Wayne SW/MO

It would be more interesting if they had included a copy of the questionnaire. I read that, but I didn't see how that answered any real questions. I think organized is a little generic, especially when they use the same term for the Rock Bass Survey. Can you name any other organizations, aside from the MSA, targeting river smallmouth or rock bass? As far as the springs go, I think between the fact that it is winter and most spring are on private property the figure are only of interest to the MDC. The questionable part will still be the mysterious "organized" for me. The one thing that could account for this unusual number would be if the questionnaire ask for the numbers of fish kept, without defining species. I know that many MSA members are keeping spots. I suppose one of the members could answer that question.

I see. I wondered if it was the old 173 road bed. I knew it extended out some, but I've never seen it in real low water and I didn't know how far.

It does raise some questions. Organized Rock Bass fishermen? Didn't know there was such a thing. Frankly the higher percentage of kept bass by "organized" is really questionable.

I never met the Mauck's, and I don't really recall any names associated with the program. Most of my knowledge came from a long time fishing buddy whom I also worked with. He converted about the time that the fishery became viable and was pretty excited about it. The name Glazener sounds familiar, but I can't really link it to Texoma?? Do the stripers need about the same conditions as the whites, only deeper and longer current stretches? I've had two different fellows tell me they have caught 5-10lb hybrids at the pothole, but I didn't know them personally. I did catch two fish there last spring that had 2 tooth patches?

Bill are you familiar with the history of Texoma lake? I remember that there was a lot of adverse fears about stocking stripers in an above average black bass lake. I fished the lake quite a bit in the period before it was stocked with stripers and for about 5 or 6 years after. I never saw any difference in the black bass fishing. I did know the lake pretty well when it was stocked and never needed to look beyond myself for excuses for a bad day.

Is that the old roadway, east of the present bridge?

I have caught small hybrids out of BS, I had 2 last year that were about 16/17. I assumed they came from natural reproduction.

I would imagine that the natives came from the north via the Mississippi on their own. If the route was reversed there would be no need to stock. I suspect that eventually we'll see a bigger economic impact from walleye and when that happens the MDC will probably react in kind.

There have been a lot of theory's on how the stocking happened and I'm not sure anyone knows. MDC wanted to begin stocking stripers in BS, but as usual the bass only fishermen whined so loud the idea was apparently abandoned. It's kind of ironic that they protested adding a fish that was little competition and overlooked the walleye stockings that put in a fish more likely to compete. The striper catches in upper BS have been between River Run and the dam and, as far as I know, were during high water which affected BS and TR. TR was dumping a lot of water those winters and created a deep flow below Powersite. That's what it seemed to me, for what its worth.

That might be debatable. Missouri takes their brood stock from below Powersite, so there has to be some old White river genes in there somewhere. So the question is did they import, or have they always used native stock?

Mic the over under that you describe was popular at one time among rabbit and squirrel hunters. It was considered a single shot by most however, the 22 for sitting shots and the shotgun for running. As was said the Ruger 10-22 is an extremely popular semi auto and I believe the all time best seller. Part of it's popularity stems from the fact that you can add after market item on your kitchen table including barrels, trigger assembly's and stocks with no special tools.

I have a yak and a couple of canoes. I have boats, but motors that run right are another thing. One of them has so many problems even Wrench won't touch it. I'll do that Ollie, maybe we can camp a couple of days over there. Is your phone still **53 and **35?

No stats, but with the attention that they have been getting by both states I would think it has improved considerably. I'm not a biologist, but it seems to me that walleye tend to occupy a different strata then the sunfish family or the temperates which would eliminate some competition. Bull Shoals does seem to have all the necessary environment for walleyes. BS is deep, rocky, and has cold water, it allows a limited number of trout to survive the summer. It may be the best environment in the state, but TR might eventually rival it. BS never got a lot of attention because of it's location and when they closed the dam on TR its 2nd place in the area was insured. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially for locals, but information about the lake is scarce..

Mic I think maybe there were two different takes on your question. One take, mine, was very generally with no other issues, just the question literally. The other was one spawned off the survival thread where you might be faced with only one option because of accessibility or survival needs.

Missouri gets it's brood stock from the Pothole area of BS when they make their spring run, generally March, + or - a little. I would think that they would have some river genes if spawning in the river is their difference? They take a bunch of them, I've seen them return them twice and it's a big tank and it takes a while to unload it with a net. I assume the reason they don't use a tube is because the tube is for stocking fry and some larger hatchery fish and that some of the walleye are too big to go through the tube. I've never talked to them.

The giggers I've seen lately on the Niangua are using generators and sodium or metal halide lights. That's going to put a lot of pressure on you to find what's left after they run through. It may have changed since I lived there, but given the fact it was nighttime fishing they used to hit it 7 days a week then.

Thanks BW. I've considered camping at Twin Bridges a few times during the run, but there is a lot of water there, too much to fly fish. If the run in my backyard is as unpredictable as it was last spring I might have to head west.

There seems to be walleye in all the major streams that are heavily spring fed. I would imagine that there is still a lot of jack salmon dna in some of them where there isn't any stocking. The Pothole was a big producer before stocking and so is the Eleven Point. They have been a spring fish for the most part in Missouri and this new found interest is light in terms of numbers of fishermen. As I said the MDC will probably evolve with $ produced by the stockings. Here' an old post by Al A that will probably be of interest to many of you.

The hook adjustment would be "kirbing" the hook. Tis what makes a hook a Kirby style. You can also tie your midges on a short shank wide gap and gain some leverage, like a TMC 2487. Tie a 16 with an 18 body. A fly that I have always call a fur bug can be deadly at times, especially on busy days after most of the stockers have been caught. It consist of nothing more than some fuzzy dubbing on an #18 or #20 fish as close to the bottom as possible. Gray and followed by olive were the best colors for me. Another trick to fishing very small flies in Bennett without an indicator is to watch the fish after the fly gets close, if you see a flash of white from their mouth, set the hook. It's not a 100% effective, but it works better then trying to see them actually take a tiny fly.

I first fished BS in '59 and lived in the park for a year and I haven't missed fishing it very often, even living in OK and OR for spells. It has changed so much now that I rarely fish it. The DNR just couldn't say no to Sam Welch and Jim Rogers.

Are there any opportunities to fly fish the white run without a boat?

I agree with your sentiment Bry and agree it was poor performance by the wardens, but on the other hand it doesn't make all that the MDC does bad, or good for that matter. I think the MDC probably doesn't want to get on the bad side of fishermen in a state where bass and trout pay a lot of bills by spending a lot on a fish that isn't at this point paying many.. ironically a lot of states that have copied the organization of the MDC now do a better job in many instances.

Yeah RC You're right it does clear up in the afternoon. The whistle time is something to behold and everyone should experience it once, but I suggest as a spectator.

That's easy for you to say smalliebigs, you east siders don't have a chance anyway. :lol:

I observed a couple of openers, that was enough and you couldn't pay me to fish one.