Flyfisher for men

Sounds like a great trip. I'm jealous!

This is all too common. Kitty is a killer, and people live in ignorance and denial about it. A few years ago, Wisconsin, I believe, did a study on how many songbirds were getting killed by feral cats. It was something like fifty million every year. Yet, when they suggested a program to eliminate feral cats, the public blew a gasket over cruelty to poor kitties.

Just saw his thread and am praying for you. A little meditation for you: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Those people are literally the humblest ones who looked to God for their next breath. (Spirit has the same root as Respirate, and it was the Spirit who blew the first into breath into Adam). If you've ever heard the word Anawim from the Old Testament, that's the word for these kinds of people. They were literally left behind when Israel was carried off to exile because they were seen as worthless and not worth the trouble. Literally people so miserable that neither the conquered not the conqueror would claim them. Their only hope was God. As I said, all they can count is hope for God to give them breath and send them a savior. He did.

Sorry about your loss. Anything you could share would be good. I'm guessing it was a place of good memories for you.

Good luck with this, oneshot.

That is really neat. If you're favorable, you could add me to the people who would love a chance to see the place.

Ah, that's new to me. I never get over there, so I didn't realize they had it. I correspond with an online group from Laclede county that includes some older folks who grew up there. They reminisce occasionally about swimming right there in that spot, swinging out on a rope hung from a tree, etc.

Thanks for the information. At least at RRSP, there's a chance to swim. Bennett without a pool offers nothing, unless maybe they put a swimming area on the Niangua.

Did they ever have one? I remember as a kid swimming in one section of the river where it's allowed. It was a long time ago, but I don't recall a pool. They do still allow swimming that section of the river, at least based on some recent reading of park rules.

Two things stand out to me as dumb besides the pool: the bridge definitely could have been done differently and probably at less cost, and the pipe thing could at least have been made to look like a tributary stream, a natural waterfall, or something if it was even necessary at all. I just composed a quick letter. Let us know how the meeting goes.

Now I'm upset. The state of Missouri could come up with the funds to build a pool without any sweat at all.

One shot, I know they've got it closed for Covid, but are they talking about a permanent elimination of the pool? If so, it's unbelievably foolish, and you can bet I'll be writing. More than anything, I value Bennett Spring for what it offers kids and families. A permanent loss of the pool would be an outrage.

Hey, thanks for the new replies. We'll be traveling together this week, and I'll bounce all of this off of him.

Condolences and prayers to you, oneshot.

I've always found the midge hatch much stronger in zone 1 than zone 2, but that may be just me.

Thanks for this. You're surely correct when you say "insufficient biomass" for all of those fish. If they ever put a fish cleaning station there, I would want to see those remains ground up and dispersed in the stream. I know they do that in the west where dams sometimes prevent salmon migrations that bring nutrients from the dying spawners. It's very good for various invertebrates and the fish that feed on them, including trout. You're seeing studies, so that carries real punch. The thing is, you can catch fish between the usual 12 inch stocker size and the lunker size fish they some times throw in. That suggests to me that a few are growing somehow I have not seen a caddis hatch, but have read of caddis there. I have seen midge hatches, which are, of course, common and even daily.

There's definitely a natural food base, though whether it's able to support a big trout I can't say. It naturally has sculpins, suckers, scuds, chironomids, and caddis.

That's a good reason for the parks. Frankly, I like BSSP, even the crowds of people. I grew up fishing places where the locals congregate and so it's never been a problem having people around me. A better way to do it, wrench, would be to bet that $100 with one of those scoffers that thinks of trout parks as "fishing in a barrel." Their first mistake would be not realizing they've got to catch 24 fish. That's no easy feat in itself.

Wow, I did not expect this threat to go the direction it did and for eight pages. It's an interesting discussion, for sure. Would anyone favor things like length limits or a catch and release area for Bennett? Maybe other changes?

What is inexplicable to me in reading these comments is why the hatchery at BSSP does not appear to be operating full capacity,

Thanks for the replies. Sounds very sad.

Guys, what exactly changed? I don't get there enough to really be able to tell, at best a few days a year.

Now, that was an answer I did not expect. I would have thought they'd be going all out. I wonder if it's a funding thing. Maybe revenues reduced from the Covid lockdowns?

Just curious how it was, what's going on at the park, and so on. I like Bennett Spring a lot, but won't likely be able to go there this year.

Thanks for the reply, tjm. He could probably manage all of the areas you describe. There's some areas you could bank fish in all three zones of Bennett Spring but we'd be looking at less total water and the possibility that a wading fisher might be standing there. That doesn't sound likely in much of Roaring River. Roaring River is sounding better. My only knock is that they don't let you use actual live bait till zone three. We could manage it in all likelihood.