tjm

Proponents of it say they never have to use forceps to dig a hook out of the gullet. I'm not sure about it's legality, it doesn't meet Mo. definition of a fly so wouldn't legal in fly only areas, but I don't recall a specific prohibition of bare hooks with or without a bead. Mo. does require immediate release of fish hooked outside the mouth or jaw. All lures with treble hooks are kinda like snagging/grabbing, treble hooks were always called "grab hooks" when I was young.

New species or even subspecies determination would depend on DNA and no injection of hormones would change the DNA. It won't be the first time that a new fish species has been discovered peculiar to a watershed. In my area we have Neosho bass, for example, in Georgia they found two recently new species of black bass endemic to particular watersheds Bartram’s bass in the Savannah and Saluda River basins, and Altamaha bass in the Altamaha and Ogeechee River basins. Not so new but endemic to only couple of watersheds is the Guadalupe bass. Worldwide they named 309 new species of freshwater fish just in 2025. We not only have better tools for determining species' relationships with other species, but we have many more scientists at work on the subject.

.I didn't find any record of such work, and it should be documented as part of budgeting monies to pay for the labor and the hormones. so it kinda becomes an "I heard this" thing, kinda like hearsay. Interesting though.

Do you remember where you read that? I'm curious to know more.

I'm no biologist, but I though that different species didn't normally cross, like largemouth bass and smallmouth bass; and I'd think the clear constant percentage of "A" fish and "C" fish would have some percentage of "A/C" if they were mingling. The other thing that I noticed is the study shows the non-natvive fish growing faster and larger than the native fish, contrary to @Al Agnew's observations.

Is this indicating that the two don't interbreed? It would seem that if the Black River fish are a separate species, mixing DNA might not be a concern.

They are trying to, but the kids are "slow."

Should only be winter and migration in our area, breeding farther north. Crazy birds nest in colonies and fly up to 40 miles to fish, then find a place in the sun to rest. Sounds kinda like some of us.

5-6' deep over the low water bridge near me, means that it's ~12 miles farther to Bella Vista than it was yesterday.

Where would one park to reach this area?

I don't believe that deer think, so they could not perceive anything as a weapon. They might instinctively recognize the person carrying the firearm as a potential danger, but I've had deer track me through the woods and stare at me when they caught up, and I've "tolled" them from about a 1/4 mile by periodic waving of a hat. If deer recognized danger at all they wouldn't charge at automobiles.

I think the short rivers like Roaring River are pretty much the same end to end. I can't see more than a handful of distinctly different habitats in the Elk River's ~35 miles, and it only holds 77 species of fish, including a few non natives. Fewer species total than three of the lakes listed have of just native species. The Bourbeuse has a total of 90 species, including nonnatives, so as many as species altogether as Erie has of natives. And then it matters what you use as being the "river", the named portion on a map or the entire watershed as the "source". Niangua River has 61 species total, per a web search, yet the entire Niangua watershed has 99 species per the MDC inventory. If we count watershed as part of "the river", then we'd have to also count watershed as part of the lake and in that case all the rivers flowing into the lake count as part of the lake and whatever the numbers of habitats the rivers have would be included in the total number of habitats of the lake. I suspect that in lakes most of the fish species come from the rivers feeding the lake rather than evolving in the lake.

A filet knife and a Bic pen are weapons, a baseball bat and a jack handle are weapons, a walking stick is a weapon; a firearm is a firearm unless it is designated as an antique firearm.

I've always thought that "sea" described salt water, and that "lake" was a naturally occurring large body of water. I can't help being slightly irritated by use of "lake" to describe reservoirs or ponds, although it's fairly common nowadays.

That's a pretty simplistic view. A lake with over 800 miles of shoreline varying in depth and temperature comprised of varying geological characters and having dozens of feeder streams, each with it's own chemical makeup, must have hundreds of discrete habitats just along the shore; and of course the shallows along the shore are distinctly different than the >50' depths. Lake Michigan for example has approximately 1,640 miles of shore and is over 280' deep; hardly a single habitat when it comes to evolving plants and animals. It's like saying that the Meramec is a single river so it comprises a single habitat.

Yes, many will get killed in the first two or three days, but if 90% get killed and eaten in the first week, that leaves 10% and often most of that 10% will still be there months and sometimes years later. They likely won't be in the immediate area of where the stocking took place. I've taken trout from fished out water numerous times and often seen holdovers in highly fished stretches. Made me believe that not all trout like powerbait. I've caught and released trout in the Park that from coloration and general condition must have been there a year or more. Taken trout year round from an urban stream that people quit fishing a week or two after stocking.

I don't think we know when they did the surveys. The term used was "recent" and that could be two or three years ago or last week, or three times per year for the past five years. I doubt the rule change was based on a single survey or on two surveys. I'm kinda familiar with MDC's studies of furbearers and of upland birds and those all take years of data collection to support even minor conclusions. I do know that in the past MDC has been very open to trapper suggestions regarding furbearer seasons and rules. That makes me think they would have heard all these complaints, speculations and anecdotes and considered them prior to the rule change, if they had been brought up.

@Devan S. is there one section or access that you'd recommend to a wade fisherman in these conditions?

So for upstream work. Years ago when I was considering such a motor for my canoe, the research I did indicated that other than in perfectly flat water the trolling motors wouldn't have enough thrust for upstream travel, and that the handling characteristics wouldn't be great. Not sure how that would be with a kayak. I have paddled my 17' aluminum canoe up stream often enough that I've always wondered that no one else does; but I think that if I were motorizing it, I look at small gas rigs 2-4HP. Don't think that I've ever seen a kayak going upstream, although back when kayaks were a skin over a frame and fitted to the paddler I did see one 17 miles or so off shore in the Delaware/Maryland area of the Atlantic.

The hook Marty used here- https://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/79023-anyone-bored/?page=3#findComment-726262 was B10S #8 So you are good to go. The 3399A would also work, I think the biggest difference between it and 3366 is the turn down eye. .

I'm just curious, but when/where would a trolling motor be used on the canoe/kayak?

Two rods would just mean that I'd by twice as apt to step on one of them. I do usually have several in the car but they stay in the tubes in the car unless needed. I didn't see what caused your break?

Been doing it that way since the 1970s when my best source of patterns was catalogs from Orvis, Dan Bailey and Kaufmann’s Streamborn. And the tying supplies all came from the bait shop. Or "mail order", my first "good" grizzly cape involved several letters between myself and a California chicken raiser, probably a month or more of correspondence. So having all the proper materials, or even knowing them, was rare other than for the "standard" flies. I've tied hundreds (maybe dozens) of flies that called for Hungarian grouse but never owned one until a couple years ago. Ruffed grouse, quail, hen necks all catch just as many fish as a real Hun. My flies are always recognizable or identifiable as the patterns they started out to be.

In the released information they only mentioned electrofishing surveys in relation to the spotted bass, but they do mention net surveys in relation to other fish.

From MDC article I guess one could contact Shane Bush for further clarification. But, I'd think analyzing annual surveys over a 50 year time span and seeing the 10% becoming 38% while determining the age of sample fish of various sizes probably all influenced the decision and I am pretty sure they sent out emails about this months ago seeking public input, so anyone interested that had actual data related to the fishery, or even strong opinions, could have presented it to the Commission. The very fact that Table Rock is considered as such a good bass fishery now illustrates the effectiveness of MDC management.