Plenty of Room for the Opener

[Seth]

The bad roads kept most of the crowds away. For the first 15 minutes, I had an entire area to myself. The closest angler was 40 yards to my left and they were fishing up stream away from me. I fished till 1 and caught 30+ fish. The average size of fish was pretty good. Not many lunkers caught. I only saw two on stringers all day long. With the clouds and the weedy bottoms, it made sight fishing nearly impossible. I imagine there are still quite a few lunkers left. Last night I had baked trout and tonight I'm going to fry up the remainder of the trout and the three nice goggle eye that I also caught.

I had to lock the truck is 4wd and go 30mph for an hour in this, but I made it just fine.


This was my view 5 minutes before the buzzer went off.

My favorite way to eat stocked trout. Butter and season both sides with lemon pepper, put a piece of bacon on top, wrap in foil, bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and then open foil and broil on the top rack a few more minutes to crisp up the bacon.

[Justin Spencer]

Interesting how the banks are all open, yet the few that are there still get shoulder to shoulder.

[Terrierman]

Thanks for another trout recipe, I think I will give that a whirl. Glad you had a fun and safe trip. I've only fished Meramec a few times but liked it when I did. The history there is way cool.

[Smalliebigs]

Dang Seth!!!! that trout looks good!!! I had a feeling you were gonna be one of a few who made the trip. Good for you!!!! but, I bet you lost out on all of the opening day folies of gapers......not much tangling and screaming there

[Seth]

Dang Seth!!!! that trout looks good!!! I had a feeling you were gonna be one of a few who made the trip. Good for you!!!! but, I bet you lost out on all of the opening day folies of gapers......not much tangling and screaming there

There were a lot of people slipping and sliding in the snow and water. I know I busted my butt at least three times on the bank, but all I got was a snow covered butt. A guy I was fishing with most of the day fell a few times, but just got a wet arm. One of the times he fell was after setting the hook on a really nice trout. He took a step back, which was right on top of a slick rock, fell backwards and caught himself, stood back up only to find out his fish was wrapped up on something. He messed around and managed to get the fish untangled and landed! He said that one was going to taste extra good since it required a lot of work to land lol. The best I saw was one poor guy went down at the end of the handicap hole an the only thing sticking above the water was his head! Another angler rushed over to help him up. After the guy stood up he let out a big "WWOOOOOOO" and then headed back to the truck. If that had been me go under, everybody would have thouight I worked a sailor for a living! I felt bad, but couldn't help but laugh my butt off.

I did see some folks walking around with smallmouth on their stringer. I'm really hoping that the MDC guys that were around nailed them since season closed the day before.

[Seth]

Interesting how the banks are all open, yet the few that are there still get shoulder to shoulder.

The areas above the riffles are always stocked extra heavy so that's where most of the anglers go. There was a pile of fish just down stream from the anglers in that pic and those were the ones I was catching. There are so many fish in the stream on the opener that you don't have to go fight the other guys in the main holes to catch them. Once the crowds die down a bit and the fish get cleaned out of a lot of the areas, I usually join the crowds and fish the holes above the riffles because they hold so many more fish. I actually fished the bathroom and handicap holes later in the day for a while. They were packed at the buzzer but cleared out pretty quick and were still loaded with fish.

[Smalliebigs]

"I did see some folks walking around with smallmouth on their stringer. I'm really hoping that the MDC guys that were around nailed them since season closed the day before." ??????

Wow the fisherman of Missouri never cease to amaze me

Seth I once had pulled up to Bennett springs once late and the flight for life was just taking off for springfield or rolla??? some dude had fallen in the spring creek and was sucked into the culvert tube. The dude was stuck in there underwater for a bit. I always wondered if that dude ever made it?? Waders can become a ballon while facing upstream in current.

[sms_alum]

I did see a guy getting arrested yesterday morning up at the check-in station. I'm not sure for what, but I would venture guess it was drug related based only on his appearance. Seemed like there was a bunch of several goggle-eye caught as well, but all the ones I saw were tiny and released.

[Seth]

It was hard to keep the goggle eyes off those orange trout worms. I know I caught at least 10. Three were right 8-9" and they are awaiting to be consumed for dinner tonight!

[MOsmallies]

I did see some folks walking around with smallmouth on their stringer. I'm really hoping that the MDC guys that were around nailed them since season closed the day before.

The amount of stupid F#$%$ we have fishing in this state is staggering. I hope they got busted like you said! Nice report and glad you were rewarded with 30+ fish for braving the roads.