Gary Lange

I guess I been getting up early and hitting the water before sunrise for nothing. Then again I wake up early for some reason anyway so may as well go fishing. What I have been doing is heading home when the Jet Ski's, Wakeboarders and Skiers have been coming out. I guess I better stay and look for trees. I have the Brother-in-law coming in town Tuesday and would sure like to put him on some fish. So Don or Bill if you see the Red and Black Cobra and it looks lost stop and point me in the right direction.

It is really quite simple. The people that have the money to buy these monster Boats got that money by being disrespectful and using every dirty trick they could think of to get ahead. They didn't care about there fellow man on the way up and they sure don't care about him out on the water. We just need a Submarine with about 10,000 Torpedo's.

Congratulations on the successful job hunt. I am sure you will love what you will be doing and the fishing will be great for you also.

jcoberley, You need to just take your Canoe and hit one of these great rivers we have around here and float where no big rig can go. I came from Illinois and up there it was a Waders Paradise. I waded 90% of the time the other 10% I was on the Calumet River, Lake Calumet, or Lake Michigan. I think that a nice Canoe on the James, Gasconade, Jacks Fork or even the Buffalo in Arkasas would be a nice outing.

Bud, go back and read things again. Nobody says you can't keep a limit of legal fish. The people they were talking about were keep anything and everything and that is illegal and wrong. We pay for this fishery with our Lic. money and the Taxes on the fishing tackle and these Poachers should be run off the lake. If you want to keep a limit of legal size fish you are more then welcome to do so because you have that right. Those that keep all sizes and all fish caught do not and should pay for ther misdeeds.

I was out last Wed. out of Indian Point in the early morning. Ran up Long Creek a ways and then about 10:00am or so all the big boats started coming out to play. I had a 20' Cobra with a 225 on it and was quite safe and dry but it took the fun out of the fishing and I called it quits at noon and headed for home. Got the boat out of the water and wiped down in time for it to rain and get all went and muddy going home. The big Cobra handles rough water very well but my old body don't.

The best advice from a retired Police Officer is to just take down the numbers on the boat and the kind and turn it into the proper authorities and let them handle it. They gonna have to head home some time and maybe they will get caught with a big old cooler full on fish. Confronting anyone about what he has taken from the lake is asking for trouble. Some of these Poachers, and thats what they are, are armed and may not like your butting into there business. It is dangerous enough for the Game Warden to confront them. It is nice to see a Boat, Tackle and everything else confinscated though. Please don't confront these people for your own safety.

You have given me some good ideas and thanks for the help. Those that PM'd me this system for some reason won't let me answer them.

I was hoping to get some suggestions from long time residents or resort owners. Come on people you must have some place in mind for a group of maybe 15 people +.

I have a Samsung 42" Plasma TV in the Great Room that runs just about all day long or should I say from about 7:30am until about 10:00pm when we finally go to bed. It has been doing this for the past two years and is still running strong. Great unit and cheaper now then when I bought it two years ago.

I am looking for a place where a group can get together have some fun, visit BPS drink a lot of Beer and hang out BS'n til all hours of the night. Not trouble makers just having fun hanging together and kicking back a little. Someplace like resort cabins or Lodge or something nice around the lake. Has anybody got some ideas. I really haven't been down this way for long enough to have anything in mind. A bunch of us guys that hang out on a web site want to hit BPS and party a little for a weekend sometime between August and October. Should be about 8-10 Guys and wives.

J.E. This thing is to complicated for me I guess to send a PM so e-mail me at glange@cebridge.net and I will attempt to help you out some.

I fish a small club tourney over on Grand Lake this Saturday and found the lake to be very nice but directions to the Honey Creek Ramp would have been nice. We prefished the lake on Friday and eliminated a lot of dead water such as the Creek Arms. I talked to a number of other anglers who said the Main Lake Points were the best bets. So Saturday came and I told my partner for the day what I had found out and we started hitting the Main Lake Points with Crankbaits and putting fish in the live well. We won with eight fish totaling 25.91 pounds anchored by my biggest Bass ever of 6.96lbs. It was a great day on a Beautiful Lake. Thank you Oklahoma.

Sure all these good reports coming in and I got a ton of yard work to do since getting the Sprinkler System installed. I hope it holds out til I can get on the water. Somebody tell them Bass to just wait for me as I be coming to get them.

When did this OAF Gathering come about? I didn't see anything on it before or am I looking in the wrong place?

Welcome to OAF! You will find friends and tons of information here.

Welcome to OAF it is a great place for information about this vast area.

Welcome to OAF and to Nixa, Mo. too! I just happen to live in Nixa also as do a good number of others. I too love Nature Photography and you can see the picture I took of the Bob Cat on the photo page. Glad you joined us.

Welcome to OAF and Southern Missouri. I thought Drop Shotting started in California. Then again I may be wrong it wouldn't be the first time.

Many saw the signs well before hand and so many do nothing or could not do anything for one reason or another. It should send a message to others that have been told of similar individuals that harbor these thoughts and express these views that we can't say there is nothing we can do for them. We can't just give them a medicine bottle filled with tiny pills and send them home and tell them this will fix you up. We have no idea they are or are not taking it and what it is doing to them. The Flags were waving long ago that this kid needed some kind of help from someone whether it was on his own admission or someone elses or some agency. We need I feel more ability to get these kids or adults the help they need. I am sure he wasn't like this all his life. When did it first start and how did he start to feel this way about his fellow man and woman. What did his parents see at a younger age that they ignorred or gave no thought to. There is always a turning point in lives that someone sees but does nothing about that brings this behavior out. If you see this get them help as they need it desparately.

It may come down to how the Landowner sees it. If you're coming up to the intersection and have the right of way and go into it thinking you have the right of way and the semitractor trailer rig runs over you then you're still dead whether you had the right of way or not. Landowners have been burned before you got there and they are going to protect what they feel it there property cause they have had it in there family for 100 years. They may or may not shoot you but can you take that chance just to fish a part of a river that is on his property. You could ask for his permission to fish the waters that border his land and if he says no then respect that casue to law may not be on your side.

I remember fishing the Fox River in Illinois when I was a kid. I didn't know it but the river was so polluted that all you could get was Carp. I went off to fight the War in Vietnam and when I came back they had changed a lot of things along the river and it was cleaning up. I started fishing again in the early 70's with the Brother-in-law but we traveled all over and never fished the Fox River. I joined the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance about 10 years agao and started fishing the Rivers and Streams of Illinois again. I had days on the Fox River when I would catch 10-20 nice Smallies and one great day when I caught over 100 Smallmouths and two big Channel Cats. The Rivers of Illinois where bad when I was a kid and now they are cleaner and produce some great wade fishing for us and anyone who cares to venture out and seach for the Smallmouth, Walleye, Mushie ot several Panfish. Yes things can get bad on Lakes and Rivers because we let it happen. They can also get better because we care and that is what happen in Illinois on the Fox River. Sopmeone cared and got them to shut down the sewage dumping in the towns along the river and put in plants that turned that sewage into good water or at least better water. With 25 years or better of rain and flushing it has cleaned up and is now producing some great fishing. It gets crowded in spots sometime and it is a shame that people have lost the respect for there fellow man and his persuit of happiness but that is the sad truth. Things got better on the Fox in Illinois and they can get better in other places too. We just need to make it happen.

I was fishing Sturgeon Bay off Lake Michigan as well as Green Bay in the Spring of 1999 and met a Guide who helped me tie off the boat at the dock as the water was really rough. He told me where to go and what to use. When I got out the next day I met him again in Little Sturgeon Bay and he called me over even though he had two clients in the boat and told me what they were hitting on and gave a few as I didn't have that particular color. I would have a problem with giving something like specific spots about where to fish but not general information about what they were hitting and what type of cover or banks. When I was with the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance, which I am still a member, I had the job of Chicagoland Regional Coordinator. I set up all the outings for my region and they used to get upset when I planned one on one of the smaller streams but it worked out as the guys and gals had a good time, we caught fish and released them all to fight again. We would give general locations and River names and let the people sort that out for themselves. The web site had a lot of traffic do to our success on the water. If a member PM'd another he would get specific info and even a invite to join in an outing one on one. I think the General Information that you give Bill is fine and does not hamper anyone else who would be in a business such as yours. I thank you for the information you do give and appreciate being able to talk with you on this site.

Welcome to Ozark Anglers! I think you will find some very good information here and learn a few things too. Here is some useful information. I used to reside in Illinois and was a member of the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance. They are a great organization and have a BassBuggers Group that meet and learn to tie Flies. You can check them out at www.illinioissmallmouthalliance.com. The have a nice forum also and it will indicate where they are meeting to do some tying. Again welcome to the site.

I knew he was talking about a couple dogs half way thru the read. Them Labs do love the water and love to play.