Kelroy

I was in Columbia yesterday for the Mo BASS quarterly meeting. Just happened to nab this from the Bass Pro afterward. They only had 4 or 5 crankbaits and a couple of squarebills left. Don't know if it will catch anything, but it sure hooked me...

Mine too, terrierman, and I have to agree. I often wonder if we haven't already passed the point of no return, and are just this slow in finding out? The single biggest threat to our environment is....complacency.

Every gage in our network is visited monthly for service- to check inside/outside calibration, download on-site data, change out batteries, and to make discharge measurements to update and/or verify the accuracy of the stage/discharge relation as put forth on the web. A few of the gages still operate on compressed nitrogen, and those systems need a little additional upkeep. So when you think about the costs involved, you need to factor in replacement parts and spare equipment, laptop or pda plus measurement software, acoustic doppler current profile equipment (handheld for wading measurements, line-towed 'boats' for working off a bridge, boat-mounted units for big rivers), hip boots, chest waders, life jackets, rain gear, fall-arrest equipment and other OSHA-required safety gear, GSA fleet vehicle operating expenses, fuel expense, meal and motel per diem costs, field technician salary expense, salary for supervisory review and approval of data and records, computer hardware and software to process, edit, and archive measurement data, year-end publishing costs (since this is public domain data we are required to publish yearly summaries, available on cd now), and the cost of satellite bandwidth to receive, relay, and download data via hourly transmission. All of these costs must be factored into the maintenance of each transmitting gage installation. Since we are only partially-funded through the federal government, we rely heavily on 'cooperators,' such as DNR, USCG, NWS, MDC, NPS, USACE, and various other federal, state, and municipal sources to keep our network running. Our federal share has already been frozen or reduced the last few years, and state and local budgets have suffered likewise. So when a cooperator doesn't have the required funding to maintain all of their gages, and if we can't make up the difference by cutting somewhere else, something has to go. We don't like doing it, as it is inconvenient to everyone who uses and relies on our data; it imposes a hardship on the very public we strive to serve. Not trying to make excuses, but gage operation and maintenance require a lot more money than most people realize.

I found this artificial hip joint wedged in the cobblestones in front of the arch last year. No teflon, ceramic, or titanium here, it's at least 25-30 years old. Lot number too far gone to trace.

I once found a Jeep Cherokee Sport, complete with occupant... He had been missing a couple of weeks.

I love my Henderson scuba gloves. Very thin neoprene, and the synthetic palm material offers incredible sensitivity. Work great for fly fishing and slinging a baitcaster too. Being a warm-water glove, they will soak through if you immerse them a few times, but they are better than anything else I've tried in terms of dexterity and 'feel.' I wear nitrile gloves all the time for my job, and I've tried the thin-liner-underneath trick. If you have smallish hands and can find some really big nitrile, it might work. But in my experience, the elasticity applies enough compression to squeeze the blood out of my fingers and restrict the circulation so much that it gets painful after about ten minutes. My fingers feel colder than with no gloves at all.

Very nice :-) having been living the "non-essential" lifestyle the last couple weeks, i took my new 'yak down to crossroads a few times that week. Caught several 14-16" on 1/8 oz brn/grn Bitsy Bugs. It's quite a challenge juggling boat, bass, and baitcaster at the same time. Good workout, too. Fish on!

My job requires daily use of coolers for sample preservation and transport; we even ship our iced samples cross-country to our lab. We only recently acquired some YETI coolers for each of our field trucks. They are definitely tough, they don't cave in under heavy loads (you know who you are). But they are very heavy for a cooler. They are thick-walled, but don't seem to be any more insulated that the average Igloo or Coleman. Important to remember, they aren't necessarily a 'better' cooler, just a tougher one. I'm not really fond of the rubber 'Jeep hood' latches, though we have yet to break one. They can be padlocked at the corners, although it requires a long-shackle lock to do so, the average padlock won't reach. They have an o-ring seal in the lid, so if you use dry ice, you will need to open it up every once in a while to allow the CO2 to escape. Solid block ice always lasts longer than any size cubes, but it can be cumbersome depending on what you're trying to pack in there with it. Some of the lads have taken to using frozen water bottles for cooling; they last a little longer than cubes, are re-freezable, don't soak everything as they melt, and are easier to arrange vs a big solid block. Hope this helps you decide whether or not a Yeti will fill your needs. ~K

Different cooperators have different objectives, including monitoring discharge from specific tributaries, studying storage and/or backwater conditions, and so on. When a cooperator approaches us with a request for a gaging station, we sit down and figure out what/where we can put one that will meet their study objectives. Once we narrow down a general region, we conduct a thorough recon of possible sites, which are then evaluated on their accessibility (usually on or adjacent to a bridge for high-flow measurements) ownership of the property (state, fed, or private?) ability to broadcast data to one of our designated satellites (must be able to point that antenna right at that sucker!) physical hazards present, logistical problems with construction, channel morphology, constriction, and control features which may adversely influence the hydrology (inside/outside bend? straight run? bedrock vs gravel bottom, etc) So, there is actually quite a bit to consider when it comes to the final site selection. In a nutshell, we pick the best all-around spot that is mutually beneficial to us (since we have to get in there and maintain the gage, and make regular measurements to develop and maintain a stage-discharge rating) and that also serves to best meet the study objectives of the cooperator. Apologies for the verbosity, but i hope i answered your question?

Yes Ollie, you're right in that the Tiff City gage (at Hwy 43 bridge, Cowskin access) doesn't tell the whole story of the upper end of the basin, as would a gage at Pineville. The gages at Pineville and Powell were installed to support a dedicated Elk River/Grand Lake drainage basin study several years back. We also did sampling and discharge measurements near Sugar Island, Caverna, and Indian Creek at Lanagan. After the study ended, other cooperators agreed to maintain funding for the operation of those gages. Otherwise, we would have pulled them out and redeployed the equipment at other installations. Gage site selection gets complicated by issues of access, right-of-way issues, landowner agreements, cooperator funding, etc, in addition to constraints imposed by the terrain and physical location itself.

The Indian Creek/Lanagan gage is still up and running. It can also be accessed through our WaterWatch quickmap: http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=mo Ollie you are right, we don't have anything on the Elk above Tiff City, and in fact that is a site maintained by the Oklahoma District. It can still be accessed through our quickmap. We do have gages on several Elk tribs; Big Sugar @ Powell, Little Sugar @ Pineville, Buffalo Creek @ Tiff City. There used to be a USGS station on the Elk at Pineville (07188850) which was operated intermittently from 1942 to 1967. The 13.53 is indeed the battery voltage, one of many parameters which self-report. GOES refers to Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, the network our gage data is beamed through. The NWS uses our precip and stage data for flood/crest forecasting. NWS, NOAA, USACE, and other cooperators have their own links to our gage data, but if their links don't work (or disappear) you can always look for a USGS page.

I think Panfisher nailed it down pretty good- try slowing down and exaggerating your casting swing. Take it nice and easy and don't try to throw too far.

Fin-n-Feather, a little off-topic, but i read with great sympathy about your seed tick misadventure. Thought i'd pass along my favorite anti-tick weapon- carry an adhesive lint-roller. Peels 'em right off your clothing, skin, even when they're stuck on. Plus, it's really satisfying to roll a couple hundred on a sheet, then fold it shut and seal them in there. Works great. ~K

Thanks JD- yeah I noticed it last time I was down to measure at Thebes. I'll be down again the second week of July to check them out. I know the one in Joplin carries original Wham-O 90g Frisbees for $2 or so, and I need to stock up. My dog goes through a couple dozen a year. :-)

Is that the new one in Cape? i was down there a couple weeks ago when the whole prep crew was staying at the Drury.

Interesting article on the nitrate/hypoxia relationship, from last year. ~K http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/mississippi-river-nitrate

Nice Northern, most likely a female. They have irregular orange markings on their belly, closer to the tail. I've seen the Southern variety down in the bootheel, and their belly is bright yellow like a banana. A cautionary note on photographing cottonmouths, copperheads, and other pit vipers. A few years back I was measuring a small creek in downtown Springfield, when I happened upon one of the biggest cottonmouths I had ever seen. It was coiled up on a flat rock, and I thought it would make an excellent photo for helping my coworkers identify a 'real' cottonmouth vs the common Northern. I took out my digital camera, and from about five feet away, framed up a fabulous shot. As i pressed the shutter button, the thing went berserk, striking wildly in my direction 3 or 4 times, and heading right for me! Then it turned and dove in, and swam across the bottom, moving faster than any snake I've ever seen. The picture I got was a blurry shot of the snake in mid-strike, jaws wide and fangs out. As it turns out, auto-focus cameras shine infrared light on the target to measure the range and adjust focus. Those sensory pits near the snake's nostrils are heat-sensing organs, and are especially sensitive to infrared frequencies, as I found out. Poor thing was 'blinded' by the auto-focus,and reacted instinctively. So, nature buffs, just keep this in mind next time you are trying to frame up that perfect shot. Zoom in from a distance first. ~K

Good spot for catfish and crappie, i find the bass fishing hit-or-miss. The shallows get very weedy in the summer. There is a 10hp limit, but lately they have been letting larger motors operate, as long as they are kept at idle speed. ~K

On our USGS gage pages, there is a 'Feedback' link at the bottom left of the page. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on how we may improve the overall quality and utility of our product. Not promising it will get done, but it's a place to start. I'm glad you guys find our data useful, and I'm proud to help provide this service to the public. ~Kel

I'd say you hooked a keeper! Congrats!

Wow- back to one of my favorite soapbox topics. I look at it from a scientific approach. When 'working' a lure, you are trying to control that lure and make it perform various actions. When you are lucky enough to have a fish on the end of that lure, your goal turns to controlling the fish. Your interface with that fish is your lure, which is controlled by your line. Your line is controlled not by your reel, but by your rod. This is even more apparent in fly fishing, where the reel is nothing more than a spool on which to store the line. Maybe it's just my opinion, but I'd rather have the rod controlled by my dominant hand, which by default is stronger, more dextrous, more sensitive, and has quicker reflexes than my 'weak' hand. All of those biomechanical advantages are wasted on turning a tiny crank just to take slack out of your line, while leaving rod/line/lure/fish controlling duties to your weaker, slower, clumsier hand. All of my fly reels are are left-reeling (or automatics- gasp!) all of my spinning reels are left-reeling, so it was a natural progression to left-reeling baitcasters. The only right-reeling reel I've used was an old spincaster I had as a kid; it was made by the Zero Hour Bomb Company. ;-) The state of the art has come a long way since then. Just my .02 worth.

The 3050 figure represents the highest daily mean flow recorded on a Feb 26 over the last 47 years of record, which happened to be in 1997. Short answer, is that it was running about three times as much water as it was on Feb 26, 1997. The negative spikes you see on the 23rd can be caused by small air leaks in the orifice line, aggravated by the shrinkage caused by cold weather. Sometimes ice forms in the line and causes positive spikes. Note that the graph is 'provisional data', when the hydrographer gets a chance, he will go in and delete such erroneous data, thus smoothing out the curve, before the data can be reviewed and the record marked as approved. Al really gives some good tutorials, posted under 'So how low are the rivers?' and 'Reading streamflow data.' I'm always pleased to find out when folks use and appreciate our data product. ~K

"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." ~Aristotle

Short answer- because the "media" will only report things which support their AGENDA.

Have you checked into Cedar Stone Lodge, south of town? I used to stay there quite a bit for work.