Devan S.

Your right its the simple answer and the easy one and it may fix the problem in the short term. Ask yourself this....If the bass fishing is so bad and pressure is so bad why is this place continually pounded like it is? Stockton 2 hours north, Bull is 30 minutes east, Grand is 2 hours west, and Beaver is 30 minutes SW. One could argue that everyone of them roughly on par or better than TRL for bass fishing so why do all these people pass up those lakes to come to TRL to fish if they are better lakes and/or less crowded? Do you all really think supplemental stocking if it had a measured impact is going to do ANYTHING other than increase the pressure and publicity? What happens if it gets so good that......GASP MLF or BASS(not so much a concern now) held their biggest event of the year out of long creek and it was televised all the 5+ pound fish caught? Everyone wants to go back to the catch rates and results of the 80's or 90's and sure the lake can certainly support the predator population but its not going to support the increase in pressure/publicity that will come as a result. What do you do then? Stock more? Throwing money and fish at it is the easy answer. You know whats hard? Telling people no tournaments during the spawn(or closed seasons completely during the spawn), limiting tournaments throughout the year, holding tournaments accountable for dead fish, and stopping summertime tournaments where delayed fish kills can and do happen, and forcing smaller tournaments which outnumber the big names by 100's to 1 to adopt different scoring systems.. Then when all the surrounding small business owners crow about a loss in business not caving in. There will likely be 600+ people fish the BIG BASS tourney right in the ball park of the spawn. They likely have at this time the best format available. Imagine if 100 spawning fish are weighed in and their spawn is disrupted to the point their recruitment is 0 vs an opportunity of 2,000 eggs minimum per fish. Imagine that impact scaled throughout a 1 to 2 month window of tournaments and ask yourself how much stocking would have to take place to make that impact alone. Stocking likely has its place in times of poor recruitment and after an event like the LMBV but don't think for a second that dumping fish into TRL like they do Taney isn't going to create a bunch of other problems.

There tons of acres between Cassville and Eagle Rock off 86 highway. Mark Twain...I drive through several times a week and outside of rifle season and a nice weekend day(four wheelers) I don't think you will run into too many others. I don't know if its legal but just outside of roaring river off F highway coming toward Eagle Rock there were vehicles in the pull offs the last 2 weeks so I would assume they were rifle hunting for deer. Never see anyone but anglers and people during rifle season so bow would probably be easy.

I have the 7' , 6'6", and 6' models. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't buy the 6'6" model at all. It just feels funny and out of balance to me. I would lean toward the 7' model across the board. I don't have any major complaint on the 6' model but when I fish them side by side I can tell the 7' has a much stronger back bone.

So your basically using the float to control your depth within a few feet.....never looked at it that away....I've always resorted to a float when I couldn't swim the bobby garlands through the trees without losing a bunch. Then I would just put on a float/minnow and cast out near the tree instead of in it and let the minnow work for me.

Are you guys using minnows with the float or artificial like a bobby garland? I've never had luck with the artificial and a float but have with minnows. I used the clip on weights like Seth...primarily because using slip bobber is a lot of setup on something I break off all to often.

I think the stocking of the lower river takes place in one or two spots generally and very infrequently and those spots are easily accessed and cleaned out within a few days from being stocked. I'm in and around the area enough that I carry a rod and drop by and hit it here or there and last year must have stumbled upon it the day of or after stocking. There was a lot decent fish within spitting distance of one of the bridges so I tormented them for awhile. Went upstream a little ways and found a little deeper hole with what looked to be a pretty healthy brown. Tried to get him but never could get him to commit. Next day he was gone and the water was low so I figured he got jerked out the next day as the number of fish had dwindled significantly in less than 24 hours.

Best I can tell is that its the last year in that format readily available. Now it appears their report is listed on the mdc website under the fishing reports. It however drops all the data results and only outputs generalized statements of the current state and outlook.

I don't think they do public meetings but there is a report. https://www.ozarkswaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MDC-Report-on-TABLE-ROCK-LAKE-2014.pdf This was 2014. There's probably more recent reports available but I haven't found them. I still haven't seen anyone that beats the stocking bible consistently answer the questions of: How many fish would need stocked and at what frequency and size? OR What measurable results would quantify if the program was a success?

Or maybe its older and weaker and its vision is bad though......

I'm saying that outside of the fact that his hand is on the scale itself, one could put a large spoonbill sinker in the fishes mouth to increase the weight and you would never tell in that picture. You could do the same thing with an alligator clip with weight on the back side of the fish hanging off the gill plate. Good I thought that was the case. It may have been MDC I witnessed returning fish at Eagle Rock. All the fish I saw returned appeared to be in very good condition.

Weight in the mouth, alligator clip on the backside hanging off the gill. No different than a tournament format now plenty of ways to cheat. Actually no different than any form of sport or competition today. Add in ego's and money and people will find a way to cheat. The fish Arkansas removes from TR for the Walleye. They are returned correct? I remember at one time seeing a stocking truck dumping a pretty large amount of healthy brood stock walleye at Eagle Rock one time but cannot for the life of me remember if it was Arkansas or Missouri.

For the group that is in favor of stocking: What level of stocking is needed(i.e. what number of fish stocked, and size of fish stocked)? What key indicators would you use to determine if stocking was successful or not(Tournament weights up to what level, catch frequency levels)?

Let's say hypothetically Missouri began stocking bass in TRL today. We began to see major benefits in 2-4 years(limits of these 5+ lbers like the old days that's always discussed here). Ya'll are already complaining too many boats, tournaments, pressure, ect. What happens when it becomes a premier top notch bass fishery rivaling the lakes discussed? Then what? Does the influx of fishermen/tournaments double? triple? quadruple? Does it get to the point that even during the deep winter you complain about boats like we do in the summer? Is the hope we run the lake so full of bass boats the wave runners and wake boats cant even launch? You guys make it sound like the old pond is so bad the average joe cant catch a fish yet the lake gets pounded for 9-10 months out the year by fishermen. Could it be better? Sure....but don't think some aggressive stocking plan isn't going to come with a myriad of other problems.

One is going to assume they came off HWY 62. In which case they came down a very small 2 lane curvy road, If they continue on 187 they have more of the same with another small bridge crossing. IF they go out through Holiday Island they are headed up and down and back and forth for another 5-10 miles which begs where are they going and why did their GPS take them that way? Not a lot of decent places to turn around once they got off the highway. Still begs the question of WHY?

I've basically accepted this is going to be an out of the state trip. I don't really want to buy a bunch of gear since max I would only go once a year and that's assuming I like it enough to give up other trips. Its basically a one off idea to just go and experience it. I have zero knowledge in in ice fishing. I don't think there is such a thing as guided ice fishing trips but want to be as close as possible for all inclusive at least this time.

Looking to go ice fishing.....have zero gear so essentially looking for a place to completely supply all the gear knowledge, ect. Never been and wanting to add an experience. Any recommendations?

No doubt about aspiring. I think you have done a heck of a job on the build. I'm impressed with the complete paint stripping job. Much, much further than I would have gone. I just don't want you to think its too small to go and do. You put too much work into that to not get out there and do it. I grew up in a smaller boat so I know its plenty capable for fishing and enjoying yourself provided you avoid the summer weekends in the bigger water.

Just remember new stuff can break just like old stuff and I would bet its a lot easier paddling your boat then a new fiberglass one.

Joined only to answer this post....interesting..... Wouldn't by the very nature of the size difference between rivers and lakes mean that a river would be more confined than a lake. Especially factoring in for depth? So why are you okay with a bowfisherman being in the river where one boat could seemingly cover larger percentage of the actually livable habitat of that stream vs. the sheer amount of water a bowfisherman cannot cover on a lake(depth). Why just because they have lived so long do they deserve to live longer? Is the only goal catch and release? At what point is a Carp mature? Out of curiosity for all involved.....What level does high fenced operations become not fair chase? What defines that line? Is it 1,000 acres? 10,000 acres? 20,000 acres? Any fenced operation?

I wouldn't let the weather hold you back(summer boat traffic is another deal all together). Understand that the ability to run back to where you started or out run a storm isn't required. If in fact the weather were to change that fast there are hundreds of miles of bank you can pull a well built tin boat onto to avoid a serious disaster. Sure you're never going to be able to fish from one end of the lake to the other but nobody catches fish running all day. I find even with the ability to run 20 miles either way of my launch I stay within 5 miles either way pretty consistently.

Al has some excellent points here. I didn't look through all the websites but the ones I did just showed the replica itself. That's great for showing off a standard fish but it doesn't give you any idea of how much detail the person is going integrate into your replica. In all my dealings, I would be asking for pictures of the replica along with the pictures of the fish they were trying to duplicate. Pictures identical to what netboy has given you. Then you need to make a determination if your willing to pay $25/inch for a darn close match or is $12/inch will cut it an bring back the memories your looking to re-live every time you look at it.

No they cant but having a database in front of them with demographics coupled with an explosion of social media can and does allow them to establish a potential case to check on. Will it catch every violation no but neither did mandatory check in stations. Items like first time adult hunters and specifically women, very young kids killing deer, first time land owners, ect all can easily be cross-referenced quite quickly to find potential violations. Is it any different than what they had 20 years ago...not really. Its probably just faster and takes less field time which means they should have more time to do other tasks.

I agree the guy that's going out and killing 10-15 a year isn't buying a tag. I know a guy that falls into this category. He gets caught almost yearly and at this point isn't legal to hunt anything but he is flat out broke(probably due to himself) and he is filling the freezer whether legal or not and the government isn't going to stop him. They are out trying to catch the guys on the fringe cheating the system. The guy that's loading a plot with a corn feeder. Has 2 good bucks coming in early in the year. Shoot the first; buys wife a tag and shoots the second. I would also venture to guess he buys his wife the tag after he shoots the second one. The thought being if Joe his buddy shoots off his mouth he at least has it tagged. Or alternatively family's that owns hundreds of acres of land. Use landowner tags but Mikey has moved out of state to the city. He still goes hunting yearly but Pa says to use his landowner tag that he hasn't filled in 30 years. It happens every year and people get busted every year.for it.

I would second the buffalo but sounds like you've already done it. Kings can be done multi-day too its a haul and sometimes getting the water level right can be tricky but definitely do-able.

This is perfectly what I am looking for. I know what you are saying on the 6-6 rod. I know nothing about rod taper/blanks but it feels like the backbone and sturdy section on my 6-6 is shorter or equal to the 6 footer but with 6" extra flimsy tip on the end which adds lots of whip. Kind of like its unbalanced to some degree.