Missouri Ozarks Fisherman Introduction

[Nick P]

Well, I have been reading this forum for a very long time and felt I should finally sign up and start participating. I have been fishing for probably 25 years and it is certainly my passion in life other than my family. I love Bass fishing as it's probably my favorite species to fish for, but do not discriminate as I truly just love the art of fishing. Give me a major lake/reservoir, small lake/pond, large river, medium size river I can canoe/kayak or a simple creek I can wade fish and I'm at home in any of them. I hope to meet other like minded people here whom I can learn from and also hopefully pass along something to others as well.

Nick P

[Bushbeater]

Welcome to the forum. Just curious, living in Sullivan, are we better off with the river as is, or a Meramec Lake. We fought it tooth and nail in the day but now I'm not so sure?

[tjm]

Nick P , welcome.

Bushbeater,  a lake is never better than a river. Not ever.

[Nick P]

7 hours ago, Bushbeater said:

Welcome to the forum. Just curious, living in Sullivan, are we better off with the river as is, or a Meramec Lake. We fought it tooth and nail in the day but now I'm not so sure?

Well, I do love the river in it's natural state. But, with that being said the only time you can really enjoy the river is during the week if you want to fish it peacefully because come the weekend its so over crowded with floaters that it's ridiculous. I sure would enjoy having a real nice size lake in my back yard. If I want to hit a lake it's 1hr 45min to LOZ, 2.5hrs to Pomme De Terre and over 3hrs to Stockton, Bull Shoals or Table Rock. Then I could pursue my ambitions of being a fishing guide, because I would know the lay of the land and terrain; you know get in at ground level, LoL

So to answer your question, I just don't know. I love the river as it is, but having a lake sure would be nice. I guess at the end of the day tjm is probably right and it should just stay as a river.

[fishinwrench]

If they dammed the lower end near the mouth you'd still have plenty of river above the lake.  And it would take a lot of pressure off the river, and relieve some pressure from the other lakes.  

Our lakes are too crowded.  We either need more lakes, or less people.  Plus more hydropower would be a good thing.

[Greasy B]

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

If they dammed the lower end near the mouth you'd still have plenty of river above the lake.  And it would take a lot of pressure off the river, and relieve some pressure from the other lakes.  

Our lakes are too crowded.  We either need more lakes, or less people.  Plus more hydropower would be a good thing.

I vote for less people. 

Welcome Nick. 

[5bites]

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

If they dammed the lower end near the mouth you'd still have plenty of river above the lake.  And it would take a lot of pressure off the river, and relieve some pressure from the other lakes.  

Our lakes are too crowded.  We either need more lakes, or less people.  Plus more hydropower would be a good thing.

Buddy! Something we see eye to eye on lol! 

 

Ive always wondered why one of the cleanest ways of power generation is ignored by the bunny huggers. I know there’s property loss and that sucks but there are definitely a slew of benefits. I’ll also admit I’m a complete hypocrite when it comes to “growing the sport.”

[Johnsfolly]

Nick P - Welcome to the party.

Now I would not advocate putting a new lake. I guess that I am a bunny hugger (though I do love a good rabbit stew ) since I think that there has been far greater harm to the river fish when you put in another dam. Oftentimes those systems never recover. Sorry Nick, but I would rather not see the river walleye and smallmouth be replaced by largemouth in a new lake system.

[Bushbeater]

We all love the natural rivers, but it seems the Meramec can't support the pressure it gets now and no one but the partyers wants to be there on a summer weekend. I realize I opened a can of worms mentioning the lake, my point is that area of river is being seriously degraded and resembles an amusement park in the summer months. My family has roots in the Leasburg area and I have fond memories of the good ole days before the State Park, Ozark Outdoors, Bass,  Huzzah Valley and the list goes on. I'm sorry but I won't even go there anymore. So what if it was a lake? Sullivan could be a Trout fishing destination and Bourbon like Branson?

[Bushbeater]

Nick P I'm sorry I hijacked your intro to the forums and glad to see you here.