gonefishin

I would think tournament fishermen are the minority of fishermen on any lake. Why do they have such a loud voice in determining policy?

I havent heard anything about the water. Would like to hear from you how things are when you go.

Brian: Heres a link to the story. http://www.agfc.com/education/agfc_ao_030106.html#1-3

I have never grabbed. I thought I might give it a try this year. With the water so low though, it may not be a good year for it.

WOW, MO! Thats a lot of info. Useful though. I really dont know if Flordia Bass are a bad thing or not. I just wonder what people think about it. The kind of info you posted certainly should be useful to people.

The AGFC will soon begin stocking Florida bass into Brushy Creek. Is it a good idea to introduce non-native fish into local waters? Arkansas already has bass it is not like the resource is depleated. Does anyone know what the longterm impact be on the native bass.

Huh? This argument sure catches me off guard. How can any reasonable person compare or buy into the comparasion of shuffling with baiting? Baiting is the intentional placing an outside food source in an area to attract wildlife. Shuffling would be like walking throught the woods kicking up leaves and acorns in hopes to attract deer. In order for shuffling to be the equivelent of baiting a person would have to be dropping trout pellets (or some other food source) into the water with the purpose of attracting fish in order to harvest them. I am sorry guys and gals but this argument doesn't border on the verge of extremeisim, it defines it.

Doesnt matter what the reason is for selling off Mark Twain public property I am against it. Not that it makes much difference but I have not at all happy with the government here in Missouri for several years. FIrst they said let us put in the lottery and it will put an end to school taxes then it was let us put in casinos and it will put an end to need for school funding now they want to sell off pur public property to to fund schools. Do it for the schools had became a political battle cry to get the public to support new taxes or controversial issues. At this point I have taken the 'just say no" attitude to more funding for the schools. Not that I am agianst education I am simply tired of having the same old argument shoved down my throat. Selling off our public lands is not going to fix any problems with the schools. The basic problem is that all money for schools go into the general fund -- until that is changed there will be no fixing school funding problems. Giving more money to the government does just as much good as giving more drugs to a drug addict.

I agree. Like you I will do my fishing with a rod and reel. Like I said before for those who like it more power to them.

If I didnt have this RA I would come and try to trap some of them for you. I used to enjoy running a trap line. A problem now days is that furs are so cheap a whole seasons worth of them won't pay for the traps or the cost of running the line. Makes it difficult. You are right about being without them for 80 years. I think the problem is that they were re-introduced without thought to what preys on them or what the outcome for the ecosystem would be. Like you I dont know what did prey on them back in the day but I am sure something kept their populations in check. Bears crossed the state line into Missouri without permission so I suppose one could say they came back on their own.

I am sorry. I guess I wasnt clear. I meant we should focus on the major items first. Not the lesser ones. I dont believe the giggers are a major problem. I am not sure Jet Boats are a huge issue. I do think pollution, habitat damage, predators and the introduction of exotic fish are all serious issues that need to be dealt with before we go pointing fingers and blaming each other.

"funny, bizarre, or just plain good fishing stories" Weird you want, weird you get. I was bass fishing in a strip pit that had a lot of Bull Frogs (and snakes) in it. The bass were really ripping top water stuff and the only top water lure I had in my tackle box was an old Hula Popper. So I tied it on and proceeded to fish. I cast along a big bunch of moss and noticed that I had gotten a really big Bull frogs attention. Sure enough after I twitched the popper a couple of times he nabbed it. First frog I ever caught on a hula popper. Now about the snakes. The person who owned the pit said there were crappie in it but I couldnt catch any on jigs so the next time I went fishing on that pit I brought some minnows with me. I never caught a crappie but I did catch several water snakes. Have you ever caught a 4' water snake on an ultralight rod? It is quiet a tussle. The snake is a bit excitable and just a tad unruly when you get him landed too. I found that the best bet is to practice catch and release...or rather catch and cut the line.

Excellent advise Eagle. Those he's got a gun and I got a fishing pole fights dont usually favor the party with the fishing pole.

Randall: The way I see it is the line about "any person seen dragging their feet along" could be used, or abused however you want to look at it, to outlaw legal activities or to keep certain 'undesirable' people from fishing in a given area. If you will scroll back up to Back Country Outfitters post you will see a perfect example of what I am talking about. He even admits the law was meant to address a different situation but he is willing to have it used/abused to adress this issue. Don't get me wrong, if there is a reasonable and responsible way to outlaw the act I am for it. However as is always the case it is difficult to legislate ethic's without inadvertently causing more problems. This is why the MDC consistantly says "we dont want to legislate ethics". When talking about the ethical management of natural resources you also have to take in account that trout are a manmade resource in Missouri, not a natural resource. How would that argument be resolved?

AL: I keep re-reading this post and I have to ask a couple of questions. First: I agree that we shouldn't ignore problems but, doens't it make sense to tackle the worst problems first? Especially if it is a problem of ethics? Second: I agree that is hypocritical. It is not only hypocritical it is downright egotistical. In light of the jetboat armagaddeon you described how can you even concider supporting their use by purchasing one? Isn't that a good for me but not good for anyone else attitude?

Relish1 Sorry to hear that. A question, and I am not being critical, why do you say it was the Otters that caused the problem? Are the Otter populations still increasing?

I am not real crazy about the idea of noodling myself but, for those how enjoy it--go for it. They have noodled in Oklahoma for years and they still have plenty of flathead.

I understand that but, how does a person word that without opening the door to making legal activities illegal? I remember a few years ago when the State of Mo wanted to define legal sex and actually ended up outlawing sex between married couples then when they tried to fix that they outlawed all sex. A person has to be careful when trying to legislate ethics. The laws can backfire. gonefishin

LOL Cheetz. Dont worry about it. I am not that thin skinned. Actually I am getting used to bantering back and forth with you. Wouldnt be the same without you. I appreciate your emotion in wildlife preservation. If more people felt strongly about conservation there would be less poblems in dealing with the issues. I suppose you are right about my being "old school" I guess it is my age. My generation has been fairly successful at improving wildlife populations and habitat however everything can't be fixed overnight, you might give us a little credit. gf

I kind of thought that is how you would answer my question. That is another reason I think Otters were probably present here in Mo but were limited in their range and populations. They are a strong predator, they are hyper-reproducing here and there are no natural predators of them. Kind of like rabbits in Australia. I don't necessairly think it is a bad thing that Otters are here but they do need to be controlled. Especially in areas where they are doing a lot of damage. gonefishin

I agree that the biggest threat is to the watersheads. There are a lot of improvements that could be made without having to be overly extreme. I think that covers the enviromental changes you were talking about. How about the climate changes? And how do these tie into the Otter problem of lack thereof? gonefishin

I would like to take you up on the offer sometime gonefishin

Wayne: What are some of the enviromental and climate problems you are referring to? I agree that man is a predator and has had an impact on declines in wildlife populations. However I am not sure that hunting and fishing is necessiarly the majority problem. People who never hunt and/or fish can have a very negative impact on wildlife. Also animals/fish did go extinct for untold centuries before mankind was even on the planet. Unfortunatly politics and monetary gain do have a big impact on conservation. If the bucks were not available wolves, turkey, otters and numberous other animals would not have been re-introduced. If trout did not bring in big bucks for the state they would not be here. gonefishin Flyingeagle: Once again you make a lot of sence. I have a question. If an animal or fish is introduced in an area where it is not necessiarly native what would the outcome be? gonefishin

I have done more than my fair share in the conservation of wildlife. I am sure you have already found your 'happy place' I am sorry js I will attempt to re-word this so that even you can understand: Do you feel Otter introduction/re-introduction has: -Positive = had no notable impact on SMB populations -Negative = been very hard on SMB poplations