Outside Bend

If the local yokels can figure it out where it grows and what it looks like, it can't be too tough, right?

www.cares.missouri.edu Free online GIS mapping- you can add layers for aerial photos, roads, rivers & streams, as well as a bunch of other features. I've found it helpful for figuring out public property boundaries for Forest Service and other agencies.

I think the goal is to combine the efforts of federal agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service, NRCS, and Corps of Engineers with state conservation and ag agencies, as well was non-government groups like TU, Sierra Club, Audubon, etc. That's what I got from the press release, anyway. As far as conservation measures, I would imagine they'll be looking mostly at landscape use- nutrient management of cattle pasture and CAFOs, reducing erosion, best-management logging practices, streambank stabilization, retaining riparian forests to reduce erosion and stream temperature, cleaning up dumps in karst-prone areas, keeping cattle out of streams, stuff like that. I don't see too much doom & gloom/ government tin-hat conspiracy in the whole thing, and I really hope it's effective.

I got on the USGS water site this morning to see if last night's rains had improved conditions on the Current- looks as though the Akers stream gauge is getting the axe.

Congratulations!

Nice lookin' flies, I especially like the bottom one. Good luck!

Yes, it's a native plant. If it weren't, NPS would be working to eradicate it, not preserve it. Along with the UV and magnetic components are visible-spectrum dyes- different colors for different agencies. No fancy lights needed- a dyed root came from somewhere it shouldn't have been harvested. And since color is a major category by which wild ginseng is graded, and consumers are looking for natural-colored roots- artificially dyeing them bright orange or pink essentially destroys their market value. Again, it's about reducing the temptation- if there's no money to be had, there's no incentive to dig them up.

Thanks TJ. There was also a thread on Trapperman where folks were getting $300-$500+ per pound this year. Whether it's $70 or $300, the point is there's a lucrative market for the plant- if folks weren't interested, they wouldn't be shelling out that sort of cash. And given the slow-growing nature of the plant, coupled with the fact it'll only thrive in high-quality woodlands, special precautions need to be taken to make sure it's not overharvested, and the habitats it lives in aren't trashed. It is work to collect ginseng, but folks who find the patches on park lands could be tempted to dig the plants up to make a quick buck. The park's efforts to tag the plants is just an attempt to minimize that temptation.

Aluminum: $,45/lb Pine cones: $ 6.00/lb Wild Ginseng: $200/lb There's a world of difference between the three. http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20121019/NEWS/121019715 http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2009/02/gingseng-poachers-great-smoky-mountains-national-park-receive-jail-time http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/oct/26/ginseng-poachers-nabbed-at-cumberland-gap-park/ http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/printheadline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=6452 http://www2.wspa.com/news/2012/nov/13/9-arrested-ginseng-poaching-nc-forests-ar-4961999/ Just as you wouldn't manage sturgeon like you do crappie, you wouldn't manage ginseng the way you do other woodland wildflowers. It's a long-lived, slow growing plant, taking 8-10 years to set seed and can live to be nearly a hundred. Add to that folks pay a premium for the slow-grown, wild roots, and the fact that the plant only grows in the highest quality woodlands, and it's easy to understand why managers would be so interested in protecting (and the places it lives) from digging.

Bees like ginseng. So do deer and turkeys. Not sure what all the fuss is about- the Riverways are there to protect our our cultural, recreational, and natural resources. Sounds like that's exactly what they're doing. Their mission is preserving the whole ecosystem, top to bottom- they don't get to pick and choose what gets priority. Wild ginseng may not be a keystone species, but tearing up hillsides looking for it damages the park and disturbs many of the other plants and animals within the ecosystem. And it is cheap- $150 of the material will mark thousands of plants - and the plants can live for nearly 100 years. That's cheaper than sportfish tags, as cheap as waterfowl bands, and wayyyy cheaper than propagating trout, sturgeon, paddlefish, hellbenders, mussels, or other critters in hatcheries. I'm a big fan of cheap & easy conservation- and these folks figured out how to save a species from regional extinction for less than a lot of folks spend on a fishing trip. To me it's the exact opposite of a waste of my taxpayer dollars- it's a simple, effective, and cheap way to make sure resources like the Buffalo aren't further denuded by human activity.

Looks like a nice day to me!

I've never tried them, but they're pretty popular in Europe. The lastest issue of Fly Tyer includes a couple Austrian patterns tied on jig hooks with beadheads. and if you've ever checked out the danica site , there's probably a few more patterns from the European tiers on there. Good luck!

Nicely done!

That profile screams baby bluegill/longear/green sunfish to me....I'll have to tie a few up for smallmouth and warmwater Thanks for sharing, Brian.

Real cool, I've been curious as to what some of those S. Illinois streams look like. Hopefully the rain/snow over the past few days has improved flow. Thanks for sharing.

Jackson can be a bit pricey, but it has a lot of the amenities you're looking for. PM headed your way.

Makes sense, bigger fish tend to take low water/DO harder than the little ones- compile environmental conditions with angling pressure and it doesn't surprise me there's fewer fish in the system this season. But like Gavin and others have mentioned, periodic drought is a recurring component of the Ozarks- it happens, and there;'s not much we can do about it. The fish will do what they need to in order to survive, regardless of how it affects our fishing. It may be a couple seasons before we start seeing lots of big fish in the Current again, but I don't imagine it bodes ill for the long-term health of the stream.

The ducks could be all hens, they could be all pintails or canvasbacks, etc- it's hard to tell when they're all just hunks of meat. That's why the law requires a wing or head be attached- so they can tell the species and sex of the hunter's take. I'd agree it's not one of the most well-known rules even a little ambiguous- but I can see why agents would need that information to determine whether a hunter was complying with game laws. And it's in the same regulations book as all the other waterfowl rules- to me it's no more "nit picky" than fining a guy for whacking ducks before shooting hours, using an unplugged gun, or lead shot on public lands. It's a bummer the guy got a ticket, but it was because the hunter didn't know the rules- not because the LE was being a big meanie. And as much as folks on here clamor for more enforcement, I'm glad to see MDC doing these sorts of checks.

It's pretty close, different reel and line wt though

nope...

I saw that post, but this is a different rod than the one he's describing.

I found it yesterday. If you've lost one, PM me with a description and where you put in- I'll make sure it gets back to you.

I think that'd work fine Justin, it's pretty similar to the Slumpbuster and Matuka patterns I had mentioned earlier. Olive, Black, Dark Brown and Gray have always been pretty effective sculpin colors for me. And don't get discouraged- simplicity works. Many nice fish are taken from Taney each year on olive and brown marabou jigs- thats about a simple a tie as you can get

I think removing the tempation for anglers to stock crappie on their own is a big component. Lots of small public impoundments have crappie, even though few of them were ever stocked with them by agencies. My guess is it's a compromise, offering folks the opportunity to catch crappie without all the negatives of overpopulation and stunting. Hope it works out for them.

There's lots of simple, effective sculpin patterns out there, and lots of recipes and tying instructions online. A short list- Rabbit Matuka (you can omit the deer hair/woolhead if you're adverse to them) Near-Nuff Sculpin Slumpbuster Bow River Bugger Zonker There's a lot of other patterns out there, places like flytyingforum.com can be a really good place to look for inspiration.