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... A BITE!
- Thread starter mattj
- Start date
Found me out saltwater fishn.
I didnt catch anything but I saw plenty of mullet and mud minnows being attacked out there but something. More than likely a redfish or flounder. I right next to channel mouth so I know there was atleast flounder. BUT despite the great conditions and great weather I had no bait except on fiddler I caught. I didnt have my cast net, if I did I wouldve easily had half a bucket full. This at a place people call the little jetties because at a area its full of giant rocks and is plentiful in fish and variety. I was lazy and didnt want to take off the float and floats are great for catching both flounder and reds. The outfit is the same every time I go fishing, same tackle bag, and same rod.
I didnt catch anything but I saw plenty of mullet and mud minnows being attacked out there but something. More than likely a redfish or flounder. I right next to channel mouth so I know there was atleast flounder. BUT despite the great conditions and great weather I had no bait except on fiddler I caught. I didnt have my cast net, if I did I wouldve easily had half a bucket full. This at a place people call the little jetties because at a area its full of giant rocks and is plentiful in fish and variety. I was lazy and didnt want to take off the float and floats are great for catching both flounder and reds. The outfit is the same every time I go fishing, same tackle bag, and same rod.
mattj
blatant Nintendo fanboy
nothing
ab
solute
ly
n o
t h i n g
I took off work yesterday to go fishing with my buddy Scott. Scott's a good guy and any time I get to spend time with him is a good time, but I swear to Glob he has a fishing curse on him or something. Every time I go fishing with him its like the fish all go on a diet or something. We left to fish at about noon yesterday, and came home at 9:30 last night. I think between the two of us we had about 3 nibbles total for the entire day. I haven't experienced that bad of a fishing trip in years.
There are numerous factors that can go into whether or not you're successful at fishing.
We first tried fishing at the Meramec River, at that spot where I had so many bites and caught a few really good fish last weekend. Nothing. So we took a short hike through the woods and found a hidden lake that literally no one ever fishes at. Nothing. So we headed to the Catawissa Conservation Area and fished at the second branch of the second lake, where I have personally caught tons of fish. Nothing. Then we went to the first branch of the second lake, where I have also personally caught many fish. Again, nothing. It wasn't our location.
It also wasn't the number of fish that was the problem. The whole 9 and a half hours we were just amazed at all the fish jumping and snapping and zipping all over the place. There were so many enormous Vs in the water, and huge swirls all over the water. Fish were literally swimming right up to the edge of the shore where we were standing, then spinning around with a big SPLOSH and zooming back out into the water. Gar were snapping and jumping all around our bobbers and bait. Grass carp were rolling and flopping all across the lakes. The fish were definitely there, tons of them.
The temperature yesterday was just perfect. I think it was around 58 in the morning, and then warmed up to like 78. You can't beat that kind of weather. I've caught fish at much cooler and hotter temperatures than that. The weather wasn't a problem.
Patience wasn't an issue either. We spent at least 2 hours a piece at each spot. And we left our bait out there without screwing around with it.
Considering that we fished from 12-9 I don't think the time of day was a problem either. I've caught plenty of fish in those spots during that time of day too.
The types of fish in the water weren't a problem either. I could visibly identify plenty of Catfish, Gar, and Grass Carp. You can tell when a catfish rolls on the water, because they have smooth, scaleless bodiers, and unique barbed fins. You can tell when a gar strikes at the surface because they snap their jaws shut really, really loudly. You can tell when a grass carp rolls on top of the water because they look like giant goldfish, with noticeably orange fins and yellow bellies. There are fish in our area that actually don't eat bait, like asian carp and some sucker fish, but each of those fish that we identified are the kinds of fish that eat the bait we had out there. We had the right kinds of fish out there.
Obviously, something as complicated as how hungry a fish is is really difficult to tell, but at least for the Gar that we saw, they looked pretty hungry to us. They were chasing schools of minnows that were visible on the surface.
We were also using the right bait for the fish. Each of us had 3 poles out, with different bait on each pole. We had worms, hot dogs, bacon, cat fish dough bait, wheaties dough bait, and cut chicken out at each location. We've both caught plenty of fish, and most importantly, all of the fish that we saw at each location on each of the baits we were using. We also had various sizes of bait. I had 3 poles with very large globs of bait on very large trebble hooks, while Scott had smaller trebble hooks and straight hooks with smaller sizes of bait, in case there were smaller pan fish around.
Water clarity could have been an issue at the Meramec River because it had rained a few days ago and the River was up a little bit. But at the hidden lake and the Catawissa Conservation Area the lakes weren't any muddier than normal.
BLAHBLAHBLAH YOU DIDN'T CATCH ANYTHING STOP COMPLAINING
Regardless of the reasons that we didn't catch anything, we actually had a great time. The weather was i n c r e d i b l e, we hiked about 8 miles total, found a hidden lake, saw tons of gigantic fish flopping and swimming all over the place, oh and Scott fell in the lake while trying to wash his hands. He was like "Man, this water doesn't look very deep", then slipped in at the shoreline up to his neck. I'll be ribbing him about that for a long time! Plus, we got to spend 9 hours together shooting the breeze about everything from family, to politics, to religion, to the zombie apocalypse. All in all, it really was a good day. Its just too bad we had to come back empty handed.
Oh, and the way I look at it, I used up all my bad luck for the year yesterday, so next weekend's fishing trip at the lake will be extra lucky!
ab
solute
ly
n o
t h i n g
I took off work yesterday to go fishing with my buddy Scott. Scott's a good guy and any time I get to spend time with him is a good time, but I swear to Glob he has a fishing curse on him or something. Every time I go fishing with him its like the fish all go on a diet or something. We left to fish at about noon yesterday, and came home at 9:30 last night. I think between the two of us we had about 3 nibbles total for the entire day. I haven't experienced that bad of a fishing trip in years.
There are numerous factors that can go into whether or not you're successful at fishing.
- what bait you use
- where you fish
- the number of fish where you're fishing
- temperature
- patience
- time of day
- what type of fish
- how hungry the fish are
- using the right bait for the fish
- water clarity
We first tried fishing at the Meramec River, at that spot where I had so many bites and caught a few really good fish last weekend. Nothing. So we took a short hike through the woods and found a hidden lake that literally no one ever fishes at. Nothing. So we headed to the Catawissa Conservation Area and fished at the second branch of the second lake, where I have personally caught tons of fish. Nothing. Then we went to the first branch of the second lake, where I have also personally caught many fish. Again, nothing. It wasn't our location.
It also wasn't the number of fish that was the problem. The whole 9 and a half hours we were just amazed at all the fish jumping and snapping and zipping all over the place. There were so many enormous Vs in the water, and huge swirls all over the water. Fish were literally swimming right up to the edge of the shore where we were standing, then spinning around with a big SPLOSH and zooming back out into the water. Gar were snapping and jumping all around our bobbers and bait. Grass carp were rolling and flopping all across the lakes. The fish were definitely there, tons of them.
The temperature yesterday was just perfect. I think it was around 58 in the morning, and then warmed up to like 78. You can't beat that kind of weather. I've caught fish at much cooler and hotter temperatures than that. The weather wasn't a problem.
Patience wasn't an issue either. We spent at least 2 hours a piece at each spot. And we left our bait out there without screwing around with it.
Considering that we fished from 12-9 I don't think the time of day was a problem either. I've caught plenty of fish in those spots during that time of day too.
The types of fish in the water weren't a problem either. I could visibly identify plenty of Catfish, Gar, and Grass Carp. You can tell when a catfish rolls on the water, because they have smooth, scaleless bodiers, and unique barbed fins. You can tell when a gar strikes at the surface because they snap their jaws shut really, really loudly. You can tell when a grass carp rolls on top of the water because they look like giant goldfish, with noticeably orange fins and yellow bellies. There are fish in our area that actually don't eat bait, like asian carp and some sucker fish, but each of those fish that we identified are the kinds of fish that eat the bait we had out there. We had the right kinds of fish out there.
Obviously, something as complicated as how hungry a fish is is really difficult to tell, but at least for the Gar that we saw, they looked pretty hungry to us. They were chasing schools of minnows that were visible on the surface.
We were also using the right bait for the fish. Each of us had 3 poles out, with different bait on each pole. We had worms, hot dogs, bacon, cat fish dough bait, wheaties dough bait, and cut chicken out at each location. We've both caught plenty of fish, and most importantly, all of the fish that we saw at each location on each of the baits we were using. We also had various sizes of bait. I had 3 poles with very large globs of bait on very large trebble hooks, while Scott had smaller trebble hooks and straight hooks with smaller sizes of bait, in case there were smaller pan fish around.
Water clarity could have been an issue at the Meramec River because it had rained a few days ago and the River was up a little bit. But at the hidden lake and the Catawissa Conservation Area the lakes weren't any muddier than normal.
BLAHBLAHBLAH YOU DIDN'T CATCH ANYTHING STOP COMPLAINING
Regardless of the reasons that we didn't catch anything, we actually had a great time. The weather was i n c r e d i b l e, we hiked about 8 miles total, found a hidden lake, saw tons of gigantic fish flopping and swimming all over the place, oh and Scott fell in the lake while trying to wash his hands. He was like "Man, this water doesn't look very deep", then slipped in at the shoreline up to his neck. I'll be ribbing him about that for a long time! Plus, we got to spend 9 hours together shooting the breeze about everything from family, to politics, to religion, to the zombie apocalypse. All in all, it really was a good day. Its just too bad we had to come back empty handed.
Oh, and the way I look at it, I used up all my bad luck for the year yesterday, so next weekend's fishing trip at the lake will be extra lucky!
mattj
blatant Nintendo fanboy
So two weeks ago my mother and her boyfriend invited us to camp with them down at Table Rock Lake in southwestern Missouri.
Lilly with the world's largest alligator gar ever caught on pole and line.
Lilly at the live gar tank.
A 7 or so foot, endangered pallid sturgeon.
We were about an hour ahead of schedule, so I swung by the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. For those of you who haven't been there, its probably the largest outdoor store in the world. They have dozens of large tanks with enormous and sometimes endangered local Missouri aquatic life too. I wanted to show Lilly all the big fish and ducks and turtles and stuff. She was very excited and surprisingly could name most of the fish herself! I was very proud of that. :3
I assumed that we were heading to your average pay-for camp site, but as we turned onto the gravel road that led to the sites it quickly became apparent it was not. The road was unmarked, not taken care of, and extremely steep. I seriously thought our car would slide off the road and down the valley creeping along a few turns. When we got down there, there were no marked or appropriated camp sites. People just cleared out an area and set up camp wherever they want. No bathrooms. No running water. No electricity. Hardly any people.
it
was
perfect
!!
This is definitely my kind of camping. As you can tell from the picture, the land sloped very gently off into the water and continued the clean, open, gentle slope for hundreds of feet. It was perfect for swimming. They had cleared out the spot where we had camped before we got there too.
I moved our tent from the campsite down to the water's edge Saturday evening. The campsite was cleared out, but there were still a lot of trees around. I wanted Lilly to have an unobstructed view of the stars. There weren't any towns for miles and there were no other campers down on the beach, so we had an amazing view of the stars that night. I showed her satellites (although I kind of don't think she understood or saw what I was pointing at hahaha). I also saw several shooting stars. I told Lilly that if she saw a shooting star she could make a wish and it would come true. She got the most excited look on her face and said "DADDY I'M GONNA WISH FOR POWER RANGER CLOTHES SO I CAN BE A REAL POWER RANGER!!"
I didn't have much time to fish. Lilly is only 4, so I had to keep a close eye on her the whole time. But she had such a good time the whole time and told me she can't wait to go camping again! Its experiences like these that I had in my very early childhood that gave me this deep love and appreciation of the outdoors. It was a great trip for both of us!
So then last night I went fishing with my father for a few hours.
The fish I took home.
A decent catfish.
A really oddly colored flathead catfish.
When i was in elementary school in New Haven Missouri, my principal was David Menke. His family owns tons of land west of New Haven along the Missouri River bluffs and through the valleys around there. They've got several lakes and ponds and trails through the woods. And they're nice enough to let anybody come out and camp and fish and hike or whatever. I wanted to see my dad for Father's Day, so we went fishing out at his largest lake. It was maybe 10 or so acres. It had several nice docks and a pavilion and a couple boats and canoes.
I haven't done any serious lure fishing for years and years, but they were biting like crazy on broken-tail minnows and yellow rooster tails. Its been years since I've caught any largemouth bass too. There really aren't that many where I usually fish around Pacific. It was nice to catch some for a change. They weren't huge, but they were big enough and I've got 3 more meals in the freezer now.
When I was reeling in that second catfish there I seriously thought I had hooked some kind of Japanese koi. The picture doesn't do it justice, but that fish was the oddest, brightest, shiniest shade of gold with dark black splotches and a bright white belly, just like some koi. I've caught lots of flathead catfish, and they're always drab brown with ugly dark brown splotches, but this one was significantly prettier. I guess it was a shiny??
The fish were biting really well, and I had planned on staying late into the night to catch more catfish, but a storm rolled in very quickly and we had to pack up and get back to town. We made it back before it really started getting crazy, but we were lucky because it was a pretty rough storm. I had a great few hours out that evening with my dad.
I miss living in New Haven.
And now for afish turtle story.
no that is not me in the picture and that is not a picture of the turtle that got away
So my dad and I were fishing on this dock in about 10 feet of water. We had those fish on a stringer with the metal spike stuck into a crack in the dock with the fish a couple inches below the water's surface. They flopped around every now and then but we didn't think anything of it because we knew they couldn't get loose.
I had to get something from the pavillion, so I turned around and happened to have looked at the stringer. The metal spike was bent sideways, the line was taut, and a huge bubble belched up from below the dock.
yup
there was a turtle eating my fish
So I had my pole in my right hand and I reached down with my left hand to pull the fish up.
i couldn't
So I put my pole down and pulled with both hands. I managed to get its head out of the water. Judging by the size of that man's hands in that picture, this turtle was significantly bigger than that one there. When I make a circle with my thumbs and forefingers, its head was much bigger than that. The one in the picture up there was 45 pounds according to the website. I couldn't lift this one out of the water with both hands. I noticed it had a smooth back like the one in the picture so I knew it was a common snapping turtle and not an endangered alligator snapping turtle, so I figured I'd scoop it up in the dipnet and try to catch it. I hollered at my dad to scoop it up with the dipnet to help me lift it out.
it
couldn't
fit
in
the
dip
net
!!!
So I stood there holding this turtle half way out of the water trying to figure out what to do next. I thought about dragging it over to the shore, but then what? I couldn't do very much to keep it from just waltzing back into the lake. I didn't have my shoes on, and even if I did it could bite right through them, should I try to step on its shell to keep it in place. I couldn't lift it straight up out of the water either and we couldn't capture it in the dip net. Plus it wasn't actually hooked on anything it was just biting onto the stringer itself and could let go at any time.
For a moment I actually thought about reaching down and grabbing it by its huge neck.
yeah and then I realized its mouth was easily big enough to bite off my entire hand so yeah no
About that time it just let go of the stringer and we watched it swim back under the dock. It was a missed opportunity, but a really memorable one. I've fished for 23 years now, and my dad for 43, and that's the largest common snapping turtle either of us have I've ever seen. You don't get to see turtles like that out in the wild every day. I was so stunned at being unprepared at the situation and trying to figure out how to get that turtle in my possession that it didn't even cross my mind to take a picture. I really wish I would have.
Oh haha! Plus, since it bit the stringer and not the fish I didn't lose any fish!!!
Lilly with the world's largest alligator gar ever caught on pole and line.
Lilly at the live gar tank.
A 7 or so foot, endangered pallid sturgeon.
We were about an hour ahead of schedule, so I swung by the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. For those of you who haven't been there, its probably the largest outdoor store in the world. They have dozens of large tanks with enormous and sometimes endangered local Missouri aquatic life too. I wanted to show Lilly all the big fish and ducks and turtles and stuff. She was very excited and surprisingly could name most of the fish herself! I was very proud of that. :3
I assumed that we were heading to your average pay-for camp site, but as we turned onto the gravel road that led to the sites it quickly became apparent it was not. The road was unmarked, not taken care of, and extremely steep. I seriously thought our car would slide off the road and down the valley creeping along a few turns. When we got down there, there were no marked or appropriated camp sites. People just cleared out an area and set up camp wherever they want. No bathrooms. No running water. No electricity. Hardly any people.
it
was
perfect
!!
This is definitely my kind of camping. As you can tell from the picture, the land sloped very gently off into the water and continued the clean, open, gentle slope for hundreds of feet. It was perfect for swimming. They had cleared out the spot where we had camped before we got there too.
I moved our tent from the campsite down to the water's edge Saturday evening. The campsite was cleared out, but there were still a lot of trees around. I wanted Lilly to have an unobstructed view of the stars. There weren't any towns for miles and there were no other campers down on the beach, so we had an amazing view of the stars that night. I showed her satellites (although I kind of don't think she understood or saw what I was pointing at hahaha). I also saw several shooting stars. I told Lilly that if she saw a shooting star she could make a wish and it would come true. She got the most excited look on her face and said "DADDY I'M GONNA WISH FOR POWER RANGER CLOTHES SO I CAN BE A REAL POWER RANGER!!"
I didn't have much time to fish. Lilly is only 4, so I had to keep a close eye on her the whole time. But she had such a good time the whole time and told me she can't wait to go camping again! Its experiences like these that I had in my very early childhood that gave me this deep love and appreciation of the outdoors. It was a great trip for both of us!
So then last night I went fishing with my father for a few hours.
The fish I took home.
A decent catfish.
A really oddly colored flathead catfish.
When i was in elementary school in New Haven Missouri, my principal was David Menke. His family owns tons of land west of New Haven along the Missouri River bluffs and through the valleys around there. They've got several lakes and ponds and trails through the woods. And they're nice enough to let anybody come out and camp and fish and hike or whatever. I wanted to see my dad for Father's Day, so we went fishing out at his largest lake. It was maybe 10 or so acres. It had several nice docks and a pavilion and a couple boats and canoes.
I haven't done any serious lure fishing for years and years, but they were biting like crazy on broken-tail minnows and yellow rooster tails. Its been years since I've caught any largemouth bass too. There really aren't that many where I usually fish around Pacific. It was nice to catch some for a change. They weren't huge, but they were big enough and I've got 3 more meals in the freezer now.
When I was reeling in that second catfish there I seriously thought I had hooked some kind of Japanese koi. The picture doesn't do it justice, but that fish was the oddest, brightest, shiniest shade of gold with dark black splotches and a bright white belly, just like some koi. I've caught lots of flathead catfish, and they're always drab brown with ugly dark brown splotches, but this one was significantly prettier. I guess it was a shiny??
The fish were biting really well, and I had planned on staying late into the night to catch more catfish, but a storm rolled in very quickly and we had to pack up and get back to town. We made it back before it really started getting crazy, but we were lucky because it was a pretty rough storm. I had a great few hours out that evening with my dad.
I miss living in New Haven.
And now for a
no that is not me in the picture and that is not a picture of the turtle that got away
So my dad and I were fishing on this dock in about 10 feet of water. We had those fish on a stringer with the metal spike stuck into a crack in the dock with the fish a couple inches below the water's surface. They flopped around every now and then but we didn't think anything of it because we knew they couldn't get loose.
I had to get something from the pavillion, so I turned around and happened to have looked at the stringer. The metal spike was bent sideways, the line was taut, and a huge bubble belched up from below the dock.
yup
there was a turtle eating my fish
So I had my pole in my right hand and I reached down with my left hand to pull the fish up.
i couldn't
So I put my pole down and pulled with both hands. I managed to get its head out of the water. Judging by the size of that man's hands in that picture, this turtle was significantly bigger than that one there. When I make a circle with my thumbs and forefingers, its head was much bigger than that. The one in the picture up there was 45 pounds according to the website. I couldn't lift this one out of the water with both hands. I noticed it had a smooth back like the one in the picture so I knew it was a common snapping turtle and not an endangered alligator snapping turtle, so I figured I'd scoop it up in the dipnet and try to catch it. I hollered at my dad to scoop it up with the dipnet to help me lift it out.
it
couldn't
fit
in
the
dip
net
!!!
So I stood there holding this turtle half way out of the water trying to figure out what to do next. I thought about dragging it over to the shore, but then what? I couldn't do very much to keep it from just waltzing back into the lake. I didn't have my shoes on, and even if I did it could bite right through them, should I try to step on its shell to keep it in place. I couldn't lift it straight up out of the water either and we couldn't capture it in the dip net. Plus it wasn't actually hooked on anything it was just biting onto the stringer itself and could let go at any time.
For a moment I actually thought about reaching down and grabbing it by its huge neck.
yeah and then I realized its mouth was easily big enough to bite off my entire hand so yeah no
About that time it just let go of the stringer and we watched it swim back under the dock. It was a missed opportunity, but a really memorable one. I've fished for 23 years now, and my dad for 43, and that's the largest common snapping turtle either of us have I've ever seen. You don't get to see turtles like that out in the wild every day. I was so stunned at being unprepared at the situation and trying to figure out how to get that turtle in my possession that it didn't even cross my mind to take a picture. I really wish I would have.
Oh haha! Plus, since it bit the stringer and not the fish I didn't lose any fish!!!
In about a week my buddy and his brother are heading up to Wisconsin to a cabin they stay at every year. They bring groceries just in case, but what they mostly like to do is eat nothing but fish they catch. I've never fished before, and I gotta say I'm kinda looking forward to seeing if I enjoy it. And I better, or else we probably won't be eating well hah.
mattj
blatant Nintendo fanboy
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!
The 3-mile-or-so hike to the island.
So the Meramec River has been really low lately, which is usually better for fishing. In my experience it kind of funnels fish into smaller areas and they just seem to be hungrier. When the river is low and you find a deep hole you're pretty much guaranteed at least a few fish.
Because the river is so low right now a lot of new areas are accessible that aren't possibly accessible without a boat when the water is any higher. Gravel bars will poke out here and there and the shore is easier to walk. I've been eyeing this little island where the river forks for a long time. Last weekend the river finally got low enough to get to it. I walked the nice trail from the parking lot through the woods to the beach and then walked through the woods to the lower beach and around the riverbend and finally all the way down the beach to the end of the gravel bar. The gravel bar didn't reach all the way to the island, but I noticed the water was pretty shallow. I walked through the ankle deep water all the way to the island's shore. On the right side of the ankle deep water, about 20 feet out, the current ran by and it got very deep. On the left side, the water forked around the island and got about 10 feet deep, but much slower. It was a nice deep hole!
It was getting dark by the time I got settled, so I took some small sticks and stuck them in the water to mark where it was shallow. I didn't want it to get dark and me not know where the trail through the water was and wander into the deep. I m m e d i a t e l y I got bites, and pretty quickly I saw what was doing the biting. A fairly large, mature alligator gar stuck its head out of the water, jaws open, thrashing and snapping. This was e x a c t l y what I was hoping for!
As I've noted before, the hard thing about catching gar is that their mouths are ridiculously tough and hard to even pierce with your hook. Most of the time you'll fight and fight and fight them all the way to the water's edge . . . and they'll just open their mouths and casually let go of your hook. This is pretty much what happened for the next 2 hours. I landed one small softshell turtle that I divvyed up for bait, but I could not land any of these gar. I'd cast out, they'd immediately take it under and run all over the place, I'd jerk and fight them in a few feet . . . and they'd let go. It wasn't frustrating though. It was a ton of fun!
This went on till about 10:00. It was pitch black, the stars were out, and I was in a deep valley where there wasn't any moonlight. Thank God for my night bobbers! After 10 though, they had either moved on or eaten their fill of my bait because bites were fewer and farther between. I sat their quietly on my little stool, at the water's edge staring intently at my bobbers, waiting for the slightest wobble.
then i heard this noise at my feet
this weird sloppy panting noise
I guess when I looked down it startled him just as much as he startled me because off into the water with a gigantic S L A P of the tail he went. After calming down I grabbed my flashlight and spotted him swimming around a ways off. Didn't even hear him swim or walk up. I guess he didn't see or hear me either.
Now some people might think that beavers are cute furry animals. Look at those chubby fuzzy faces! And don't forget the Angry Beavers! Oh those gaise!
no
they are killers
If they can bite through a tree they'll have no problem biting through your finger, or you leg for that matter. And every confrontation I've ever had with them has ended with them raising their hair on their back and hissing like a cat. A big, angry cat with teeth that can snap your leg. If you're anywhere near their den they'll be pretty aggressive.
Needless to say I packed up asap and headed home. I even accidentally left behind one of my pole holders. Hopefully this weekend I'll try the same place, but bring a lantern, and hopefully a friend, so surprises like that don't happen again.
Meramec Spring!
The crystal clear spring at the very start of the muddy river I most often fish in.
Lilly feeding the fish at the trout hatchery.
I seriously cannot understand how water this clear gets so muddy so fast.
Last Saturday we made a trip to Meramec Spring. The main body of water in my area is the Meramec River and its many tributaries and oxbow lakes. Just 40 miles up the highway is the spring where the river itself starts. Its a neatly kept state park with lots of trails and a museum and places to fish and feed the fish. Its also a trout hatchery. My parent's wanted to take the kids out, so we all headed to Meramec Spring.
At first, my 4 year old daughter wasn't interested in seeing any fish. She wanted to spend all her time at the playground. But as soon as she saw the thousands upon thousands of teeming fish in the hatchery area she was hooked. You can get a handful of fishfood pellets for a quarter at candy machines along the hatcheries, and we did that, but luckily one of the conservation workers happened to be walking by with a big pail of feed as we were looking at the fish and Lilly got to feed them with big handfulls from the bucket. She loved it! Its stuff like this, seeing gigantic trout in pristine springs, feeding thousands of fish by hand, that put a real love of fishing and the outdoors in me when I was so small. I hope it has the same effect on my little girl as it did on me.
CRAP SCOTT! ITS THE FUZZ! DROP THE FISH AND RUN!!
My catfish and gar and Scott's drum.
Longest gar of the season! It's probably the longest gar I've ever caught.
A nice blue catfish.
dem teef (this picture looks pretty amazing in 3D you can like peer down its throat)
So it was crazy hot yesterday. It hit 108 here in Missouri. I figured the fish wouldn't be biting during the day, so my bud Scott and I headed out last night around 8PM. It was much cooler by then. We set up on a gravel bar down where the River makes a hard left turn that usually isn't accessible. It got us much further out into the river than we usually get to fish.
I had 2 poles with worms on them and another pole with a mussel I had picked. Scott had 1 pole with little breakfast sausage links and 2 poles with worms. I had a few bites, but Scott kept literally having his sausage pole yanked out of his pole holder into the water. Once it almost dragged it off into the deep. He never hooked whatever was yanking his pole so hard though, so we figured it was a couple of large gar.
I ended up landing that one gar up there on some worms, and later that evening as I was butcherin' 'em up I opened the stomach aaaaaaaaaaaand. . . sure enough x) It was full of sausage links! That's the first time I've verifiably been able to say "sorry bro... I stole your fish..." I landed the catfish a little while after. Scott pulled in that drum, which is actually a decent drum, but my 2 fish are just so much longer that it looks small. :/ He didn't feel like cleaning it so he gave it to me!
The moon was super bright last night. The spot where we were at was really secluded behind steep valley walls and we were pretty far away from any lights so the stars were super bright too. There was almost no breeze, so the water was crystal clear and the moon and stars and hills reflected right off of the surface. It was pretty nice and cool by the time the sun had gone down. We had a good time talking and pulling in fish. Oh and I kept trying to get through the E4 in White, but stupid fish kept biting our bait so I only made it through 2 battles. Firstworldproblems right?
anyhoo
At about 10:30 we packed up and hiked back. We got back to the parking lot by 11:30. We both threw our stuff in our cars and hopped in. As I turned on my car I noticed bright headlights coming our way. I thought that was odd because almost nobody comes out there that late at night. A car pulled up.
and then he flipped on his cop lights lol
He just kind of pulled up and we rolled down our windows. He asked what I was doing out there. I told him we had caught some fish. He asked me if I knew what time the conservation area closed. I told him I didn't think it closed at all. He said there was a sign over by the boat ramp that said the area closed at 10PM. It was 11:30 PM.
c r a p
I've fished in the Pacific Palisades Conservation Area for years now and I had never read anything about the area closing at 10PM, but I wasn't about to argue with a cop out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. He checked our IDs and asked us a few questions, looked at my fish, and let us go. We both didn't appreciate being told we had to leave, even though we were leaving, but the cop was cool enough and just let us go. They do have a lot of partiers who just drink and get wasted and tear stuff up on the first beach, so I'm sure he was just making sure we weren't causing trouble, but we were both pretty sure that the cop was wrong and that you could fish there at any hour.
I checked on the conservation page for Pacific Palisade's Conservation Area at lunch today. Yeah, he was mistaken.
Next time I'm out there I'll grab a pamphlet so I can have it on hand to explain the hours to any overzealous cops that ask us to leave.
The 3-mile-or-so hike to the island.
So the Meramec River has been really low lately, which is usually better for fishing. In my experience it kind of funnels fish into smaller areas and they just seem to be hungrier. When the river is low and you find a deep hole you're pretty much guaranteed at least a few fish.
Because the river is so low right now a lot of new areas are accessible that aren't possibly accessible without a boat when the water is any higher. Gravel bars will poke out here and there and the shore is easier to walk. I've been eyeing this little island where the river forks for a long time. Last weekend the river finally got low enough to get to it. I walked the nice trail from the parking lot through the woods to the beach and then walked through the woods to the lower beach and around the riverbend and finally all the way down the beach to the end of the gravel bar. The gravel bar didn't reach all the way to the island, but I noticed the water was pretty shallow. I walked through the ankle deep water all the way to the island's shore. On the right side of the ankle deep water, about 20 feet out, the current ran by and it got very deep. On the left side, the water forked around the island and got about 10 feet deep, but much slower. It was a nice deep hole!
It was getting dark by the time I got settled, so I took some small sticks and stuck them in the water to mark where it was shallow. I didn't want it to get dark and me not know where the trail through the water was and wander into the deep. I m m e d i a t e l y I got bites, and pretty quickly I saw what was doing the biting. A fairly large, mature alligator gar stuck its head out of the water, jaws open, thrashing and snapping. This was e x a c t l y what I was hoping for!
As I've noted before, the hard thing about catching gar is that their mouths are ridiculously tough and hard to even pierce with your hook. Most of the time you'll fight and fight and fight them all the way to the water's edge . . . and they'll just open their mouths and casually let go of your hook. This is pretty much what happened for the next 2 hours. I landed one small softshell turtle that I divvyed up for bait, but I could not land any of these gar. I'd cast out, they'd immediately take it under and run all over the place, I'd jerk and fight them in a few feet . . . and they'd let go. It wasn't frustrating though. It was a ton of fun!
This went on till about 10:00. It was pitch black, the stars were out, and I was in a deep valley where there wasn't any moonlight. Thank God for my night bobbers! After 10 though, they had either moved on or eaten their fill of my bait because bites were fewer and farther between. I sat their quietly on my little stool, at the water's edge staring intently at my bobbers, waiting for the slightest wobble.
then i heard this noise at my feet
this weird sloppy panting noise
I guess when I looked down it startled him just as much as he startled me because off into the water with a gigantic S L A P of the tail he went. After calming down I grabbed my flashlight and spotted him swimming around a ways off. Didn't even hear him swim or walk up. I guess he didn't see or hear me either.
Now some people might think that beavers are cute furry animals. Look at those chubby fuzzy faces! And don't forget the Angry Beavers! Oh those gaise!
no
they are killers
If they can bite through a tree they'll have no problem biting through your finger, or you leg for that matter. And every confrontation I've ever had with them has ended with them raising their hair on their back and hissing like a cat. A big, angry cat with teeth that can snap your leg. If you're anywhere near their den they'll be pretty aggressive.
Needless to say I packed up asap and headed home. I even accidentally left behind one of my pole holders. Hopefully this weekend I'll try the same place, but bring a lantern, and hopefully a friend, so surprises like that don't happen again.
Meramec Spring!
The crystal clear spring at the very start of the muddy river I most often fish in.
Lilly feeding the fish at the trout hatchery.
I seriously cannot understand how water this clear gets so muddy so fast.
Last Saturday we made a trip to Meramec Spring. The main body of water in my area is the Meramec River and its many tributaries and oxbow lakes. Just 40 miles up the highway is the spring where the river itself starts. Its a neatly kept state park with lots of trails and a museum and places to fish and feed the fish. Its also a trout hatchery. My parent's wanted to take the kids out, so we all headed to Meramec Spring.
At first, my 4 year old daughter wasn't interested in seeing any fish. She wanted to spend all her time at the playground. But as soon as she saw the thousands upon thousands of teeming fish in the hatchery area she was hooked. You can get a handful of fishfood pellets for a quarter at candy machines along the hatcheries, and we did that, but luckily one of the conservation workers happened to be walking by with a big pail of feed as we were looking at the fish and Lilly got to feed them with big handfulls from the bucket. She loved it! Its stuff like this, seeing gigantic trout in pristine springs, feeding thousands of fish by hand, that put a real love of fishing and the outdoors in me when I was so small. I hope it has the same effect on my little girl as it did on me.
CRAP SCOTT! ITS THE FUZZ! DROP THE FISH AND RUN!!
My catfish and gar and Scott's drum.
Longest gar of the season! It's probably the longest gar I've ever caught.
A nice blue catfish.
dem teef (this picture looks pretty amazing in 3D you can like peer down its throat)
So it was crazy hot yesterday. It hit 108 here in Missouri. I figured the fish wouldn't be biting during the day, so my bud Scott and I headed out last night around 8PM. It was much cooler by then. We set up on a gravel bar down where the River makes a hard left turn that usually isn't accessible. It got us much further out into the river than we usually get to fish.
I had 2 poles with worms on them and another pole with a mussel I had picked. Scott had 1 pole with little breakfast sausage links and 2 poles with worms. I had a few bites, but Scott kept literally having his sausage pole yanked out of his pole holder into the water. Once it almost dragged it off into the deep. He never hooked whatever was yanking his pole so hard though, so we figured it was a couple of large gar.
I ended up landing that one gar up there on some worms, and later that evening as I was butcherin' 'em up I opened the stomach aaaaaaaaaaaand. . . sure enough x) It was full of sausage links! That's the first time I've verifiably been able to say "sorry bro... I stole your fish..." I landed the catfish a little while after. Scott pulled in that drum, which is actually a decent drum, but my 2 fish are just so much longer that it looks small. :/ He didn't feel like cleaning it so he gave it to me!
The moon was super bright last night. The spot where we were at was really secluded behind steep valley walls and we were pretty far away from any lights so the stars were super bright too. There was almost no breeze, so the water was crystal clear and the moon and stars and hills reflected right off of the surface. It was pretty nice and cool by the time the sun had gone down. We had a good time talking and pulling in fish. Oh and I kept trying to get through the E4 in White, but stupid fish kept biting our bait so I only made it through 2 battles. Firstworldproblems right?
anyhoo
At about 10:30 we packed up and hiked back. We got back to the parking lot by 11:30. We both threw our stuff in our cars and hopped in. As I turned on my car I noticed bright headlights coming our way. I thought that was odd because almost nobody comes out there that late at night. A car pulled up.
and then he flipped on his cop lights lol
He just kind of pulled up and we rolled down our windows. He asked what I was doing out there. I told him we had caught some fish. He asked me if I knew what time the conservation area closed. I told him I didn't think it closed at all. He said there was a sign over by the boat ramp that said the area closed at 10PM. It was 11:30 PM.
c r a p
I've fished in the Pacific Palisades Conservation Area for years now and I had never read anything about the area closing at 10PM, but I wasn't about to argue with a cop out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. He checked our IDs and asked us a few questions, looked at my fish, and let us go. We both didn't appreciate being told we had to leave, even though we were leaving, but the cop was cool enough and just let us go. They do have a lot of partiers who just drink and get wasted and tear stuff up on the first beach, so I'm sure he was just making sure we weren't causing trouble, but we were both pretty sure that the cop was wrong and that you could fish there at any hour.
I checked on the conservation page for Pacific Palisade's Conservation Area at lunch today. Yeah, he was mistaken.
sourcemdc.mo.gov said:
Next time I'm out there I'll grab a pamphlet so I can have it on hand to explain the hours to any overzealous cops that ask us to leave.
mattj
blatant Nintendo fanboy
Tonight's catch.
Largest longnose gar I've ever caught!
A decent asian carp.
Just before sundown this evening I went back to the gravel bar where the Meramec River makes a hard left turn in the Pacific Palisades Conservation Area. As soon as I stopped to set up I noticed a huge school of asian carp feeding at the surface. There were so many that the surface was bubbling. I grabbed one pole with a large trebble hook and a bell sinker about 18 inches up and looped 4 more large trebble hooks and another bell sinker spread about 6 feet up the line. I cast into the middle of the school a few times and snagged that carp up there in the back. Snagging is a really fun way to fish (for non-game fish that is, you can't legally snag game fish in Missouri) because you can see the fish right in front of you. And in the case of these asian carp, you literally can't catch them any other way because they're filter feeders so they're not interested in any bait. Not too many people actually catch them on purpose like this, but when you know where they're at and you set your line up right they're a pretty fun time. I was lazy while filleting this carp, so I left the extra bones in it and will just eat it myself. My wife hates bones and I don't really want to give anything with bones to my daughter yet.
A little later I noticed a fairly large gar snapping at my bobber way off in the distance. I thought it had grabbed my bait and taken it under because I saw my bobber go under, but as soon as I jerked I saw the fish in front of my bobber, not below it. It had gotten its teeth tangled in the line. I drug it all the way to the shore, praying that it wouldn't get loose, but sure enough it did get loose. In frustration I gave one last jerk, and wouldn't you know it, the line was still inside its mouth and the trebble hook dug into the back corner of its jaw. I drug it onto the shore where it snapped through the line and started flopping around. I hopped on it and kicked it further up the shore so I could go grab the stringer. Amazingly I didn't get bit once! As you can see from the pic below, this thing has some teeth!
This is the largest longnose gar, and the longest of any gar for that matter, that I've ever caught! I thought at first that I might have some kind of record because I remember my highschool bud Brent Meyer still has the record for some kind of gar and it was only like 3 feet long, and this one was around that long (turns out mine was 3 feet 1 inch). But when I got home and looked it up, Brent's record was for spotted gar, and this was a longnose gar. Longnose gar get much bigger than this haha! Either way, its a personal record for me. It was great to see the look on my daughter's face when I brought it in the house! Its also nice to know that spot on the river has a healthy population of large fish. And man, you should have seen the fillets! There's 4 of them and they're like 2 feet long!
Took a day off work on Friday and went down to beautiful little Maple lake above Payson, Utah.
We got there about half an hour before light started peeking over the mountain and fish were jumping out of the water all over the place. I took my trusty kastmaster (blue and silver of course) and cast my line out. First cast I hooked a little rainbow trout. It was absolutely baby town frolics after that and all four of us caught our limit within an hour. I caught the biggest which was 13 inches. Not huge but decent enough for me to brag. Fun fun trip.
My bro
My wife with our 8 rainbows
We got there about half an hour before light started peeking over the mountain and fish were jumping out of the water all over the place. I took my trusty kastmaster (blue and silver of course) and cast my line out. First cast I hooked a little rainbow trout. It was absolutely baby town frolics after that and all four of us caught our limit within an hour. I caught the biggest which was 13 inches. Not huge but decent enough for me to brag. Fun fun trip.
My bro
My wife with our 8 rainbows
Haha that's awesome matt
mattj
blatant Nintendo fanboy
Beautiful pictures Son of Disaster! That lake looks gorgeous! Trout fishing is something I've never really tried. We've got that trout hatchery just down the highway, but I've just never made time. I'll have to do that. You're also very, very lucky to have a wife who's willing to fish with you. Its harder for Heather and I now with the two kids, and she's fished with me in the past, but she's really, really not an outdoorsy kind of girl.
A very small drum that I chopped up and caught a bunch of other stuff on.
One of two softshell turtles I caught.
A teeny little bluegill that I chopped up and caught a decent channel catfish on.
A wee little gar that I tossed back.
The 3 fish I took home.
Like most people I had the day off of work today. What else would I do with my free time? Play pokemon?
I got out to that new sandbar on the Meramec River at about 4:30 AM. There was a full moon so while I was on the sandbar I didn't even need my flashlight. However, for anyone who's looking to do any night fishing and is looking for a flashlight, I just bought this headlamp. It is absolutely fantastic! Its more than bright enough even in the thickest, darkest forest trail, and its completely comfortable. I often fish alone in the dark of night miles down the river all by myself, and I appreciate having my hands free just incase I might need to grab my pocket knife.
I bought 2 buckets of worms and ended up only landing 1 little drum and 1 turtle on worms. I got tons of bites, but only hooked that those 2. Everything else I caught on little fish I had cut up.
I had all 3 of my poles in pole holders stabbed into the shore and had something bend my poles all the way down and even yank one out of the holder into the water a few times. Never hooked it though. But the 3 I brought home were good enough. That longnose gar up there is only a few inches shorter than the longest gar I've ever caught.
I didn't take a picture of both of them, but I caught 2 softshell turtles that were almost exactly the same size and pattern. I catch softshell turtles nearly every time I fish on the Meramec, but I've always thrown them back. I recently read that they aren't really that hard to clean, so I kept both this time. According to all the how-to sites, you're supposed to cut off their head and front feet and hang them up and let them bleed for about an hour before you open their shells, for whatever reason. After that you cut around the bottom of their shell and pull the smaller bottom shell off. Then you toss the guts and remove the meaty parts (legs, arms, neck). Getting the meat off the bone reminded me a lot of getting the meat off of chicken. The meat looked exactly like chicken too. They weren't really huge or anything, but I got enough for a meal out of both of them. Being my first attempt I'm certain I wasted at least half the meat on the poor things. Heather said she'd look up a recipie that uses turtle. She's good at finding unique recipes like that.
Because its Independence Day by about 10 AM there were a lot of boaters and kayakers and canoers. Its always funny to watch people who have quite obviously never piloted a canoe or raft. At one point there was this flotilla of around 20 kayaks and canoes and rafts of Japanese people. Some of them obviously had experience, but some of them quite obviously didn't. There was this one raft with 5 old Japanese ladies in it all yipping directions in Japanese and pointing spinning in circles and bumping into stuff. This one old Japanese man asked to see my fish, so I showed him and he was like "OOOOOOOOOOOY! THOSSURU ARE-UH BIGGURU!!!" And I was like "Ha! Not really. These gar get up to 8 feet or more in this very river." He didn't seem too happy about the idea of toothy, 8 foot alligator gar swimming in the same river he was canoeing in.
As I was leaving there was a conservation officer who had set up a checkpoint near the entrance to the conservation area. She asked for my drivers and fishing licenses so I gave them to her. She asked to peek at my fish too. I asked her about that incident my bud Scott and I had with that St. Louis County cop kicking us out of the conservation area and she said that, like the signs and website say, as long as we're fishing we can stay 24 hours. I was glad to hear I had interpreted that right. If Scott's up for it we'll probably fish really late into the night this Friday night.
A very small drum that I chopped up and caught a bunch of other stuff on.
One of two softshell turtles I caught.
A teeny little bluegill that I chopped up and caught a decent channel catfish on.
A wee little gar that I tossed back.
The 3 fish I took home.
Like most people I had the day off of work today. What else would I do with my free time? Play pokemon?
I got out to that new sandbar on the Meramec River at about 4:30 AM. There was a full moon so while I was on the sandbar I didn't even need my flashlight. However, for anyone who's looking to do any night fishing and is looking for a flashlight, I just bought this headlamp. It is absolutely fantastic! Its more than bright enough even in the thickest, darkest forest trail, and its completely comfortable. I often fish alone in the dark of night miles down the river all by myself, and I appreciate having my hands free just incase I might need to grab my pocket knife.
I bought 2 buckets of worms and ended up only landing 1 little drum and 1 turtle on worms. I got tons of bites, but only hooked that those 2. Everything else I caught on little fish I had cut up.
I had all 3 of my poles in pole holders stabbed into the shore and had something bend my poles all the way down and even yank one out of the holder into the water a few times. Never hooked it though. But the 3 I brought home were good enough. That longnose gar up there is only a few inches shorter than the longest gar I've ever caught.
I didn't take a picture of both of them, but I caught 2 softshell turtles that were almost exactly the same size and pattern. I catch softshell turtles nearly every time I fish on the Meramec, but I've always thrown them back. I recently read that they aren't really that hard to clean, so I kept both this time. According to all the how-to sites, you're supposed to cut off their head and front feet and hang them up and let them bleed for about an hour before you open their shells, for whatever reason. After that you cut around the bottom of their shell and pull the smaller bottom shell off. Then you toss the guts and remove the meaty parts (legs, arms, neck). Getting the meat off the bone reminded me a lot of getting the meat off of chicken. The meat looked exactly like chicken too. They weren't really huge or anything, but I got enough for a meal out of both of them. Being my first attempt I'm certain I wasted at least half the meat on the poor things. Heather said she'd look up a recipie that uses turtle. She's good at finding unique recipes like that.
Because its Independence Day by about 10 AM there were a lot of boaters and kayakers and canoers. Its always funny to watch people who have quite obviously never piloted a canoe or raft. At one point there was this flotilla of around 20 kayaks and canoes and rafts of Japanese people. Some of them obviously had experience, but some of them quite obviously didn't. There was this one raft with 5 old Japanese ladies in it all yipping directions in Japanese and pointing spinning in circles and bumping into stuff. This one old Japanese man asked to see my fish, so I showed him and he was like "OOOOOOOOOOOY! THOSSURU ARE-UH BIGGURU!!!" And I was like "Ha! Not really. These gar get up to 8 feet or more in this very river." He didn't seem too happy about the idea of toothy, 8 foot alligator gar swimming in the same river he was canoeing in.
As I was leaving there was a conservation officer who had set up a checkpoint near the entrance to the conservation area. She asked for my drivers and fishing licenses so I gave them to her. She asked to peek at my fish too. I asked her about that incident my bud Scott and I had with that St. Louis County cop kicking us out of the conservation area and she said that, like the signs and website say, as long as we're fishing we can stay 24 hours. I was glad to hear I had interpreted that right. If Scott's up for it we'll probably fish really late into the night this Friday night.
How did the turtles taste? I have never even thought of catching turtles. We have pretty standard fishing here in Utah, nothing too crazy.
Quite impressed by all this myself. I caught a fish once, but it wasn't big enough to be legal to catch. At least people I know are better than I am.
I've never fished in that classic easy going way(other than Magickarps!) but i have caught catfish several times. Not that calming, pretty scary at first and always stressful. For me at least. It also sucks that catfish taste terrible so no point in doing anything other than throwing it back. I'm not much of a trophy kind of guy.