thewhitesnoop

The lesson here is never make a crack about the Midge Oreno.

My goal here is not to discredit Al. I know that would be impossible (not to mention unwarranted) since everyone on here takes his every word for the gospel. Since he posts probably more than anyone on here, I was simply using a couple of his posts to illustrate a point that I felt needed to be addressed and thought about. I like reading his posts and we all know this message board would be boring without his insights. He is obviously very knowledgeable about many things. I give him all props for that. Am I feeling inferior? Not really......reading his and your posts from the past years I feel pretty secure about the amount of fish you guys catch and the amount that I do. But thanks for the counseling session. Honestly though, I get it. You were defending your fishing buddy as you should. I wasn't really trying to tear him down. Although I can see how you could have perceived it that way.

C'mon Mitch, just because someone has a viewpoint or says something that you don't particularly care for or agree with you try to discredit them?

What I was basically saying was that it's slightly hippocritical to promote stream fishing to the masses for years (and although not seeking notoriety, gaining it) and then go on the same message board where you did all that promoting and complain that people are fishing on your streams.....I mean it's really not a big deal, we All enjoy reading Al's posts, me included, but it did affect me personally as I experienced the same frustrating influx of people on those streams as Al did. I should have been the one complaining. The angling advice doesn't as much bother me, especially if it involves throwing a topwater from the 1960's as a crankbait with a rubber skirt on the front treble hook. lol. That's sweet!

Well stated Smalliebigs. You can't just show up on any river and not know what you're doing and have success just cause you read about the spot on a message board. But most of us know that other fisherman can throw a wrench in your fish catching just by being there, they don't even have to know what they are doing. I say make those guys use their brain and spend some trial and error time on the water to find their fishing spots....don't just lay it out there for any millennial with an unlimited data plan to have, quick and easy....just as our society has become

You might not mind if lots of others anglers come fish your area, but there might be some other guys who fish that area that that might not think it's so great. That was a big part of the point I was trying to make....

This reminds me of a thread I read a long time ago where Al Agnew was complaining because there were other fisherman all over his wading streams. Really? Al has spent his life not only promoting stream fishing, especially on little creeks, but telling everyone exactly how to catch fish and then he complains when there are people fishing his spots?? You can't have it both ways....It's great to gain notoriety for speaking about these things on public forums (you may even become known as a guru), but it comes at a cost. That eventual cost being sharing your favorite fishing spots with others. Which is what you might think is deserved....but others who fish those same waters and don't advertise really don't deserve the same result. I fish some of those same creeks, and I had to suffer the same as Al did when more people showed up, and I didn't receive any of the accolades that Al does either. All good though. Personally, I'm happy Hog Wally catches fish, I'm even happier that his fishing spots are not where I fish because even though Mr. Jones says it's mostly LOZ rejects that inhabit the Meramec (and not fisherman), I think the guys that read these threads are actually looking to catch fish, so there probably IS going to be an increase in guys attacking the Meramec around St. Clair with HD craws....but what do I care. I realize this post may come off as crabby or grumpy, so if no one has time to read it, I totally understand.

What's wrong with many streams right now is a combination of things..... 1. Poachers along with catch & keep 2. otters 3. last years drought 4. poor management by MDC (i.e. opening bass season on Memorial weekend) 5. spotted bass 6. giggers killing bass 7. Increased fishing pressure do to people finding good fishing spots on internet message boards This is all a lot for the bass to overcome and fully populate a stream.

Smalliebigs you are "The Man". I agree with pretty much everything you say on here and you seem to know what you are doing. Keep up the good work! Mineral Fork gets way to much pressure. Fishing has been on the decline there for the last 10 years. Every year it seems to get worse. I can't think of many places where the fishing is actually improving. As human population increases.....fish population decreases. That's the general rule.

Yep. We will always have the Mo Dept of Conservation to thank for the otter fiasco. It's amusing that for so long they tried to claim that the otters only ate crayfish in an attempt to cover up their mistake (They even did a study and some research to find this out) lol. Even 1st grade children can tell you that otters eat fish. MDC's solution: Trappers What a joke. Do they really think this is the 1700's and everyone is out trapping for furs. Another brilliant MDC idea: Let's open bass season for rivers on Memorial weekend.The weekend when every person in the state is fishing in the rivers. How stupid is that? How many bass get killed that weekend? Great job of "Conserving" our bass resources in our rivers.... C'mon Man!

Most likely the biggest reason the fishing on the Bourbuese has declined over the last ten years is otters. I used to see them in good numbers on the lower part of the river, but in the last ten years I have been seeing more and more further and further upstream all the way to the source of the river. I think most small rivers around the state are in decline for bass fishing due to this, and we don't even yet know how bad the effects of last year's drought will be on many small rivers and steams that may have completely dried up in their upper and mid reaches last summer.