Al Agnew

I do think that lead is probably not a big deal in some waterways, including those like Current River. However, it can be a big problem in some places. Any type of waterfowl that feeds upon bottom material, like ducks and loons, are going to ingest lead, and it takes a surprisingly small amount of lead in the body of these birds to affect them. The ban on lead in Yellowstone has been in effect for quite a while, and seems to cause the anglers there little hardship. However, I'm not sure how it is enforced. I've fished in Yellowstone quite a bit, and always use non-lead split shot...but I know I've used nymphs and streamers there that were weighted with lead wire. If I was ever checked, would the ranger tear up my flies to see if they were weighted with lead? I think it's a lot more problematical for the non-flyfisher. While bans on lead in some flyfishing areas have forced the development and availability of substitutes for flyfishing, the bass angler or catfisherman doesn't have as many options. Non-lead sinkers are slowly becoming available (and they are more expensive), but non-lead jig heads and similar tackle is still almost non-existent. A sudden ban on lead in places like middle Current River and Jacks Fork is going to result in a LOT of infractions. I've got to think that this ban is not going to be strictly enforced until a few years have passed and there are a lot of available non-lead products on the market. All in all, I can see the reasoning behind the ban. Heck, not only is lead a proven environmental hazard, but we're continually trying to keep the lead mining companies from messing up Ozark rivers (especially including the Current and Jacks Fork, ironically) with new mines. But it will be interesting to see how this issue plays out in the typical non-trout waters of the various parks.

Actually, I was thinking I could go on and drive down to the Shoal Creek area--it's only an hour or so from Springfield? Wife will be busy all day in Springfield so I've got the whole day free. I've never floated any of the SW MO streams other than the James. Shoal Creek or maybe Flat Creek would be great. Let me know what you guys think. I can either bring a tandem or a solo canoe.

I hear you. That one time the freshman kid drove the lane, he picked up his dribble at the head of the key. I don't care if you're Superman, you can't get to the rim from there without more than one extra step. Replay showed 2.5 to 3 steps, and no traveling call. I thought that this was one of the poorest officiated games I've seen in the tournament.

I've been a Mizzou basketball fan for many years, even continued to watch them with varying levels of frustration during the bad old Quinn years. But this year has been just about the most fun of any. A bunch of players that could in some ways be considered over-achievers, but mainly because they were the hardest-working, most unselfish group of athletes I can ever remember seeing. A coach who has great class and integrity and really cares about his players and the school. A system of play that is about as exciting as any you'll ever see, beautifully coached and often executed to perfection. It makes defense truly the cornerstone, and a thing of beauty. Few turnovers themselves. Lots of forced turnovers. Everybody could handle the ball. Everybody got plenty of assists. The bench was terrific at times. You couldn't ask for much more, and I'm glad that, unlike a lot of so-called Mizzou fans, I was interested and excited about this team from the first of the year. They went farther than I expected back then, but I wasn't surprised. And I'm really looking forward to next year, unlike some of the past seasons. They could have beaten UConn today. They had a great game plan and they left it all out on the floor. The thing that wrecked them was their cold shooting in the second half. They had open looks that ordinarily they'd make. Just two three-pointers going in instead of rattling out, like Safford's last three attempt, and a couple more made free throws, and the game would have been vastly different. And UConn needed a freshman off the bench to come up big (and luck in that one wild shot as the shot clock was running out) to beat Mizzou anyway. Yep, this team had some weaknesses. Weak rebounding. Inconsistent shooting. Very inconsistent free throw shooting. No shot blockers or intimidators in the middle--once they were broken down on the dribble they were in trouble, unlike UConn today. And inexplicable periods in some games where they just seemed out of synch. But almost always the swarming defense and sheer hard work was able to overcome the weaknesses. I'm going to miss the seniors...all of them. Matt Lawrence got bad-mouthed as the slow white kid who didn't fit in for three years, and sometimes his trademark threes weren't consistent, but this year he was not a liability on defense and made some key shots, and nobody worked harder to improve than he did. Leo Lyons never quite fulfilled his promise, always being the one with loads of talent but inconsistent and soft play, but he was a huge part of the team. And what can you say about DeMarre Carroll? What a tough, hard-working, versatile player. Coach Anderson's son spent three years on the bench but was always ready when called upon and always encouraging the other players. But we have one more year of watching J. T. Tiller, and everything you can say about Carroll applies to Tiller, perhaps more so. Zaire Taylor will be great to watch for another year, too. Ramsey will see more playing time. Safford was looking good by the end of the year. And the young guys are going to be good. English, Denman, Bowers, Paul, all have tremendous potential. I haven't paid much attention to who Coach Anderson has recruited, but I've got faith that he'll get the players he knows will fit into his system of play. Just one more observation about today's game. I think that the key play of the game was a bad call. It came in the middle of the first half. Lyons had the ball and drove against Thabeet, and got called for a charge. Replay showed beyond a doubt that it should have been a blocking foul on Thabeet, he wasn't even close to being set. Had the call gone the other way, not only would it have been Thabeet's second foul, but it would have given Lyons more confidence to continue driving against Thabeet, which would have put a lot more pressure not only on the big man but also on the other UConn defenders. I really think that the complexion of the game could have been changed with that call. Anyway, congratulations to Mizzou on a great season. Can't wait til next year!

Hey guys, I may be in the Springfield area next weekend. Wouldn't mind getting together with some of you and floating somewhere next Saturday. Let me know if anybody is up for it. Sorry the weather messed up your plans for today!

I've only fished Tavern once, did a float trip on one of the upper sections, and had much the same experience you did. Looks like pure smallmouth water, but I caught more largemouth than smallmouth. Some of the largemouth were big, 18-19 inchers. Some friends floated it farther downstream where it was slower and murkier the same day, and caught a lot of spotted bass. That was several years ago.

I've just gotten used to watching the cfs instead of gage height because it's a whole lot more useful when comparing different streams. The gage height that's "normal" varies greatly from one gage to the next. But the cfs is the measure of the actual volume of water that is going down the river at that point. So you know that 500 cfs is 500 cfs no matter which stream you're on--it's the same volume of water. In addition, all you have to do is look at the little triangles on the same graph, and you're able to compare present cfs to the triangles, which represent the median volume for that day of the year--that's a very good approximation of the "normal" level for that day. Of course, if you know what the river is like at different gage heights, you can use the gage height level just as effectively. But then if you look at an unfamiliar gage, you can't go by the gage height at all. Right now, the Meramec at Sullivan is in the 500s in cfs, which translates to a gage height between 2.3 and 2.4 ft. Median flow for this time of year is in the 1500s in cfs. Since I never go by gage height in judging river level, I don't know what that would translate into, but I'd guess it would be over 3.5 ft. at least. So the river is at least a foot or 1.5 ft. below normal, and is pretty marginal in places for running a jetboat unless you really know the river. I do use gage height for one thing, however. If we get a rain and the river has a rise, I can get a better idea of how much of a rise it is by looking at the gage height before the rise and afterward. Although you never know for sure unless you look at the river, as a general rule a rise of less than a foot will seldom make the river too muddy for good fishing, but a rise of 2 feet or more almost always will.

If you're not very experienced at running the boat, I'd probably advise staying downstream from the St. Clair area. There are good boat ramps at the Redhorse access off Hwy. K south of St. Clair, at River Round CA east of Hwy. 30-47, and at Moselle at the mouth of the Bourbeuse, as well as the ones downstream that Bman mentioned. There a a number of good ramps farther upstream, but during the summer those stretches of river are tricky to run, not only because it's smaller water but because of the hordes of other river users. Between the Redhorse Access and the Chouteau Claim access at the mouth of the Bourbeuse there are a few tricky spots in low water. As for smallmouth, they get pretty scarce once you get below the Hwy. 66 access, but there are decent numbers of them, along with a lot of spotted bass, upstream from there. Just concentrate your efforts anywhere there is decent current and cover in warm weather and you should catch a few smallies. I also watch the river gage at Sullivan on the internet. If the river is flowing less than about 600 cfs, I know that it'll be tricky running some of the riffles above St. Clair, even if you're experienced and know the river fairly well.

Right now I'm not very worried about the federal government passing more gun control laws. For one thing, the Democrats aren't monolithic on the issue, and the Republicans pretty well are monolithic. So I don't think there are enough votes in the Senate to get anything passed. I don't know who all is doing all the scare tactics, but somebody certainly is with all the spikes in gun and ammo sales. Several Democrats in both house and senate won with a substantial portion of the rural vote in their states and districts, and I gotta believe they aren't going to tick off that group of people who voted them in. The usual suspects will be pushing for various new laws, but I just don't think they have the muscle to get much done. But when an actual bill not only gets introduced but gets some serious sponsorship, THEN I'll get concerned.

There are enough of them that you can expect to catch them down to about Times Beach. Gets a little more iffy below. Didn't used to be that way. Before the spotted bass invaded they were pretty abundant until you got to all the gravel dredged holes and flood back-up from the Mississippi.

Real hard to just name three...it would be in the eye of the beholder, anyway. I don't like lakes much, don't like the ocean much, would rather be on a wild river with wild fish than a stocked tailwater. So my top three? 1. Livingston, Montana--within an hour from town you have a hundred miles of the Yellowstone, the Boulder, the Madison, the Gallatin, and a bunch of small, little known creeks. Within three hours you have the Missouri, the Stillwater, the Bighorn, who knows how many miles of streams in Yellowstone Park. 2. The Salmon River, Idaho--on one river system you have wilderness, class 5 rapids, wild native cutthroat, huge steelhead, and even smallmouth bass 3. Southern Maine--trout streams and some of the best fly rod smallmouth bass fishing anywhere on three different rivers (Androscoggin, Kenebec, and Penobscot). Some other candidates... South Platte, Colorado--lots of rainbows and browns Frying Pan and Roaring Fork, with several other streams in the general area, Colorado--lots more rainbows and browns Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado--small fish, but some native cutthroat and spectacular scenery Jackson, Wyoming--Snake River with native cutthroat, browns and rainbows downstream, several other smaller streams in the area that get less pressure and are very good, like the Gros Ventre and Hoback. Umpqua River area, Oregon--trout, salmon, steelhead, and smallmouth. John Day River, Oregon--smallmouth in a different type of setting. Adirondacks, New York--terrific smallmouth fishing for those in the know, and good but crowded trout fishing.

Not only does MDC probably not respond because it isn't worth it, but...what if they DID respond with some kind of lawsuit or publicity? Then, the MDC critics would charge them with bullying the poor private citizen! And MDC isn't the typical government agency, simply because they don't depend upon the legislature to appropriate funds for them. They have the money, they don't have to spend it or lose it. You cannot equate them to a government agency who DOES have to spend the budgeted money or lose it. Could be that some of that goes on within the different sections of MDC...like maybe fisheries getting so much money and if they don't spend it the next year more goes to forestry or something. As for the grandfathers getting tickets for "helping" their grandkids fishing...well, I can see where that would tick a person off. BUT, in my opinion, both grandfathers in the stories SHOULD have had licenses. If the kid is small enough and inexperienced enough that they were going to need help while fishing, then it's a very short leap to the adult actually fishing in the guise of "helping" the youngster. How many times do you think that excuse has been used illegitimately? I bet every agent has had it pulled on them more than once. So sorry, BRBF, I don't have much sympathy for your grandfather. It appears that one experience has done a whole lot to sour you on MDC...and how many years ago was that? Like others here, I don't like everything MDC does or doesn't do. I'll jump all over them when I think they are wrong. But most of the MDC people I've dealt with have been honest and helpful, and I've dealt with people at all levels from the Director on down at different times in the last 25 years or so. Chief is right. There is such a thing as the whistle-blower law. If these current or retired MDC employees had the goods and really cared about whatever their issues are, they should come forward and get it out in the open.

I hear ya... It's never a bad idea to be a squeaky wheel with the politicians. All I'm saying is, if you complain too much about something that isn't going anywhere and you don't have the real facts, chances are you'll be dismissed as a kook. If you're well-informed and passionate about something that IS a problem, you will probably be listened to.

Like I said, once again the internet rouses the rabble to little purpose. Geez, guys, put your energy into something you SHOULD worry about. This bill ain't going anywhere at this point. Like I said, it bears watching, and if it ever got a few more sponsors or somehow made it out of committee then it would be time to get active in opposing it. But let's get real. The NRA has to be all over this, but I don't see them gathering the troops. If you think ANY gun control bill could "sneak in under the radar", especially one who's ONLY purpose is gun control (as opposed to sticking something in an unrelated bill), you're delusional. And if you DO feel the need to let your representatives know your feelings about this bill, make sure you get the facts straight, which the piece above did not. At some point, I expect some serious and dangerous gun control bill to rear its ugly head. The general run of Democrats in the House includes quite a few dingbats. (I could say the same thing about the general run of Republicans, just dingbatty on different issues.) But this ain't it.

I just looked back through my 2008 fishing trips...I keep a daybook where I record the hours spent painting, business trips, AND fishing trips. I record all smallmouth of 17 inches or better that I catch. Last year I spent a lot of the summer and early fall in Montana so I went on considerably fewer Ozark smallmouth trips than usual. 25 days fishing Ozark streams for bass 17-17.5 inches--9 smallmouth 18-18.5 inches--5 smallmouth 19-19.5 inches--1 smallmouth 20 inches or better--2 smallmouth If you do the math, those figures fall in with my guesstimates in my previous post--8 fish 18 inches or better is just a bit less than one fish every three trips. And 2 20-inchers in 25 trips is right in the middle of that one every 10-15 trips that I said above. Last year wasn't a normal year--I didn't fish in Missouri during some of the peak times, and I didn't fish much in late autumn and winter, when I usually catch some of the bigger fish of the year. The two 20-inchers were both exactly 20 inches, by the way. One came in March on a jerkbait, the other in April on a spinnerbait.

While I agree that this bill bears watching vigilantly, most observers are pretty sure it will never be passed. Fact is, Rep. Rush of Illinois first introduced it back in 2007 not long after the teenager Blair Holt was killed, and it went nowhere then. He reintroduced it on Jan. 6 and it has been bottled up in the House subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security or some such subcommittee. Rush is the ONLY sponsor...nobody else, Democrat or Republican, has come forward to support it. Any bill that has any chance of going anywhere will have a bunch of co-sponsors. Capitol watchers expect that it will never get out of the subcommittee. Once again, the internet rouses the rabble to little purpose. By the way, the internet letter above has some factual errors. The bill has no provision for coming into your home and inspecting for compliance, the inspections only apply to places of business. And it would not require anyone to submit mental health records. There are some other inaccuracies as well, but I didn't write them down after I got that far.

The native river walleye start moving to spawning areas in mid to late February. They are usually done spawning by late March. Not all walleye in all Ozark waters follow this calendar, however...some start moving a little bit later.

Thanks a lot, guys, glad you appreciate my stuff...As you can easily tell, I'm nuts about river fishing and smallmouth bass. I get real cranky if I don't get on the river at least once a week. And since I've been fishing Ozark streams since I was about 7 years old (which was almost 50 years ago), I oughta know a little bit about it. Hope to meet all of you in person one of these days.

About spotted bass...very few river spotted bass get much over 15 inches. I think the biggest I ever caught was right below Clearwater Dam on Black river, about 18 inches but pig-fat, probably weighed well over 4 pounds. That was a special case...it was during a pretty cold winter and lots of dead and dying threadfin shad had been coming through the dam for weeks, and that fish (along with a 16 incher that weighed at least 3 pounds), had been gorging on shad the whole time. My brother caught a 19 inch spotted bass/smallmouth hybrid on Big River a few years ago, which was far bigger than any pure spotted bass I'd ever caught on Big River.

No problem... Like I said before, I don't know Larry well at all. I like his books. His little magazine is okay. If he stuck to hunting, fishing, and Ozark lore it would be fine with me. He and I have a couple of mutual friends that vouch for him and his uncle Norten, but I've never met him in person. I can't say I like his politics according to some of the stuff he's written in his magazine, but there are a lot of people I don't agree with politically that I like personally. If he's going to attack MDC with the kind of innuendo he has so far, he better have the facts to back it up.

Depends on what you consider good. March can be very inconsistent due to the weather, but I've had some great mid-March days in recent years (not on the Buffalo, but I'm talking Ozark streams in general). "Great" not as in lots of fish, but as in enough really nice fish to make it a great day. The fishing will be slower than in April, but if the conditions are right I'd LOVE to be on the Buffalo in mid-March.

A trophy is in the eye of the beholder, but if there's such a thing as a generally agreed upon standard for Ozark streams, 18 inches is a big fish and 20 inches is a true trophy. I don't worry about weight, because that's dependent upon everything from time of year to how well the fish has been feeding lately. But on average, a 20 inch fish will weigh just a bit less than 4 pounds on an Ozark stream. I've caught 20 inchers that wouldn't have been much over 3 pounds, and 20 inchers that would have gone well over 4. The two biggest Ozark river smallies I ever caught--both weighed on De-Liar scales that I'd checked often so I knew they were within a couple of ounces of being correct--were both right at 5 pounds. I guess there are few each year caught from Ozark streams that will beat 5 pounds, but not many. Most "5 to 6 pounders" you hear about weren't weighed but over-guesstimated. I'd bet there haven't been more than a handful of legitimate 6 pound smallmouth caught in Ozark streams in the last 20 years...maybe in the last 50 years. I do know that in nearly 50 years of fishing Ozark streams I've only SEEN two fish that I thought had a real chance of making the 6 pound mark. I hear of a few 23-24 inch fish taken each year. A fish that size, caught at the right time of year, SHOULD go well over 5 pounds. I've never caught one that big...nor ever actually seen one that big out of the water. My biggest ones by length have been around 22 inches. I have the statistics somewhere...in fact, I may have posted them here at some time or another...on how many 18 inch plus and 20 inch plus smallies I've caught in the last few years. Usually about one 20 incher for every 10 or 15 full day trips I make, and about one 18 incher per every two or three trips. Of course, on good days I might catch several in the 18 inch class, which tends to skew the average a bit. And it depends upon the stream--I've got a couple of stretches where I'd be willing to bet on catching at least one over 18 about every time I go. The only hint I'll give is that these stretches are too small for jetboats. I

Anything is possible, but I'd be surprised if you caught anything on or near the surface. We've had a lot of very cold weather and Osage Fork isn't all that heavily spring-fed, so chances are the water temps will have been down in the 30s before this warm-up. On a warm sunny day a river can warm maybe 3-5 degrees, and today wasn't exactly hot, so I'd guess water temps tomorrow will be in the low 40s by the end of the day. That's not enough to make them move from winter holes, nor enough to make them come up and feed really actively. Jigs, tubes, jerkbaits fished slow in slower water will probably be your best bet.

The problem, whenever there is one, goes deeper than just the predator. Given good habitat and food supply, the prey species can "keep ahead" of the predators. Got a problem with red-tailed hawks eating your rabbits and quail? It would probably be less of a problem if your habitat was better. Otters cleaning out the local creek? They'd have a harder time of it if the creek wasn't filled in with gravel and bulldozed out to straighten the channel in places. My brother-in-law lives on a nice hill-country farm, which he acquired 25 years or so ago. When he got it, it was cowed off to nothing but cedar trees, multiflora rose, and close-cropped fescue. Rabbits and quail were practically non-existent. He plowed the fescue under, planted warm season grasses, let the brush grow, and hinged the cedars (cut them most of the way through and let them lay). In 3 or 4 years he had so many rabbits it wasn't fun to hunt them with a shotgun, we were shooting them on the run with .22 automatics....But, after a few years the hinged cedars died and rotted away. The brush got big enough to shade the ground. There were coyotes and bobcats everywhere, eating all the rabbits and quail, but they were eating them because the rabbits and quail had less cover once those cedars died off and the brush got too big. The rabbits that survived did so because they hung out around the relatively few pieces of "hard" cover, like old piles of logs or fallen down sheds, or huge brushpiles BIL had piled up while clearing out little food plots. Large expanses of the farm had gone back to having too little food or cover. It's amazing how little cover and deep water a smallmouth needs to thrive during the summer when the minnows and crayfish are everywhere and the fish is fast and active. But it's a different story in the winter, when they are slower and need good cover and larger expanses of deep water in which to hide and evade critters like otters.

No matter what you're fishing for, you have to remember that ACTIVE fish, the easiest ones to catch, will be where the food is. Long, slow, deep pools simply don't have much food for game fish, except at the heads and tails and around the edges. If a trout or smallmouth is lying on the bottom of a deep pool, it isn't feeding, and it won't be easy to catch. Even in the winter, when smallmouths are most likely to be found in the deeper pools out of the main current, the ones that are catchable won't usually be in the deepest part of the pool at the time, because even in the winter the food is shallower. In the winter, it's a balancing act for the fish--they are sluggish so they need to hang in places where they aren't as vulnerable to predators, like deep water or heavy cover. But they still need to be within easy reach of shallower water if they feel the urge to feed. With smallmouth this time of year, concentrate your efforts in slow current just deep enough that you can't easily see the bottom, especially around big rocks and log jams. For trout, it's smart to spend most of your time in faster water, although the biggest ones may be in deep water at the edge of faster water.