tjm

I wonder in the USA how many "Indian Creeks" there are? Most creek and river names got used over and over but "Indian" and "Sugar" seem to get most use.

I think that any trout in the USA has "Hatchery" genetics, even the "wild" trout in their native range have been repeatedly diluted with stocked trout and it 's obvious that any trout outside it's native range came from hatchery stock even if it's been naturalized for a hundred years like some Mo. rainbows. We've been moving and stocking fish since the early 1880s and for the majority of that time no one thought anything about preservation of native stocks. There still those who think bass should be stocked in Ozark reservoirs to insure any native bass are mixed with hatchery genetics.

Back east I could fish five flies on a cast and I set up dropper wets to resemble a cluster of fry, it caught a few fish but a single fly or three spaced much farther apart seemed to catch more. I do like his use of the tube and the stiff mono with differing fly weights to keep the shape and relative orientation during the retrieve. It looks like largemouth or pike bait to me.

I remember when there were bushels of those used chicken plant knives at the flea markets. Had a few of them given to me by a guy that worked as a sharpener. But it occurs to me now that I haven't seen one in a years.

My favorite is "Dexter Russell EP155WHG SANI-SAFE® 5" Deboning Knife". It's a little stiffer than the Rapala knife, which I like, and stays sharp much longer. I've had several Dexter Russell knives of different styles and all were good steel. I'd probably be happy with a Victorinox too. I do still keep the Rapala in my vest just because it's so light.

yeah, I've seen a lot of shades and patterns on these fish Prettiest ones were over clean light colored gravel on brighter days, . I've just never been sure how long it took them to to make the change.

I'm curious when these fly shops started? When I started tying in the '70s, I was in southern New England and although there were quite a few fly fishers and most of them tied flies, the fly shops were either the bait shop or a mail order like Kaufmann's Streamborn or Orvis. The local bait shop had or would get everything that was sold by Raymond C Rumpf or Universal Vise Co. The first "pro" fly shops that specialized in just fly fishing tackle, materials, etc. happened there ca'81-'82 as best that I recall. And then it seemed like there was a flock of them all at once. I know that in destination fishing places in Mt. and NY there were fly specialty shops perhaps as far back as the early 1900s. And suspect that in Mo. the first would have coincided with the establishment of the trout parks, but in a place like Springfield or KC, I wonder who supported such shops?

The one in the article/video? How can the trailer move if it's at the end of a tube? the 40# mono supported by UV resin should pretty much stay separate too, I would think, the 40# mono I have is rather stiff; and with the none of the teasers containing a hook, entanglement seems unlikely to me. The writer said-

Times have changed in the last 19 years (thread start date) and Neosho bass (Micropterus velox) are no longer considered to be Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) by the scientists even if MDC is still calling them that and many web resources haven't been updated. Two or three years ago genetics showed that they are a separate species with a common ancestor. All the streams I normally fish lie in the range of Micropterus velox, in past years I never distinguished them from other black bass, so I'm unsure if all the "small mouth bass" that I've ever caught were Neosho bass or if the OP is correct in that the population is mixed. I'm certain that I've caught some over three pounds. I'm also sure that the stream inventories aren't 100% accurate and that in addition to confusion of these species, I believe there are other examples of fish and crayfish in the Elk drainage that are not supposed to be here. I guess the prominent under-bite/long lower lip might be the easiest way to distinguish these fish, although there are differences in dentition and in number of dorsal fin rays. They come very light colored with elaborate markings to almost black with vague markings and I think may change colors during the course of a day, but that's just my speculation.

I'm thinking that March is flood time around here, but, with my poor memory that might be off a month one way or the other. Or maybe almost anytime from now to the end of April could be creeks running out of banks. I'd make an alternative plan just in case. But later in the summer, I've seen groups of college age fellows leave a vehicle 3-5 miles downstream from an access and take a second vehicle to the access then wade and fish from put in to take out. Store parking lot to low water bridge, or bridge to bridge. One group that I saw several times fished about 20 miles of the local creek over 4 or 5 nights. Don't why such a method wouldn't work on most streams. A Paddler’s Guide to Missouri https://www.amazon.com/Paddlers-Guide-Missouri-Updated-Revised/dp/1887247815 Has maps of most Mo streams and where they can be accessed. The Same maps are normally available online at https://missouricanoe.org/river-maps/ but that site seems to be down right now. Another method you might consider is that on some streams like the Elk River there are numerous canoe rental outfits that will drop you off and pick you up for floats of varying lengths, so you wouldn't have to transport boats here and back.. Many have cabins or camping as well; I'm not sure that they'd be open in March though, just an idea. To check river flooding you can select streams with USGS gages from this map https://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/rt and find current and past flow levels, I think flows near the median would be mostly wadeable.

I don't necessarily want bowfishing prohibited; but anyone that kills a fish should be prepared to eat it. Wanton waste laws should apply to all wildlife. But those dumpster pictures aren't really the result of bow fishing so much as they are of contest fishing. Imagine if we were to set up a deer hunting contest/tournament where dozens of hunters competed to weigh in the most deer carcasses in a time period, pay out on biggest of the day, and on most pounds per time period regardless of numbers and size. And discard the carcasses in dumpsters when weigh-in is completed. Would such a contest be acceptable to either wildlife managers or to the public? yet we allow and encourage such contests with fish. We could even imagine a contest where deer are captured alive, caged with others and hauled miles to a central location for weigh in and then all released at that point. Wonder if any would survive? Stressed, disoriented, dislocated, and overcrowded at point of release; I wonder that any fish survive such treatment.

Our game laws sure don't carry enough penalty to be deterrent. Suspension of privilege/permits doesn't have any affect at all on people that don't have the permits in the first place. I wonder if confiscation of vehicles, boats etc. would have any effect, whatever vehicle was used in getting to the water regardless if it's the poacher's or a buddy's or a spectators. But you know I feel just about as upset with the culling and transport of tourney fish and I can't report them, so it is a quandary. I start to wonder if the game laws that support competitive use of wildlife by the wealthy and at the same time prohibit consumption by the poor are really laws that I want to support. If netting of fish is happening, they might be feeding themselves and their families, although I can't see bass as that good of eating. When a family is hungry, it might be that anything can be food. I remember about 1975, the newly arrived Asian refugees seining along the beach and putting anything that moved into the pot to cook later. That was eventually stopped but I think it was more of a health issue than adherence to our laws, given the state of the bay at the time.

Those are invasive species there and here, so should be under a "no limit, any method, kill all you can eat" rule, as should carp. No fish should be discarded though. But there should be enormous fines for any misidentification that leads to killing of non-invasives. One of the problems with our current regs is that even MDC doesn't want to learn to identify most species beyond the umbrella of "rough fish". At a guess from streamside conversations over a lifetime 90% of anglers can't tell the difference between a chub, a redhorse, a buffalo and a carp. Just as they class all "sunfish" as "bluegill", they tend to class all "rough fish" as carp and therefore "trash fish".

Apparently we are allowed to kill 20 per day, except on the Mississippi River which has a daily and possession limit of 100. https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/buffalo Not in local waters here, but I can imagine that most people would consider them as "just carp" and toss on the bank after shooting them. That thought reminds me of the dumpster pictures that @MoCarp used to post.

Is that because fish and game departments allow it or because friends and neighbors encourage it? https://mdc.mo.gov/about-us/about-regulations/operation-game-thief Is stealing fish any better than armed robbery or burglary or other theft? a thief is a thief by any other name?