Well, it was the last day of catch and release season and soon the rivers and parks will have a few more fishermen on them. Matt McClure, Mike Bisaga, Jim Craig and Kenny Klimes, joined up with Alex Zambrano, to fish the Meramec river and Maramec Spring park one last time before they close up to get ready for opening day on March 1st.  Yes, it was cold in the morning but heated up to a balmy 35 degrees by lunch time.

Three of the guys started outside the park as Kenny was testing out a new rigging technique (that worked nicely as a matter of fact).  Mike and Kenny hit on some nice fish along some sunken logs. Mike just finished his net from Gary Elliott’s net building class and got to “christen” it right away. He built a beautiful net so check it out when you fish with him. The three fished the river until they hit the bridge pylon area and returned to the park for lunch.  We met up with Matt and Alex and fished the rest of the afternoon in the park trying for that one big fish.

Several 15+ inch rainbows were caught and Alex even picked up a nice brown in the park. Funny how fishing can change from week to week as the rainbows didn’t want the same flies from a week ago.  The best flies were nymphs, black woolybuggers and orange soft hackles.  Just goes to show you that you have to search and find the correct fly but once you do …….

We also ran into FATC member Adam Hayes on the river.  He was fishing with some friends of his.  We enjoyed a Missouri Pizza in St James on the way home and had a nice chat with “Bubba” the owner.  Remember even though the parks are closed now until March 1st, you can still fish outside the parks in any of the ribbon areas.