buffresources

Anybody out there fish bushwacker lake nw of Lamar? It's about 35 miles from my house and am interestedin a possible source of a fishing report...or maybe a contact name/number of somebody who goes frequently...any thoughts on a source? I fished it several years ago caught some nice crappie and bass. Thanks

Exactly my point. If you look at the parks that have plenty of money and the resources necessary to provide that public use and protect the resource they are usually in districts where the congressman really supports the park mission.

The problem is always the same. Congress is the one who directs the NPS to study an area for inclusion into the National Park Service. If the study recommends in favor Congress provides the funding for the establishment of the unit. Now here is the rub...usually that funding is minimal except for big showy things like visitors centers that the local congressmen supports. Funding is not provided adequately for staff to cover these large areas. Just ask the ONSR staff how many people they have to cover the riverways. Then you have the NPS mandate to "provide for public use but protect for future generations" which is usually found in most NPS units enabling legislation... See the quandary? The problem is also compounded by the fact the while the land is owned by the federal govt the wildlife is the property of the resident state. Anyway, just my two cents from 25 years with the NPS natural resource management.

Thanks everybody for the help...the rods are old so I have begun to replace them with new ones. Now that we have pre-election priced gas I may have a little more money to get better ones. Thanks again for all the input...it helped

The site is fine...just logged in. Have you changed computers? Or sounds like something corrupted/changed your IP address. Have you run a virus check recently and removed your browsing history and cookies? That can change the way log-ins see your computer. Just a thought

I have always used monofiliment line and noticed increased number of breaks when hooking fish. The breaks appeared to be anywhere along the line. When I looked at several of my older poles in a strong light many had deep grooves in the metal ferrel on the tip. The rods that had ceramic material did not have the grooves. Now for the questions: Could this break causing weak spots in my line? Can I replace the end metal ferrels with a ceramic one? If I go to braid on some reels will this groove issue be worse?

thanks...I measured the worm and is actually about 5 inches (I pull part of the head of a 7 inch off to reduce size) I might drop back to a 3.0 and try it...will let you know how I do. yesterday hooked 5, landed 3 and missed a whole lot of bits with the 4.0 so some change is needed. Largest lg mouth measures 15 1/2 inches

I fish small ponds with plastic worm rigs...usually 4-5 inch for lg mouth bass but miss a lot of strikes. They pick it up and run with it, I give them line but when I set the hook...nothing. I wonder if my hook size is too large...using #4 Any suggestions on what works best for you?

I have licensed 2 small boats in the last year...all I got was paperwork to carry with the boat.....yes a water proof container of some kind is necessary because you have to have paperwork with your boat. According to the paperwork you have to have a sticker on one side and numbers (visible size) on both sides of your boat; Only if you "motorize" By the way I had a friend fined $250 for not having his boat lic when he added a trolling motor. I understand good old MO used to require even trolling motors to be lic...thankfully they dropped that I learned the hard way about the lic and that in MO you have to have a valid title to start the process so if the seller says I will give you a Bill of Sale and thats all you need to get a lic. don't buy it unless it comes from a non-title state like Kansas...I learned the hard way...just an FYI

Just remember if you buy a used anything and put a trolling motor on it in Missouri you have to have the boat licensed....yes, thats' right...when you put a motor on it has to have a Missouri sticker/lic...if you don't "motorize" you don't have to. That goes for any size boat according to the regs. I had a friend who used a trol motor on his small paddler and got caught...cost him $250. Oh, and by the way, unless you buy used from a non-title state like Kansas you must have a valid title...no exceptions to this one. So if the Missouri seller says all all you need is this Bill of Sale you will end up selling it as a untitled boat to somebody. pers exp...several times!

I fish 30 ft or less and want to home in on brush piles after I locate them with my garmin hand held. Which one to choose? Garmin has more watts but less pixels. Anybody have experience with either one?

you can do most all of the Buffalo's 140 miles in the spring...good white water in the upper end and a ten day float to the White another plus...the Buffalo is a Blue Ribbon Bass Stream for the state of Arkansas and great for small mouth I was the resource division chief on the Buffalo for 13 years...what a job!

Maybe I'm asking too much I don't need GPS as I have a garmin I want the lowest priced locator that will show brush piles in about 20-30 ft B/W or color doesn't matter screen size? finally, and this really shows I'm a novice at this, is there a way to find these while sitting still? here is what I've found in my limited experience: My GPS can get me in the general area... around 10ft of the pile (a 10 ft circle, that is)... and then, when I used my friends fish locator, I can see the brush as I move over it, but only as I'm passing over it, however slowly. So now how to get back to it?...again the GPS...same senerio all over again. I finally "drag" the area with jig until I "feel" the brush. is there anything better? am I not doing this right? thanks

Guess that makes me a "fool" but just had to find out what the concensus of fishermen using this site is as far as the MDC Enforcement Division issues and the public. I spent 25 years as a fed working in natural resources management and have spent a lot of that time on the other side trying to mitigate issues with the public so it will take a lot to "dog pile me into submission". However, I have learned over those years there are always two sides to every story and given enough evidence I can/will change my position (which is still being formed partially by the results of this topic). I always had remain calm and to reflect frequently on who paid my salary before going to "war" over some trivial issue. Conflicts between public use and resource protection are always there....even more so now days with large numbers of people demanding their resource interests be met.

Skipjack's comment on the contract amount is right...I re-read my meeting notes and it was $150,000...the error was mine. A lot was said in those 2+hours and I should have reviewed my post before submitting. I corrected it in the original. Good to know the auditors caught it, at least. I retired out of the federal service and our contracts were bids above $2,500. Anything sole source had a lenghty review and was hard to get funded unless it was hooked to a co-op agreement with a university or such. Maybe this is just the good old boy system at work? It appears from the comments so far that MDC enforcement issues are either not as prevalent as was stated at the meeting or are more common among the hunters...which seemed to be the majority in attendance from my observation. I posted a similar thread as this to crappie.com and have received only one comment so far if that is any indication of issue prevalence. I guess you might look at the actual number of ticket written vs the contested tickets...if such data were avaiable....might give a better indication of a problem, if it exists. However, I got the impression from the comments from people at the meeting that many just paid the tickets and went on....too much money to hire lawyer, etc.