Meramec Springs and River - 11/12 to 11/15

[mic]

I spent a great four day weekend near Meramec Springs this weekend for my annual affair with opening weekend of Catch and Release.  On Thursday I spent the late morning and all afternoon on the river below the park.  I was really focusing on different tactics I had read about with both fly rod and spin casters and casting bubbles. I did have good luck with both catching some nice size fish.  Most fish came on midges deep drifting or swinging wet flies.  I read this is somewhat odd for a deep pool (vrs riffles), but the fish didn't appear to read those articles.  I was getting most of my takes on a March Brown (I think that is what it was called).  Only problem was I only had 6x tippet so I snapped a lot of lines.  I was able to swing wets on both fly rod and casting bubble with success.  rFisherK suggested that I finish with my rod tip up instead of down so that the soft tip takes some of the hit.  I'll have to try that.   I also caught quite a few on an in-line spinner when the flies got slow. 

Friday (opening morning) the fish were biting aggressively (as normal), but I don't remember as many being as large as they were this year.  They were bigger then your average size stocker.  Pretty much everything was working in the morning, but as the day went along the fish got a little smarter.  By three, they had shut down completely.  It still was a good day.  My best flies were midges and wets.  I had no luck on top.  We didn't fish with each other per sei, but rFisherK and I checked on each other and had a great lunch in St. James.  It was good catching up with him.  He was doing well with a peacock herl wet with pheasant feathers... looked like a 14 or 12.  He said that he used to use more traditional feathers in the past, but like the pheasant better.  I tried one and did well before a lost fish and caught a tree.  I'm going to try to get some feathers and tie some up.

Saturday my girls came down and joined me, so most of my time was taking care of them.  My daughter did quite well drifting a prince nymph under a casting bubble.  She caught a couple of 18" plus fish which was cool for her.  Sunday, the fish were biting but they were getting a lot smarter and were spitting out flies really quickly.  So setting the hook was harder leading to a lot more missed fish, especially with the casting bubble. 

Overall one hell of a weekend.  Wet lines all.

[Haris122]

I need to go there soon. After deer season I'll have more time.

[Fishingmill]

Mic, if you are having trouble landing fish with 6x tippet, you should try using flurocarbon line.  It is a little stronger and smaller than nylon.  I mostly fish 5x fluro at the trout parks and have no problem landing fish.  I do use 6x for picky trout, usually to tie on my second fly on a tandem rig. 

I seldom have a fish break my line, but when I do it's mostly because I've made an amateur mistake... trying to bring in the fish too soon, landing the fish by hand instead of using a net, having my rod tip pointed in a weird position like down pointed at the fish, not having the drag set correctly where the fish takes out too much line or the drag is set too tight, or accidentally snagging the fish.

Keeping the rod tip up will help keep the fish from breaking your line most of the time, but it's also difficult to put pressure needed to land a fish.  It's not always easy, but that's fly fishing.

[mic]

I was using flurocarbon.  It wasn't from trying to land one, they broke on the shock of the take on the swing with the line was tight. 

[Mitch f]

I gave up using 100% fluoro several years ago after losing the biggest smallmouth of my life. The knot strength sucked, and if you cinched it dry, it was even worse. 

[Al Agnew]

I've gotten to where I  use nothing but fluoro tippet...unlike the 100% fluoro line, it seems to hold up well as far as knot strength.  

What I almost never use is 6X or lighter.  In my opinion you don't need it unless you are using size 20 or smaller flies.  I match tippet to the size flies I'm using for the most part.  Streamers--1X-2X.  Nymphs from size 12 to size 16--3X-4X.  Dries as small as size 18--5X (big dries like hopper patterns I'll go back to 4X).

[Flysmallie]

4 hours ago, Mitch f said:

I gave up using 100% fluoro several years ago after losing the biggest smallmouth of my life. The knot strength sucked, and if you cinched it dry, it was even worse. 

That was probably my problem with flouro. I just don't use it at all anymore. It's not going to help me catch any more fish than mono has.

[Mitch f]

I use the hybrids now, and they seem to fit the bill for most things.

[Old plug]

i use 10 lb braid to fish crappie Jigs,sinkos and several other smaller baits. Have never used a leader.  I can cast,flip,pitch and shoot docks with vertlually no effort. Like the tiny diameter of the 10lb thread and do not think the fish care one way or the other. Only thing I do not like is I cannot feel any abrasion on the line as it wears. I think it would make fine leader material.

[rFisherk]

Here's that Soft-Hackle Peacock, using pheasant body feathers. For trout, both in the parks and rivers, it is probably the most productive fly I know.