Rediscover Fishing

[Ragnarox]

Hello everyone, my name is Amy, and as my title says, I've rediscovered how much fun fishing can be. When I was growing up, I often went fishing with my stepfather, almost always on the Meramec river. I'm 30 years old now, it had been years since I considered fishing, but a month ago it occurred to me to try it again. I also found this forum, and while I actually live in the city of Saint Louis (5 miles from downtown) I hoped I could learn a lot from this website...and so far I have. I do wish I lived closer to the Ozarks for many reasons..but for now I'll work with what I have.

My fishing partner is my fiance Andrew. He had never been fishing before (shame!) and so far he has enjoyed our trips, and is always eager to fish on our days off.

So far we have tried the lakes at Carondelet and Suson parks. Not very successful, but as a child I caught some nice catfish in both locations. I do prefer to fish in rivers however, and I'm happiest fishing without a lot of people being loud nearby. (Living in the city, I find I like to pretend I'm alone when I fish lol, silly I know but it's not as relaxing with tons of people surrounding you who aren't interesting in fishing besides)

We have fished the Palisades twice, the fishing was great early in the morning...and I find this beautiful park to be better for fishing on a weekday when boat traffic is less. I have nothing against boaters of course, but many of them ruins my "I'm alone with nature" mentality

I have also tried the Lower Meramec River Park twice. It's a beautiful area, I did notice a lot of jumping fish in large clusters for up to 30 seconds at a time, never seen anything like it in my life! I assume these might be the Asian carp I have read so much about.

Edited to add this

I do enjoy catch and releasing fish, even though growing up most of the fish we caught (catfish and drum) were taken home and eaten. I'll be honest, I don't really enjoy eating fish, but I do enjoy fishing. I've been criticized for this, even though I expressed the care I take to handle the fish quickly and carefully to avoid stress and injury.

As I said, I am trying to learn everything I can. I want to be a good fisherman, (fisherwoman?) I want to be respectful both to people and the environment. I have learned about the importance of not releasing live bait into water for example. I always take an empty bag to fill with trash I find.

Mostly, for now...I'm interesting in catfish...but being new to the sport of fishing, just about any fish on the end of the line makes me happy. I'd love to explore trout fishing later on too. I inherited an old fly rod, but I've seen experienced fly fisherman and they make it look like an art, I'm not sure if I could master that technique myself. But it looks great!

So far I've only used worms as bait, but would love to learn about using lures and other methods in the future. I also inherited many lures, flies,and things I can't yet identify. Some of them come from stores which closed down years ago. These things belonged to my Grandfather.

Anyway, I feel this is probably far too long, but I look forward to meeting other fishing enthusiasts and learning many new things here.

[Greasy B]

You have the right attitude that's for sure. Welcome to the forum and good luck.

[Stoneroller]

living in St Louis, it pays to get an Illinois non resident license and explore some of the many, many lakes that are within a couple hours drive of the city. Lake of the Ozarks is around 2.5 hr drive for example. But in Illinois there are well over 50 lakes within a 2 hr drive. Illinois does a much better job of policing the waterways over there too, so there tends to be less trash, better fishing, and fewer toolboxes. ie no class 5 offshore powerboats blowing past you 10 feet away at 75 mph. Most of the lakes in Illinois are horsepower restricted and many are 10hp or electric only lakes. HUGE difference in the quality of fish and fishing when that kind of regulation is in place.

Don't bother looking to Illinois for river/stream fishing. There are some decent places, but they are few and far between. Missouri definately has better streams/rivers.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Welcome to the forum, I also live in St Louis, Grew up fishing Carondelet's lakes. Night crawlers seem to produce the best results for me, but recently I have learned that shad, and green sunfish are the same as candy to large catfish.

Stone, good tip on IL lakes, I have access to a private lake over there which is much nicer since it is not well known. I have not fished any public lakes over there, but may look into them.

[Ragnarox]

Thank you everyone for the tips and warm welcome I'm happy to have found this forum.