Fish To/not To Focus On During Winter?

[Haris122]

Hi, new forum member and fairly new to fishing as well. I kind of asked this before in the Meramec river forum, but I figure I see if I can get an answer in this one since that seems pretty quiet at the moment. So I wanted to see if there's any fish species or basic rigging that someone with already limited skill/success at fishing (total of 4 fish caught since this summer), should put on the backburn when winter fishing? I ended up spending several days last week and this one on the Meramec near Fenton with the aim of catching any kind of fish, just to see proof that I'm improving at it, and except for one day when the fish seemed fairly active, and at dusk today, there has been nothing biting and seeing how the weather has been pretty nice recently, I expected there to be some more luck or at least activity.

[FishinCricket]

The fish simply tend to slow down in the winter.. Concentrate on spring holes, creek moouths and river confluences and such.. The fish are deep in the deepest holes and are only biting on a slow lure.. Try a suspending x-rap in deep holes on a medium action rod and about an 8 lb mono...

[Haris122]

Yeah I thought the recent string of nice days would get them back up and around, like that one day last week when I saw them moving about. I should mention I fish from the banks so I'm a bit mobility restricted on the searches for confluences, creek mouths and such. Most of the time I just try to cast the line out as far as I can into the middle of the river, figuring that's where the deepest areas are. Of course, that's where also the most visible current is, so I don't know if that goes hand in hand, since it's an energy expenditure thing for them trying to stay in place where it flows more.

[Buzz]

I mainly trout fish during the winter months, but have had some good days creek fishing for bass. Especially after several warm days. Jigs fished slow work, but there have been occasions when the bass have hammered a well placed spinnerbait or crankbait.

[ozark trout fisher]

If you happen to have a few hours extra time on your hands to go a bit out of the way,]you might consider heading up to Maramec Spring...That's definitely where the easiest fishing along the Meramec is during the winter, as trout don't slow down nearly so much in the cold weather as bass and other warm-water fish do. Little 1/32 ounce Marabou jigs (white especially, but pink, black, and yellow also work), small single hooked spinners, and beadheaded egg patterns fishing under a little bobber or strike indicator. An added bonus is that it will be a lot better for bank fishing. It's usually not all that complicated, and quite a bit easier than trying to catch bass off the bank this time of year on the lower part of the river. Although with this warm weather we're having the river bass fishing may be a little better than it would usually be in late December.

[Haris122]

I'm pretty sure I'll get out there eventually, seeing how I wanted to try some stream trout fishing too, but for the next few days the closest thing to it, would be one of the winter trout stocked ponds/lakes around here (St.Louis). I should probably try Tilles Park again, but it can get a little crowded, and I prefer the more natural setting. Plus with the couple warm days recently I figured that would liven the regular river dwellers up a bit, and it's more interesting not knowing exactly what you hook until you get it in close (in my case in the rare event when I do hook a fish, haha).

[Mitch f]

Smallmouth fishing the Meramec in Fenton is a lesson in futility even in the summer. You will catch more spotted bass and rough fish than smallmouth bass. You can though catch walleye and white bass if you hit it just right. If your going to fish around Fenton, I suggest a crankait to cover a bunch of water quickly. I agree with Ozark Trout Fisher, go way up stream on the Meramec....your fishing will improve dramatically.

[duckydoty]

Ifn I was in the Stlarea I'd be hitting the big muddy below the locks and dams fishing for walleye and sauger this time of year

[Al Agnew]

If you are limited to the lower Meramec from the bank in the winter, you don't have a real good chance of doing well. You will just have to explore every access you can drive into, looking for spots you can fish from the bank that appear to be fairly deep (doesn't have to be the deepest water around, just deep enough that you couldn't see the bottom even if it's clear) and out of the stronger current. Nearly all fish that live in the Meramec will avoid strong current in the winter, the possible exception being walleye. And if it were me, I'd wouldn't start out using any kind of artificial bait. I'd buy some minnows, the biggest ones you can find (Paul's Bait and Tackle sells good sized minnows but I don't know whether they are available in the winter) and maybe some nightcrawlers as well, and I'd fish both baits on the bottom by using a slip sinker above a swivel, with about 12 inches of line below the swivel and then the hook. Hook both minnows and crawlers in the nose. The ideal place I'd look for is a deep, slow eddy with stronger current at the edge of it. Perfect place would be such an eddy right below what passes for a riffle on the lower Meramec. Cast your bait out to the seam where the stronger current meets the slow eddy current. You won't be able to tell the depth, but you should be able to see how the current goes. Let it sit for a few minutes, then move it a couple feet toward you, let it sit again, move it again, and keep doing that until it gets in close to you, then cast it out in a different part of the eddy or the current seam and do it again until you've covered every part of the eddy you can reach. If you haven't gotten anything by then, there probably aren't any fish there and you might as well go look for a different spot. The beauty of fishing like this is that you don't know what you'll catch but every predatory fish of any size in the river will eat minnows or crawlers, so you might catch bass, walleye, catfish, freshwater drum, even carp.