rainbow

Happened to us one time and the creeps took all my guns, wife's jewelry and all the meat out of our freezer. The even took jars of spaghetti sauce and canned goods plus a ten dollar toaster. Never got any of it back. sure miss my old Browning shotgun.

Ham, ono and mahi are a blast to catch. Even better than that they are excellent grilled. Tarpon fight like crazy and feel like you tied on to a pick up going down the road. not a big deal to get to Boca Grand in the spring and get a charter. Send a private message if you are interested and i can get you some guide recommendations. Ever since that year and those goals i have never set fishing goals again. How could I top that year. I fish for fun and to enjoy a great crappie or trout dinner in january when you don't do much fishing.

52 species is a heck of a goal. I hope you make it. A few years back I had a goal of trout fishing the white, tarpon fishing in Florida and blue water fishing for Marlin in Hawaii in the same month. It actually took 5 weeks but I made it and caught trout, a 150 and 90 lb tarpon, a marlin that i did not land, a large spearfish, mahi mahi and ono and a nice ahi tuna. I doubt if I'll ever accomplish a goal like that again but it was fun.

Phil, nice looking fish.

I just tuned into the lake cam and saw one of the guys plowing snow on the drive along the lake at the resort. We didn't get much snow in east central Mo but plenty cold. Can't wait to get down there for spring white bass and trout on the same trip.

There is a start up plant in Illinois upriver from St. Louis. They are going to buy Asian carp from fishermen and process it for China. Huge demand over there. If it becomes a food fish that will help control it. They are going to call it Silver Fish. Many don't know it but Chilean sea bass is the result of a marketing program by Chile for the Patagonian tooth fish that while very good eating is ugly as all get out. I am sure that private enterprise can help solve this problem especially if the government stays out of it.

To all the OAF members and their families.

Al makes a good point in this post. I was just making a suggestion to get politics off this board. We live in a US that now brings politics to many discussions it would not have years ago. This is a great friendly site and one of the few where you can get some good answers to questions and learn a lot about the sport we all love. after all this is the internet and you don't have to tune in if you don't like the show. Just my two cents worth.

Phil, why not set up an opt in political forum. No political holds barred but if you have to opt in then enter at your own choosing or not. Missouri Whitetails has one and its some pretty good discussion but you don't have to tune in if you aren't opted in. What's anyone else think?

Very interesting report. As usual MDC seems to be on top of things when it comes to Taneycomo. I have fished this lake for over 40 years and as far as numbers of fish its as good or better than ever.

Beautiful painting.

A buddy of mine has crappie clips which are like diaper pins and they are numbered from 1 to 15. one guy uses the pins the other justs drops them in.

I don't necessarily agree that the bigger ones don't fight well. I have caught a 90 and a 150 and they put up a ton of fight. Little ones are scrappy but the big ones are like trying to land a freight train. Regardless though, tarpon fishing is a blast. If you like the tarpon you should get on the big bull mahi mahi. talk about acrobatic and lit up colorful.

What did they do with it?

fish, take the boat and go down lake from Lilley's. that's what we usually do, or run up to the cable and do the whitewater drift.

I was there twice in June and it was open.

The Nic Nac cafe in California is good. Its on old hwy 50 in town. If you go thru Sedalia you should stop at Goody's at Hwy 50 and 65. On the east side of 65 about 100 yds south of 50. great burgers and shakes. Also the Dutch bakery in Tiption. http://opulentopossum.blogspot.com/2010/07/dutch-bakery-and-bulk-foods-tipton.html. We always take Hwy 50 from Sedalia to where we live in Warren county.

Just looked again and its still muddy. I came down one time during a bad storm. The lake looked like chocolate milk. By the time we had everything in the room the water had started and it was clean again. My wife could not believe how fast that happens.

No one in my family really hunted or fished so I was at a disadvantage. My best friends dad was an avid hunter and fisherman and he took me with them everywhere. I learned all the basics of fishing and hunting from him and my friend. We went fishing or hunting most every weekend of the year. His dad was a great guy and we lost him too young but the memories live on forever.

Saw that on the webcam. Sure was raining hard. Hope its not like that when we get there in a couple weeks.

you can always go on the Mississippi River above Alton. Some good tubing water up there above where the Golden Eagle crosses. Lot's of sand bars to hang out on.

Go to Mark Twain during the week and you will be fine. I don't any lakes you can tube in around STL.

Al, always enjoy your post and stories.

Phil, good to see you back and posting. I know exactly what you mean about wading on slippery rocks. About 5 years ago I noticed it was not as easy to wade fast water on slick rocks as it used to be. Last year fishing the Frying Pan out of Basalt, CO., I had to be real careful about footing. My fishing buddy who is 20 years younger ran around like a puppy and it didn't bother him. As we get older we just need to understand what we can and can't do and make the best of it and be thankful like you said.

We got invited to spring turkey hunt on a farm in the Ozarks a few years back. when we quit hunting at noon the farmer said he and his family were going to the "lake" to fish. The lake turned out to be an oxbow of the Maries river. It was a couple hundred yards long and was restocked whenever the river flooded. The first fish I caught was a big gar. I tossed it in the weeds and the farmers wife said what are you doing with that fish. After I told her the nobody eats gar story she said I'll cook it for you. We caught quite a few of them that day and she cleaned them and cooked them. Hate to say it but they were as good or better than crappie or walleye. Hard to clean but they are tasty.