Smallmouth Fishing On Meramec By Steelville This Sunday

[ColdWaterFshr]

I'm not in favor of a ban on jets, just on certain sections like I mentioned. Having seen many fly by me in very skinny water on many occasions on many rivers. . . its very hard not to see it as disruptive, disrespectful, and offensive. I just think a line needs to be drawn on where they can go and where they cannot. How many total miles of the Meramec is there? 194 miles, okay I just checked. Whats wrong with saying the upper 25%, or 50 miles is for non-motorized watercraft only?

And I completely agree on the party floaters, Scott. There needs to be a total boat # limit for certain rivers, and once that # is exceeded, no more can put in. At the very least, step up the water patrols as they have been doing and keep the pressure on by issuing tickets. Condoms floating by -- thats just sick.

[Mitch f]

I'm not in favor of a ban on jets, just on certain sections like I mentioned. Having seen many fly by me in very skinny water on many occasions on many rivers. . . its very hard not to see it as disruptive, disrespectful, and offensive. I just think a line needs to be drawn on where they can go and where they cannot. How many total miles of the Meramec is there? 194 miles, okay I just checked. Whats wrong with saying the upper 25%, or 50 miles is for non-motorized watercraft only?

And I completely agree on the party floaters, Scott. There needs to be a total boat # limit for certain rivers, and once that # is exceeded, no more can put in. At the very least, step up the water patrols as they have been doing and keep the pressure on by issuing tickets. Condoms floating by -- thats just sick.

I actually wouldn't be opposed to it, it might have an unintended (or not) consequence of helping control the gigging... but it would never happen, you think the gigging lobby is powerful, I can't even imagine all the boat retailers, repair shops, and ALL the people who would raise hell

[Scott25.stl]

Ha. This got off-topic quick but I'm glad to see good discussion going!

Well I wasn't able to make it out this weekend due to the pregnant wife not feeling well (she had planned to spend the day with her mother doing who knows what, and I was going to sneak away to the river). Sigh...maybe another time.

But it sounds like I may want to explore other rivers as I would like to avoid the crowds and such. Sunday is probably my best bet as a weekday won't really be doable with my schedule.

Any recommendations on more secluded floats? Good outfitters to go through? Thanks!

[Al Agnew]

Guy's, I'm gonna try to move the jetboat discussion to a thread in the General Angling section...

[joeD]

After all that, Scott didn't go. Shocking.

"The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter." Dashiell Hammett "The Maltese Falcon"

[Scott25.stl]

Whats up, guys?! I'm heading out for my first ever smallmouth trip on Missouri rivers this Sunday. I'm doing a six mile float around Bird's Nest. I'm pretty pumped.

Any tips or suggestions on what to throw or what to look for as far as good spots on the river? I'm used to big water fishing of the northwest, so anything will be appreciated.

[Scott25.stl]

Original poster here. So, I'm going to try again and get out there this Sunday. Anyone know how the fishing/river conditions have been lately?

Again, since this is my first time smallmouth fishing on the Missouri rivers, any advice or tips are appreciated!

[Blazerman]

I am 54 soon to be 55 and have been fishing Ozark streams as long as I can remember. Started out as a kid with a rental just below Meramec Caverns at a place called Twin Springs. Back then there were no jet drives so we all had john boats with prop motors. We managed to get around pretty good though and caught a lot of smallmouth. Plus largemouth and nice walleye too. Didn’t see near as many Spotted bass back then. Seems like the water was deeper then with less gravel too.

Once we gave up the rental place in my early teens I started floating in canoes and floated all over Missouri. Use to cuss the jet boaters too, once they started showing up. I have owned quite a few canoes and used to float and camp quite a bit.

Now I have a real nice place by the K bridge on the Meramec. Had 5 canoes there for a while and used to do floats for family and friends. But I finely got tired of shuttling the canoes so a few years ago I bought my first jet boat. Don’t know why I waited so long because now I will never be without one. Right now I have a Blazer boat with a 40 jet.

With all that said, I think I have a great perspective. And I can tell you Smalliebigs is right on. The smallmouth fishing is as good as it ever has been on the Meramec. And it really isn’t that hard to catch an 18” fish. I based this on the fact that most times when I go, I catch plenty of fish. Many times there are more spotted bass then smallmouth and that is mostly what I fish for. I like to eat fish and I always keep and eat the spotted bass and always let the smallmouth go.

But if I decide to fish for smallies I usually have no trouble catching plenty. The thing I always notice is I will normally catch everything from 8”-10” fish to fish a lot larger. To me that means there is always a good smallmouth spawn. If I wasn’t catching small fish I would be worried.

But so far, that has never happened.

For the record my largest smallmouth last summer was a tad over 4lbs and right at 20”. And I have caught 20” fish each summer for the last three years.

If some one can explain to me how to put pictures on here I will include some.

[Greasy B]

I enjoyed your post Blazerman, the meramec is a treasure for sure. Do you have a theory about the gap between 10" and much larger

[Blazerman]

I wasn't trying to say there is a gap in the size of fish if that is how you took it. Normally when I go, I catch fish of various sizes from 10” through 15” and above. This leads me to believe there is normally a good spawn every year and jet props aren't hurting the population.

Of course the bigger fish are harder to catch so I don’t normally catch as many of them. I consider a smallmouth over 15” a decent fish and anything over 18” is a trophy. But they are definitely plenty of 18” fish in the Meramec and I have the pictures to prove it.

Last time I went, a couple weeks ago, I had caught a few. Then went a while with nothing, Then caught 4 smallies on about six cast and they were all between 14”-16”. All were taken on a big white spinner bait with a white curly tail trailer. And they all came from an area with deeper water and boulders. And there is also a decent creek that comes in right above the deeper water.

Hope that helps.