MOPanfisher

Every MO biologist and agent I talked with never flatly denied the presence of anything but a bigfoot. They always allowed for the presence of transient bears and cats and in recent years pretty much belive there are breeding populations of both bears and cats, although fewer cats. There is certainly validity to more intrusion by humans into wild areas, also Missouri has certainly got a food source for mountain lions in the hefty deer population. Bears can and will eat just about anything they are about the closest thing to a walking garbage disposal there is.

OUCH!

Toss a handfull of blueberries into the gooseberry pie, buddy calls it "blue goose" pie and it is delicious.

Get a little of that breading mix in those cuts, might make them heal faster.

Some of my favorite smoked meat places were dumps/dives. One was a mechanics shop except for Sunday he fired up the smoker, but he saved one side of the piece of plywood he rebuilt stuff on to flip over so he could cut up the meat. I would go broke trying to compete in BBQ but I would be fat and happy, and probably slightly intoxicated by end of each day.

LOL, Vernon, if that is the worst you have done even this week don't sweat it.

Vernon, if you are talking about the COE Annual Pass there is no Missouri or Kansas one, it good at any COE managed area. Some individual lakes, and even some counties or states have separate passes for areas they manage though. If you already have the COE Annual Pass and it's not expired there is no benefit to purchasing an America the Beautiful Passport, unless you are going to camp in Corps campgrounds, then it will pay for itself the first trip by saving you 50% on camping fees. However none of the various COE sold or issued passes will help much at state parks or places like Smithville (Clay County) or other non COE managed areas.

Spinach and lettuce got pulled and put into compost pile this evening. Put two purple heirloom tomatoe plants in their place, and left some room for some fresh dill. All 28 if the rest of the Tomato plants are looking fabulous, corn is a little pale yet, like everyone else need some sunshine. Strawberries and cherries are done now but awfully good while they lasted. If it dries out enough I still need to plant some butternut squash and maybe some crowder peas just because. Cantelouopes are coming up finally, had about given up on them.

That was quick thinking by the marina operator, well done. I doubt there will be any laws outlawing any boats in the near future. Sadly accidents happen. I have heard stories of a Champion on LOZ doing essentially half a barrel roll when it clipped a waked off center at speed. I personally had a wave on Texoma roll over the gun wale of my old Champ, fortunately I was idling along and saw it coming, and got partly turned it it, that wake was a from a large cruiser at about half throttle, made a wake like a river barge. Bass boats for all their stability when fishing are not that stable at planing speed. Kill switch and a pfd would resulted in a very wet, very ticked off boater telling his friends about how rough TR is, hopefully some reading this topic will be safer as a result, maybe it will prompt me to go ahead and buy the inflatable pfd I keep thinking about.

Yeah but no point in getting someone killed trying to recover a body. If it is deep, and I think the report was 100 feet, it could be a while before the body comes up, assuming it isn't hung up on something. Wouldn't be the first body that TR kept, hopefully it doesn't turn into a worse situation and the body float up amid the holiday pleasure boaters.

A boarding ladder is certainly not a bad thing, however it won't mean much without a kill switch used. A circling running boat isn't going to stop for you it will hit you, make some wicked chops with the prop, and circle back for another try. We teach our employees the tilt/trim method among other ways to re enter a boat if you end up out of the boat unexpectedly. Even the stern mounted ladders are sketchy, usually even the folding ones don't put a rung very far into the water, often less than a foot deep. Heck if I could flex enough to get my foot that high I could probably climb back in.

I keep expecting to have a bear in my apple orchard, compost heap, or fish remains pit. So far not, maybe the outside dog keeps them skeered off.

AWESOME!! I should have been fishing for them instead of walleye.

it is amazing how quick and easy it can happen. I know two people who went over their boat on Truman. they were both standing up front running the tolling motor, cruising from one spot a little way to another, cruising along enjoying life, one hit a stump and one hit an old barb wire fence, it was either fall out or step out on the water. I would have injured myself attempting to stay in the boat probably.

Pomme peaked out on Wednesday at about 0900 hrs, just under 842.5. It caught me by surprise peaking that quickly, as I went out Wednesday evening to throw crankbaits at some points to see if any walleye were interested. They like to be right at the bushes when water is up and stable, and will pound a crankbait sometimes. Sadly I was too late, or it simply wasn't happening. Caught a couple nice channel cats that hit like a ton of bricks, a few LM, drum, and dink white bass. Outflows for the weekend will be cut back from 2000 CFS to 500 CFS, unless something major happens with the predicted rains. 500 makes for a much safer float on the river below the dam, and if inflows don't rise, should hold lake steady to possibly even a very slow drop, should be great for fishing in between storms.

I am the same way OldPlug, all braid on my reels, drag set so that it will slip a little on the hookset. and if I need more my thumb or index finger on a spinning reel automatically move in to apply more. I fish a lot with light tackle, sometimes that first stick of the hook in a big fish whether a bass, catfish or walleye results in a spectacular rush, and you have to be able to give a little if needed. Also if you are fishing braid take a look at your knot, you might benefit from a different knot, they don't all work nearly as well on braid. I still use the Palomar some, but more often use a Fishing Fool knot.

AWESOME, congratulations to all the family.

Heard this last night on the news, the circling boat is never a good sign. I am not very good about wearing PFD either, although in my personal boat I do wear it when running the big motor and keep the kill switch clipped to it, been on too many of these type calls. At work it is a requirement if on a boat, plus I have a good Inflatable at work, and after a short while I forget I even have it on. Guess I should pony up and buy one for myself, as my balance in a boat is no where close to what it used to be a couple years ago. Hope this turns out as well as it can at this point, alive and well would be good but unlikely. Hope they make a recovery soon.

Love the coloring and pattern, it just looks like a predator.

darn, hate to hear that. Follow Dr. instructions, and get healed up. I well know what it's like to lose a whole spring/summer of fishing. OA kept me sane, well sort of anyway. If you need anything shoot me a message.

There you go, getting all philosophical and its only a Thursday.

Hmm, I thought you were talking about those plaid shorts.

Not all ball bearings are the same, and not every single place on a reel needs them, that being said, if I get a reel with more bearings at the same price I am at least going to give it a "whirl" in the store. Some reels are probably very good, they just don't feel right to me though. Although the really really good ones, the Stellas, Steez etc. are fun to hold and spin around a while I always put them carefully back. For someone like Bill who fishes for a living and probably well 250 days a year it makes sense to buy high end stuff. for someone like me, it makes more sense to buy something along the lines of a Pfleuger President, which I figured for a 2 year reel, toss and replace, but they are still going strong, my fear is that they will change something or raise the price and I will wish I had a couple in boxes sitting on a shelf. The one reel I cannot seem to wear out is an old Diawa Black Gold, been at my house for 30 plus years, no instant anti reverse on it, but the dang thing is nearly indestructible. I am always on the lookout for a new version, but so far I just end up buying another Pfleuger President.

Same more or less on Pomme. Usually by now they are congregated around balls of shad, but shad are scattered seems like still. May be a little early still. Buddy took me trolling Saturday afternoon, several shorts and small whites but few keepers. I don't believe he ever adds weights or trolls anything that runs deeper than a flicker shad or shad rap. It is a relaxing way to fish if nothing is happening though. However even a few small whites can liven things up in a hurry.

The are and will be plenty of both, although having been around the parks on holidays for many years I would much rather have someone who likes to smoke a joint in the evening and doesn't cause any problems than a whiskey drinker who decides his wife/family/neighbor Ned's a little smacking around, or the occasional trustee of modern chemistry who's greatest joy is another hit of meth. I alway wanted hot, dry, windy holiday weekends. Let them drink some beer, get sun and wind burned and wore out, then by midnight they are asleep. Cold rainy weekends and some folks decide to just sit around and drink, invariably by midnight someone will get a free night in the county pokey.