Johnsfolly

That format didn't show up on my phone only on my laptop. So I was was late with my cheese to the whine fest! Phil does all he can to keep us grumpy old guys from whining ! Thanks for changing back the settings Phil!

Didn't know that you drug Les around when I was getting your texts. Even with the cold and wind still sounded like a memorable day with a friend on the water! And that never sucks! Congrats to you both.

Rick - got them edited a bit. Let me know if these are bit better.

Great catch!

I have just not had the success that I would have liked fishing below the dams. I have fished at least one spot where MOCarp caught at least one of fish in his buffalo photos. Its hard to go and not catch fish with the limited time that I have to catch the variety of species that I like to chase all year. Maybe I need a western MO guide to give me onsite pointers .

Sometimes my arms are too short to use the flash effectively !

Its a toss up with the flash that whites out the photos versus using the LED light like these photos. I do try to lighten them up if I have time to edit the photos.

I don't believe that there are any junk fish. Like you I love the tug of a fish regardless of size or species. MoCarp - thanks for posting more photos. I am envious of the buffalo. I have not caught any species of buffalo, Yet!

You know that there are perks living in the "big city" ! Not like you can get out in Ness Vegas .

I had left over rotisserie chicken. I thought of chicken ala king. I decided that a way to kick it up was to make the cream of mushroom soup myself. I picked up a variety of wild mushrooms from the local market. I also picked up a poblano and a green bell pepper as well. I minced the peppers and half of a yellow onion, two small shallots, and two cloves of garlic. I pulled off the meat from the chickens and cubed the meat. In a dutch oven, I added butter and oil and cooked the onion, and the peppers until the onions were translucent. I added approx. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and ground black pepper. Then I added the mushrooms and cooked them about 6 to 8 min on med-high heat. I added 1/3 cup of flour and cooked for about a minute, then added 1/4 cup of sherry and cooked for another minute. I then added about 3 cups of vegetable stock and a 1/2 tablespoon of dried thyme. Brought to a boil, then reduced to simmer and cooked it for another 18 to 20 minutes. While it was simmering I added about a 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and a pinch of saffron. once cooked I pulsed the mixture with an immersion blender to cream a bit of the mushrooms, onion, and peppers, but still kept it fairly chunky. I added a mixture of 1/3 cup cream and 2/3 cup of whole milk and added the chicken and cooked it through, about 5 minutes. Served it on toasted Tuscany style bread.

This just has BAD Idea written all over this. Just get a bunch of Missouri and Arkansas Bowfishermen over there and they could take care of those carp!

I have had days where I was landing lots of smallmouth bass, but in terms of the size you caught I haven't had a day like that one. Great Job Brett on fishing the HD craw and landing those big smallies! As you said this would be a day to remember for most of us. If it were one of those HD craw guys, he would remember this day as yesterday !

After a high water event a couple of weeks ago and some favorable reports of redhorse in the confluence with the Osage, we headed back down for another shot at the spring sucker run. What a difference a couple of weeks and no deluges in the recent past make on the water conditions. 24Feb18 10Mar18 We fished the bottom using a jury rigged three way. Tied a 5/8 oz or 1 oz bell sinker to the terminal end of the line and made a loop about 12 to 16 " above the sinker with an overhand knot. passed the loop end through the hole and over the bottom of a no. 4 or 6 baitholder hook so that the line cinches below the eye hole of the hook. Put on a nightcrawler and cast out into the current. Then sit or stand and wait. Today it didn't take long. I was fishing the point and put one of my baits on the river side of the seam between the creek incurrent water into the Osage and the other was right into that seam. About five minutes I have a strike on the river bait, It taps again and I set the hook. Fish on! I brought in a 10" channel catfish. After missing that sturgeon on the last trip fishing in this same spot, it was good to have a solid hook set and a landed fish even if it was a small catfish. After ten minutes I repositioned the bait from the seam and cast into the creek current. My buddy Jon just picked up and set the hooked on his first fish, a decent bluegill. Then my creek line got hit pretty hard and the hook set was solid. I pulled in my first nice bluegill of the day. My buddy caught a couple more bluegill and then he reeled in the first golden redhorse sucker of the day. I had caught a couple more bluegill but was only getting bit by fishing the creek and not the river side. By the time Jon reeled in his second sucker, I moved to fish upstream of him on the creek. I was casting across the creek towards a large laydown tree on the far bank. It was a blessing and a curse. I was getting bit on all of my lines, but I was in a large school of bluegill. at one time I caught a bluegill on the left line, as I was reeling that in the middle line was getting tapped. I caught that fish and as soon as I landed it I said to the right line when were you going to catch a fish. As soon as I made that statement, the rod tip bounced heavily and I set the hook on yet another 7-8 inch bluegill. Got to love calling the shot ! Just wish that it was a redhorse. With one of my lines I made a shorter cast into what might have been the channel and hopefully away from the bluegill. The line looked to be drifting and I began to reel it in when I felt the fish and set the hook. Jon had mentioned that the suckers were biting lightly, just a movement of the line. Well now I had my first redhorse on the line ! Not a giant golden redhorse, but it was the targeted species for the day. I didn't catch another one, but did manage a few more bluegill (ended up with 10 bluegill on the day). As the action slowed, Jon had another weird bite, just like a steady pull. He set the hook and pulled in a very cool catch, a mudpuppy salamander. It was about 9 to 10 inches long with prominent gills. At first thought it might be a young hellbender, but later determined it was too big for a hellbender to still have gills. I just hope that we didn't damage it too much and it survived the encounter. These guys like the hellbender are getting pretty rare. We headed upstream and Jon found a honey hole of hungry fish. He landed a blue catfish, channel catfish, a couple more bluegill, and a spotted bass (I got jealous of that one). Jon's dad showed up around 10 am and he caught three suckers and a few nice bluegill as well. It was a great day. What a difference from our last trip! This post has been promoted to an article

Ness - this looks great! You definitely captured the spirit of champ potatoes, an Irish staple. Your soda bread looks too flavorful and not as dry as I remember having in Ireland. I would prefer your version!

I haven't checked the hunting regs to see if the use of drones will be outside of fair chase. I would think that they would be a great tool to scout that next field or just around that next bend for turkeys. Especially for fall turkey hunting when locating the birds is the biggest challenge. All kinds of privacy issues cropping up with more and more drones being used.

Do you think that the guys that make widgets complain when folks use the phrase "were not making widgets"? Is there a possible movement to rephrase as to not offend or belittle the global widget makers throughout the world? Maybe bring back Doohickey or thingamabob?

Very cool photos from.your new toy. I agree with BH on being scared of crashing or sinking it. Many years ago we went to a Top Gun RC airplane show and watched a guy fly his B52 WWII bomber with a 6 foot wingspan. It took off like a charm and just kept flying away until it crashed into the trees on the other side of the airfield. He lost contact and who knows how many hundreds or thousands of dollars. I would have that visual in my head if I flew a drone. Good luck and stay in contact with your drone!

Marty congrats on a great pond fishing trip! Ultra simple and so rewarding when you reel in a bull gill! I got into a few nice bluegill today, but that's a different story !

I have said it many times I don't think it's possible to land a 10 lb bluegill! Such great fighters.

Looks good Marty. General Tso's chicken is one of dishes that my betterhalf and I have used to determine if we like a Chinese restaurant. I wonder how we would rate Billetheadville! Based upon a mexicali dish, turkey carnitas, it's all good. Would love to try General Billet"s turkey!

Very nice Lance! Congrats you have those crappie figured out! Always love your photos.

I usually look at the cost of a 3 or 7 day license versus a full year and may get the full year nonresident license if I plan on going back more than once. Most states are pretty reasonable. Right now I have three states covered. Will likely get a license in one or two more throughout the year.

Quillback - glad to see you covered their faces to protect the innocent ! Sound like a good day. Congrats buddy. Good luck on the one bass tourney!

Can't have a Bday without a cake. My betterhalf and Livie made a black forest cake.