No Luck So Far This Winter

[Haris122]

Went out after work 3 or so times in the past few days to fish the lower meramec from the bank, and didn't so much as get a bite. Hopefully something will start biting again. Read that the bigger Blue cats at least stay active during winter, provided I can get the bait out far enough. Last winter one day I cut up a dead asian carp I found floating on shore, and actually had something take it good, but then it got off before I could even find out what it was, so I'm holding out hope.

[Hog Wally]

I was somewhere below times beach about a month back and caught nearly every species that eats The water had not went to winter mode yet though. I can't post the pictures still haven't figured it out. Please don't give me advice on it either. One day I will sit by the wood stove and tinier with it. Kinda starting to wish I didn't hunt so much I'm ready to fish. January 16 is right around the corner.

[Seth]

You hate deer more than me! I have taken five and that is enough deer cleaning for me for the year. 3-4 are all we eat anyways. I gave my rifle buck to some relatives needing the meat. I'm in fishing mode, but do plan on trying to fill my archery turkey tags. I think every farm we hunt has a big flock of birds on it right now. It's been a few years since I've taken one with the bow.

[Brian Jones]

Fished on the middle Meramec Saturday for about 6 hours and had a pretty good outing. I wanted to get one more trip in before the bottom fell out and the water got too cold for me to catch them. Put in at 10:00 and was back at the ramp a little after 4:00. Caught 9 bass over 12"; mostly largemouths with 2 of them just a tad over two pounds. Also caught 8 crappie and ended up bringing five of them home. Of the ones I kept, they ranged from 10" to just shy of 13". Water temp was 44-45.

[Seth]

Good report. I caught a couple nice crappie on jerkbaits on the Osage the weekend before last. Of course once I put crappie jigs on and actually targetted them all I could catch was stinkin kentuckies! Funny how that works.

[Blazerman]

I had the day off today so i threw the Blazer in at Redhorse and buzzed to one of my favorite winter holes. Beautiful day and the water was perfect and there was a nice breeze.

It didn't tale long before i had my first fish on my jerkbait and i ended up getting 12 smallmouth plus 3 spots in about 4 hours of fishing. They were all right around 12"-14" and the biggest was about 15". I missed a really big fish that felt more like a walleye or catfish the way it was shaking it's head and wouldn't move. It ended up just coming off. Guess i didn't get the hook set.

I also had this swan hanging around while i fishing. Never seen one on the river before.

[Haris122]

Sweet. Those are some nice fish. I did some fishing today after work too, but just got a little largemouth at a local county park on the Meramec.

[Hog Wally]

That poor swan lost it's mate this fall. I like that spot I'm surprised you haven't seen the swans before. Usually they are upstream 1/2 mile in the big slough. That sounded like some good fishing!!! See you on the river real soon. There is several gigging boats right now below my house.

[Brian Jones]

I saw that swan back in October in the slough by the bamboo patch. When I was out there on December 13th, it was in the hole above the yacht club.

[Hog Wally]

That bamboo is to my knowledge Missouri cane. Supposedly it used to grow on all the high banks. My old school teacher mr Kramme owns that farm where it's growing. 2 winters ago I seen a group of 8 swans flying down the river. What a sight.