotted bass is still worth fishing for smallmouth.Below Union it's only worthwhile if you're targeting spotted and largemouth bass, although that is not to say you can't find the occasional smallmouth. I've done well wade fishing on the Bourbeuse up around the Mill Rock access (there isn't a whole lot of water that you can cover there, but enough). Reikers Ford would be another viable wading option that would be closer, just about 10 minutes outside of Union. There's a nice riffle that holds fish in the summer right at the access and some good deep, rocky water below. If you are willing to work for it there are a couple of nice riffles and pools below Mayers Landing that hold smallmouth that you can wade. But that is more of a summer deal as it pretty much requires swimming across the river to get to the places that I have in mind. If you have a canoe or even so much as an inflatable kayak your options are pretty much unlimited. The Big River is worth thinking about too, but I can't help you much there, having only fished it a couple times and just in the lower reaches below Byrnes Mill where there aren't any smallmouth to speak of.

[Al Agnew]

You gotta get the 200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures book by Chuck Tryon (as was pointed out in another thread, you can get it by joining the MO Smallmouth Alliance). While his info on access points is quickly getting out of date, his info on creeks and rivers close to St. Louis that hold smallmouth almost (but not quite) covers everywhere that's a possibility.

You are quickly running out of time for good wade fishing this year, though. The smaller creeks that are easy wading get to be tough fishing by October, and by mid to late October the fish will be vacating the spots where you can wade for them even in the bigger rivers. Wading is limited on the Meramec...but you might try the Times Beach Access off I-44 for a quick trip. There's a nice riffle right under the old bridge at the access that often holds a few reachable smallies. The river in that area is mostly spotted bass, but smallmouth can be found here and there. Don't bother going anywhere downstream from that point, though.

Wade fishing is fairly limited on any of the larger floatable streams. You can wade short distances from many accesses, but often where you can wade is not the best fishing water. You have to find smaller streams (even very small ones) to find good wading water, and then you often run into problems with access. Then you either have to ask permission, or do what I usually do--check out possible accesses and if there's an obviously used parking spot and a lack of purple paint and keep out signs, you're probably okay. Those places are getting to be less and less common. But in my area, which is about an hour south of St. Louis, I have about a dozen different accesses on several small streams that I can fish, so they are still out there. It just takes some exploration to find them.

The bridge on 47 Hwy. on the Mineral Fork that was mentioned above no longer has a fence blocking access like it did for a while, by the way. The wealthy bunch that bought up a huge amount of land in that area tried for a while to keep everybody off, then they put up the fence and a sign that said that you must have a valid fishing license and be fishing in order to use the stream there--they were trying to keep out the party idiots that often frequented that spot, and that seemed like a very good idea to me. The last time (earlier this year) that I used that "access" the fence was gone and so was the sign, but it appeared that both had done their job, since there wasn't any trash around. It's a long hike to the stream there, but there's a lot of wadeable water in that area...though the fish ARE pretty sophisticated.

[mic]

You gotta get the 200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures book by Chuck Tryon (as was pointed out in another thread, you can get it by joining the MO Smallmouth Alliance). While his info on access points is quickly getting out of date, his info on creeks and rivers close to St. Louis that hold smallmouth almost (but not quite) covers everywhere that's a possibility.

I'm the newest member...thanks Al.

[moguy1973]

Yep, that book is a good book...

It is a shame though that a lot of the access points noted are not available anymore, especially on nice streams like Indian Creek in Franklin county near St Clair...Lots of purple paint down there now...