Devan S.

They probably made 40M on apparel, cups, boxed DVD sets, vinyl stickers for your truck, and all the non-duck hunters that go through their tourist trap store that buy a duck call.

Back then we were young and dumb, knees/ankle/back pain weren't a concern. There was certainly dumber things we could have been doing at that age. My point is ultimately they are pretty basic critters.

I have spent a many nights driving around cattle fields as a teenager. Hit'em with the headlights while there digging, 3 or 4 guys bail out of the truck run them down kick them, hit them with axes, and ball bats. That's why there are tons hit on the highway every night. At some point in my life, it got easier to ride around and shotgun them or run them down in the truck. I will warn you as a young dumb teenager the first time you go to kick one and it jumps is quite alarming. I cannot imagine any situation where you would need any shot over 30 yards and that is probably stretching it. 22, 20 ga, or 410 will work just fine. Your certainly not going to get rid of 100% of them in one or 2 nights so don't take shots your not comfortable with and certainly don't shoot into locations where cows are obviously in the background. Another option is to feed the cows right at dusk so your concentrating them in one location in the field around hay/grain whatever. That should drastically reduce your amount of area of concern.

I usually go crow blasting 3-4 times a year at least. Probably one of the most fun times a group of guys can have. Call until they bust you and then move a mile or so away....get covered in and go to calling again.

I ran up to around Jackie and saw it just knew the clearing line was somewhere between there and 86 bridge. Hoping that soon it will be clear around aching back so I can begin the winter targeting for walleye. I know they can be caught in the dirty water just like the clearer water but its all in my head and confidence thing.

Went over the bridge at Carr lane and it looked clear. Do you know how far up you have to go before you get back into clear water?

Dropped the boat in the water right after noon at the old Kings river campground. First went up river to start my usual crappie milk run this time of year. Got to about deer bluff and water was definitely off color, by Jackie it was a turning too muddy for my taste. Turned around and headed down river. Targeted standing timber and brush piles. Fish were all over the water column just relating to the timber some high, some low. Fished as far down as Viola. Ended up with 2 keepers that just squeaked past 10 1/4". Probably caught 50+ fish just nothing anywhere close enough to even put on the board. a lot and I mean a lot of 7-8" fish. Most my fish came off 3 areas(either a handful of timber together close or a brush pile) I did catch one stinking bass. Water temp was 46. Saw a raccoon, fox, and Bald Eagle. Boat ramp at the old park could use a couple yards of concrete and would be in decent order. Its a shame the Corps wont fix it or let a local step up and fix it. My boat hasn't been run since about March when the baby was born. Everything ran well so between that and 2 keepers I will say it was a success.

This is what my old one looked like before the sending unit went bad. The cap was attached via the little chain. Your probably right it was designed as a tether but without a way to really check the oil level it was a dipstick to me.

Well then I wouldn't worry about it...unless you can pull it out of course. Mine has the little balls on a chain style.

I guess the only concern would be if the little dip stick chain balls managed to get in the oil outlet and manged to block off the oil flow. I have the 2005 version and my tank was black until the sending unit went bad. New tank is see through.

Interesting........It's been years since I have been there. As I recall you rent the gun, bought ammo, and rented a shooting lane. You can swap basically any gun you want in the caliber you select to try as many as possible. https://sof-usa.com/rentals/ Looks like its actually in Ozark. Maybe their website is out of date but it says they have 100 plus options. Unfortunately with you health situation though your likely going to be around multiple people so probably not the best situation.

Its been a long time so I may be on the wrong shop but I think sounds of freedom in Nixa has a pretty large selection of handguns they will let you shoot in the on-site range.

Does anyone else on TR find fish under the docks like this? I know of one spot on a dock that has crappie and its likely because there is a big pile of brush under it. I just think if it works at LOZ is should at TR but I just haven't found the right docks yet I guess.

I guess I don't see it as hard enough to spend the money....yet. Slip off shoes, pull out laptop. Other than the phone and passport everything is in my carry on until I'm through security anyway. The only time I'm ever the hold up in the line is when I'm the only one in the line. My biggest pet peeve is the rat race to get on the airplane with assigned seating and the rat race to get off. I really think they should board from the back to the front just like you get off.

I didn't know that. Could be a serious benefit with a couple kids.....The bulk of my travels starts and ends in regional airports where security is pretty easy so I just haven't seen a huge need yet but likely will at some point.

I'm in the same boat.....no issues here. I've thought about doing the TSA pre check but not because security takes too long. Its because of the people that don't remove this or don't remove that like they are told to 20+ times in line. Then jam up the line because they left their change, pocket knife, belt, laptop, mtn dew bottle in their bag pocket ect and now they have to call people over to do the pat down.

I'm going to say less 1 mph or less generally but every ones mileage may vary. I THINK the only reason they long line that way is because its easier to manage when you get hung up which is going to happen as opposed to all the lines being directly under the boat and the resulting spin and tangle that happens but I don't know that for sure since I don't do it very often. Someone with more experience pushing and long lining would know better. Funny story...I think it was two years ago right around new years I was fishing for Crappie with my stepdad. It was blustery cold and to the point we were about to call it a day and we said fish out this last stretch of timber and call it a day. We hit a spot in that stretch that we both nearly had limits in less than probably 20 minutes and threw back anything that wasn't clearly over 10". We ended up losing count of fish and was tossing keepers in the floor. We got home and were both short 1 or 2 fish of a limit. The action was so fast and furious that we were getting swirls like a top water bite out of Crappie in the cold water. Just the coolest 15 or 20 minutes I've ever experienced crappie fishing. I randomly go back to that spot every now and then and have never caught any number of fish there since then.

Another method I haven't used but have seen done, is to pull jigs instead of push. Drop 3 or 4 lines out the back of the boat with minnows on them let them drop to your depth and slow troll them. Generally I see this done in an area where their may be a significant amount of timber along a long bank or brush piles and someone doesn't want to continually cast or drop shot. The goal being to get as close as possible to the standing timber of to just tick the top of the brush piles. Generally I am seeing this done in 20+ ft of water. I'm not sure if you can successfully push jigs that depth or not. Fishing in Mississippi it seemed like 8ft was "deep". What setup did you get for your rods/holder? I've always had this thought during the spring white bass run that if you didn't run 8 poles but instead 6 or 4 and pushed jigs on the areas where the whites stack up that a guy could load the boat but it may be a heck of a headache.

I have never spider rigged outside of Mississippi so not sure how that equates here but sounds like your doing the same thing. I'm not familiar with that area of Beaver though. This time of year for crappie my go to way is to cast jigs around timber. Go slow and pick apart every piece you can see above water and anything you can see below water. You may have to hit several spots to find fish but usually when I find a spot there will be multiples so a bite or a catch extends the amount of time I work the timber. I also try to stay as far away with the boat as I can.

This is what really cracks me up about the bass fishing industry. As far as I can tell there is really no reason for the bass to be anymore valued than any other fish. They aren't any better food than a crappie/walleye/catfish/panfish/white bass. They don't provide any advantage when it comes to a basic need. A smallmouth might have the claim to be a good fighter but the rest I cant tell much difference pound for pound(Carp probably get the nod here anyways). They aren't really any more prolific than crappie/panfish/catfish/walleye/white bass except to some geographic limitations. It seems like a heck of a marketing scheme to me.

Exactly. I don't have any negativity toward stocking at all if it can be proven its actually needed. I do have negativity toward spending money on something when you don't know where you are, don't know where your going, and the only reason you think you know how to get there is because other states do it. I fairly certain this is the exact same thought that the group that wants stocking say. They say that Missouri is one of the few state that doesn't stock and every other state does it so they wont listen and its not worth their time. If Bass fishing is as big of an economic driver as everyone claims it is then it shouldn't be a difficult thing to push for and accomplish. The fact of the matter is the masses don't give a rip about the fish in the least. They care about being able to brag about how good they are and all the fish they caught, the couple hundred dollar check they won, standing on stage holding their big bass, and once they put that fish back into the return tank they could care less if that fish lives or dies. If it were any other way there wouldn't be tournaments during the spawn, there wouldn't be any format in which fish are drug all over the lake, fishermen would hold each other accountable for delayed mortality at tournaments, and their wouldn't be guys sight fishing during the spawn. It's the definition of hypocrisy to tell the MDC you want things to be better when the collective group does darn near everything short of killing bass to damage the sustainability of the fishery.

BINGO! That's what needs to be flooded into the MDC's email box. Ask the questions, shoot holes in their science and methods, and make measurable suggestions. Don't just spam them with Fishing sucks compared to years ago, we want stocking because this is the biggest tax base and every other state does it. That's all anecdotal evidence and the equivalent argument is there is more tournaments than ever, more people out fishing then ever, more people at the boat ramps then ever on Table Rock so fishing must not be that bad. Would it really be that crowded with fishermen if it was completely devoid of fish?

It's the Missouri Department of Conservation not the department of revenue or the collectors office. The concept that it should be run as a business is about the worst possible outcome for the average joe. The concept that bass tournaments and bass fishing is the biggest tax impact so they should get what they want is basically saying MDC should focus 100% of their efforts on deer hunting and bass fishing and to heck with everything else regardless. The fact that other states see a positive result from stocking doesn't mean its the best method. It also isn't a good reason to say we need to stock here. Its the exact same logic MoCarp uses for why we need trophy carp regulations.....Well CT does it and they are successful. Its not anti-tournament at all. There is a 2 month period when what I would guess millions(or more) of opportunities for bass eggs to be laid naturally. This amounts to a free opportunity for the resource to sustain itself instead of relying on outside help or intervention. The fact is those opportunities don't happen with fish being carted all over the lake for those time periods. What do you think will happen when 600+ anglers fish for the Big Bass in early April? If half of the entrants only move 1 fish each how does that correlate to the opportunity lost for those larger fish to have a successful spawn? Is it a years worth of stocked fry? Multiply that by how many tournaments in March through May and how many bass moved all over? Those numbers are astronomical when you consider a bass is going to lay more than 2,000 eggs. Sure they wont all live but neither do stocked fry. Why spend the money when you already have the free opportunity? Imagine if the Crappie fishermen wanted Crappie stocked. What a ruckus...why would we spend money stocking Crappie instead of Bass when Crappie fishermen are generally catch and keep and they spawn prolifically? The shoe literally fits on both feet the only difference is the opportunity cost is blatantly obvious under catch and keep. It's a little more hidden when you catch, contain, and release later. At the end of the day the economic impact point is mute, most of those business can make enough off the pleasure crowd to sustain. The ones that are primarily focused on fisherman won't exist if TRL is as bad its often laid out to be on here because there wont be tournaments/destination fisherman to sustain them when they go to better locations. I realize there is a group of individuals on here that see that opportunity cost and have personally changed their ways but the fact of the matter is as a collective group those individuals are the minority. Unfortunately MDC is resource limited, so why not implement some free measures that may help? Instead we want to spend a bunch of money collecting, hatching, raising fish that already naturally spawn in TRL. I understand it would ruffle some feather but cutting budget in other areas to raise bass is going to ruffle feathers too. It isn't about profit, taxes, or economic impacts. It should be about conservation and there is absolutely no reason to not attempt to let bass try and sustain themselves and restrict your own actions before you claim they need help and throw money at it. If the response is well business wont make it, or cheaters will cheat, or you can't stop people from fishing the spawn, or what happens if you cancel Johnny's Big Bass Bash then for its not actually about the bass its about personal satisfaction. Those people that are only concerned about personal satisfaction are going to find something that torques them whether MDC stocks a billion fish or they stock zero. I agree with Basfis....It cant be that bad....Heck Bo literally catches 10+ keepers every time his boat gets wet whether they bite for anyone else or not.

So it seems to some degree its not a localized trend. It appears fishing as a sport(or the economy) has grown to the point that most have access and desire to part take in the sport fairly often. Doesn't that absolutely lend itself to protecting the resource in a way that allows it to attempt to sustain itself instead of stocking? If it cant or wont then maybe stocking is the answer? Should we begin to stock all fish in all bodies of water that they have a reasonable chance of survival?

Sure it plays a part. A significant part in tourist season and for families coming in for a yearly vacation. Would be interesting to know the split between those numbers of people coming just to fish or tournament anglers. I could certainly see from April to September being a high traffic for the vacationer with the available accommodations. Obviously there is a large number of people on this board that don't live right on Table Rock and those people often pass up some of those other lakes or are equal distance from the other lakes so what motivates those people to come to Table Rock instead of Bull or Beaver or Stockton? For some of you guys that have the ability to fish say Grand, Toledo bend, Fork, Sam Rayburn, Guntersville or any other popular destination bass fishery frequently. Is there the same explosion in pressure happening on those locations? Those lakes that come up when I google "best bass fishing" or in the Bassmaster top 10 consistently are they seeing the same pressure?