top_dollar

All scientists are working toward a goal, although your assumption of bias is incorrect. I probably am not going about this the right way, so I will attempt to do it better. I do apologize for being a jerk, and coming across as condescending. First, I work as a chemist, so, although not a fisheries biologist, I understand the frustration of research. People who do not conduct research on a regular basis have a very misguided view of what it actually entails. Of course, everyone who designs an experiment wants it to succeed. The problem is that the vast majority of experiments fail. Often times 1 experiment can take months or years, and failure is very disheartening. As a chemist, and a scientist in general, you learn to deal with the overwhelming failure. What I am getting at, is that a scientist, through failed experiments, has learned to simply follow where the data leads him/her. Bias or ones personal feelings on the matter are simply irrelevant. The "scientists are biased to secure funding" argument simply doesn't hold up. It frustrates me to no end, because that argument is most often used by people who have not been in a laboratory since they were 14. They are just ignorant on the subject. Again, I do apologize for insinuating that you are unintelligent.

Let's just go ahead and admit it.....The reason is poor management. The "biologists" are supposedly smarter, their education and equipment is supposedly far superior.....yet they flat out SUCK at their job. Chain smoking, half drunk, high school dropouts did a far better job with far less cool $#!t to work with. And they did it for minimum wage. Statements like this are why i have a problem with you. It is not provable one way or the other. You provide zero evidence for it, yet present it as if it were a fact. Also, there is no reason to use quotation marks around the term biologist. Feel free to express your opinion, and I will do the same.

what the hell is a "scientist type"?

No you don't.

I have no reason to hide my identity. I posted my picture. I'm sure folks have seen me on the lower meremac, busch wildlife and various other ponds around st louis. I post honest reports with as much information as I can give. I also fish at table rock, Stockton, and on the upper big river. I also post on forums that dont get as many good fishing reports. I'm not a very good angler, but I would happily explain what I know to anyone who asks. I won't withhold any information, or exaggerate my skillset.

I cant tell if you're joking or not. It seems like you have a genuine dislike for scientists. I happen to be one, and I know for a fact that your assumptions are incorrect. You also see to it that your opinions about scientists are broadcast all over OAF. MJK are my initials and 86 was the year I was born. That account was (and still is) blocked from posting any new content. I am not sure how or why that happened so I made a new name which I called "top dollar" after my favorite fishing lure.

I cant imagine it's very new.

You can post all you want, but good luck in not getting me to call you out for being the morons you are. If you post bullsh$t, expect to be called out on it. It sure seems like those who criticize really have problems being criticized. Yes, he bashed scientists, I bashed mechanics.

Hell yeah i have a temper, but c'mon, if the stuff that smalliebigs/wrench/and various others posts doesn't cross lines, that doesn't either. Those are the most vulgar people on here by far. Also, if i post a report, don't turn it into an MDC bashing thread, or I will turn it into a redneck bashing thread, which is both easy and fun. How come wrench can constantly make personal insults about scientists, but i cant make personal insults about outboard mechanics? He is clearly out of his lane. I posted a fishing report, and you ladies start crying about the MDC. Start your own thread for that. OAF is obviously a very "clicky" forum. If you dont have anything constructive to add, please to not post on my reports. Start your own.

You sure spout lots of nonsense regarding crap you clearly know nothing about. You also speak with syntax about as bad as Trump, which kills any credibility you think you may have. You better just stick with outboard motors.

Ya know...i actually really like the section that i float. There are no jet boat assholes, and really not many people in general. Id much prefer to catch dinks in peace and quiet than deal with the urban cowboy types of rural missouri with their screaming engines and country music. In fact, to put icing on the cake, according to the floating book it says to not even float that section. " Upper sections near the "lead belt" are subject to many of the effects of urban population and are not recommended even when there is enough water to float there."

I was a bit surprised by the amount of jet boats. On 1 gravel bar I counted 6 boats parked with a huge camp set up. They were buzzing up and down the river all day and night. To their credit, its probably the perfect jet boat water, super wide shallow clear riffles. I never have, and probably never will see a jet boat on the upper big, I imagine that would be dangerous. What is the reasoning behind not allowing soft plastic baits on the trout sections? I don't know anything about trout fishing other than the occasional ones i catch while bass fishing the city parks in winter.

We caught several browns actually. I caught 2 on a jerkbait, and my buddy caught 4 on a fly and tiny jerkbait. Here is my second. I didnt see any transmitters on any of them, but i did see an MDC boat and the folks in there were looking for tagged browns they said.

Hit busch yesterday for some groceries. Caught eaters at 36, and 38, only got 8 though swimming jigs 3-5 feet down near any vegetation still alive. Saw lots of cars parked on the dam at 33, so my guess is that you can catch boatloads of dinks there with about 1 in 10 fish being 9 inches or better. Its getting cold quick! My guess is that they will be very catch-able until everything freezes up.

Floated from the hwy 8 bridge access (woodson woods?) down to scotts ford over the weekend. Temps were in the upper 20s in the mornings, up to mid 50s in the afternoon. Bluebird skies both days. Water was very clear, i guess that's typical though. I didn't realize you weren't supposed to use soft plastic baits on that stretch....i guess because of the trout? Anyway...the sign didn't say anything about jerkbaits, so that's what i used, hopefully they aren't against the rules too. My fly fishing friend sure caught a bunch of trout. I caught a couple of browns and a rainbow, but mostly smallmouth. It seemed like kinda slow fishing, but i didn't really know what to expect out of that stretch. I caught 12 fish the first day, and 13 the second day. 1 fish was a real beauty of a smallmouth, just shy of 19 inches. I caught it just below where the spring enters the river on an x-rap. An x-rap 8 and an 110+1 style jerkbait in natural colors were working well enough for me to not change. Id throw the x-rap in the riffles and shallow wash outs, and the 110+1 in the deeper pools.

Fished yesterday. 8 to leadwood again. I really need to float a different river, or at least a different section of the big. I have very little experience on other rivers in missouri, but this stretch I float 20 times a year. Anyhow, the water temp was 70, and air temp was 50s early up to mid 70s later. Its low and clear and the fish are super easy to catch. Any hole deeper than 3 feet will have wads of little bass. Biggest was a 15 inch smallie. My buddy caught a 2 or 3 foot long gar. Jig worm did 90% of the work.

I also use Okuma trolling rods. They are 9ft 6inch downrigger rods. The extra length, in addition to the slow action keeps fish buttoned up when trolling with metered braid. If you use mono, with a line counter, you can get away with a shorter and stiffer rod, but you will sacrifice running depth of your crankbait. I have a book called precision trolling...its tremendously helpful.

So is there some open water up there now since you can see into the water? Last time i was up there, like you said, it was a putting green, there was no open water. Ive been meaning to go up there, but Ive been up at forest park mostly.

As a non native fish, he should have slit its gills and left it up on the bank to rot. That's what i was told to do when i caught an invasive fish. Actually...If i caught a state record, 1st.) Id change my underwear. 2.) Id get ahold of the conservation department. 3.) I would not be concerned with the welfare of the fish. In all seriousness....It is ironic to me that the same folks willing to drag a 40# trout around taneycomo all day on 4# line until it dies of exhaustion, are the same folks who will pitch a tantrum about someone killing a 15 inch spotted bass on table rock for a fish fry. Personally....I'd happily do both, but have only had the opportunity to do that latter. I totally agree that " Social Media can be a cesspool of hate, unfounded judgements and really stupid remarks " but dont exclude OAF from social media.

I noticed this too. It was completely choked out. That's pretty sad. Hopefully in a few years it will rebound. When I was up there a few weeks ago I saw crayfish by the 1000s all over the shallows picking through the vegetation right at the surface. I'd never seen anything like it.

You can access the upper big river at hwy 8 and mounts road. Mounts is a gravel road that takes you down to the river. Tdl= terre du lac. There is a makeshift gravel ramp there. Down another few miles is the leadwood access. That area is not the best fishing from my experience, but there are lots of dinks to be had. Nothing secret or special about it. It's just very convenient for me. They bite just about anything you wanna throw, just downsize baits and line.

Not bad. generally 5 feet of visibility or so in the summer time. Plenty of cows though.