Shoulda Gone Yesterday...

[Al Agnew]

Did you see that weather yesterday? Warm, sunny, and no wind. But I'd just gotten back from Connecticut (Mary had business, I went along to keep her company--and got in a day of guided fishing on the Housatonic River) the night before, and couldn't go. I also needed to do a little work on my boat, which I did yesterday.

So I was bound and determined to go today. At first I was considering a float trip on Big River, but Mary couldn't shuttle me, so I decided to take the jetboat and head for the Meramec. It wasn't until on the road this morning that I heard the weather forecast--wind gusts up to 40 mph.

I knew I was in for it. A windy day this time of year means billions of leaves on the water, not to mention the difficulty in fishing in that much wind. Oh well, you go when you can and make the best of it.

I put in at Sappington Bridge, planning on running up the river to somewhere around Vilander Bluff and drifting back down. The wind was honking, leaves were falling like snow, and there were already mats of leaves on the water. And...the river was flowing about 400 cfs. Anything under 500 cfs on this part of the Meramec increases the pucker factor in running the river considerably. I made it up through the first riffle, having to take a line that ran over no more than four inches of water, cringing as I slid over it without mishap. I made it about a half mile before having to stop, shut off the motor, and clean a half a bushel of leaves out of the intake. From then on it was run a quarter mile, stop and clean out the leaves, run another quarter mile, hope that the motor didn't get clogged just as I reached a riffle. Above Blue Spring Creek I had to maneuver through a real log jam, and ran one side of the boat up on a log before sliding off and upstream. Ran another very wide, shallow riffle that sucked a couple rocks into the intake grill. Motor clogged up again halfway up the long, deep pool beneath Vilander Bluff. Heck with it, I'd gone far enough.

Started out fishing a Superfluke, simply because it was doable in the leaves and any treble hook lure would not be. Nothing. Quickly rigged up a Senko on a slip sinker rig, and immediately started catching smallies and goggle-eye. Wind was blowing me all over the river, especially bouncing me away from the bluff face, and swirling so much that I couldn't figure out how to keep the boat in any kind of position. I ended up getting right up against the bluff bank and keeping the boat up against the rocks while fishing downstream.

The other really bad thing was, I'd lost my hat while running up the river. I had sunglasses, but no way of shading my eyes. looking anywhere in the direction of the sun, I was almost blind.

To top it off, I'd broken my favorite St. Croix spinning rod a month or two ago, and had just bought a replacement St. Croix last week. I was trying the Superfluke again, and had a 12-13 inch smallie take it. I set the hook and my rod broke, right near the butt. I couldn't believe it. Definitely a defective blank.

It was a nice day other than the wind, and the colors along the river were still beautiful. I spent part of the day just soaking up scenery. Ended up catching maybe 25 smallies and at least that many small goggle-eye, but the biggest smallmouth was only 14 inches. Definitely not a red letter fishing day. But any day on the river is better than a day NOT on the river!

[Ham]

Fall is NOT a fun time to run a jet.

Leaves are definitely a PIA right now on the creeks even with soft plastics.

[FishinCricket]

So you do have less than stellar days, eh? Hard to believe... Sounds like the who daggum day was jinxed, eh? I suppose you should be glad you didn't hit a deer or blow a tire on the way home...

[Justin Spencer]

So you do have less than stellar days, eh?

Did you read his less than stellar day included 25 smallies and 25 or more goggle-eye. A great day for most of us. Understand about the wind though, makes things very frustrating. At least you weren't trying to fly fish in that wind! Good report Al.

[Gavin]

Beats work! Thanks for the report.

[snagged in outlet 3]

Did you read his less than stellar day included 25 smallies and 25 or more goggle-eye. A great day for most of us. Understand about the wind though, makes things very frustrating. At least you weren't trying to fly fish in that wind! Good report Al.

My brother and I were at Montauk yesterday in the wind. The hared it blew the more we caught. We absolutely whacked em stripping soft hackles. I love a good strong wind when trout fishing. Makes em think they're alone. I prefer it blowing downstream but I'll take what I can get.

Pete