tjm

Can rainbow trout spawn in a lake? Particularly one with frequent water level fluctuations?

I think it'd take money tourneys and TV to bring carp mainstream, I also think the skill/knowledge level will keep it the way it is bass are easy and therefore popular. Invent a plug that can flung out randomly and catch carp and you will have a start at popularizing them. I'm sure it takes some skill to catch carp on the fly, or just luck, they don't get caught easily even on bait. I want to tie some flies that might take a carp in one of our streams, on a sight casting basis and more luck than skill. I'll look at those you suggest.

@dpittwhat carp flies would you suggest for a place like Beaver as described above? Think there is any possibility of developing paying tournament fishing for carp similar to bass? or is too much skill involved?

Barnett's Pawn & Bait on US62 Garfield-Gateway used to have them, give them a call, I haven't been in there for years.

I always think of midges in ponds and tailwaters, so I'd kinda expect them near the spring. They just aren't one of my go to lures so I don't pay that much attention to them, probably should.

Thanks for the rundown, I'd expect the farther from the spring the greater the hatch sizes and insect size. It's been so long since I was up there that I can't even picture the branch in my head, I recall pieces of it, but can't connect the dots. But when people talk "Hatches" one thinks of the mayflies so thick you drive with the wipers on.

I have no idea what MDC uses but - Purina trout food Soy is third largest ingredient. Trouble with feeding the cleaning station scraps back to your stock is controlling any disease or condition that can spread by cannibalism. It likely needs more than simple grinding.

I've been looking for and reading studies of fish and wildlife since the '70s, and one thing they all seem to have in common is that they always find results that support the theory. When setting up the protocol for a study you can avoid examining things that might not support your desired results. What you don't look at won't reflect in the results. You can also set the protocol up to highlight facts that you know will support your theory. So, we should always be a tad skeptical about any study. As an example of why not accept a study as gospel , the 1989 Max Bothwell study that tied Didymo to felt soles was proven wrong by the same guy that wrote it in 2014, when he tied the spread of it to lack of phosphorus, likely caused by controlling of phosphorus pollution in detergents and agriculture.

Studies show that stocked trout aren't very piscivorous nor do they eat many gastropods, (holdovers may learn to eat fish and it seems natural to wild trout) this leaves the scuds and midges. Sheer numbers of trout would suggest insufficient biomass of these, but I don't know that. The studies I read did indicate stocked fish always loose weight, with (I think) 40% of stocked trout having empty stomachs weeks after dumping. The caddis I always associate with swift riffles and I don't recall those in the upper sections of Bennett, although it has been many years since I was there. I know that in RR they keep dredging out any gravel or rocks that could harbor food. Do you see large hatches of insects in Zones 1 & 2 of Bennett? I've never seen a hatch of any size anywhere in Mo. or one that lasted more than a few minutes, but it's possible I just missed them.

My guess is the same answer you would have in the trout parks- nothing for all those baby fish to eat and only baby trout for big fish to eat. For the trout parks to support a slot limit you would have to stop stocking on the daily basis and limit future stocking to equal the harvest numbers, they have limited space and as mentioned no food base. This is why I maintain that they are only good for put and take, of course some stay in the branch longer than 12 hours but they starve rather than grow. Any lunkers caught in the spring branches got fat in the rearing pools. They could support a slot limit and grow fish if they fed pellets a few times a day in the branch. Fish need to eat, and food doesn't grow well underground in the caves or deep under water. I read that the Beaver out flow is virtually sterile because of depth, don't know that, but it sounds reasonable. Turning stocked trout loose is a waste.

Taneycomo is not a put and take fishery, it is a guide employment and outfitter support facility. When they start requiring daily tags on Taneycomo, provide full public access and prohibit guides, you can begin to compare it to the parks. Size limits, slot limits could work on the river outside the daily tag area, designate a section of it as trophy only and any fish under 26# or 38" or whathaveyou must be released, set aside another section where only fish less than 10" or longer than 21" can be kept, these areas would require annual permits no tags; but fish in the tag area are meant for immediate consumption, it's the basis of the parks existence. No one wants to filet a lunker.

Length limits on put and take stocked fish? no-siree-bob. They are only meant to in the stream for 12 hours, which is why we stock nightly. They must be legal size at stocking or the public will feel cheated at whistle time. Any restriction is only as good as the enforcement it is implemented with and the penalty it carries, Enforcement is always a manpower problem, but especially so in wildlife, and wildlife violations seldom have penalties with teeth. In the case of trout park length limits it would also mean no cleaning of fish while in the park, and that would mean .... and that would necessitate ... and so on. Since we know they can't/aren't/won't enforce the current regulations and limits we can assume that any other restrictions would likewise be unenforced. I might go for a daily cap on ticket sales or even a day use capacity use limit for parks. But, in honesty, the fish-in-barrel is what draws people to the parks. And the Parks make enough money run as they are that the powers profiting from them isn't going to allow much change, unless that change brings in more money. I would like for the annual trout permit to be valid in C&R areas within the parks without a daily tag, let C&R be an either/or option like Zone 3 of RRSP. but it's not something I expect to see happen, Daily tags in C&R areas are almost pure profit since no harvest is allowed.

I wouldn't say they are selling more tags at RRSP but there seem to be ten bodies and six dogs for every tag. With the banks worn away from traffic and lawn furniture on the banks and in the water, hard use that fishing didn't used to generate. I would not want more parking spaces there .

Look up Evening Grosbeak, they are kinda similar. This is where you can find out- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/

Would you guys say that park use at Bennett is about the same as past years or grossly increased? Just a gut feeling, but I think that RRSP is seeing three times the visitors that it did five years ago. Half of whom just walk dogs through the fishing areas.

Think that gives them any influence on the department?

That same 15000 urban anglers would be adding in up to $120000 more in annual permits that they likely wouldn't buy without the trout. I suspect MDC spends a lot more on promoting the urban programs than they do encouraging "regular fishermen" , but I also think that those urban dwellers spend more and therefore add in more sales tax revenue to MDC than us rural folks do.

Who decides the distribution of wildlife funds and fish into the urban areas. the Commissioners, the Director, some middle management bureaucrat or the truck drivers? Who is guiding the programs? Can we make a change?

Why do you think that many are disappearing (other than on stringers)?

Coons? mink? herons?

Ready made portable fire pit Of course they are cheaper from the salvage yard, Dayton style truck rims will last over twenty years as a fire pit, mine has.

What I read on other forums indicates Korean rods are the technology leaders, supposedly building lighter stronger more sensitive stuff than any USA makers with nano this and nano that and even graphene. I think my last St Croix made rod was/is a Cortland FR2000. They got that one right and it still works.

My seven decades of life experience makes me think all guarantees and warranties are serviced by the tooth fairy. You just got to believe him if you believe in a warrantee that doesn't come out of your pocket.

You asked for thoughts. Scope is where I think the problem usually lies, when an anchor drags, rule of thumb says in ~20' of water, 7x20=140' at each anchor, as kinda the minimum. About 100 yards of rope between two hooks, more or less regardless the hook type, some bottoms might require more scope. Trees can shorten the scope on that end to what ever reaches a good depth. Wrench's advice on water depth and flats is to the point. 8' of water cuts the length of scope to <50'. But, a there is a guy that will weld for you at Eldon. https://www.facebook.com/boxanchors/ https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/slide-anchor-box-anchors

Key word at almost 30yo. That used to be called middle age.