Clear water

[thewhitesnoop]

I agree, 2017 wasn't the best year ever.

[Seth]

Catching a lot of fish in non jet boatable sections of streams/rivers is an easy as falling off of a log. I fished the Gasconade up near Waynesville last year and it was incredible. It was nothing to catch 100 fish in a day on that trip. However, most of my fishing is done between Jerome and Vienna where the river gets pounded by jet boats and tournaments. Good luck pulling off that same feat in a day of fishing on that stretch. It would be interesting to see how some of you fair fishing both stretches. I'd say that many of you would be in for a reality check fishing down river. My buddy that fishes up river often and absolutely crushes the bass had a major reality check when he started fishing down here with me in the dead sea. 

I rode the suck bus hard in 2017 as well. The year before was incredible though. It amazes me how the fishing can change in a years time. Several people have mentioned it was due to the flood, but we also had a big flood in the winter of 15/16 as well and fishing was awesome throughout the summer of 16. The Meramec had some tough fishing at certain points as well, but it seemed to improve a lot as the summer went out for many people that I know. The Gasconade was terrible from mid June on.

[MoCarp]

51 minutes ago, thewhitesnoop said:

He should have said he catches the easy to measure fish.

Al also makes the statement that he can hold his own with anybody on non jet-boatable streams...... I have my reservations about that

its understandable to cover water vs slowing down and being thorough...the latter being less work and what I think will land you bigger fish

45 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

I am a spot pounder.  The thought that I am leaving fish behind simply because they won't bite what I have tied on at the  moment haunts me.  I'll give it a short rest and then make another pass doing things differently, then I might even make a 3rd pass if I still feel there's a decent chance.  The thought that someone could come right behind me and immediately stick a couple is a serious threat to my ego.  Obviously a carry-over from my competitive days. 

Once I've settled on what I feel is a good pattern, like ok all the better ones are holding in tailouts, or around wood, or on bluffy big rock areas, THEN  I can cover some miles.  But until I have something dialed in it might take me half a day to cover 2 miles of river.

I agree

42 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Oh I don't think you'd wanna enter into a river fishin competition with Al.   If he knew he had to catch'em I bet he could put a hurtin' on ya.

I feel like I'm pretty much a seine, but if I was fishing against ol'Al I'd be pretty nervous.

there are some excellent fishermen that are on the forum

37 minutes ago, thewhitesnoop said:

Whatever Wrench. Who says I was even talking about me? I know some other guys I doubt he could hang with.

He can bow to my superior spots and I'll bow to his superior expert angling.

interestingly many a buck has changed hands between fishermen...and golfers for that matter

[Seth]

I think it would be awesome to have a fishing tournament between several of us on this forum. I'm sure we could trust each other enough to weigh and CPR the fish instead of having to lug them around all day. There would definitely be some hurt feelings after the day is over with. 

[MoCarp]

might need to break it up from bass, walleye trout etc.....be interesting to do a tv show with the bigs KVD vs 5 others dry fly for trout......walleye fishing.......even carp angling....panfish jigging etc...be a great show

[snagged in outlet 3]

I'd do it but no water will get in my live wells.  If you don't know me well enough to trust me then we shouldn't bother.

Similar to golf.  If I don't trust you enough not to stand over you to make sure you don't cheat I don't want to know you anyway.

[thewhitesnoop]

Seth, you say you caught 100 in a day, but when I said my partner and I did it,  you said the math didn't add up.  What gives brotha?

[Seth]

11 minutes ago, thewhitesnoop said:

Seth, you say you caught 100 in a day, but when I said my partner and I did it,  you said the math didn't add up.  What gives brotha?

Let me restate that. Two or three of us put together in a boat on a full day could break 100. That would be while fishing daylight to dark, which makes for a long day. Pulling that off solo would be incredible. Also, you always said you would have 100 keepers and that you didn't count the short fish. I'm counting EVERYTHING with a head and tail.

[thewhitesnoop]

Ok. Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense to me.  That's true, we do only count the keepers. We don't care about the tots.

You count non-bass?

[moguy1973]

50 minutes ago, Seth said:

I rode the suck bus hard in 2017 as well. The year before was incredible though. It amazes me how the fishing can change in a years time. Several people have mentioned it was due to the flood, but we also had a big flood in the winter of 15/16 as well and fishing was awesome throughout the summer of 16. The Meramec had some tough fishing at certain points as well, but it seemed to improve a lot as the summer went out for many people that I know. The Gasconade was terrible from mid June on.

I think the timing of this flood had a lot to do with it.  The big one in 15/16 was in the winter.  Last years was over the spawn in late April/early May, and temps were all jacked up during that time too.  I think the fish were completely confused and that messed up fishing for next 2 months.