Chief Grey Bear

I don't think there are. I have never heard of a Brown trout in Crane. Don't recall ever reading about any Brown trout stocking either.

Buzz, Dylan and I headed out early Sunday morning for Pt. II of our Wild Trout Quest. Gawl dang was it cold. Temp was in the low 20's with a sharp wind. For a 10 year old, I gotta say Dylan is a trooper. He never complained once about the cold. We hit our fist stream about 9:00 after more than an hour or so driving. We all suited up and started the days activities. We struck out this time. Buzz caught one chub and that was it. We saw a few perch and minnows. We fished for hour and head back to the truck for some well deserved warmth. While there we discussed our next plan of attack and looked at our map. We decided to head to our next stream. Off we went. We pull up and this stream is really small. Not what we were expecting. We spent some time looking for some holes of deep water. We didn't find any. Everything we saw was not much more than ankle deep. This was really disappointing as I really thought this one would produce for sure. So at this point we are 0 for 2. So now we head for our third and final stream of the day. We looked around up near the head waters of this stream and it is just gorgeous. Man, what a trouty looking stream. We fished a little and move on. It is time for some corn dogs and rootbeer. Sounds crazy but Dylan says that is new official Trout Fishing Food. Corndog, Chili Cheese Frito's and a bottle of A&W Cream Soda and he is ready for Round 2! Oh and a Little Debbie Swiss Rolls for dessert. We end up well down steam from where we started on this stream and we hit it again. And again, we come up empty handed. But we are not done with this stream. We decided we need to work it over again as we both believe there is some action there. Beat by the Quest this time we duck our tails and hang our pride and head for home. On the way take a side trip and look at the lower end of Crane Creek. At a point about 5 miles or so from Crane, we can't resist casting a line. So we do. Buzz yells to me "Fish On!" I get excited and look his way. He hooked a nice brownie in the 13 inch range. Nice fish! About 5 cast later I hook myself a McCloud. Sweet! He too was in the 12 to 13 inch range. We head up stream towards Crane looking at the creek. We get to the Dairy farm and I take Dylan down the water and have him try his luck at a good looking brush pile that has produced before. He makes a few casts and gets nothing. I then get him set up on a part of the bush pile that gets him to a spot he can work it better. He makes a few cast and still nothing. But on the next cast we both see a flash that is as big as a saucer. OH Baby was that a nice one. But the fish and the hook did not make a good connection and that was it. That kid had eyes as big as the frozen tundra working for that trout. But to no avail. I promise Dylan I will get you hooked up with a wild trout. Hang in there buddy!

WOW! Nice painting! Really an outstanding gift!

Happy B-day there Duckster! What ya gonna get'em DD'sMC? Nevermind, I dont want to know.

Well, that ol' dog. We were finalizing the plans on the route tomorrow for our "Quest" and he never said a word. Well, than so be it. I ain't saying a word either. mmmmmmhhhHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!, OK dang it, Happy Birthday.

With all the ice photos posted this week, I thought I would add a couple from the 2007 storm that Cowboyfan spoke of. Many people in this area were without power for weeks. Some as long as 6 weeks. My family was lucky in that we lost it for a total of 20 minutes. Between this storm and the tornado that struck last May, I am surprised we have any trees left around here.

Hey Chance, you just come on over anytime. It will be a pleasure to fish with you again. Maybe next time we will work our way down to the confluence of Shoal and see what happens. Ollie - Buzz and I both thought you would be there. Sorry, we should have given you a shout. ness - The first and last pic were taken near the mill. The two middle shots were taken just upstream from the lower access bridge. DD'sMC - Thanks. I was pretty dang pumped for a little while. My biggest fear was not getting a pic of him. I actually caught him on my second cast of the day. The way the rest of the day went I doubt Buzz and Chance would have believed me! And I wouldn't have blamed them either!

Buzz and I met up with Chance from Oklahoma today at Jolly Mill. It was a beautiful day to fish, but the fish didn't seem inclined to that same belief. None the less, it was great meeting with Chance showing him around a little. I just wish that it was as good fishing Capp's this year as it has been in years past. I snapped a couple of photos of Chance and Buzz in action. Having tired of them two not catching anything, I snapped a pic of a female Downy Woodpecker that showed up. Luck was on my side today. I did catch the largest Brown Trout in my trout fishing career. I know it isn't big as the rest of you guy's have but, I have only fished RR, Capp's, Crane and Hickory. I am guessing it was in the 2.5 to 3 lb range. Heck, I 'll call it 3.

Dang Al, I wish I would have read this post earlier. Even if we wouldn't have wet a line, I would have loved to wet my whistle and done a little jawboning with ya. What did you end up doing?

OK, OK, none of the sappy stuff here. Get a card!

And with that we could start a whole new thread concerning the health of our creeks and rivers and ranching practices.

This week we have a couple from Grand Lake in 2007. These were taken on a dock I used to have until a storm ripped it away and caused a lot of damage. Here is a shot of the begining of a beautiful day. Here we have a nice White Bass Dylan caught off the dock. And we finally ended the day with a sunset as beautiful as the sunrise that got it all started. And for Buzz, the final foto this week we have one of Dylan and a Brownie he caught in Hickory Creek a couple of years ago.

You are right JD I should not have said state. I had state on the brain since we were talking about Mo regs and otters. The process is very lengthly with a great deal information gathered from many agencies from many meetings that take place throughout the flyways. It is much more indepth than holding a few meetings with waterfowl (nobody caught my misspelling of that in the other post) hunters that would like to shape the rules to favor them over the best set of regulations for all concerned. Who would have thought that a success story would be considered a screw up. Which they have acknowleged for years. I wonder why Hank Reifeus didn't write that in 1982 when the first otters were reintroduced? I wonder why he waited 17 years to share his expertise?

Well, I just happen to know personaly one of the persons that yearly set the dates and limits on waterfoul for the state. I will promis you this, you don't have any idea what goes it to making those decisions. As for that biased dribble that you linked, that was written nearly 10 years ago. Maybe updated, unbiased opinons should be used. For someone that is wanting get the MDC to change regulations, I don't think I would have that on my website. But that is just me.

Not sure how much time you spend in Neosho but there are numerous cans in place. With bags and dumped on a weekly basis during the summer.

Get started.

Thanks for the links.

Thanks guy's. That is a BassHound 9.9. In my book one of the best small creek boats. Its tip proof, floats in very little water, and you don't have to paddle.

Can you share a little more of the story. It has caught my interest.

Actually Al, I don't think it would cost a manufactuer that much to make them. If we would cut down the number of holes to just on the sides, say two holes on each side, fore and aft, and maybe one in the center on the front near the toes, so you could drain them as you are getting back in your canoe, then yes I think you may have just invented the perfect wading shoe. I wish we kenw someone we could pimp that idea to. Any shoe companies left in St Louie anymore?

In honor of fishin's post with a very nice Center Creek bass, I wanted compliment it with a couple from a float Dylan and I took in 2007. While we were floating we found a couple of trees that just weren't gonna give up.

Do you have Larry Dablemont's book, River to Run? From his site: Rivers to Run $12.95 Rivers to Run, Swiftwater, Sycamores and Smallmouth Bass, includes about anything you would want to know about rivers, including plans for making a wooden johnboat. It is filled with the history of the early days of float-fishing, the old time river guides, tie-rafting, trot lining, gigging, trapping and all the things early Midwesterners did to make a living on the river. From this book you can learn how to fish the rivers, how to paddle, how to camp on a gravel bar, pack a boat or canoe, or go after a big smallmouth. It also contains several chapters on natural history, the trees, the birds, furbearers, fish and other unique creatures of the rivers, above and below the surface. This book delves into the history of the people along the river going back to the time of the bluff dweller Indians, and includes accounts from writers in the earlier decades of the last century, describing the rivers they floated and fished, and what they were like in that time. It has 384 pages, and dozens of old photos....and fish pictures as well. It also has a chapter about Charlie and Jim. If you don't have it, it is a must have! You won't be able to put it down. At least I couldn't.

My point, which seems to have slipped by, is to show them the amount of out of towners that are coming to their town to not only fish but, spend money on things such as gas and food. Maybe even some lodging either in a motel or at the city owned RV park. Not to mention other types of shopping. I made the statement about the city manger because as in most small towns those with the money really runs the town. Neosho is not any different. I have not heard many kind words to describe is managerial skills. I do know of one instance though where he backed down after a public uprising concerning soccer. He is from St. Louis and is trying to run Neosho like a big city. Which sometimes does not work in life like it does on paper. We are not anywhere near read to go to him yet anyway. We have a lot of information to gather to present. As of my writing this, we have had 45 lookers and only 5 voters. I know most of the votes are going to be from out of towners and that is why I designed it that way, to show them how many people are coming to their town. I did do some snooping around today and did get some info. I still have some snooping to do on a couple of other things. One good thing I found out today is that the MDC person that was in charge in this area has been transferred to another area. That is good in that he and the city seem to butt heads. I have a lot of info to share. A lot more than I care to type. Some of it is best left off of here. I would like to have a meeting with you all in a few weeks so we can start compiling our info. I also found out that a MAKO member Steve Werries was inquiring of the same info I was the other day. If he reads this forum, I hope he joins us. Oh, one other thing I was told today was that we need to name our group. That will really help us. I want to stress again to take the poll. We need the numbers. If we have low numbers, it is unlikely we can get much done. We have to show a possible money pit for the city to mine.

Nice one there fishin. Did you get you a tripod or did you put your camera on a stump? Looks like you may have been near PM.

I hope that everyone that is on this forum that has ever been to Hickory Creek will respond to this poll. If we get enough response, I will first take this info to the City Manager. If I don't like what he has to say, and I am afraid that might happen, I will next go to the City Council.