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Fishing Report


cwc87

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Smallmouth

River is ultra clear. Never been able to see the bottom in some of my winter holes until now. Went thAnksgiving day and last Thursday and caught two tagged fish a 15.5 and a 17.5 both on plastic The bigger fish bit better those trips versus today. Seemed like the warm up has every peanut bass active and that's what I caught today. They were scatterd all over on wood and big boulders. One thing with ultra low clear water what I've learned is that the suckers get spooked and they tend to spook the bass around and when smallies see a boat the bite gets tough. So super long casts. And hole jumping is needed to catch #s of fish. I pray for rain to protect these fish from the gigging and to make it a little less challenging to catch them.

Guys throw ur favorite winter baits with this warm spell n u will catch them Cheers!!!!

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Just curious, what area of the river did you fish?

When it comes to gigging, not sure more water is what to wish for. It might be that super low, clear water and spooky fish is a good thing.

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I went a couple of times recently, but didn't do quite so well. What do you recommend for winter lures? I was focused upon big boulders, not necessarily wood, though didn't see much where I was fishing. It'd be great to catch (and release) one or two before cold-cold sets in. Thanks. Merry Christmas, all.

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Blazerman, I fish from onondaga to Steelville mostly in the winter since public access is extremly limited but the private access's are popping up everywhere. I may head your way on thursday if you want to hook up. I love the sand ford area in the winter too.

RodMcC you can't go wrong with a lucky craft pointer 78 in chartruese shad for a jerk bait or spend some bucks on a megabass vision 110 or save a little and get a rick clunn jerkbait. Plastics I keep queit on what I throw. Just use smaller stuff is my best advice. I use a 1/4 oz jig weight so I can cast far on my baitcaster and it gets to the bottom rather quickly in the deepest holes. Just drag it. I noticed the water temps have jumped from 44 degrees to 55 hear latley so try to time ur trips on the end of warm spells and you should find success.

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We fished from Sand Ford to Plum Ford and did okay with the biggest fish beeing only 17.5. The bummer is we did catch 5 that had what I considered gig wounds and we took pics and reported it to authorities.

I would echo what Corey said, the river is as low and as clear as I have ever seen it and we were able to see the bottom in even the deepest pools that I can't ever remember beeing able to. That beeing said the fish are very spooky to say the least, you have to be very diligent in stalking them and keeping yourself hidden......long cast from shadows to them will help your catch rate immensely. We caught them on some custom hand tied jigs in Oliveolivebluck.jpg tipped with some very small chunks

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We also caught some on some RC stx's and pointer 78's in a very clear or ghost colors due to the ultra clear water. I hope you only have a 16 foot deal with a 60/40 because that river is low and the channel has been running in the same area now for awhile, there are some gravel piles and rocks in some very dangerous spots.........BE CAREFUL

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Nice jigs Scott!

I completely stole both jig ideas from a dude who sells them in Virginia......those were the best looking ones of the bunch for sure....some of the other ones I tied looked like dung.

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So you guys think it will be warm enough to fish for species other than trout tomorrow as well?
oh yes Harris!!!! if you want to try around town, try what I call the poop chute....it is a drainage pipe that comes out of the bank on the East side of the Meramec right below where the old HWY 30 bridge was. I fished there the other day from a yak and caught three crappie and five white bass, all where very good size.....this area can be fished from the bank now with the water levels so low and the pipe isn't really draining but there is a cut in the channel there with tons of debris and the white bass move in and out of that area thru out the day as the move up stream I assume???? even better when that pipe is flowing water into the river this spot becomes very good but, you can catch them there pretty good on a small shad pattern crank bait or good rooster tail......beware you will loose some rigs but fish are there, just an idea.....I would really like to fish today.....oh would I like to go
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Fished from 9:30-2:30. Stayed close to familiar water ( took smallie bigs advice ). Biggest was a 15 incher. Caught around 30 fish Only one 6 inch spotted bass caught. Seen bigger bass swimming around. Once the suckers got to running around the big fish wouldn't bite. As the day wore on the fish were more scattered( shallow logs, giant deep rocks, deep logs lodged against boulders were the best ) caught one smallie with a gig scar. All in all kinda slow day from my previous trips.

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