Met a new friend and tough conditions 3/3/18

[Smalliebigs]

Well I had the pleasure of fishing with Hog Wally and Drew03cmc on Saturday. Drew was very willing to drive from Kansas City to fish here with the Meramec guru so it showed me his drive is at the level I like.

This was planned well in advance and the river conditions were at first glance not ideal but, Hog Wally knows this corridor like nobody else I have ever been out with. He actually relishes higher water surgically going from One known ambush point to another that would normally be out of the water and part of the bank. These little nooks and crannies and "pockets" as Hog calls them are very little windows of opportunity that can be very tough to identify as well as hard to get a bait in. The bait is also only in that little pocket for a very small amount of time in this higher flow which can make it even more tough. I felt a little bad for Drew being new to this water in these conditions but, he did really good.

The High pressure with winds out of the East as well as the water temp dropped about 4 or 5 degrees from where it was pushed the fish back a little bit but, they would eat, you just had to get right in front of them.

We caught some fish but, we had to work.

Hog pulls into a nice little "pocket" and cast into a window of about Two foot square and nails a nice 18.5 broom tail Meramec Smallie and then gets Drew up to the front of the boat and says put it right there hahahaha....sorry that can be tough.

Drew got his Craw right in that little pocket and had a bite with no hook up. Then he gets it back in the pocket again and gets a bit again and sets the hook. I am screwing around with a re-tie and Aaron says get the darn net and sounds serious....I look at Andy's rod and it's bent very good☺

I fumble for the net and hand it to Aaron...I was excited as hell thinking Aaron just put Drew on an absolute HAWG. The anticipation was growing waiting on a visual on this fish thru the light chocolate milk colored water and then this GIGANTIC White Drum wallows up to the boat hahahaha.

We had a great time and Drew is as motivated of a river fisherman as I am and that impressed me. Hog Wally never ceases to amaze me in how well he knows the Meramec corridor in any water level....but, that dude is king of water just a little up and off color where most don't even go fishing, he is nailing hawg after hawg.

Meeting Andy was very nice and he is a very cool cat.

This post has been promoted to an article

[drew03cmc]

Scott, Saturday was amazing. It's nice to meet more and more people you can connect with about river fishing the way we all did. Aaron is the definite king of that waterway and it simply amazed me how he would explain spots that seemed completely innocuous to the bystander. I've learned a lot and will continue to do so. That drum was one big surprise that I did not expect. My hoodie smelled of drum slime the whole way back to KC. I can't wait to get back out there and experience that river at it's best and float some new water soon. Thanks fellas!

[Smalliebigs]

29 minutes ago, drew03cmc said:

Scott, Saturday was amazing. It's nice to meet more and more people you can connect with about river fishing the way we all did. Aaron is the definite king of that waterway and it simply amazed me how he would explain spots that seemed completely innocuous to the bystander. I've learned a lot and will continue to do so. That drum was one big surprise that I did not expect. My hoodie smelled of drum slime the whole way back to KC. I can't wait to get back out there and experience that river at it's best and float some new water soon. Thanks fellas!

Andy I like your style.....you were cool a cucumber and didn't female doggy at all about the conditions. I forgot to give you some hair jigs I had tied for you leaving in a hurry like I did. We will meet up and do some off the beaten path floats this year for sure

[Terrierman]

That's the way you do it.  Get in the truck and meet some new people and see new water.  Very nice.

[Hog Wally]

Very cool to meet Andy and the conditions we fished really sucked.    Next time !   

[drew03cmc]

8 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

Andy I like your style.....you were cool a cucumber and didn't female doggy at all about the conditions. I forgot to give you some hair jigs I had tied for you leaving in a hurry like I did. We will meet up and do some off the beaten path floats this year for sure

No worries man, we will get together and float this year. It'll be spectacular. The conditions weren't great, or even good, but time on the water with new friends is always worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

25 minutes ago, Hog Wally said:

Very cool to meet Andy and the conditions we fished really sucked.    Next time !   

Looking forward to it!

[JUNGLE JIM 1]

Nice fish, even the drum. I'm sure just about anyone who fishes rivers at one time or another has hooked what we thought was a monster bass and then up pops a drum. It certainly gets your blood pumping though. How is the river looking now ???

[MOFishwater]

River looked pretty nice this morning, Jim. Looks essentially cleared up and about 'normal' level once again. Still cant see the rocks on the north side of the Eureka boat ramp (between 44 bridge and old Rt. 66 bridge) but she was pretty low for a good while prior to the recent deluge. 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I plan to hit it Saturday.

[Hog Wally]

Water temps dropped drastically. Low 40's    Back to the winter bite