Cardiac And Suicide Conditions?

[markdb]

Used to love fishing this stretch and took the kids recently after a five year hiatus. Water and structure looked great but didn't see or raise any trout. Wouldn't be the first time I was skunked there, but has anyone caught any trout there lately?

Mark

[ness]

I think it's fallen out of favor with a lot of folks because it's just not as good as used to be. I haven't fished in years.

[MattS]

Fished there twice very hard and only saw one little trout. Doesn't seem worth the effort.

[Gavin]

Fish counts were at historical lows earlier this year...Think they stocked the heck out of it this spring...Should be good numbers of small browns from this years stocking....but its always been an on or off fishery.

[Fly guy]

Fished upstream for a mile or so from 7am to noon yesterday. I was nymphing under an indicator with no luck all morning. The water flow was good though and you could see small fish jumping and eating gnats. All in all a nice morning in the cardiac area.

[flyfishmaster]

Mark,

I was at Cardiac on Oct 25th. It was the first time there in 3+ years.

I was expecting to get skunked but ended up landing 8 rainbows ranging from 12" - 18" (only one 18"). I did not know what to think since the high water over the last two years and the holes changed drastically from what I remembered as well. but I did find fish activity in a few locations, but had to walk a lot (to say the least). There was a hatching going one at 10 AM but ZERO fish raising. I did not see any browns at all. I landed fish on 6 different files, but changed rigs too many times to count. The key around the log jams is GO DEEP! I rigged my indicated about 2' deeper than I normally go and it worked (to my surprise).

Oh, and those jet boats did not help me at all either.

Later,

FFM

[Corb90]

I went to the river a couple days ago. It was my first time and was more of an exploring trip than anything. I never knew how beautiful of an area it was. I parked at the steepest access a few miles down from the spring branch. I started off drifting a small wooly and couldn't get a hit. Switched over to the meaty stuff just for practice mostly and ended up getting a few hits but nothing materialized. Overall great experience and I'm glad I was able to get out and explore some new (to me) water. Easy wading too which is always an awesome find.

[Justin92297]

After meramec springs closes before opening day can you still access the actual river through that park?

[Gavin]

Sure, you can access at the springs...you have to pay to park...Pay the daily parking fee, or get season parking pass if you visit often.

[Fly guy]

Want down to cardiac yesterday. Started the day off fishing down to suicide swinging streamers. At about a half-hour into the day three J.O.'S in a motorboat came flying up the river creating a hell of a wake and leaving the water reaking of fuel for an hour or so. So I tried back up to cardiac nymphing with zero hits or strikes or even seeing a fish. I decided after eating lunch to head up to the piles and made my way that way. Right before dry fork I noticed a little run between a log and a undercut where fish were rising and tied on a simulator and caught a ten inch brown. After that more fish began rising downstream so I worked my way down and caught three more Browns and broke off two all on Adams, with the two bigger fish taking it near the end of the drift on the skate. As I was walking get back to the truck I ran across an armadillo. Turned into a nice day on the meramec.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/756m002ag82fk6o/7v-2NlvPoM

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/hvrtof26b7mpkpi/IdOVcOkVQZ

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/3psrl2l8ydbp0i4/-hh4K35WgY