Wayne SW/MO

You can often buy them at Walmart or BPS. I like Walmarts cat food, the big cheap cans which put out a lot scent. The best way to catch them is to put the traps out on rocky banks in 2-3' of water. Take a cooler that has a good supply of ice in it when you run the traps in the morning and put the 'dads on ice immediately. They are great when caught fresh and cooked quickly.

Upper Bull Shoals is a poor example to use in trying to understand a lake. The temperature fluctuates constantly, crossing ideal temperatures for both warm water species, and cold. The area from the dam to past Barker is a transition zone, and doesn't stabilize long enough to develop any reasonable theory. If the temperature change isn't enough the volume also changes constantly.

My guess would be that they are physically very different, and that is the biggest reason. Most large lakes have an opportunity to balance out if something throws them out of kelter. Small lakes and ponds are generally micro managed, and often poorly, so that they have little or no chance to recover from, say a poor spawn by one of the species.

GF most competition between species is based on food, not space. Gars compete some because they feed on minnows in open water, about the same areas that Whites do, but the lake with the biggest Gar population that I know of is Grand, and it has a good White population. As far as Bull Shoals goes, the Carp and gar were in it when the fishing was great, when it was mediocre, and when it was poor. Gar moving toward the dam probably means a lot of shad, and a lot of food, not only for them but for other species as well.

Wow, crazy weather. We got about an inch and a half, but we had a burst that put leaves, small limbs, and a few trees, on the ground. I never saw any hail, but when the worst hit my first thought was a small tornado, it wasn't but it was strong.

You could always start at the shoals and riffles with tried and true Wooly Bugger in dark colors.

What were you throwing slider, which side?

Thanks Chief, well I was close. Larry a good author and interesting to read. Here's the book I had in mind. Rivers to Run, Swiftwater, Sycamores and Smallmouth Bass, includes about anything you would want to know about rivers, including plans for making a wooden johnboat. It is filled with the history of the early days of float-fishing, the old time river guides, tie-rafting, trotlining, gigging, trapping and all the things early Midwesterners did to make a living on the river. From this book you can learn how to fish the rivers, how to paddle, how to camp on a gravel bar, pack a boat or canoe, or go after a big smallmouth. It also contains several chapters on natural history, the trees, the birds, furbearers, fish and other unique creatures of the rivers, above and below the surface. This book delves into the history of the people along the river going back to the time of the bluff dweller Indians, and includes accounts from writers in the earlier decades of the last century, describing the rivers they floated and fished, and what they were like in that time. It has 384 pages, and dozens of old photos....and fish pictures as well.

I would love to see them saturate the rivers, at random, all summer so that the word gets out. I think they should do it in many areas. Then maybe the word will get out and force people to do whats right.

Tom do you know if they're raising the low part of Slough Hollow. It appears they're raising the Taneyville road, and I assumed that was why, but I don't know that for a fact.

Seth take it from an old electrician, pull two pieces of nylon cord through with the old, tape one off for now, then use one to pull your wires through. When you pull the new wires through pull easy and have someone feed them so that as little strain as possible is put on them. When you're done tape the other cord down for later use if needed. New, sealed, taillights are pretty cheap, and good insurance against headaches.

I would stick with what makes her happy, patience, etc will follow later. I think you are running the risk of acheiving the opposite, where she will be opposed to trout fishing because of bad memories.

Gavin I think Larry Dablemont has some information in a book on building an Ozark Jon. I'm not sure where's he's at now, I think he was in Butler. A search using his name might turn up something.

Gavin I put it on the net 2 Springs, and thought I was going to have to give it away. I gave my grandsons my old 1958, I got it new, Richland 10' Jon, it still floats. A little history of it is that Richland was the company that Diane Lowe's father owned, Carl Lowe worked there and later he and Diane started Lowe Boats. Lowe's made the original paddle Jons, and they develped their plans by measuring some wooden river jons in the area. When I was a teen into my early 20's we fished the lower Pomme and the Osage out of 18' wooden jons that we rented in Fairfield at Fred's Fishing Camp on the banks of the Pomme. We snagged a lot Spoons, caught tons of Whites and some cats and bass out of those boats. To answer the jon for a river question, it would depend on the weight, but a 12'or 14 with a 36" bottom would do, unless you could find a 32" bottom. A lot of canoes are just as stable, and not any heavier, if not lighter.

I think the answer is simple Terry, any species that exist here without mans help is native. The bigger question is "How much help has man been in some instances?". Would Kentucky's, which are native river fish, have moved into new territories had man not fooled with the rivers? There are so many introduced species now, and I'm talking about deliberate introduction, such as Striper's, Trouts, Carp, not to mention species that have been moved around such as Redears for example. There was a native trout, it was a Char, probably a Brook, or close to it.

I sold mine in excellent condition last spring for $800, finally.

Look for a Lowe Paddle Jon. 17' X 32", bow on both ends.

Jigs.

Carefully Terry. I always liked Willow, they're generally straight, strong and give a little. You can buy a 10' stick of 3/4 or 1" EMT conduit and use it, although 5' seems a little short, so you might want 2 shortened ones.

There are electric reels, etc, made just for you friends situation. Link= Wheelchair Fishing

Will they guarantee they're chickens?

I remember fishing some of those on the Deschutes River in Oregon. Its hard to know which is better, the nymph period, when they start moving, or the dry period.

Ham I was beginning to wonder, but the rains keep coming. If they'll keep this up for a couple more years we might get out of the hole.

Railroad Ranch, but its been too long to try and give any advice.