Rainy Day Fishing

[Old plug]

LEE G------- i have no doubt there would be some with the pressure. But Mitch and Al hit it when it was quiet and deserted. The timing was perfect I believe.

[Al Agnew]

Sure there's been a decline since the 1970s, when the Meramec was probably far and away the best big smallmouth stream in Missouri. It ain't easy to catch lots of fish OR big fish on the Meramec in the summertime, while back then I could almost depend upon catching at least an 18 incher or two every trip, as well as 50 fish at least. The numbers aren't there anymore. The decline, interestingly, started at the exact time that jetboats began to get popular, and this was before a lot of anglers were fishing from jetboats...almost all the early jetboaters were just buzzing up and down the river. I was convinced back then that the jetboat wakes were screwing up spawning, because the decline started not in the numbers of big fish but in the numbers of little fish. And it took several years for the numbers of big fish to decline.

I still think that jetboat wakes have changed the spawning habits of Meramec smallmouth. Used to be, they'd spawn just about anywhere that looked right, anywhere the current was fairly slow and there was a little cover and the water was 2-5 feet deep and there was a gravel bottom. Now, it seems to me that they only spawn in certain areas, usually along rocky banks in the bigger pools where they find small areas of the right substrate. I believe that spawning success was hurt by jetboat wakes because of the silt they stirred up along alluvial banks that choked out the eggs, so it makes sense that now successful spawning happens along rocky banks with less silt.

But now, a lot of what is keeping the numbers of fish depressed is probably fishing pressure, with, in my opinion, gigging hurting the numbers of bigger fish.

The reason we can catch good fish in the winter is partly because the relatively smaller numbers of big fish (including big fish that come out of the tributaries) are concentrated in a rather small percentage of the length of any given section of the river. In the summer, they are more scattered.

I still love the Meramec. It's still my favorite of all the Missouri rivers, even with the crowds. But I don't fish it all that much in warm weather, preferring to be on it when the crowds are gone for the season.

[Al Agnew]

Sounds like a great trip. I really prefer sun over rain on my river trips, but I'll fish regardless.

I've released multiple walleye over 25 inches and then I kept one. I'll say I'm gonna keep walleye up to 26 inches and release the ones larger than that. The 25 inch ones eat just fine.

Yeah, but Ham, you're fishing down there where there are bigger walleye. On the Meramec, they don't seem to get as big, and in my opinion a 25 incher is an exceptional fish.

I have to say that I will no longer keep any walleye in the Ozarks, and especially not any of the bigger ones. They don't taste any better to me than bluegill, crappie, and small bass, and they are such a relatively rare fish in the Ozark streams that they should deserve more protection. Not to mention that, in the southern Ozark streams, they could grow to world record sizes if they were ever allowed to grow instead of being cropped off by every angler who catches one. If any fish in the Ozarks deserves the catch and release viewpoint among anglers, it's the walleye.

[Old plug]

AL---- i am right behind you about jet boats and the spawn. And I mean anywhere river or lake.