Galena Ramp

[bourbeusefisher]

I have alway wanted to fish the James river. I live up by St Louis and I run my small jet boat on the Meramec all the time. I am wondering if I would be able to put in at the Galena ramp and be able to run any distance to make it a day trip trying to catch smallies?  Is there any spots that I need to be concerned about?  Thanks for the help

 

[Jadesjigs]

The water is pretty low right now and I haven't had my jet on that part of the river in a couple of weeks.  However, I usually put in at the next access downriver off the road called the Blunks.  It's a pretty rough access and parking is limited, but I don't have any problems with a front-wheel drive vehicle.  I'm pretty cautious with my boat and I don't run too far up river from there with the lower water levels.  If you go downriver from here you are pretty much in the lake and won't have any problems navigating.    There is some good fishing in this area, but I don't know if it would be worth passing the Meramec or Gasconade to fish it.  Please let me know if you have any other questions.   

[bourbeusefisher]

Thanks for the advice. We are going to put in at Blunks road. Hopefully the rain didn’t muddy up the river!

[Al Agnew]

Just fyi, if you are trying to decide whether a stream section you're not familiar with is runnable by jetboat, asking people who know is always the best, but failing that you can get some idea from looking at the river gauges.  My rule of thumb is that on a river I'm unfamiliar with, I look at the median flow for the date and then the present flow in cfs.  I want at least 400 cfs for the median flow before I assume it's USUALLY runnable this time of year.  And then I make sure the present flow is around that or more.  Right now, the James at Galena is flowing at 300 cfs or a little more and the median flow is 180 cfs.  That tells me that unless you're very familiar with the river, it isn't usually runnable very far, because 180 cfs just isn't much water.  And even though it's higher than the median flow (which is an approximation of the normal flow for this time of year), it's still below that 400 cfs point.

You can also compare the median and present flow to a river you're familiar with, like the Meramec.  The median flow for this time of year on the Meramec at Steelville is 172 cfs.  If you are comfortable running the Meramec between Steelville and the mouth of the Huzzah this time of year, you MIGHT be okay running the James, and you can assume it's comparable in size and character to the Meramec around Steelville.  On the other hand, the Meramec at Sullivan has a median flow this time of year at 349 cfs, and it's getting tricky to run in some places right now even when you're familiar with it, and you can assume the James is a little smaller than the Meramec at Sullivan at present.  Personally, I've run the Meramec above the mouth of the Huzzah this time of year, but there are places where you really, really better know exactly what line to run.

[snagged in outlet 3]

15 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

On the other hand, the Meramec at Sullivan has a median flow this time of year at 349 cfs, and it's getting tricky to run in some places right now even when you're familiar with it, and you can assume the James is a little smaller than the Meramec at Sullivan at present.

Yeah, ask that guy that tore his transom loose last week that I helped.

[bourbeusefisher]

Thanks everyone for the helpful hints. I am comfortable running the Meramec from Huzzah up this time of year but I think we will play it safe and head down stream just to play it safe.