Running the Meramec with an outboard?

[Terrierman]

4 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

 Don't agree....It's a huge risk, and you'd be going so slow that I wouldn't recommend it. Dodging big rocks and getting out to drag is pretty dangerous on a big river. You break a prop or a lower unit and you wish you've never done it. He's not talking about a bunch of gravel but huge boulders.

When I lived in St. Charles many moons ago, I ran a 16 48 jon with a 10 hp evinrude on the Meramec a lot.  It beat the hell out of being stuck on the bank or sitting and watching TV.  That boat was known as "The Lowtech".

[Al Agnew]

Let's put it this way...in normal to low water levels, you cannot run a prop outboard set up in typical fashion in MOST riffles of the Meramec, and nearly every stretch has riffles every half mile or less.  You can motor up or down the pools, but you'll have to drag the boat up riffles.

Back in the old days before jet boats, a few people could run rivers the size of the Meramec with 10 hp outboards set up on a high transom or lift system.  But back in the old days, many of the riffles were narrower and deeper, too.  

[fishinwrench]

You can run anything that's calf deep with a prop outboard on a Jon boat.  One overlooked plus is that with a prop you can navigate nice and slow (until you learn a stretch real well) and still have good control of the boat.  With a jet you need to be moving pretty good in order to keep the boat pointed in the right direction. 

If it gets ankle deep it isn't a big deal to raise the motor, step out and grab a rope.   A few dings on the prop of a river Jon ain't no big deal, and if you get too brave and bust something.....hey, they make parts while you sleep, somebody has to buy them.  And guys like me have kids to put through college.  

[Gavin]

Could run downstream anywhere mostly. Upstream, not so much.

 

 

[1099gl]

I'm only thinking about going up to castlewood at the most and putting in at palisades or am I really gonna regret doing this? I'm hearing that I should wait. Will I be able to navigate with a trolling motor when the river is up after I get to where I want to fish?

[Terrierman]

Try it and see.  Just be careful and you'll be fine. 

[Mitch f]

12 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

You can run anything that's calf deep with a prop outboard on a Jon boat.  One overlooked plus is that with a prop you can navigate nice and slow (until you learn a stretch real well) and still have good control of the boat.  With a jet you need to be moving pretty good in order to keep the boat pointed in the right direction. 

If it gets ankle deep it isn't a big deal to raise the motor, step out and grab a rope.   A few dings on the prop of a river Jon ain't no big deal, and if you get too brave and bust something.....hey, they make parts while you sleep, somebody has to buy them.  And guys like me have kids to put through college.  

Any you can also win any bass tournament with a Zebco 202?

[moguy1973]

1 hour ago, 1099gl said:

I'm only thinking about going up to castlewood at the most and putting in at palisades or am I really gonna regret doing this? I'm hearing that I should wait. Will I be able to navigate with a trolling motor when the river is up after I get to where I want to fish?

Castlewood doesn't have a ramp anymore. Carry in and out for canoes, kayaks, and small boats.

[Brian Jones]

1 hour ago, 1099gl said:

I'm only thinking about going up to castlewood at the most and putting in at palisades or am I really gonna regret doing this? I'm hearing that I should wait. Will I be able to navigate with a trolling motor when the river is up after I get to where I want to fish?

Forgive me for not asking sooner and I hope that this doesn't come off as snide or sarcastic,  but.........how much river experience do you currently have?  I mean have you been on a river in a boat before either motorized or paddle craft?  Do you have an understanding of current and how it affects boat handling?  Do you know how to read a riffle, etc.??  

I would personally feel pretty crappy giving advice to a person who has zero river experience and that person having an accident as a result of the advice that was given.

 

[MOFishwater]

On 9/15/2016 at 0:55 PM, Haris122 said:

Might not be able to give you much information but from the spots I've kayaked on it, and the ones I've fished from a buddy's boat, I'd say your best bet is the first few miles upstream and downstream of Flamm. Unfortunately a lot of sections of even the Lower Meramec seem to have just enough shallow spots/riffles, that it's tough to go any long stretch uninterrupted.

I think there's a shallow section a few hundred yards downstream from the Highway 21 (Tesson Ferry) bridge. To enter and exit the Meramec from George Winter, it can be pretty shallow. There's a shallow section somewhere between the railroad bridge, and a little upstream of the 141 bridge. I think there's a shallow section somewhere around the bend by Unger, but not 100% on that one. At Route 66 there's a shallow section just downstream of the ramp/upstream of the 44 bridge. Sherman beach there looked to be a shallow section just downstream of the railroad bridge.

I don't know how shallow you can go, and of course depending on water level some of those might not be much of an obstacle, but a lot of them looked like straight up riffles of only a foot or so most of the times I've went there (granted most of that was in the summer when the water is often on the lower side to begin with). So Flamm has a few miles both ways I think. George Winter a few miles downstream and maybe a mile or 2 upstream, depending on water levels at Mini Ha Ha park, and the bridges nearby. Just downstream of the railroad bridge in Valley Park you might have a mile or a few to work with before you hit the bend by Greentree/Unger. And upstream of the Hwy44 bridge at Route 66 you might have a few miles to work with.

While I was on my afternoon run I saw a nice herd of deer walking across the river just below the old bridge by 44 last time the river was low in that spot. def gets shallow!