Every year I head to Canada to fish for the elusive Musky. Also called the fish of ten thousand casts. The perfect name for the Musky. There have been times on those trips where we would catch eight muskies in one week between eight fisherman and rave about what a great trip. Crazy! But then there is that one trip, that one trip, where all bets are off, and it doesn’t matter what you throw or use – you just catch fish – constantly! That is this trip – going after the trout of one cast!
Why should you always check out our website for the results of trips that our guy’s report on? Because the information can be “Golden”! One of our top trip reporters, Al “Scout” Harper can lead us to some of the best fishing in Missouri. Why? Because Al has been taking trips all over Missouri – checking out what works and what doesn’t. Reading his last report on fishing and floating the Meramec River caught our attention. So, Jim Craig, Charlie Trankler (here for Thanksgiving from Texas) and I (Kenny) decided to evaluate the “theory” that the Meramec River is fishing outstanding outside the park (and maybe even inside the park).
So here is our theory – the flood hit Maramec Spring Park hard too, almost as bad as Montauk State Park. Picnic tables traveled down the river (see pictures) and mud was everywhere in the park. The spring is full so the water in the park is high and murky. Tons of fish have escaped the hatchery and traveled downstream. Something will be different! So, we took Al’s advise and wanted to check it out for the FATC. Our plan was to fish outside the park all the way to dry creek. Then turn around and head back to the park (we did not fish in the park). We entered the river at our usual spot (call me if you are not familiar) and started to fish our way up the “bend” where the park waters enter the Meramec River. It so it began!!
I believe if you catch a fish on your first cast that it is bad luck, and you will have a tough day of fishing. Well, that theory is out the window! Each of our first casts produced fish, and our second casts, and our third casts, and so on. We decided to use streamers per Al “Scout” Harper’s advice from his trip report. I used an olive mohair leech as did Jim and Charlie used a special brown wooly bugger that he tied himself. We didn’t change flies until after lunch. Upstream from the bend, at the bend and downstream from the bend was – ON FIRE!! We fished to about perpendicular to the Conservation cabin and then took the gravel road to just upstream from Dry Creek. We fished up to Dry Creek, had lunch and rested our forearms.
Most of the fish we caught were rainbows with a few browns. The rainbows were not big, anywhere from 10 – 14 inches. I did catch an 18 ½” Brown and Charlie got a nice 16“ Brown (see the pictures). We also had a couple nice smallmouth bass. We checked the water temperatures which sat right at 55 degrees. What does that mean? That is right in the middle of the trout’s best metabolism range for – feeding! And feed they did!
When we returned to the river bend near the park, Jim and Charlie didn’t want to give up the streamers, but I had enough. Is it streamers they what or will they take anything? I put on nymphs, an egg pattern and IT DIDN’T MATTER. The trout were hungry and wanted whatever you showed them. Awesome. It started to get pretty cold and windy around 3:30pm and we decided we had enough – catching that is! Make sure this winter you have the proper cold weather gear. The Maramec Spring Park is free to park in the winter but remember they open at 8am and you need to be out of the park by 5pm when they shut the gates (the stop fishing siren goes off at 4pm).
So, you want to catch some trout, practice your techniques, or just relax and catch fish. I just told you where to go, and the park is open seven days per week – no excuse.
Kenny
