Late Report From 05/23/2012

[Smalliebigs]

My buddy called me and said screw work and lets go hit the river for a few....so we did.This guy is one of the best at handling a jet boat I have seen and one of the best fisherman I have fished with so any time out with him is way better than work.We only fished 3 hours or so and threw everything from a jig to topwater and we runned and gunned to try to find something but, just a bunch of dinks from 12 to 14 inches.The water was pretty low and gin clear for that section of the Meramec, which will make the true big Smallies a little spooky.......at least that was our excuse.

We saw a friend at the boat ramp who is one of the best river fisherman you will ever meet and his report was the same as ours ......no big ones.That made me feel much better, hearing that it made me feel less of a bad luck charm for my buddy.We really need some water bad, there were some real low spots for this time of year. Since I have no pics of Smallies as none were really picture worthy by our standards and this report is really lame I'll post a vid of the river that day to show just how low shes getting.

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look for the logs sitting in ripple near the end only about two inches deep......yikes

for the anti jet crowd my buddy doesn't even run his boat after Memorial Day because he feels it's too dangerous....he only jets in the Spring,Winter and Fall when the party floating drunks aren't around

[BredMan]

Great video. My buddy and I fished the Meramec for many years with a 16' jon rigged with a homemade transom jack to lift that powerful 9.9hp Mercury up out of the rocks.

That was as close to having a jet as we ever got but we fished it a lot and caught a lot. Finally gave it up because of all the floating drunks and not because we feared injurying anyone. Just too far to travel to have too many floating drunks ruin the whole day for us!

[Smalliebigs]

Great video. My buddy and I fished the Meramec for many years with a 16' jon rigged with a homemade transom jack to lift that powerful 9.9hp Mercury up out of the rocks.

That was as close to having a jet as we ever got but we fished it a lot and caught a lot. Finally gave it up because of all the floating drunks and not because we feared injurying anyone. Just too far to travel to have too many floating drunks ruin the whole day for us!

Sweet BredMan, a 16 with a 9.9 is one of the best overall fishing platforms you can get for many reasons. I use a 16 foot square stern canoe on the rivers and I put this on the back it has a Macks River Runner on the skeg and I can go upstream fairly quickly.When I come to something too shallow I just pull the canoe thru the ripple and move on.Running a canoe with a motor is not the safest thing in the world but, I have fun with it. Sometimes the floaters look at you funny when you cruise by them upstream at about 12 mph....it can be a little dangerous as my wife will not get in the canoe with a motor anymore.

[ozark trout fisher]

I enjoyed your report...spending a few hours out on the river even when the fishing isn't great is still a heck of a lot better than the alternative!

[Smalliebigs]

wow i just realized how messy my basement is......doh!!!!!

[joeD]

I think the Meramec is suffering from over use and increased fishing pressure. Good fishing days are becoming fewer and farther between. Also, not using your legal watercraft to do something you love seems a bit, ah, excessive. Cutting off your nose to spite your face. There are no martyr points coming from me. Use your boat for gosh sakes. The traffic in your area is not THAT bad.

[Gavin]

Low water and bright moon...all night long...plus last nights cold front.....might have made for for some funky fishing today. Check your email Mr. Bigs...you too Mitch.

[fishinwrench]

The best jet operator you've ever seen..... needs to strap his batterys down

Jusayin'

[Smalliebigs]

The best jet operator you've ever seen..... needs to strap his batterys down

Jusayin'

I'd have to agree with ya there.....didn't say he was the cleanest

[Gavin]

Yikes. Think we paddled through that chute yesterday...

We didnt see a jet until we got a couple miles below there. Fish were biting in the AM, and it improved in the afternoon. All were smaller than 13". On the plus side...It was a nice day on the water, scenery was better than expected (till the end of the float), caught some on the fly rod, and some spotted bass died. Figure the better fish must have gorged at night under the full moon. Lots of 2-3' long carp shallow in the riffle heads...Tried for em with some flashy smallmouth patterns but they wouldnt go for it. Shoulda brought my nymph & leach box.