Riverwhy

I recently took my Megabass Vision 110 lures to Ontario and found they are deadly on large northern pike. They are way too expensive but no doubt they work extremely well. I will need to save up a bit and try the new model. Thanks for the heads up.

My guess is that both the shooter and the deceased share the blame. It is likely that the landowner was frustrated by the floaters partying on the gravel bar which he believes he owns and has the right to keep private. The floaters likely were just looking for a place to party and were convinced they had a right to be on the gravel bar because they felt it was part of the river. The shooter had a sense of bravado inspired by his hand gun and the floater had a sense of bravado inspired by a large crowd or alcohol. It is likely that either one could have either went back into the house or got into their canoes. It takes a little common sense from both sides of the discussion. A few rocks, cursing, oogling, loud music and littering does not mean you shoot someone for being on "your" gravel bar. If you are floating don't stop in someones backyard and if they do try to run you off just get back into your canoe and stop at the next gravel bar downstream. I have been run off a gravel bar three times in my life. Once on the Bryant, once on the North Fork of the White when the yahoo shot his 22 rifle into the trees for the entire time we floated past his farm, and once on the Platte River. The Bryant river incident was settled with a few kind words and his permission to camp for the night. The North Fork incident was settled in town the next time I saw the guy. (He no longer shoots his gun in the air.) The Platte River incident ended in frustration for me because I simply decided not to step foot on his sand bar again. I feel I was in the right but there are a lot of sand bars in the world. A clear set of regulations by our law makers would certainly help to ease these confrontations.

Smalliebigs, Your comments were not offensive and were appropriate. The guy in the picture is what is offensive. The lack of MDC concern or action is to be expected but is salt in the wound.

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you had a great trip.

I spent Friday and a few hours Saturday morning fishing Lake Michigan for smallmouth. It was my first trip to the bays north of Green Bay on Lake Michigan and I was impressed with the fishing. It took me a couple of hours to pattern the fish Friday morning but finally found them in about 3 to 6 feet of water in the warmest parts of the bay with bottoms mixed with rocks, gravel and sand. They were obviously prepaing for a late spawn. I finished with 14 smallmouth over 16 inches with the personal best just shy of 20 inches. A three inch smoke colored grub fished slow was the key.

I appreciate the report. It looks like you had a great time with the family.

Not all the gauges are listed but it is a good tool.

Dawt Mill is a very frustrating situation. I have completely wriiten it off as a place I can take my family to the river. I also would gladly pay a fee to park and load and unload if it was an option. Twin Bridges has a similiar private ownership situation and I gladly pay to use the access. Maybe the old Natural Streams Act would have been a good deal.

I was just upstream from Bell Chute access on Sunday and two asian carp jumped up against our boat.

Great fish and thanks for the report. That is a bass of a lifetime for many of us.

All scout troops are not created equal. i have been fortunate to be associated with two excellent troops and they were great experiencies for my sons. Scouting is not and never has been about creating the next Bear Gryllis or turning your kids into great hunters and fishermen. Wilderness survival, fishing, and hunting are all parts of a bigger picture. Scouting is an attempt to help create good citizens that have a special love and respect for the outdoors. During the last seven years our troop has gone to Philmont three times, the Boundary Waters twice and we leave later this summer for a week on a Canadian Lake. During that week every scout will learn how to operate a boat or canoe, use fishing equipment, select proper lures, tie on their own tackle, catch multiple species of fish, clean the fish, and cook the fish. Several scouts are already experienced fishermen and they will have the opportunity to LEAD, TEACH, and set an EXAMPLE to the scouts that did not have that dad or uncle that taught them about the outdoors.

Fishinwrench may have come off a bit caustic but his point is valid. A guess from an ichthyologist is about as good as any other fellow that has followed his passion for fishing the last several decades but it is not any better. The difference is that when a biologist, icthyologist, scientist, etc. wade into the conjecture they need to be very clear that they either have solid evidence or they are just throwing out wild guesses like the rest of us. A good friend of mine in college was an icthyologist and his practical knowledge of fish and their patterns was pretty hilarious. I'm sure in the lab with a specieman he was great. In the real world he was a child among men. I do not personally believe the fish kill is related to a short spawning period but my guess is just as good as the "fish expert".

Those are just what we were catching at Lake Norfork last week in the buck brush. Red ear are truly a wonderful fish when you can find them. We were using worms out on the main lake points right in the brush. Nice catch!

I took out my father for his 80th birthday last week on a pontoon around the 101 bridge. The morning topwater bite was a great deal of fun. The hybrid stripers and a few nice whites surfaced for around 45 minutes just as the sun was coming up. We caught them on spooks, red fins and rogues. They took all three baits equally well but the rogue caught more simply because of a better hook set. (I'm thinking of replacing the hooks on the spook with sharper hooks before targeting the hybrids again.) Later in the day we found the big bluegill and enormous red ear spawning in the buckbrush off main lake points. We caught and kept 19. The fillets were very thick. The lake is very clear. We saw three large blue cats in a cove in about 14 feet of water but could not get them to take a bait. Throughout the day we threw various baits into the buck brush and caught numerous bass but nothing of any size to brag about. We caught them on flukes, spinnerbaits, rooster tails, rogues, and brush hogs.

I do have a picture but I have a hard time putting it on the site. I'm not the best with technology. My guess on the weight is around 7.60 pounds based on length and girth. I swear it looked bigger than that but that is what both my poor scale said and what standard length and girth estimates for bass indicate.

Spinner bait bite was fantastic on Saturday. The biggest bass was 23 inches long and had a girth over 15 inches. Several nice fish over 3 pounds. The harder the wind blew the better the spinner bait bite. We were in the Gravois area out of PB2.

I fished the mid lake area of Norfork Lake on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. The fish are very active in the mornings and evenings in the back of the creeks. Stained water and wind blowing into the coves were the key. I started the trip Friday morning throwing a megabass suspending jerk bait off a main lake point. I know it is pretty late for jerk baits but I caught a nice three pound largemouth on the first cast. I three it out in about 25 feet of water off the point and cranked it down to around 8 feet. I let it set for 30 seconds and got bit on the first twitch. A great way to start a trip. We then moved back to the creeks and caught several shorts on the jerk bait and a nice keeper large on a jig fished in the weeds in only about three feet of water. Later that evening we went to the back of another creek and found real nice large female white bass that were hitting on silver rattle traps. At the end of the evening I managed a 23 inch hybrid bass on a silver spook thrown at splashing on the surface. Saturday we fought the wind and managed five short largemouth on rogues and a couple of whites on the rattle trap. Saturday evening we finally got smart enough to move to a creek that had the wind blowing into it and caught five keeper largemouth, two nice hybrids, and several big white bass. We threw rogues and rattle traps. Sunday morning we only fished for a few hours but caught a dozen short largemouth, three keeper largemouth, a nice hybrid and several white bass. Rogues and a white spinner bait with a trailer hook was the key.

My guess was that he was throwing Babe Winkleman's banjo minnows.

Jbrant - I stayed in the Gravois arm all day. We really did not cover a lot of water.

We launched at the ramp off hwy Y near Eldon on Saturday morning about 8:00. The fellow in the front of the boat strictly fished a crappie jig all day and managed one 10 inch fish. I threw a suspending Megabass jerk bait all day. The water temperature was around 42 degrees. I did my best making long casts parellel to the shore in about 20 feet of water. I would crank the lure down and then let it set for 20 to 30 seconds and then twitch and pull about 5 feet. I caught three bass by 9:15. Two were bumping 19 inches in length and were real quality largemouth. The other was only 13 inches. I fished until around 3:30 and managed one more 13.5 inch bass. Rocky points were definitley the key. I spent half the day waiting for my buddy to fish his crappie jigs around the docks and I had no success using the jerkbait around these docks. If we had concentrated on rocky points all day I think I would of been able to increase my catch a bit. This was my first attempt at jerkbait fishing in cold water. It sure is hard to let that bait set that long but I am now convinced that the technique really does work.

Mark Twain has a good white bass population already.

Last weekend was a big Everstart bass tournament at LOZ. First place was 60lbs over three days. The fish were largely caught on gravel points transitioning into deeper water. A-rig was the bait of choice with the winner saying he was keeping it right on the bottom. The other bait of choice was the jerk bait. The water temperature was about 45 degrees in the main lake but was almost 10 degrees warmer near Ha Ha Tonka.

Since I am 50 I hope I can call myself part of the older generation.

Hog confinment facilities produce waste problems that are much more severe than other livestocl operations such as a large dairy farm. The dairy farms in our region are likely located on farms with adequate pasture ground to support the herd. Waste is much more likely to be disbursed over a larger acreage than a hog operation that pumps waste into some form of sewage lagoon. The potential breach or other type of failure of these waste holding lagoons could cause significant damage to the waterway. Locating these facilities in the uppermidwest surrounded by farmground with 50 feet or more of topsoil is a much smarter idea.

I believe the wooden handled rapala curve bladed fillet knife is an excellent choice.