Brian Jones

To quote Dr. James Henshall, "Inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims."

Post away. And I'd say the same thing about Matt.

Beautiful weather, Beautiful water, and some pretty good fishing to boot. Plus we took another limit of spots out of this stretch before they start getting "twitterpated" and thinking about fornicating. Paul with our first double of the day A 3.46lb. smallie Me with our second double of the day

Only thing that matters is that it isn't living in the Meramec anymore.

It's funny you say that Gavin; almost prophetic actually....... I took it down to the pond this evening, launched from the bank with minimal diffuculty, and started paddling. About a minute or so in, I was feeling pretty good about myself and thought I'd check out the ol' wobble factor. About three seconds later I was catching my breath and gathering up myself, paddle, and new toy for a about a hundred foot swim to shore. After I made my way back to the bank, caught my breath, and ate a piece of humble pie, I waded back in, dumped the water out of the boat re-launched and spent another hour or so paddling around the pond and pondering the customizing this rig's gonna need; this time with a little more sense and awareness.

No offense, but is that brown streak on the side of the boat an aftermarket graphic or is it from fishing below the poop pipe.....

Awesome day guys. Cannot wait to get out there tomorrow. The RP's are undoubtedly the best river boat on the market. You can never fully appreciate their capabilities until you experience it for yourself.

After a lot of discussions with solo boat owners, along with personal messaging with some solo boat owners on this site, I concluded that the best craft me was a solo canoe. So after searching for four months, looking at several solo canoes on the web both new and used, and having a couple of deals fall through I finally located a "nused" Royalex Old town Pack in Springfield and drove down last Saturday and brought it home. Thanks to all who gave advice. I hope to get it on the water (at least on the pond for some paddling) within the next week.

No you won't. You talk to everyone..

And this will probably be the last time that Brian Jones drags this or any other controversial topic up. After 26 pages this has been almost as productive as the GOP debates. My personal apologies to Phil and all the OA members and family for posting a pic of some poached game fish.

Jerry: I'm not sure how many but I know there is one on Current River that offers gigging trips as part of his services. I don't know him personally or how much of his booking are gigging trips. But I do know that he is well thought of in that part of the country.

I've never been on the trail but I sure hope ness is right. It's been a pedestrian/bicycle/foot trail since its inception and there is really no reason to change it. Adding motorized vehicles opens up a whole new can of worms.

We caught two on Big RIver one night in '94 while pole and line catfishing. We were camped at Thorton Bluff; about two miles or so below the Hwy E bridge. Of course we never thought to take a picture and most people think that we are telling a big tale when we talk about them. I've caught fish with lampreys or lamprey marks on them out of all the rivers we fish. It seems like we catch the most in the winter and spring. However, I once saw a big rough fish on upper Big River in the middle of the summer that had four or five on him. Felt kinda sorry for the big feller.

I know the eel has been talked about on here before, but I came across this this evening and thought I'd share. Pretty interesting life cycle and journey. http://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/mdc-resource-scientists-track-american-eel-s-688-mile-journey

Chief: In regards to the number of pics, this will be the first time I've sent pics in; Incidentally there has also only been one elk poached and two juevenile bald eagles killed in our state recently but they sure have caused a lot of commotion among the MDC folks. I understand that the conservation agents cannot be everywhere at once. However, if they made their presence known around the river accesses this time of year it might make some people think twice about breaking the law. You bring up a good point with speeding. We all know of municipalities with police departments that are tough on speeders. Consequently, most people traveling through these municipalities watch their speed and warn others to watch their speed as well. I believe the same thing could be achieved at the river accesses. If there's a threat of being checked either on the water or at the access after an evening of gigging or fishing for that matter, most people are going to make sure that they have their I's dotted and T's crossed. But when a person is encountering a conservation agent on the average of once every seven or eight years, where's the threat of consequences for breaking the law?? If I counted correctly, there are roughly 8 public accesses in St. Francois, Jefferson, and Washington counties that a person can access Big River with a boat big enough to gig from and roughly 7 or 8 in Crawford and Franklin counties that a person can access the Meramec. Below Robertsville on the Meramec the water clarity is often marginal for gigging. So, yes, that is a lot of river to cover. But at the same time, it shouldn't be that difficult for an agent to allow themselves or their vehicle to be seen at a few different accesses each season in order to let everyone know that they're are in fact being watched. Isn't a problem, doesn't happen, etc. Whatever. You win this one. I'm not asking them to find a needle in a haystack. I KNOW they're understaffed. I know they don't catch every deer, duck, or paddlefish poacher. But they DO make an attempt to catch at least some with road blocks/check points, deer decoy stings, etc. It would be absurd to think that the MDC can put an agent on every parking lot on a hundred miles of river. But I don't think that it's unreasonable for Agent Duane to show up at the local accesses a couple of times a season to make sure everyone is on the up and up and make those who might be considering breaking the law think twice before doing so. Heck at the very least, he'll probably be offered some fried suckers, taters, and onions by the guys that are doing it right.

Chief: Big River is one of the best rivers on this side of the state so I doubt that losing these four bass will have a major affect on the overall population. The point is that the MDC REFUSES to accept that there is a problem with illegal gigging; regardless of how many pictures they are presented with proving the opposite. Please don't take this post as me beating on the MDC. I AM NOT part of the "Senator Munzlinger "F" the MDC" crowd. As a lifelong resident of this state, I've seen first hand MANY of the great things the MDC has done. However, they are not perfect and looking the other way instead of addressing a problem is not acceptable. I'd love to see the MDC be as vigilant in the pursuit of illegal giggers as they are in the pursuit of those who poach whitetails, turkeys, elk, eagles, etc. I don't know Chief. Maybe some checkpoints near popular gigging accesses? Maybe some law enforcement presence at the accesses. Maybe an electrofishing boat outfitted with some lights and a couple of MDC agents on the water posing as giggers themselves? I'm not so naive to think that the MDC can stop all illegal activity. But I do believe that a more significant law enforcement presence would deter the majority. In nearly 25 years of fishing our state's rivers, I've been checked by a conservation agent three times. Of the three, two of them was holiday weekends and only one of them was actually on the water; away from an access. Contact with an agent once every 8 years is not what I would consider a Law enforcement presence. Maybe not officially Spoon, but I was told by a MDC biologist at the Smallmouth Management open house in Farmington last fall that illegal gigging WAS NOT a problem. And his statement was backed up by a MDC agent from Southeast Missouri, and an agent from Franklin County told my friend the exact same thing the very next evening at Powder Valley. So there is- at the very least- a consensus among some MDC personnel that illegal gigging isn't a problem. And yes, we've all seen the photos from the "Big Bust" last year on Little Black River. The MDC made sure that every news outlet in the region ran the story. But how many others are doing the same thing and not getting caught? The fact that the MDC made such a big deal about it tells me that busts like these don't happen for them very often.

3.85lbs. and a tad over 20 inches.

Chief: At the smallmouth management meeting I attended in Farmington back in the fall, I was specifically told by a MDC biologist that illegal gigging IS NOT a problem. The biologist's statement was even backed up by a conservation agent from Southeast Missouri. At the Powder Valley meeting the very next evening, my buddy was told almost the exact same thing by a Conservation Agent that patrols a portion of the Meramec. So to answer your question. No, I've not heard the MDC say that they condone illegal gigging. But I DID hear them say that it isn't a problem. Couldn't agree more Mitch. Mistakenly kill a spike buck thinking it's a doe or kill a buck that doesn't have at least 4 points on a side in an APR county and see if mis-identification gets you out of a citation

Not yet, but planning to send out an email tomorrow Spoon dog.

Sometimes you're the guy catching fish, sometimes you're the net man. Today I was the latter. Watched my buddy (aka The Guide) put on an absolute clinic. Five over three pounds with two others bumping three; including two 4 plus pound largemouths. His best five, according to the digital Rapala scale, was almost 19 1/2 pounds. Here are three of the biggest ones. Water temperature was back between 38 and 40.

Because if they were gigged bass, MDC officials would have to change their opinion of illegal gigging and actually ADMIT that there is a problem and that we ARE NOT a bunch of paranoid elitists that want an "ozark tradition" limited or done away with. These, along with 6-8 suckers, were laying at an access on lower Big River this morning. They are less than a week old because we were at this access last Sunday afternoon (1/31) and they were not there. Feel free to pass this around and share. I'm headed to the medicine to take an extra blood pressure pill.

http://www.daveramsey.com/show/videos/ https://www.daveramsey.com/baby-steps/ http://www.daveramsey.com/store/books/dave-s-bestsellers/the-total-money-makeover/prodtmmoclassic.html I'll admit that we are not hard core Dave Ramsey disciples. But some of his stuff is just too easy not to use.

This getting a little off topic and I'm not trying to hate on you but have you ever read or watched any of Dave Ramsey's stuff?

See our daughters happily married with families of their own.

Crazy to think we have late March water temps at the beginning of February. Dandy Spots.