Outside Bend

Well if this is what tailwaters do to a guy, I guess I'll stick to unregulated Ozark streams. I thought the folks upstream of the dam had the market cornered on a-hole fishing etiquette? It would've been interesting to witness, but it's a shame people can't restrain themselves more on the water. I mean, the whole point is to relax, right?

Chief, drew took from the MDC link he provided that the MDC had been periodically stocking the NFOW with rainbows. They [MDC] haven't. Since 1966. That's all I was saying. I agree their are probably some hatchery rainbows getting into the river, but that's not MDC's doing.

BPS has never been a first choice for me, but after my last few experiences with BPS gear that falls apart before it's even been wet, I've sworn them off. There's a difference between price and value, and the folks at BPS either don't get that or are banking on folks returning every couple months to replace their broken gear.

Sure. My point is the few fish working themselves out of Cloud 9 probably aren't having any significant impacts on the NFOW's resident 'bows.

Maybe THAT'S why the fish on Crane typically run 6-10"...they need an injection of hybrid vigor From what I've read, hatchery fish do pretty poorly in competition with wild fish in natural settings- they're adapted to concrete walls and being fed a couple times a day, not capturing natural foods themselves while avoiding predators. And I'm not sure what strain of rainbow Cloud 9 stocks, but they may not even spawn the same time of year as the wild NFOW fish.

Don't know what the dissolved oxygen has been like down there over the past several years, but low DO tends to hit the largest fish hardest.

True, their probably are some fish that escape the private, pay for play resorts. That's different than saying MDC periodically stocks the river with rainbows, though.

It is, I guess, fairly cool that a stream can go from nonexistence to supporting salmon and char in less than one human lifetime. But it may also be the silver lining to a monstrous black cloud- it'll be interesting to see what else changes in the next forty years.

Taken directly from http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/stream-and-watershed-management/missouri-watersheds/north-fork-white-river/biotic-com No, they do not stock the NFOW with 'bows periodically. Haven't for 45 years.

But no one's claiming those glaciers were melted by SUVs or coal generators. What they are claiming (and what there's lots of evidence for), is that glaciers today are melting in large part due to our use of fossil fuels. Again, it's a strawman.

RM and dropshotting were both mentioned in the initial post, and the guy's handle insinuates to pro/am controversy may rear its head. There was no discussion of river fishing, which is why your opinions on it are irrelevant. I don't care if you want to talk about river fishing, but it's not adding anything valuable to the discussion these guys are having.

When and why did this thread go from a simple report on a TR event and some of its players to yours and Chief's opinions on everything from lake fisheries and aesthetics to competitive fishing culture? Yes, you're entitled to your opinion...how ever irrelevant and off-topic they may be. I have a feeling it's going to be a long winter

It's been my experience that two LEO's in one car is always bad news Sucks. I don't hit Bennett often, but I know the agents have been busy at Montauk and Meramec this season. Even made a few drug arrests.

I know many western states have private land trusts- I'm not sure the ins and outs of it, but the land is basically cared for by the trust, and either farmed or left fallow for perpetuity- the idea is to maintain the aesthetics of the western landscape. IMO it'd be great to have that sort of opportunity in the Ozarks (granted there's already a lot of public lands in National Forest and MDC ownership). I know when my grandfather kicked off he wanted to make sure the farm he worked his entire life wanted to stay a farm, and not another St. Louis bedroom community. I'm sure there's a lot of farmers in the state with the same feelings toward their land, and it'd be nice to have some private alternative that doesn't require sodded lawns and asphalt.

I was able to get away this morning on a fall turkey hunt on some property my family owns an hour or so south of St. Louis- really more of a long walk in the autumn woods more than an honest-to-goodness hunt. Basically wandered around and reflected. It's about two hundred acres, and for the past sixty years has been a working cow-calf operation, with occasional plots of corn or winter wheat. The wear was starting to show- erosion in creeks and gullies, overgrazed pasture, lack of oak and walnut generation in the woodlots, and the last commercial logging operation in the early 2000's left lots and lots of hickory and locust standing, but suspiciously few white oak, black cherry, and black walnut to replace what was cut. Over the past several years we've been working to remit some of the problems on the farm, balancing the ag side with a more general land stewardship ethic. We cut the number of cattle in half, fenced them into the upland areas, and have worked to keep them out of the streams and wet areas. We've let fencerows and field edges grow up with sumac, gray dogwood, blackberry and wild plum, we've let some of the open areas and slash piles left from the last woodcut get wooly with brush, and reduced fertilization of some of the hayfields, giving native warm-season grasses a chance to push through the fescue. This morning, on my walk, I heard an unfamiliar commotion- a series of whirs and chirps as a handful of birds flew low into some brush. I watched- it was a covey of quail, the first I'd ever seen on the farm since I began hunting and exploring the woods some fifteen years ago. That moment excited me as any turkey I may see that day. I'd never expect a farmer to convert his best cropland back to something that supports wildlife. But their are places on every farm which just aren't suited for industrial agriculture, and their are benefits to leaving some places on the farm wildlife that can't be quantified as easily as bushels per acre.

Way cool. I was able to get out once, this morning, and look around for some birds- no luck. I did however scare up a covey of bobwhite, the first I've seen on this farm since I took up hunting fifteen years ago. Made getting out worthwhile

I only visit golf courses because they have ponds.

A lot of important information can be gained with angler interviews, but the nice thing about standardized surveys is that you have the same amount of sampling effort from one year to the next. If the number of anglers fluctuates significantly between years (gas prices, weather, floods, felt sole bans, etc), it makes it tougher to look at long-term fish population trends. And it's not just that some anglers fib- if you record the catch of folks who have been fishing a lifetime vs a group of 14 year olds out earning a merit badge, you'll probably get very different numbers, and very little of that difference has to do with the fish population.

To me it's no more strange than someone shelling out thousands for a gigantic Great Dane or Mastiff, or pimping out their SUV or truck, or buying a thousand-dollar fly rod. They're all status symbols, and the folks who buy into them believe these objects say something about themselves. If it makes them happy and doesn't harm anyone in the process, I have no qualm with it. Exotic animals released by their former owners have caused a lot of ecological damage, that's for sure. But I'm not sure passing more legislation as a knee-jerk reaction to recent headlines is an appropriate response.

They make a population estimate based upon the number of fish they initially marked, and the number of fish they subsequently recapture. I'm notoriously bad at math, and couldn't accurately cut and paste it, but here's an explanation and some examples of the math involved: http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/publications/pdfs/IFR/manual/SMII%20Chapter07.pdf

If someone uses violence to strike fear into society, he's a terrorist. If someone uses 50 escaped exotic wild animals to strike fear into society...does that make him a bearrorist?

"Taking Trout," by Dave Hughes, is pretty high up on my list. It strikes a good balance between the technical and aesthetic aspects of fly fishing. There's tips on casting, chapters on how to fish various flies using different techniques, how to read water, stalk trout, and interweaves these lessons among stories and anecdotes. It's a good read, and I wish I had found it when I began fly-fishing, definitely takes some of the mystery out of the sport. It's a good read even if you're not usually into the nuts-and-bolts style flyfishing reads. Other than that I basically echo lots of the other responses- I like Gierach's work well enough, and I've read and reread "Trout Madness," a couple of times. Ted Leeson writes some really good books, as does Tom McGuane- both are definitely worth checking out.

Flies were in the mailbox when I got home from work, was just able to take a peek...each one of them I'd be happy to fish Good job fellas, I'm glad I was able to get into this one! Good luck this fall!

I kinda felt the same as Cricket- it seems like a worthwhile cause, one I'd be happy to support. But lots of fly shops day-to-day sales aren't $600 rods, $400 reels, or $200 boots. They're the small stuff- leaders, tippet, flies, indicators, tying materials, stuff like that. In the saturated marketplace that is fly-fishing, even those little sales matter. It's self evident- if small sales were such a nominal part of a flyshop's business I'd think West-Fly would be a bit more equitable than splitting the money 70-30. Not saying the charity isn't a good cause, but they will be taking market share away from someone, and personally I'd rather make a direct $25 donation and have it all go to charity than buy $25 in flies and have 30% of that go to charity. I liked the bikini ice fishing brigade, though

They do have hundreds of critters from all around the world, though. No real surprise an amphibian fungus would show up in an amphibian breeding facility.