Haris122

Nice fish.

Interesting read. Hopefully prior sperm retention wasn't just overlooked in that, cause that would kind of seem like an obvious thing to doublecheck.

The original owner probably left it at his place for a couple years, it started rusting, and the guy didn't trust it anymore. So, easiest way to get rid of it without getting in trouble = dump it or toss it in a lake. Don't have to risk pulling the pin, and no one will probably find it for a long time if ever. Good thing it didn't get snagged just right to somehow activate it once the guy starts fumbling with it to remove it from his line.

Since its been kind of slow on the Meramec forum, I figure I give another quick report. I went yesterday for 2 hours late in the afternoon on the meramec down near hwy 21/tesson ferry rd.. I saw a lot of activity, but then again there always seems to be late in the afternoon at this place. Anyways, I was lure fishing from shore with one rod, with one of the cheap $2 crankbaits from walmart and no takes on that. The other rod I had the catblood stuff on under a bobber, and caught a small maybe 12" blue or channel catfish. Had a few more bites on that same type of bait afterwards, but no solid takes. So that was pretty much it. Near the end I saw a small gar swimming towards me before he noticed me and high tailed it out of there. Also saw the carcass of a nice 18" or so bulky gar that probably would've given one heck of a fight. But it was dead, floating in the water. Don't know if from natural causes, or cause someone didn't like what he got on the line.

I'm listening. (Or should I say, got my vote, though I can't vote).

Greasy, you've been through some tough dung. I'd hate to have a gun pointed to any part of me once, much less as many times as you. Once something like that happens I'd be carrying too.

Judging by "the first 48" intended homicides by the average criminal (not counting mass murderers psychos etc, that just do it for the rush) do seem to have very particular reasons behind them, whether it's something understandable like the other guy shot and killed his little brother, or something idiotic like the guy in the killers mind is the primary suspect that may have stolen his golden chain or necklace. But there are also quite a few robberies that degenerate into murder cause either the guy got nervous, on a power trip, or the victim started fighting back and got shot/stabbed in the process.

To be fair, don't they generally pay normal-looking people to purchase the ingredients for them instead? Honestly not too sure if I've seen any real meth addicts myself but that's how it often goes down on cop shows, and in the news.

I'm no fly fisherman, but I definitely have this expert's attitude when losing lures once my snagged line breaks, or even more so when I'm bobber fishing and all too frequently time the hookset wrong.

I didn't think that deep but you might onto something now that you mention it . Yup, sadly there's a worldwide abundance of people who get some kind of rush out of doing that to something that can't return the favor in some form.

Interesting stuff guys. I don't really fish with minnows, and I've stopped fishing with worms for a while as well (I know it's weird but I felt a little sorry for them seeing them squirm around as the hook went through them), but the worm thing has been eye opening as when I did fish with them, I would generally let some go. Should've known better, but figured they're worms, they're everywhere.

darn that is just sad that people would do that. Crack it good over the head with something a couple times if need be, before you put it through something like that at least. What good does it do you to have it still alive for that kind of ordeal.

A pistol that shoots the common defense calibers like 9, 40, or 45, seems not to be the choice for something in Bear protection. I think the P95 is supposed to be more of a human protection kind of gun if I'm not mistaken, due to the calibers it is commonly sold in. I have went fishing once or maybe twice, someplace where across the river when I got there I heard someone firing a rifle or something, repeatedly over the course of an hour. In that case I really did feel like having a rifle along with me myself would've helped (as I didn't think a pistol would've helped enough). Pretty sure it was just some idiots target shooting and setting up their private shooting range that just happens to have people and houses around the place, but that's really not much more assuring than someone intending to shoot at you. Hunting too, there have been some times when I considered what would happen if the person randomly firing around would see me before I do him, but at least there I had a rifle to fire back with, just in case, and it was somewhere that other people seeing you with it, wouldn't automatically freak out over seeing you with one. There's definitely some times when packing something would help. Just as long as people don't get too zealous to use it, just to prove the benefit of carrying one, and actually contribute to the situation going downhill real quick.

darn, I never checked out lake 8 yet. Is that lake going to be still fish-able for a while or is it already closed off, or unsuited to fishing for some other reason? What have your guys experiences and types of catches been on 8?

What qualifies as lately? I went out maybe 2-3 weeks back a couple times.

I've been out today exploring the accesses around Simpson Lake, before I went there. I saw a plaque in one mention that I'd have to call and get a permit if I wanted to stay past the official closing time. But that's owned by Valley Park and not the MDC directly, so yeah, I'm still going to call them and find out what the deal is with ones they actually own first hand.

Maybe I should call them, and see if that works out the same way around St. Louis.

Wanted to see if you guys know of any parks, conservation accesses, or something around St. Louis where they let you fish overnight for free or cheap. I saw the county parks department had an event at Simpson park going on a few weeks back, where they were charging $10 for overnight, which isn't horrible (but free is still a lot better, haha), but on top of that it was just one particular weekend. I also heard Suson park let's people stay a bit late every 2nd Saturday of each month, but it's still well short of overnight. None of the Conservation Areas/Accesses, even those targeted for hunting purposes seem to allow overnight camping either, which is weird cause some even have designated camping areas going by legends on the maps. So I'm wondering if you guys know of any public places for fishing (and possibly hunting as well) that actually allow you to stay overnight on a frequent basis?

At close range the violin might still work. Especially if he takes off the strings and booby traps the most likely approach to cut into people's throats when they try to rush him.

Just how much of a task was it to unhook that monster without getting gashes and cuts from the snout just shaking around in that last bit of effort to free itself?

I can't say precisely what they were protecting it from, but I got the impression the fencing was protecting some water plant that certain species like to use for laying eggs, or maybe that juveniles of that same species or several, use to more effectively escape predation. I can't remember exactly how fine the mesh of the fencing was, and if smaller bass could make their way through it for example, but I think the plaque near it suggested it to be some type of refuge/sanctuary. It wasn't anything impressive, the space within the fencing was barely 5 feet in diameter if I recall correctly, and there were maybe 2 or 3 of these "refuges" total. It was in a small urban pond here in St. Louis. It seemed like some quick fix measure to improve survival of something within that small lake. What, that I can't recall.

Wow, very informative answer. Thanks Tim. I have seen 1 or 2 local ponds/lakes with a fenced in, small protected refuge area, which I assume was for a purpose like that, but never much else. So that got me wondering, especially with all the fish-imitation lures like roostertails and crankbaits I use, and what effect no prey fish in a given lake might have on the frequency that a predatory fish might still fall for those types of lures if they never experienced such a thing as smaller food fish in the area. I know instinct to some extent trumps that, but I figured there is almost certainly some learned aspect to it as well.

Sure thing. Not much help for Bass fishing, but I can say neither the gar, walleye, or drum were caught on the beetlespin these times, so that might be the lure of choice to avoid those if specifically going for Bass or something, haha.

Went out late afternoon again today for a couple hours. This time at George Winter Park. Caught 2 Gar. One maybe 16", the other probably like 12". First one I got on the same shallow running Crankbait as from Tuesday. The other one I got on the actual river section with a silver/black small minnow type crankbait. First time I got a cut/broken skin from a fish too. The bigger gar smacked into my top lip (I'm guessing with a tooth) while struggling around when I picked it up to remove the lure and untangle the line around it.

Just been wondering if the MDC stocks any smaller minnow-like fish or other food species that would be even below bluegills on the foodweb, in the artificial ponds/lakes like the ones in the St. Louis area urban lakes, or even Bush wildlife area lakes. Or how they take care of essentially preventing the fish higher up on the foodweb, from starving. And additionally, how they prevent the larger fish from eating them all up in short order, if they do stock them. I know they figure part of the problem will be taken care off by people keeping legal size fish, but just been wondering if there's any "deeper" approach to that issue.