03/18/2016 Epic

[mjk86]

Reports like this give me just enough motivation to hit the river....then after a few drum and 10 lost lures I'm rethinking my plan.   Great fish!

[Smalliebigs]

5 hours ago, mjk86 said:

Reports like this give me just enough motivation to hit the river....then after a few drum and 10 lost lures I'm rethinking my plan.   Great fish!

Honestly  MJ you fish from a boat and from the bank like I do. We both know fishing  from the bank is soo much more challenging for many reasons. The two biggest are from the bank you just can't address  the fish properly or at least it's a very, very limited  window especially on rivers. The second is you will snag and without  a boat your limited on pulling  up right behind  your snag and pull it right out. When I see a successful bank fishing  trip I am impressed  as hell believe  me. This actually  brings me to one of the things that will help bank fisherman. I walk the bank of the Meramec from GW to RT 66 when it's low....the fish are very hard to get to from the bank IMO, you usually  will have a very small  area to even be able to be successful  at all. Really  similar  to fly fishing IMO....so instead  of fishing  your lure from wherever the very limited  amount of water to be successful back to you....only fish that small zone making accurate  casts but once you are out of the zone don't fish just get your bait back in keeping  your rod tip as high as you can....the lower Meramec is full of the most jagged and craggy rock as well as insane amounts of debris that as you know MJK86 it's a lure graveyard. So I am doing a lot of fast reeling in with my tip high in the air to throw right back in that very small zone usually to catch fish down here. Have you ever tried down the trail at Ridgewood meadows elementary school??? I ride in there on my Mountain  bike and rod and really nail some nice fish....less debris. ....great place to take kids riding on bikes....check it out..I think its call ed Rockhouse trail...it used to be Zombie road for all the old freaks around the area

[mjk86]

Good info thanks.  Ya it's Def nicer to have a boat like you said you can get behind ur snag and right on top of it.  I can get my boat on the meremec but I only below Fenton.  I've never tried that spot....im gonna though!  You gave away a few lower meremec spots that have worked for me.  

Speaking of boat advantages though...im curious, how does one maintain boat position in heavy current?  Anchor for a short time?  Fancy GPS trolling motors?  I'd have a hell of a time with my trolling motor.  Maybe it's possible to position the boat out of current.  I've only ever canoed or wade fished smaller rivers where current wasn't bad, but on the lower river there is pretty stiff current.  Seems like it would be difficult to pull up below a riffle and stay there while casting to it.  

[Hog Wally]

1 hour ago, mjk86 said:

Good info thanks.  Ya it's Def nicer to have a boat like you said you can get behind ur snag and right on top of it.  I can get my boat on the meremec but I only below Fenton.  I've never tried that spot....im gonna though!  You gave away a few lower meremec spots that have worked for me.  

Speaking of boat advantages though...im curious, how does one maintain boat position in heavy current?  Anchor for a short time?  Fancy GPS trolling motors?  I'd have a hell of a time with my trolling motor.  Maybe it's possible to position the boat out of current.  I've only ever canoed or wade fished smaller rivers where current wasn't bad, but on the lower river there is pretty stiff current.  Seems like it would be difficult to pull up below a riffle and stay there while casting to it.  

Hahahaha!   Cat like reflexes   It gets tiring unless your catching fish. Once you get used to your trolling motor you don't even look at it.  You can tell by the pedal what direction it's pointed. I set mine to barely gain ground on the current.  Unless I snag up then I let 82 lbs of thrust go.  

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, a good high powered trolling motor with foot control and variable speeds is great to have.  I keep the foot control loose on the deck, don't bolt it down or anything.  When fishing a bank in heavy current, I point the boat upstream, turn to the side I'm fishing, and move the foot control so that it's nicely under my right foot.  Then I turn the power up or down to barely make headway against the current (I can do that with my foot on the dial on my foot control).  Keep it on to hold position, lift my foot off the switch to let the boat slip downstream a few feet.

I also adjusted my pedal so that I can turn the motor around completely backwards and still have some play, which means I can turn it past backwards as long as I turn it to the left starting out.  In slower current, I'm facing downstream with the motor pushing the boat back upstream, and can adjust my angle that way by turning the motor even more or a little less, and hitting the switch off and on.

[Hog Wally]

22 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

Yeah, a good high powered trolling motor with foot control and variable speeds is great to have.  I keep the foot control loose on the deck, don't bolt it down or anything.  When fishing a bank in heavy current, I point the boat upstream, turn to the side I'm fishing, and move the foot control so that it's nicely under my right foot.  Then I turn the power up or down to barely make headway against the current (I can do that with my foot on the dial on my foot control).  Keep it on to hold position, lift my foot off the switch to let the boat slip downstream a few feet.

I also adjusted my pedal so that I can turn the motor around completely backwards and still have some play, which means I can turn it past backwards as long as I turn it to the left starting out.  In slower current, I'm facing downstream with the motor pushing the boat back upstream, and can adjust my angle that way by turning the motor even more or a little less, and hitting the switch off and on.

Awesome advice Al.  I guess I haven't thought a lot about how I do things but because of my walleye fishing I have found a new approach to a spot im pulling up to fish. I nearly always attack from downstream of the hole and work up to where I really think they are just picking away at the water a cast at a time.  Casting up and pulling it down like your drifting a fly to a trout   I always use my imagination that I see the fish and this cast means everything to catch him. Expect a bite. I always expect a bite. If I get sloppy I go home. No sense in being out there if I'm not in it 

[mjk86]

Sounds like it takes some serious skill.  Good info though, im too nervous to get my boat on the river....its junk, but im sure id tear up the prop as im a river boating noob.  I believe that proper boat control, and boat placement, are as important as anything else when fishing from one.  Totally agree about a powerful trolling motor...I upgraded from a 46lb to a 72lb thrust and it makes life a whole lot easier. 

[Flysmallie]

Running a trolling motor is just like everything else, it just takes practice. After a while it's just second nature and you don't even think about it. Luckily for me my dad and uncle would put me in the front of the boat running one when I was 9 or 10. That was after they had taken all my zebcos away and made me use bait casters exclusively.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, with apologies to all my fishing buddies, there are times when I want to go and commandeer the trolling motor, because they do things differently than I do . Running the trolling motor and paddling a canoe are similar, in that boat positioning is of paramount importance, and you have to stay on top of it or you end up messing up the spots you're trying to fish.  I'm so attuned to NOT messing up spots that when I hook a good fish in the canoe, I spend about half the battle with the paddle in one hand keeping the canoe in position to continue fishing that spot after I get the fish in.

[Flysmallie]

Al I can't compete with your paddling skills. I'll be fighting a fish and crashing into trees and stuff. But you and I are going to fight over who gets to control the trolling motor.   My dad relinquished full control over all boat motors after around the time I turned 17 or so. He didn't go down without a fight though.