New Guy

[Flysmallie]

Wow Mike, welcome aboard. I think you win the contest for the best essay in the Introduce yourself topic. Phil tell him what he's won, maybe a bumper sticker. Seriously, great introduction. I hope you are able to enjoy smallmouth fishing as much as I do.

Listen to Al, he's right, St. louis is not that bad an area.

[King Fish]

He's right.. put in on the upper meramac in the summer and throw rebel crawdad crank baits.. you'll catch smallmouth.. rainbow and brown trout.. some of the best fishing I do close to home in the summer..

PK

[OzarkKid07]

He's right.. put in on the upper meramac in the summer and throw rebel crawdad crank baits.. you'll catch smallmouth.. rainbow and brown trout.. some of the best fishing I do close to home in the summer..

PK

Wow guys! I really appreciate all the input! I will definitely go check out the upper Meramec and the surrounding streams! I didn't know there were smallies in there! You see how much I know. This is why I joined! I think it is entirely possible that what I thought was the James River is actually Springfield lake, it's just that I could've sworn that I saw a sign just before that bridge that said James River.

I don't think I could convince my wife to get in a canoe this winter, but is the Meramec the kind of river that you can walk along and fish? Also, thanks for the compliment about my intro essay; that was really funny!

Last question for now... should I go barbless on a treble-hook on a crawdad crankbait? I keep reading about barbless hooks for smallmouth and I don't necessarily want to needlessly destroy hooks OR smallmouth lips. Thanks!

[King Fish]

I pinch my barbs down with the pliers.. easier on the fish.. and easier to remove them from there mouths.. I like to float from under the hwy 8 bridge to scotts ford.. and if you go during the week.. and put in early.. you might not see many fisherman at all.. that float I think is 6.5 miles.. good luck

PK

[OzarkKid07]

I pinch my barbs down with the pliers.. easier on the fish.. and easier to remove them from there mouths.. I like to float from under the hwy 8 bridge to scotts ford.. and if you go during the week.. and put in early.. you might not see many fisherman at all.. that float I think is 6.5 miles.. good luck

PK

I'll definitely do that, but I don't think I can wait till summer. Is that stretch of the river walkable on the bank or will I need to float it? I really appreciate you sharing the info! Also, I noticed that the Meramec is near Six Flags... are there smallmouth and trout that far north?

[King Fish]

Yes.. all through the meramac.. but.. you have the trout in the upper area... good fishing

PK

[Trav]

James River Expressway is next to lake spankfield. Might be what you saw.

You will wish you had barbs if they twist you around a log or between a couple rocks.

[OzarkKid07]

James River Expressway is next to lake spankfield. Might be what you saw.

You will wish you had barbs if they twist you around a log or between a couple rocks.

So your recommendation is to keep the barbs? I guess it's just a preference thing huh? I mean, if I'm careful with removing the hook, it shouldn't be a problem at all right?

[Trav]

Its personal choice. If your expediant a barb wont harm the fish(that much).

I for one dont like to lose a hooked fish. I tend to blame myself for possible horsing too much or not enough. Plays in my head. With a barb it decreases that chance. Plus I fish some pretty knarly cover. Fish like to spin ya into places where a barb will add a little insurance.

On the flip side though, get snagged into an old tuff stump and the barb could cost ya your lure. I have a telescopic lure retriever that saves me 9 times out of 10, but that dont help when its in a tree and that sucker comes flying back at ya going 100MPH. With a barb you have to dig out the wire cutters to pull it out of your chin. haha

So like everything...use at your own risk

[flyfshn]

Welcome Mike! There are two groups in STL that you may want to consider joining....the first one is Ozark Fly Fishers and Smallmouth Alliance. OFF meets on the 4th Thursday (7pm) of every month at Queeny Park and the SA meets on the 3rd Wednesday (6 or 7) of every month at Powder Valley. I am not a member of SA yet, but met some of them at a "Teach a kid to Fly Fish" outing in October and plan to join in 2008. At the OFF meetings they have a speaker each month that talks about Fly Fishing various waters. Between all the great guys on this site and the 2 clubs, you will learn a ton and get answers to all of your questionsl