Upper Meramec Water Levels

[moguy1973]

Anyone have any water level info for the upper Meramec from Hwy 8 to Indian Springs? Planning on floating Tuesday from Hwy 8 to Scott's or from Scott's to Indian Springs. Wondering how it's looking with all the rain lately. Looks to be rather high around Steelville according to the gauge there.

If it's too high, might have to do the Huzzah...

[Mitch f]

Just for a little help, if the Scott's Ford gauge is 3.5 to 4 ft it's right at the top of the Scott's Ford bridge. Which is up big time

[LarrySTL]

If you follow this link and scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page, you will find Meramec at Cook Station, and both the Meramec and Huzzah "near" Steelville, wherever the "near" gauge is.

A bunch of guys can tell you much more from these numbers than I can, but it looks to me like at Cook Station, the M is still at least 18 inches high, flowing far harder than normal, and the level dropping fast. To me that doesnt sound at all encouraging.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/MO/nwis/current/?type=flow

[moguy1973]

Just for a little help, if the Scott's Ford gauge is 3.5 to 4 ft it's right at the top of the Scott's Ford bridge. Which is up big time

Is the Scott's Ford gauge the one called "near Steelville" on the USGS website? If so, looks like we might be hitting the Huzzah which comes down a lot faster than the Meramec...

[moguy1973]

Is the Scott's Ford gauge the one called "near Steelville" on the USGS website? If so, looks like we might be hitting the Huzzah which comes down a lot faster than the Meramec...

Nevermind...The Steelville gauge is at Bird's Nest...

[Al Agnew]

Just for your information...for the stretch of river between Hwy. 8 and the mouth of the Huzzah, use the Steelville gauge. Use the Cook Station gauge only for the Meramec above Hwy. 8. Use the Sullivan gauge for the Meramec below the mouth of the Huzzah.

The Meramec above Hwy. 8 goes down at least as fast as the Huzzah and Courtois, but Maramec Spring and the Dry Fork make the river below Hwy. 8 a lot slower to drop and clear. Personally, I'd float the Meramec above Hwy. 8 at any flow of less than about 500 cfs, but until it gets down below 200 cfs it's still going to be moving fast and will be murky. Same thing with Huzzah and Courtois, using the Huzzah gauge. The Meramec below Hwy. 8 is more difficult to "gauge". It can be flowing at 1500 cfs and be clear enough to fish, or it can be flowing at less than 1000 cfs and still be pretty muddy.

[cwc87]

The huzzah is gonna b clear by tues. The flow will b very strong. Fish the slowest spots. If u do the meramec try wesco to cedar ford. Watch for down trees.

[Gavin]

It was rolling pretty good but it looked floatable at Short Bend but really ugly at the 19 bridge South of Steelville on our drive home from Montauk yesterday.

[cwc87]

Huzzah yeaterday

[joeD]

moguy1973- go to the river yourself. it is an absolute MUST that YOU know , in real terms, by YOUR eyeballs, what the (any) stream looks like, at certain levels. Please quit relying on others to interpret data for you. I'm not saying the people giving you advise are wrong, I'm just saying that you have to do things yourself. You must put in the time and effort to become an effective smallmouth angler. I love having river gauges on the streams I want to fish. They are invaluable. But, I also know what the gauges mean, or, how to interpret the numbers. That comes from experience. Yes, I know it is easier to ask someone if a certain stream is floatable and/or fishable. But wouldn't you rather know for yourself? That you know what the Meramec looks like at 1200 cfs? The Huzzah at 4.5 feet at Hwy 8? The Jacks Fork at 3 inches at Eminence? Numbers say a lot. It is up to us to find out what they mean.