tjm

I thought the generation was controlled by SPA rather than USACE? Wouldn't it make more sense to take the Department of Energy to task?

well you'd be near the northern extent of their invasion in the state, I'd be right near where they turned the first one loose, I'm not positive but I think every stream in my five counties has some rock bass. The curious thing is that in their native waters they don't go much farther south but they do extend into Canada to the north. So by guess if only a portion the state had Northern Rock Bass it would be the northern part rather than the southwest part.

MDC doesn't give the length of the old records; but in the life history of goggle-eye MDC says "Size: Total length: to 11 inches; weight: to 1 pound; maximum about 17 inches and 2 pounds, 12 ounces." According to New York DEC a 15" rock bass would weigh about 2 lb 8 Oz and an 11" would weigh 1 lb 0 oz. ; so by inference the Mo. record must have been about 16'. Mo. record Pole and line: Goggle-eye Weight- 2 lbs. 12oz. Lake or Stream- Big Piney River Date- 06/15/1968 Angler- William J. Rod Hometown- Kirkwood, MO really long arms and the image is distorted because it was taken with a phone, his hand looks as big as his head. On Redear MDC says " Size: Total length: 8 to 10½ inches; weight: 6½ to 12 ounces; can be more than 12 inches and more than 4 pounds." From another source " The World Record Redear Sunfish was caught on Lake Havasu in Arizona by Thomas Farchione, weighing 6 pounds and 4 ounces and was 17 inches long." compare to "The biggest rock bass ever caught weighted 3 pounds. This world record was caught on the York River in Ontario, Canada by Herbert Ratner, Jr in 1998." The big surprise I got in looking this stuff up is that MDC shows goggle-eye only occurring in perhaps 20% of the state. I had assumed they were statewide. USGS shows them as Non-indigenous in all of Mo., Ok., and Ar. with the earliest record of them in the 1880s, apparently in the Elk drainage. Current records first identify them about 1960 in several watersheds.

I was told that to make them easier to hold onto to roll them in wood ashes, living in the city at the time I had no ashes but did discover that play sand worked almost as well. They don't seem to ever quit trying to get away though, even making circles around the sink after beheading and skinning them.

how far down stream can you hear the horn? and how far down do you need to hear it if wading? I came close to having water over my waders once below Beaver, but just put it down to me not hearing it.

Are those all owned by the CCP and Xi Jinping?

Covid was good news for both pharma and insurance sales, does that make it a conspiracy? Who owns Pharma? Insurance?

In this old thread it says the dog was a "cockapoo" -the entire recipe is given, the images are gone though -https://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/3780-peppy-scud/?do=findComment&comment=19903

never saw one with the fake rings but those chopped cork/sheet cork grips that I have seen were kinda like old particle board when they started crumbling away.

Dozens. After I found out my mother in law liked to eat them I targeted them in one particular little brook, they'll take an unweighted black or brown marabou streamer better than anything else that I tried, but I caught them on larger nymphs too.

First eel I ever caught was off a Navy pier and it wrapped half around my leg sliming a brand new pair of dungarees before I got it turned loose; now the ships laundry used powerful soap and could wash the thickest blackest wire rope grease out our uniforms but not that eel slime, well the slime appeared to wash out but over time and many washings that streak stayed "brand new blue" while the rest of the pants faded like any blue denim.

I bet any hand cleaner would work, what's on the grip is hand scum/hand grease. I haven't a lot of experience at it, I just don't seem to get my grips as dirty as some do, I've only deep cleaned grips on rods I bought used.

Some people use Magic Eraser or Soft Scrub, fine grit sandpaper or toothpaste, someone on another forum said that 409 cleaner worked for him. I wouldn't use Magic Eraser or sand paper, but that's just me. I've used Soft Scrub on a couple of old rods and it might be quickest way I've used. I didn't scrub very hard, just smeared it on and used a dripping wet cloth to wipe it off, then rinsed it well to remove residue. when mine are clean dry I put Minwax finishing wax on them, to help keep them clean.

Depending how kinky the the shank is- Klinkhammers, emergers, maybe a hopper, softhackle wets and perhaps a lot more For example this (stolen from the web) deerhair emerger is tied on a curved hook as are others ( I might tie the wing tilted forward on some flies) edit to add you can also tie many of your nymphs on the curved hooks caddis larvae pheasant tails or copper johns etc. although #10 might be big for some stuff Just pick a favorite pattern and try it out, if you don't like, run a razor through it and try something else

That's a pretty good way I think. Is it not working well?

The problem @ham described for BSL most likely applies to all the reservoirs. It's a factor I hadn't thought of. In the case of over harvest and taking during the spawn it would be better management to have seasons and limits. Most species should be protected during spawn, in my opinion, but I know that easy pickings appeal to a lot of people.

It seems crazy to me that they even need to stock a native fish, with all the risk that comes of a hatchery introducing fish carrying or transmitting diseases. Or mixing of DNA that compromises wild stock. Are the walleye unable to spawn in those lakes or is it just provide jobs for hatchery workers?

That is the way I feel about a lot of the "new and improved" things we have today. and why I don't use fluorocarbon. When I read or hear "braid" in reference to fish line my first thought always is "Dacron or Nylon?" Then I remember the "super braids" and that raises another question. It's almost the same thing as a person equating "monofilament" with nylon and saying "I never use mono", while he is using monofilament made of fluorocarbon. Public schools must not teach English as a language any more.

Shore enough, they are braided but then so are shoe laces and buggy whips.

Those are all gel spun polyethylene and made using either Spectra (Honeywell) or Dyneema (DSM )

Silk, polyester, nylon, Dacron, Spectra , Dyneema are all braids that were used in the 20th century, and as far as I know still are. When you say "nothing like the new braids" what braids are you talking about? are they made of one or more of these fibers?

Not very common in the Ozarks then. Or the USA, that didn't occur until after WW2 when Brown went to France and brought the reel back to the US. I would imagine braid was common on bait cast reels before spinning reels were common.

My thoughts were that guided anglers would be more apt to report (at guide's suggestion?) than self guided locals would be. Depending on the number of locals not reporting; the number of large trout taken and released could be far higher than the numbers show. many self guided anglers might not even be aware of your program. Others might be lazy like myself, or catch so many large trout that it is routine. It's definitely a good fishery and that indicates that MDC management isn't as bad as some people believe. Thanks a lot for the report and for the program that provides the data, Phil. Very interesting stuff.

There haven't been any secret spots to fish in my life time. Somebody always knows. Fishermen always talk. And every wildlife department in every state makes lists of all the secret spots and publishes those lists everywhere. There are places most of us can't fish because of access and those may seem secret, but you can bet the government has them on record.