MOPanfisher

I haven't fished the bull creek confluence on Taney since I left Forsyth many years ago, was usually some decent fishing there. Ought to be some big uns fattened on trout but I never caught any of them.

IMy gavorite is chuck roasts but this one is looking pretty good, falling apart tender and 4 big ol taters to keep my son in line. Onions have basically disappeared except for flavor. Dipped out some juice for the gravy which is working now with a little corn starch and water to thicken. While out with grandson in the big city of springfield I happened to se a package of the big red cased Fricks weiners, which sent us running back to get a jar of sauerkraut. Since my wife is gone for a while she won't be able to comment on the smell and everyone else can just deal with it.

That's a nice chunk spot.

If the wind is blowing also look for a cove or "trap" that is open to the wind, it will pile the warmer water off the top and shad into or against it. Whites will follow and at times it can look like a school of piranha, and you never know what else might be following the shad, crappie or wallys sometimes. Hard to have more fun than a school of nice sized whites with a school of shad trapped, unless you go to truman and get the occasional wiper mixed in, on a crappie rod.

Am actually working well in advance since my wife is out of town, and I am unlikely to.be home to fix supper tomorrow night for my 18 yr old son and 83 yr old mother. So it's the old reliable, crock pot, some water, some garlic and herb dry soup mix, concentrated soup base, a pinch of Billy Goat seasoning, worchestechire and a dab of liquid smoke and undetermined amount of water. Took 4 onions and my wife's new and terrifyingly sharp slicer thingy with the angled blade and sliced them super thin in the mix to cook all night long. Come morning before I leave for Grampa duty I will add the sirloin roast. Granted one of my least favorite cuts of beef but it came with the rest of the beef. May add a couple of whole potatoes for my son's sake, don't know if they will survive intact cooking that long or not. But the mixture is already heating up enough to start smelling like french onion soup. If I am home in time I will take a little broth out and make some gravy. Ain't a green or freah vegetable in sight. Unless my mom sneaks out and raids the asperagas or lettuce.

I think I could have just dumped the whole thing of seafood pieces in a hot skillet with some butter and garlic, them dumped in a bowl and ripped off a chunk of french bread and opened a cold beer and been happy.

Whew, thought I was the only one. Forget drain plug, remove it at ramp and lay on trailer while draining, then drive away losing plug somewhere on road home, forget to put trailer stand up, hint a F150 does have enough power to damage the heck out of that stand, forgetting that during a road trip to fish you locked every compartment and put the key in a hiding spot for safety then remembering you did but not remembering what hide spot you put it in, gas also seems to be important as well as battery charge if my past tells me anything.

Well I may be getting old but not so old and decrepit that a cheeseburger is gonna put me off. But it gets closer every year.

Well if you were busy "spawning" and someone put a cheeese burger in front of you wou you stop to eat it? Keep after them sometimes that dark 30 is magic.

I have heard everything from full spawn, to its over to it ain't started yet. Crappie need 2 things, day length and water temp to be in a proper range. They are getting about right on daylight but temps aren't quite there consistently yet. Warm days but the cool nights are knocking it back. Get some warm 60 degree plus nights and it's gonna happen. Some fish in central mo lakes are being caught shallow but I haven't seen a fish with ragged bloody tails yet, even though some fish are up fairly shallow at times the spawn hasn't really started yet. Steady to slow rising lake levels, and warmer nights will trigger it big time. LOZ usually goes first for whatever reason, then the other lakes follow. Clarity of water will make a difference at how deep they will spawn, have seen them literally swirling in a foot water on Truman and spawning in 6 fow on Pomme. It's gonaa happen, hopefully about turkey season to thin out the number of fisherman I have to compete against. Some years the spawn drags out for weeks, some years it's pretty quick, but the will be severly waves usually that move it at different time. Gotta live spring, walleye, morels, turkeys and crappie the hillbilly grand slam.

Mother Nature has a delayed sense of humor. Apparently she still thinks it is April Fools day, gave me 4 nice morels in 5 minutes, luring me into a 2 hour trek though the briar looking for more. Wondered why I kept hearing faint laughter during my little jaunt. My knees are not happy with me right now.

Nice blackie, been a long time since I was in the neck of the woods.

Well did you catch em, or not.

Yeah I don't any spots that are open/early either. Won't stop me from looking, good excuse to belt on the .22 pistol and wander around the woods for a while.

I am not offended in the least, everyone has the right to keep whatever size over the minimum they wish. Most of the rules are pretty clear, maybe we don't always agree with them but fairly clear to me anyway. I was talking with an agent this morning and he verified the lake to river back to lake as you have to abide by the lake regs ditto on the catch a limit and put in cooler in boat before midnight then catch a second limit as being a violation. Reasons for both are fairly clear, no way to know when or where the fish were caught.

I have been on trips where I set my own limit above the minimum length, on others I was dang glad to catch one that barely measured. A good healthy population is the ideal, whether I catch them or not. Crappie seem to go through cycles depending on the year class, 3 to 4 years after a high water event it is usually good, but bad weather or lake conditions can make catching them tough even if they get a good spawn. Last year was a good example, tough year to catch them with the repeated rains and raising lake but they spawned and had plenty of cover to hide in. Give them a few years to grow and should be awesome. Although the size structure right now is pretty darn good.

I am going to try to hit a couple places either this afternoon or maybe tomorrow afternoon for some morels, not very good at finding them but hey its an excuse to get out in the woods. As for the asparagus, I have marked a couple spots near me that I am going to dig up and transplant to my asparagus bed, since I suspect that is where they came from anyway. the birds love them little red berries and asparagus seems to pop up along my fence, under some lilac bushes etc. etc.

From February 20 through April 14, walleye and sauger can be taken and possessed only between 1/2 hour before sunrise and 1/2 after sunset. This restriction applies to all streams, except the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. You are still under the restrictions in the river until April 14th. Otherwise if you have your boat on the lake waters at any point and get checked by an Agent you will have to follow lake regulations, not the river. I may well be biased toward knowing the regs, I have been around the lakes my whole life, and worked with several Agents, and at one time wanted to be one, so what to me makes perfect sense, or at least is clearly written is sometimes not so clear to everyone else. Generally getting caught is a fine, however repeated violations can go beyond the court system to the MDC Commission who can revoke a hunting or fishing license for a set period. I am a tightwad and don't want to pay a fine, and don't want to lose my Hunter Ed. Instructor credentials after having them for almost 25 years. I will also add that the Agents, Cedar County I believe is Derek Farwell and Tyler Green, Polk County is Susie Swem and Keith Wollard, they are good folks who have a tough job with a combination of black and white regs and lots of grey area, don't hesitate to ask them questions, they will always rather have a conversation than have to write a ticket. Should you opt to go ahead and do what you think would be correct instead of what is written in the wildlife code, you stand a very good chance of getting away with it, however any one of the agents will have no problem reading you the text of the regulation word for word while writing out a ticket. They will even explain the reasoning behind the code.

It's still the same rule, only one daily limit in your boat, however now you have added a second twist with the river. Lets say you launch in the lake and travel up river beyond the legal limit of the lake and are into river Regs with a limit of 30 crappie and no length limit. You have a good day and head back with a limit of 30 crappie in your boat as soon as you cross back into the lake boundary you are back to a daily limit of 15 and length limit of 10 inches and are in violation. I have nearly violated it myself at times, but am very careful and if in question or in doubt always go with the more restrictive regs.

Go back and read.the wording it is written very plain. You cannot posession more than a daily limit while on the water or shoreline of a water body in which posession limits apply. If that has somehow irritated you I am sorry, but the law is quite plain.

Not sure what you are asking for clarification on. Are you asking what is the boundary of "the waters and shoreline"? If so you should probably ask an agent. To me it would mean the boat and up to and including the tow vehicle.

The sunfish are delicious by the way. If they are big enough to make a tater chip sized fillet or go old school and scale and fry whole.

Negative you would be in violation. You may possess no more than the daily limit of any given species while you are on waters, or on the banks of waters, where daily limits for those species apply.

Off season and bad weather seems to bring out the best in dock owners.

Nice, 8N and a brush hog can become an interesting experience, unless you have an over riding clutch on the PTO or live power. Ours never had live power, the "forced March" it takes you on is memorable. Rotten turnips can be almost as much fun to shoot as prairie dogs too.