Where To Go A Floatin'?

[stl chris]

Thinking about floating Hwy N to Blue Springs looks like everything would work out good. My main concern is if it would be way to busy. Would be going during the week. Does anybody have an idea for a better section. 7 miles and under will be using 2 vehicles so ease of access is a big plus. Fishy water and nice scenery would be great. Thanks for any help.

[Al Agnew]

MIDDLE of the week is your best bet anymore. Fridays are always busy, and even Mondays are busier than mid-week. Other than that, it's pretty much a crap shoot. I've spent plenty of days on the middle Meramec in the summer when I never encountered another boat, and other days I had a couple big groups around me.

Given that the river is quite low, you might be a lot less likely than usual to encounter the jetboat motorheads that are out there just to see how fast they can go. Or you could go farther upstream and have even less chance of them. Or go downstream and maybe have a little better chance of seeing boats but less chance of the paddling river dorks.

But, that stretch of the Meramec is the prettiest part of the whole river, and shouldn't be TOO crowded if you're lucky. And since you are doing your own shuttle, just get on the river at daylight and you'll be well ahead of the river dorks that might be putting in at Campbell Bridge.

[405z06]

Yeah, if you hit that early, you will be fine. Might see some jets, but you will be well ahead of the canoes/tubes.

I haven't done with a darn anywhere on the Meramec this year, look forward to your report. It's very pretty, lots of big bluffs.

I, too, self-shuttle with a buddy and 2 vehicles, and one stretch that we did a lot last year was Scott's Ford to Riverview. It's longer than 5 miles, but nice section of river, good fishing (last year at least) and can avoid the crowds for the most part if you put in fairly early, even on summer weekends.

[Blazerman]

405, I will second the fact that the Meramec is fishing really slow this year. It has been one of the slowest years I can remember.

Al, I will also second the fact that the river is so low there aren’t many motorheads or any other jets running right now. It was so low over the weekend I gave up trying to hit some of the spots I love to go to which are 4-5 miles upstream from my place. I did get out Sunday morning right at sunrise and managed to get a couple small smallmouth and one decent spot which were all let go.

Fishing topwater, I had some real nice fish blow up on the bait, but never hit it like they wanted to eat it. I was using a Zara puppy, then went to a tiny torpedo and had the same results.

If we don’t get some decent rain, I think I will be using our kayaks for the rest of the summer.

[Al Agnew]

405, I will second the fact that the Meramec is fishing really slow this year. It has been one of the slowest years I can remember.

Al, I will also second the fact that the river is so low there aren’t many motorheads or any other jets running right now. It was so low over the weekend I gave up trying to hit some of the spots I love to go to which are 4-5 miles upstream from my place. I did get out Sunday morning right at sunrise and managed to get a couple small smallmouth and one decent spot which were all let go.

Fishing topwater, I had some real nice fish blow up on the bait, but never hit it like they wanted to eat it. I was using a Zara puppy, then went to a tiny torpedo and had the same results.

If we don’t get some decent rain, I think I will be using our kayaks for the rest of the summer.

Yeah, I know the spots that are stopping you. The pucker factor at the one island was pretty high even back in March when I ran it, can't imagine it would be runnable now. And there are several wide, shallow riffles between Campbell Bridge and Blue Springs Creek that would probably mean a good chance of sucking gravel to run now. (And an island above Campbell as well as a rocky riffle that I sure wouldn't try to run at current levels.) But some people are always willing to try it, I guess. There was a guy that I encountered twice a few years ago on Big River above St. Francois Park, trying to run upriver in low water where there were three channels going through a big, wide gravel bar, none of which were over 2 inches deep. He had to have chewed up his impeller the first time, got it repaired or replaced, and tried it again.

[Mitch f]

yep, went out the other day and had to stop well before the hole to figure out where the runnable spots were. The problem was you had to be so far away from the small channel spots that you could barely see which way to go. The lowest Ive ever seen it I think. When we did manage to get to a hole with decent current we caught fish consistantly.

[Stoneroller]

if things get slow with smallmouth you can usually catch some really nice gar through that section. I float through there quite frequently and it's the lowest I've ever seen it. Slow and low water usually means slow and low presentation, unless you catch the fish in their feeding windown and then watch out. It will be hot and heavy action.

[Greasy B]

But some people are always willing to try it, I guess.

Last weekend had a little more water than the previous weekend. Sure enough there were some joy riders. The boats with huge motors (most irritating) and experienced operators seem to make it through ok. I did see a lot of trails where others vacuumed up or washed gravel. For the river being so low the water was awful murky, maybe it was all the big carp I seen tailing, each had a plume of muck trailing downstream. I'm going to bring a fly rod next time see if I can't catch a couple.

[Smalliebigs]

Last weekend had a little more water than the previous weekend. Sure enough there were some joy riders. The boats with huge motors (most irritating) and experienced operators seem to make it through ok. I did see a lot of trails where others vacuumed up or washed gravel. For the river being so low the water was awful murky, maybe it was all the big carp I seen tailing, each had a plume of muck trailing downstream. I'm going to bring a fly rod next time see if I can't catch a couple.

We had a place on the river below Blue Springs Creek off Thickey Ford Rd and that wasn't Carp making the water murky.In that section thru out the day you will get flows from upstream and it is the waves from the jets and all the floaters. Different sections of the river will flow downstream and go from gin clear to murk from it. We used to sit out on our deck and watch it roll in usually around 8:00pm on the weekends...pathetic.

We sold two years ago as the river there has gone down hill from year to year as far as fishing goes. There are still huge smallies laces thru there but, not like it used to be and the floating season was getting to be to much to take. Also a small creek that ran ajacent to our land was getting destroyed(Brazil Creek) and we saw the writing on the wall and GTF out. I hated selling that property and have been looking for something further up a river with more seclusion, away from any river pimps.

That area is a Spring and Fall section only now for me as it just gets beat to hell by the gapers in the summer. There are some spots from our old place upstream to Onondaga that all river vets know produce big ones in the off season times big time

[Greasy B]

It is sad to fish that stretch and find so few decent SMB for the amount of habitat. I fish creeks with a fraction of the habitat and find fish everywhere they should be, and bigger fish too. Has our best Smallmouth river become nothing more than a carp ditch?