The Upper Meramec River's designated Red Ribbon trout management area begins at the Highway 8 bridge in Crawford County and extends downstream roughly nine miles. Photo by Brian K. Strickland.

As it turns out, Missourians "agree to disagree on more than Major League Baseball.

While Show-Me State baseball fans argue for either the Cardinals or the Royals, our angling populace -- in many cases, the same folks -- can't seem to agree on much either, especially when it comes to catching trout. Fly tackle or spinning gear? Wading or floating? Summer, spring, fall or winter? The list of disagreements goes on.

Herein, we shine the light on two guides with very different philosophies and methodologies for catching trophy trout on the Meramec River, a stream that we feel confident is one that all Missouri anglers -- or at least most of them -- will agree is one of our best.

It should come as no surprise that one of our guides, Walt Fulps, is a flyfisherman; the other, Mark Dessieux, is a spinning gear enthusiast.

The upper Meramec River is designated as a Red Ribbon trout management area that begins at the Highway 8 bridge in Crawford County and boasts a healthy contingent of both rainbow and brown trout. The brown trout population gets a boost each year from an active stocking program by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

According to MDC fisheries specialist Jennifer Girondo, "Only brown trout are stocked in the Red Ribbon section of the Meramec. Rainbow trout are not actively stocked and, though we have seen limited evidence of natural rainbow and brown trout reproduction in the Red Ribbon section, most of the rainbows in this section are believed to be from Meramec Spring Park."

SPINNING GEAR
Wading The Red Ribbon Area
Mark Dessieux, who operates Adventure Outdoors Campground and canoe livery at Scott's Ford, guides both floating and wading anglers alike. Summer fishing presents a different set of circumstances.

"The Woodson K. Woods Access is a good area early in the spring," Dessieux began. "It's small water, really clear, but once the weather begins warming up, the water above the spring gets a little too warm for the trout.

Dessieux recommends starting two miles downriver at the confluence where the Meramec Spring empties into the Meramec River. Here, the river doubles in size due to the 100 million gallons of water produced daily by the spring. The cold spring water keeps the river cool -- cool enough for the trout to thrive. Dessieux claims that despite the cool water, this is the hotspot for the wading angler.

"There are lots of fish in this hole," he said. "However, it gets a lot of pressure from other anglers fishing the trout park. Many anglers gain access to this hotspot from the trout park."

Other hotspots in the river for the wading angler include an area known as Cardiac Hill Access and Suicide Hill Access. These areas are four and five miles downstream from the Highway 8 bridge. Both areas have parking off Besmer Road southeast of St. James. Anglers can gain access to the river from these parking areas.

Another spot where Dessieux guides his clients is near the Scott's Ford Bridge Access. Although this is the end of the Red Ribbon Area, Dessieux claims his biggest trout have come from the bridge at Scott's Ford. He cautioned, "This is wadable, but it also has some deep holes."

Floating The Red Ribbon Areas
According to Dessieux, Adventure Outdoors floats as many anglers as any outfitter in Missouri. He believes the draw is due to location. His business is located at the end of the Red Ribbon Area at Scott's Ford and the beginning of a trophy-managed smallmouth area that continues 15 miles down the Meramec River.