Meramec State Park To Sand Ford Today

[moguy1973]

We decided on floating the Meramec today from the State Park to Sand Ford. Got away a little earlier than we thought we would and got on the water around 7:45am. Water wasn't as clear as we were expecting, with a green stain for most of the float. Got rained on a little in the morning, but it ended up being a pretty nice day once the clouds cleared out. Once the clouds came out, so did the jet boats and the floaters, although there were a lot less floaters than we thought there would be, probably because the morning started out rainy like it was. Jet boats weren't real back until we got down towards Arapaho's take out, with a V8 boat buzzing us, and a couple other tiller steered boats too. We did see a water patrol boat go by us 3 times which was nice to see. Water temps started out around 74* and by the end of the day were up around 78*.

Fishing was so-so. I think I ended up with 18 fish total, with 6 of them being green and 12 smallies. only 2 fish over 12" though, with one of the smallmouth being 15" albeit skinny (see picture below). My buddy caught 14, with only 2 of them being green, but nothing over 12", although he did hook into a 2' long gar somehow. I used 2 rigs all day long, a green gizzard shad colored Sexy Dawg Jr. for topwater, and PB&J and Bama Craw colored Rage Craws on a Rage Rig. My buddy caught all his primarily on tubes. He did hook into a dandy of a fish right before the Caverns and almost had it to his kayak before his snap opened up and the fish got off. Probably would have went 18"+ and 3lbs+. Fish were in all the places they should have been, but it was weird that there were places that should have held fish, but either they didn't want what we were offering or they just weren't in there.

We took our time today, as there was a lot more slow pools than we expected and we didn't get to Sand Ford until about 6pm. Made for a nice long day of fishing.

Some pictures from today:

[Mitch f]

Nice report, bet you had fun! FWIW, I've never fished a snap swivel on a jig.

[moguy1973]

Yeah, it's actually the first time we've both had our kayaks out on a river or stream fully rigged out. We did the Meramec in them 2 years ago but we both had just gotten them and hadn't outfitted them like we wanted. We wish we had more time to do this more often but the kids take a lot of our time nowadays.

[Hog Wally]

You just never know. I put in at 5:30 am at valley park access and fished for 3 hours and caught one spot. My brother went back out at 6 in the evening at red horse and went up and tore up some nice smallies. River just won't clear up. At least there is no dog day moss like every other August. I'm just getting out of church and puttin in at 30 bridge. Let you know later what happens.

[Smalliebigs]

Jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I think you will drill them

You just never know. I put in at 5:30 am at valley park access and fished for 3 hours and caught one spot. My brother went back out at 6 in the evening at red horse and went up and tore up some nice smallies. River just won't clear up. At least there is no dog day moss like every other August. I'm just getting out of church and puttin in at 30 bridge. Let you know later what happens.

[joeD]

Hopefully you caught 158 fish.