tjm

Winter wheat and/or fall turnips might be good, wheat will be green in the snow and deer have been known to top a patch of late turnips. I think the visits to such will likely be nocturnal though. Corn feeders bring in 'coons as often as deer, I think. Neighbor used to have a big feed bunk for cattle and kept salt-mix out in it; deer that visited regularly, they went so often that they could be ambushed 1/4 mile away. So a feed station by your shop might let you catch them as they come off the neighbors land and make it more probable that they fall down where you can get to them without a trespass issue.

imo, unless you plant 40A , a food plot isn't about aiding their survival. A handful of deer can eat most of a half acre garden in one or two nights. As an enticement to slaughter some plants will attract deer at certain stages of growth, select plants that will be at that stage of growth at the time you want the deer there. Otherwise let other people feed the nuisance animals. They won't starve.

The biggest change in this part of the Ozarks in my life is conversion of oak barrens to Fescue. Lost a lot wildlife to that "improvement". From quail to mussels. But hey, cattlemen get better production from the land and the water is still wet.

Not to me. It probably is to person who caught it.

I was told to bleed by tail, filet out the back straps, cut the back straps into steaks, bread and fry like it was fish. This seems to work on 5-12 lb. carp. My wife and kids said it was good. ymmv

Trophy would be something over the current world record, any thing less is just a fish. Of course every fish is a prize more valuable than a trophy. Trophy means different things maybe, but it brings to mind rotted taxidermy hung on a dirty wall. I don't get that and never have.

If they are in the Grand Lake do they come up the Elk?

Well, If MDC interviews that group they may get different answers than the guides provided? Never having been over there to fish I would have guessed guides got 10-12% of all anglers at most, so thinking guides are representative of all users is far out there, but maybe not.

I was told once that USACE does not control generation at all, they may let water out to control lake level but Southwestern Power Administration controls generation. Whole nother branch of the guberment. I wonder which is truth? SWPA says they adjust generation to meet use loads. SWPA will tell you generation schedules @ 866-4941993. I don't think they care about flood control, that would fall on USACE.

That was my thought too, or lip piercings. Found under/on her jaw; might have been a necklace.

But the water will still be warm? And the water will still be stained? Will removal of spotted bass make the stream less fertile? Is there another place where the spotted bass has colonized to the detriment of other black bass, or is this watershed unique in that respect? It was established on page 4 or 5 that no one wants to believe a Fisheries Biologist. (Stupid college grads know nothing and will not say what I want to hear?) Some one on this forum did say that he has studied to be a fish biologist, was it Mocarp?

USACE Little Rock list's that as; Bottom Power Pool: 881.0 http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/pages/data/tabular/htm/tabrock.htm

http://tablerock.uslakes.info/level.asp First site that came up when I searched ' table rock lake level' , looks like valid info, idk.

Quick peek at the net for Indonesia fishing, doesn't mention spotted bass? It did say game-fish so that would explain no carp on the list. Tuna Dog Tooth Trevally Amberjack Grouper Marbrn Swordfish Sailfish Yellowfin Tuna Barracuda Wahoo Mahi-Mahi … etc.

Just looked this up; Winter Pool: 881.00 feet, currently 912.76 It would seem they have ways to go, down 0.15' from yesterday, at that rate it will take 211 days to reach winter levels. Years ago I was told that (at least on the lake I asked about) generation depended directly on usage, colder weather means lots more usage and billions of idiotic decorative lights mean more usage, so that was my first though as to why. But, it's possible they just want to jack with the fishermen and boat people.

you should report them to the biologist. Them being nocturnal, giggers are more apt to see them ta anyone else.

I've known a lot of people that wouldn't eat any black bass (they were talking LM & SM) caught in the warm months because of the worms. I don't know if summer has anything to do with the worms or not, but that is what the old folks used to say. On the other hand I have read that cooking turns them things into food. (both the bass and it's worms) Think if you git rid of the fish eating birds you will git rid of the worms though.

I call them plugs. I've seen similar called troll minnows. Eyes look Cordell, possibly http://fishingenthusiast.blogspot.com/2012/09/september-walleye-lure-of-month-cordell.html

Christmas lights?

A 2010 FWS pub that I am reading says that estimated bobcats in MO. were 18-20,000 and in AR. 14,049 by hunter surveys, harvest . analysis and sign stations. Mo. cat population was stable and AR cat population was increasing.

Are there many that fish that area without a guide? I would guess the use of guides is mostly by tourists? If traveling and sleeping in a hotel/motel with no cooking facility, very likely no one would keep fish. The thing about daily creel surveys is a single fisher might get interviewed fifty times, his opinion could become the most prevalent answer simply because he is there daily.

The condition of the signs is an important comment, by far most signs I've seen at MDC areas are deteriorated, some unreadable. One area they could make improvement. Have a periodic check & replacement of signs. Some signs appear to get vandalized too, I see a board with just nails and a bit of yellow plastic.

I'm thinking in terms of temperature, paving on roads or mall parking lots heat all the rainfall several degrees before it hits the creeks, thus, warming the entire river; studies and reports I have read indicate that five degrees difference of temperature can make the difference between ideal and marginal habitat. I asked about shade trees bordering the river, because solid shade keeps water cool.Temps and water color seem to be the dividing lines between perfect for smallmouth and perfect for spots. Fertility might be another remedy if there is a way to reduce it. As users of this river we are at the mercy of the landowners and the development they see fit to implement. imo, if the river stretches Al described were already ideal for spotted bass back in the 70s-80s-90s and land use/development has made those areas warmer and/or more stained or turbid, you/we might be wasting time and money trying to reverse nature's process. Tilting windmills perhaps. Might be better to just examine how best to use spotted bass, have spotted bass only tournaments. Market spotted bass boats and tackle. Sell spotted bass T shirts. Make lemonade. Maybe build chilling stations to lower the river temperature of some feeder creeks. Start a program to reward landowners for planting/maintaining timber adjacent to all the streams in the system. Interesting thread, I've learned a couple of things.

So, I read this that Al thinks spotted bass got into the Meramec system from the Mississippi and Chief thinks they came from the Mississippi, is that it? How they got in the big river seems unimportant, that is where they came to the Meramec from? Al says that even before the spotted bass got there there were stretches of river that were ideal habitat for them, spots weren't there then because they were still downstream. Once the spots found those ideal stretches of river they flourished, at the expense of smallmouth. So, by this observation those pieces of river must be more suitable for spotted bass than they are for smallmouth bass. I guess from his writings that Al has closely observed this river and so his opinion carries weight. Then the Jen from MDC comes along and says that certain stretches of this system are better habitat for spotted bass than for smallmouth , it appears to me that she is in agreement with Al, why is her opinion discounted?

Pam is canola oil, my experience with any vegetable oil is that it is gooey to start with then turns sticky and eventually becomes gummy. I wouldn't put it on any thing. I have sprayed spinning tackle with WD40 as lazy maintenance, saw no harmful effects and it would repel water for a while. Reel oil or petroleum jelly as mentioned above would work on the same principle, WD40 is always right there though. I don't know how it would react with fluorocarbon or the modern braids, it did not seem to bother mono.