Jeff Olson

GREAT post bfishn ! very informative. looking forward to more posts from you. on a fishing note, anything been going on ,walleye or even crappie? I myself have not been out yet.

thanks for the info guys ,sounds like its a little early, but I did just see that squaw creek went from 60k in birds 6 days ago to over 1 million today!

hey guys, starting to search out for areas for the spring snow geese, didn't see much on the old threads, so being new to the area, im wondering if there any places close to branson area that the snows stop at. like within 1 hour or so? ( in Missouri or Arkansas ) something a guy could hunt a day at a time. otherwise I will have to plan on going up to the squaw creek area. I was up there last year for 2 days learning the area, nodaway valley and bob brown. shot a few birds, had fun seeing a lot of birds. when I lived in WI. I chased them in South Dakota, so I know that area ,but that's a long haul now! ( 13 hrs ) I haven't been to the 4-rivers, Montrose area yet, is that any good? any info would be great! thanks.

Good for you Justin! its just good conservation practice! I used to fish sunfish a lot years ago up in chetek,wi. great panfish fishery, we would release the female sunfish if they had eggs in them. I hope there is a good amount of that down here especially on the highly sought after eating fish ( walleye , crappie and white bass )

thanks Wayne for the comments on C&R, that's the kind of info I have been waiting to hear on this thread, is if the guys down here that mainly fish walleye, especially in the spring! (pre-spawn ) if they release those big females or not? this is just my opinion ( no DNR stats or anything ) on the C&R in the north. being from Wisconsin, I think that the joe average fisherman that catches a walleye will most likely keep it , and especially if it is big! just because it is big, with no conservation in mind. BUT as far as the true die hard walleye fishermen go, I believe most of them, at least the amount of guys I know of are very big into releasing ALL big females! . and I believe it pays off big time! there are times when a guy can catch numerous 7 to 11 lb walleye a Day! yes walleye are great eating,so keep the males and smaller females ( imo- under 22 in) and let the big ones go so they can spawn! there is plenty of other fish down here to eat!

anybody have any stats or opinions on currant walleye numbers in bull shoals compared to 10-20 yrs ago ? just curious if it is getting better or worse, or staying about the same. thanks

WOW ! a lot of posts in the last day on here ! its great to see every ones opinions and info! usually not to much walleye chat on here, so this is great. another question I guess I have then is , how does present day bull shoals compare to say 10-20 years ago, are numbers increasing- decreasing or kind of staying the same ?

hey tightline, I like your post, especially about how it felt pretty good to release that 27 incher! you bet it does! I have released many lrg walleyes and will continue too. my main point I am trying to make is that,( and I am talking mostly pre-spawn walleyes ) for the good avid fisherman, seems like there is plenty good fishing down here to always have fresh fish to eat! so why not let those big fish go so they can spawn. at least then the eggs have some kind of a chance! but we will never know if they just end up in the gut pile!!!!

thanks for the post P-D, hopefully I will run into you again over there this year! ( hope your writing is going good! )

my thoughts exactly Scott, what ever happened to real music? I couldn't even understand what they say most of the time. its mostly just a raunchy dance show. sad that is the stuff that has to be displayed for the world to see!

very good game ! congrats to Baltimore ,and my hats off to dodge for there truck-farmer commercial ! finally a real meaningful and inspiring advertisement. that's what this world needs more of, good for them!

hey Scott, curious, did beaver get stained from the last rain to maybe give you those results. I was up long creek on the rock yesterday looking for crappie, it was pretty brown, and only caught 1 and lost 1, and didn't mark much for fish at all either, anywhere ?

I totally agree Ham, the wife & I have been here for 1 yr now and really like the area ! and a lot of very nice people ! poaching or illegal taking of fish & game is a real sore spot with me. I am only 51, but I have seen first hand how this activity can ruin a good ,even great body of water over the years ! hopefully there isn't enough of it going on down here to make much of an impact !

why would bass be the only exemption? I guess my view on this subject is if people could be more conservation minded! as far as the spearfishing goes ,I think with most of them, it is more about the diving rather than the harvest, and probably don't hurt the #s much .as far as giggergs, if they are taking walleye ( or any game fish ) they need to be caught, and I hope the fines are stiff! I would just like to see more and more fisherman release the big pre -spawn females, whatever the species. (especially walleyes ! ) thanks.

thanks for your thoughts and info so far guys! with these low reproduction rates, does anyone know the numbers and how often they stock? and the size when they are stocked? do they have yearly population estimates and yearly harvest estimates?

interesting posts guys. I am not familiar with the natural reproduction rates down here on tablerock and bull shoals for walleyes, but like Ham stated at 33 percent, that's 1/3 rd of the population. but I guess it is just simple math whatever the numbers are, that if those big females are released to spawn, there is just that many more eggs in the water! I am from Wisconsin, and we have a lot of issues with the native Indians spearing walleye every spring, taking these big pre-spawn female walleyes out of the population, which has devastated many of the lakes to the point that now for the fisherman, the bag limits have been reduced down to 1 or 2 walleyes on quite a few lakes!

good for you Ham, and I totally agree with the releasing of those big females. I have been curious about that down here in this area, and have been going to ask this. I am from Wisconsin ( now live in Hollister ) and mostly fish walleye. I have always tried to only keep males and release anything over 22 inches. especially pre-spawn! after spawn I don't think those big females are very good eating anyway, and why not let them grow to spawn the next year! so I have also been curious about what most giggers down here do? I am not familiar with gigging at all, but it sounds like they take a lot of big females out? and if so are they doing it for the food or just for the sport? I am not against the gigging,I think it would be great for rough fish ( carp,drum & ect.) what is every ones opinion on keeping large female walleyes or not? in my opinion with all the other types of good fishing down here (bass ,crappie, panfish & trout ) there is plenty of fish to eat!!!

thanks Josh !, I am also new to the area and this helps as the rock is a lot different than I am used to.

happy birthday Bill ! hope you have a GREAT DAY !!!

thanks for all the great info Bill ! nice to see some walleye chat again.

hey Scott, sounds like you had a nice hunt this am. were you on beaver. and if so, sounds like you had a bunch of birds down! still hardly anything here on the rock, even today. was it just not cold enough the last few days, or is the rock just not that appealing to attract any number of birds?

I was by there on Saturday, very low. you could put in fine at river run, but im not sure if you could get through that narrow spot about 100 ydrs downstream from the landing?

well I only reduced the tablerock population by 2 today. saw about 35 to 40 birds leaving before shooting time, then very slow until 10;15 and called it quits. pretty chilly out there in the open this morning! did have 2 separate pairs of mallards come in nice though early on, and took the drake out each time .had 1 flock of a dozen scaup decoy just out of range , a few high flyiers, and that was about it. good little hunt , just nice to get out! hope to get out wed am.

thanks guys for the great info! that's encourageing, hopefully these temps coming will stay awhile!

just wondering if anyone has much for birds around? not much here in the Hollister area. I haven't seen much on the rock . was at upper bull shoals and lower taney yesterday and only saw a few birds. still learning the areas, are there still numbers of birds to the north? I hope there are, and these cold temps tonight will bring some down tonight as im going to try the rock in the am.