Trip Report: Meramac River (Missouri)

Went home to visit my folks back in St. Louis. While there, I decided to take my flyrod to the Meramec River, a place that I used to frequent while living there.

This water is a "red ribbon" trout stream that is just full of big fat browns. Unfortunately, the only day I could go, there happened to be a pounding storm. Not only was the rain intense, there was a pretty good electrical storm too. It probably wasn't wise to stand in the middle of a river with a 9 foot stick in my hand while lightning was flashing all over the place. However, I felt somewhat comfortable that the strikes were a few miles off.

Those of you familiar with the area, I parked in the area known as "Suicide Hill" and walked down to the river. It was a very steep and slippery slope that was somewhat treacherous in retrospect. Next time, I'll definitely take "Cardiac Hill" instead. Although, it may not be so bad while raining. It was literally a river on its own. Very slippery.

The fishing was good. At least at first. After only a few minutes I hooked a 24+ inch brown that charged down river after realizing his food fought back. After palming the reel, I slowed him down and eventually got him to my feet. He spun like a tornado and broke the fly off. I was disappointed I didn't get him to my hand, but still excited about the "almost". He was very strong and healthy.

I caught another 20-22 inch brown and a few smaller rainbows not long after. The rain stopped by noon and so did the bites. And unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the 30+ inch trophies that are all over these waters. I can remember living here and practically never catching anything but brown trout. Quite the opposite here in California.

Despite the scary weather, it was a good time. Something I enjoy about this area is that the rivers are generally much easier to wade then back here in California. The floor is generally crushed gravel that is easy to walk on and not just a bunch of hard to navigate boulders. Also, since the water is always so cold (spring fed), you can find large fish in 1-3 feet of water.

I fished wet flies of various sizes and colors. The best was a soft hackled pheasant tail size 14. I wasn't patient enough to experiment too much, it was hard to tie them on during the rain.

Fish count: Under 5
.
.