MOPanfisher

I always end up using the same rod I normally crappie fish with, simply because I am more used to it. If I switch to my Outlaw or longer St. Croix I "bonk" a lot. Shorter does seem to be easier to control though.

i guess I have just never been in that position FW. My dealings with LE have been 90% or so positive, even being let off for things I couldn't complain if they wrote me a ticket, light out, minor speeding etc. When it comes to any agency attempting to finance themselves with fine money that is a bad thing it encorages punishment instead of enforcement. I do have a somewhat narrow view on BWI or DWI, if they are over the limit, prosecute them period. That may be my wife/kids on the water or road with them, they can then tell their story to the prosecutor and or judge. I know several who have been ticketed, not lost their job or have any stigma attached that I am aware of so I don't see it as ruining anyones life. MSHP has always seemed to have a black and white view. They catch you they ticket you, honestly as long as they are consistent with everyone I am fine with that, although at times they seem to be a little ticket happy, for instance a local guy wrecked his truck, dropped a wheel off the road in the soft mud of the shoudler and that was all she wrote. Ended up getting a ticket for failure to drive on right half of the road or something, come on the wreck was enough, so I see your point. Counties deputies and some municipal LE are a little more forgiving at times.

It has been an odd year for sure. As for spring it's anyone's guess we may not see substantial rains all spring. Anyone who think they are Goin to launch at bolivar landing is mistaken. Guessing it will be at least 2 weeks befor water drops enough to ground the debris so we can clean it off. And somewhere out there is a black Honda car.

At least one of the asian carp (don't remember if bighead or silver primarily) that when small look an awful lot like gizzard shad. If you have them side by side its easy to tell the difference, but if the cast net only comes up with small asians it can be tough for non-fish guys to recognize wha they are.

As expected this morning I reduced outflow to 2800 (from 3500 CFS). Expect to run for quite a while at this level. Hopefully we won't have much if any significant ice on the lake, we have tried to modify releases when ice is present to keep from damaging docks when possible, however at this level the docks will have to take their chances as the lake level needs to be dropped back to some semblance of normal.

Too perfect of a day not to have a pot of ham and beans simmering all day in the cast iron pot. Leftover ham and a couple hocks tossed in. Yeah I like a lot of bone, mean, hide etc. in mine. Add a pan of corn caserole which in reality was nothing more than a corn muffin mix with a can of creamed corn, a can of drained whOle corn, and sour cream, with a little cheese on top. Came out at around 1000 degrees but delicious. Pretty sure I looked like a dog with a hot potato. Just couldn't leave it alone long enough for it to cool.

Interesting I have never heard that.

Campfires, sheds, coffee pots and comfy chairs, heck what is not to like except maybe the Indian leg wrestling.

Snagged, never heard that. Tell me what you mean by falls apart. And it sounds like maybe Billethead was responsible for their introduction.

Do biologists and other scientists made mistakes and are sometimes unable to see the long term consequences, sure. But more invasive species are introduced by non scientific folks such as pet and aquarium industry or shipping, than not. Rusty crayfish, hydrilla, quaggas and zebra mussels, lion fish. By and large after some notable and repeated failures from the 70s & 80s most biology based agencies quit attempting to introduce new species to combat some other problem. Honestly I don't know of any recent (last 20 years) introductions. What is here is likely to stay and must be either death with or adjusted to. Bow shooting the Asians would be a blast, but I would love to tie into them with a rod and reel as well. Caught a 50 pound grass carp years ago and it was enjoyable for sure.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/cooking/fish-recipes/asian-carp-stick. Now just have to find a way to get them to hit a rapala or ned.

I always laugh when a well fed person complains that we should not.be messing.with biology, or the natural order. Even funnier when they live on a mad made lake. Invasive species are invasive for a reason, they are adaptable, reproduce well and tough to eradicate.

Electro fishing would work just fine, but to make it feasible would likely.require gill netting, which obviously has some issues, but in a river truly choked with them would be viable. Problem is it wouldn't eliminate them, would only make room for more to grow to size.

Develop a market for them for table or resturant fare. Commercial fishermen would love to fish them and be able to sell them.

Other than the normal paying stuff off, setting up college funds for kids and family, I would set up a kids fishing clinic of some kind. Any kid that wants to fish but doesn't have a dad, or dad doesnt have a boat etc. sign up we would provide kid and dad with fishing trips on whatever lakes in the area they wanted to try, if that meant paying guides to take them no worries have the money. Kids who like to fish need some tackle, send us a request, tackle be on the way. Finally I would open a small gun shop and hire someone to run it and be the gunsmith, prices would be same as everywhere else, but off to one side would be a BS room, sit drink coffee, tell your lies, and don't bother paying customers. I probably would keep my job since I kind of like it.

Walcrab what you say is true, although the COE does work with MDC and coordinate as much as possible to avoid rapid changes during spawn time, unfortunately we have never found a way to get Mother Nature to the meetings. The Fisheries Biologist that works on Pomme (Craig Fuller) usually says as long as it is not a rapid rise or fall it is fine. If the water level is slowly dropping the fish will instinctively spawn a little deeper give the eggs time to hatch and fry to move. Honestly probably beginning with a flooded condition and slow drop allowing the eggs to hatch and fry to seek shelter in flooded bushes etc. would likely be a very very good spawn. Assuming the weather is normal (whatever that is) Stockton should be relatively normal for the crappie spawn. And when folks here at Pomme tell me that changing lake levels is what kills a crappie spawn I always point out Truman, it seems to flood with a heaby dew, and goes up and down like a yo yo, dirty water etc, but there always seems to be a good spawn. In the end, as a fisherman I too just have to take it as it comes, but the fisheries are considered in the equations where feasible.

Anytime you get a big runoff rain it washes in a lot of nutrients, which provide the base for plankton, minnows and on up the food chain. Every down side has and up and every up has a down . The lake has had it happen many time before and will again, just part of the cycle. O2 levels usually aren't a worry unless you have high water in summer and a lot of vegetation decaying to eat up the oxygen.

I hear ya Brad, I would like to run 3500 a little longer too, however the charts, graphs, projections, lake regulation manual yada yada yada, it all puts us back into phase I at 2800. And honestly 2800 does give me a little more breathing room on the river level, there are a few places where it is bank full with no room to spare, small rains even today start to make me nervous and have to check a couple critical places for increased runoff so 2800 does give me a little more "wiggle room", hopefully not having to get out of bed at 2 a.m. and rush over to shut outflows down, but that comes with the job. Still gonna be a while getting back to normal, 6 inches or so a day, 20 feet, math works out to mid Feb for "normal", assuming no more gully washers. I hope to get back among the fishing scene this year, now that Dr. has cleared me, but I am not much of a danger to damage the population, and from MDC reports the crappie population is in VERY good shape right now. Next 3 years should be great on Pomme. Errr I mean they will suck eveyone should fish Truman and LOZ. Keep posting when you are catching them, I often live vicariously through your reports.

FW I wouldn't be surprised at all if your guess is correct on the kill switch.

Can't explain how much I like that news sir, and I don't even know you. OUTSTANDING!

I think there may be a law on the books about keeping bacon grease around. If not there should, ponder if you will how many pounds or gallons of perfectly good bacon grease are thrown out every single day, things like that make you worry about the future of America. Right now I am daydreaming about things like fresh greens wilted with green onions, radishes, and bits of bacon, served next to some fresh (never frozen) crappie or walleye fillets and a pan of Mexican cornbread. Might be that it's leftover night causing it though.

Wish I could lime that more than once Bill.

Yes the Golden Age and IAB Senior passes are for all intents the same thing. The Golden Access and IAB Access pass are essentially the same. The are a lot of differences but to the public they are interchangeable. Yes you will need the plastic placard with which to display the pass, unfortunately those have not been shipped out yet. The 2016 Annual Passes are in KC and should be distributed this week as they are from a different source. I am currently trying a different computer to see if I can upload the brochure/info.

My experience has been the exact opposite. Every MSWP officer I have ever worked with from Captain down to patrolman have been the salt of the earth, it's been some of the MSHP guys that have had the attitude of "we are special". Either way the combination was very poorly handled, the regular MSHP guys had no clue how to integrate water patrols into their way of doing things, and they had pretty well weeded out most of the experienceed WP guys who did understand how to do it. The MSHP seemed to believe that driving a boat around was a cake job and literally anyone could do it, they have since learned differently. Operating a large patrol boat of busy waterways or a small boat in flood conditions is not a simple job. I get the privilege of having the MSHP do their swift water swim and boat training here below the dam. It is a major learning experience for many of them and the instructors are VERY good operators. I would think that the MSHP would certify officers for water duty sort of like SWAT program.

Lake is dropping around 6 inches a day right now. Looking like we will probably fall into phase I early next week, what that means is we will be dropping releases to 2800 CFS.