Chief Grey Bear

You can type as slow as you think if you want, as usual, I am way ahead.

At the beginning of this thread, you pointed the finger at the gov for getting involved in your fun. Just few post back, you asked why we didn't blame the parents. In the last two post you want to blame the outfitters. The outfitters have no responsibility to card their patrons since they don't have a license to sell alcohol. Are they supposed to check their coolers too? I find it quit funny that you conservatives are all wanting to add laws and taxes to the outfitters to fix this problem, and us liberals are saying leave it along, you are trying to punish the wrong people.

You are spot on there soggy. I can't argue with obvious logic.

I have done a little looking and picked up some info: Grass pickerel, like all members of this family, are carnivorous and voracious feeders. Small fishes make up the bulk of the diet, but aquatic insects and their larva are also eaten in significant quantities. The species prefers weedy areas, where it hunts by ambush, darting out from concealment to seize its prey. The grass pickerel spawns in the early spring in very shallow waters. Eggs are usually broadcast over submergent vegetation and are unattended. There is some evidence in part of its natural range of an additional spawning period in late fall or early winter -- but not in Iowa. Here the fish reaches a length of about 3 or 4 inches the first year but seldom exceeds 13 inches when fully grown. The info above stating that there may be an additional spawn, was only stated by this paticular site. Another site stated the temp range for spawning. Of the sites I looked at, none stated anything about a diet of roe.

Canoe outfitters are not serving alcohol, like bar owners. So I don't think it would be fair to put that burden on them even if you could. Also we have to remember that too much of a law enforcement presence will deter customers from using that paticular stretch of float. Thus possibly running the outfitter out of biz. So how would that look for big brother? I think it is something we are stuck with. Its better, I think, that they seem to limit this to just a few areas of the state. Leaving all of the rest of it to those who enjoy the fishing.

There are 164 agents to cover 114 counties. With a minimum of 1 agent per county. And you are right, they shouldn't have to act as bouncers on a stream. And they wouldn't have to if people could act responsibly. As the Hiway Patrol shouldn't have to issue DWI's on our hiways.

You know, you are right. I had another post in this spot that was not appropriate, so I deleted it. I shouldn't pick on you like I do. I know you can't help the way you are, its just how it is. I will from now on, try my best to not expose you lack of knowledge and/or inexperience. I fully understand that no one will be completely versed in every subject. That is why we have a place, such as Phil created here, to go to and to share and learn. I should not use this opportunity to take advantage of you and your want to seem knowledgeable in all subjects.

Might want to brush up on your vast knowitallism there bigbird, MDC agents are law enforcement officers. Meaning all laws of the state. Not just the laws in the Wildlife Code. Ask some drug dealers and users that have been busted. Or some thieves that have been caught. The list goes on.

I strongly disagree with that statement. Keith Sutton, Spencer Turner and Billie Cooper are very informitive authors. Sure there are things that they write about that I may already know but, that does not make it "more infotainment than information" for someone new to the sport or looking for that "local" information.

Thanks for posting ozarkgunner. Good info!

Hey there hawgkiller Where are you at? I ask because I want to make sure which Spring River in Mo you are speaking of. One in western Missouri and one in southern Missouri. Both had trout at one time, that being the southern one. The one in western Mo, is still rumored to have them. I, myself, have not confirmed this though. Yet.

Well, kbs, our put in and take out spots don't have any names that I know of as they are just a couple of spots along a dirt road. Heck, I don't even know the name of the dirt road. LOL! Hey come on down sometime and lets do some fishing!

techo stated:"I always enjoy the lack of enforcement issue discussions." That reminds of that silly poll that was conducted a while back to make the MDC look bad. It asked a number of loaded questions such as how many times you have been checked by a conservation agent and then gave you multiple choices. But one key choice was not a choice. That being: I don't know. You don't always know you have been observed by an agent.

Matt,Al First let me thank the both of you for clearing up some murky areas that I had. I can see and appreciate your cause. It must be the deep rooted outdoors man in me, but as with Al's very informative post, I was taking it hook, line and sinker until I got to the last three words. Something about that term turns me the other way. I am not being sissy or liberal about it but you may get more help with the term "encouraging others maximize their harvest of Spotted Bass." ........um......boy that does sound awful sissy, liberalistic. Well anyway.... I got to thinking about this today and wondered, now I'm just tossing this out there, but, what if we have like a OAF group float and either have a huge fish fry at the end or donate the meat or even both? Heck even if only, say, 10 people showed up, like we had on Shoal creek down here earlier this year, that would a possibility of 10 people X 12 Spots = 120 eradicated, I mean KILLED in a 3 or 4 mile section of river. OK, OK, so its a crazy thought but, hopefully it will get some ideas percolating. (But just incase you do want to this, I'm in dude!)

KC- When you get down here next spring, we are gonna put you on some fishing you won't soon forget. Sharpen those hooks! redbird- I know exactly what you're thinking. I think you are right too. Usually something like this happens during the week when I can't get to them. But we got them this time! And while I was down there doing that, my son went out back and shot his first rabbit with a pellet gun. It is in the freezer waiting on some company. Maybe next weekend!

Way to go! Those are some really nice bass. To bad when you go back for some top water action, these two won't be there. That would have been killer!

I'm not sure I subscribe to that theory Matt. I certainly do not mean any disrespect but, it appears to me that some want to change the natural evolution of the waterways of Missouri for personal gratification. I read this on your site: "Encouraging anglers to kill as many spotted bass as possible while protecting smallmouths as much as possible is the only sensible answer to this problem." This from your post: " I don't have any ethical qualms about harvesting spots when they're in season." I questioned to myself as to how ethical this sounded. My personal experience in fishing the waterways of my little corner of the world has been that there are days I catch mostly one of the three, and other days I have caught a good mix from the same water. I read a post from Al that stated that he believed that the brownie came from the Ohio river system (I hope that is the correct system) an migrated its way to the waterways of Missouri. If indeed that is the case, what species then, might have been displaced? The Spot? Is it just rebounding? Who knows. I certainly don't. I would tend to think it may be kind of boring to just catch one species of bass. That is not to say I don't enjoy catching brownies, not at all. I just also like to catch a big ol' bucket mouth or a Kentucky too out of the creeks and rivers. All I know is I enjoy catching whatever type of bass is at the end of my line. And again, I mean no disrespect to you. Just thought I would weigh in with my opinion. For whatever it is worth.

Thanks for the compliment Greg. Much appreciated. Flysmallie, Circle the wagons! I'm on the warpath!!

I hope next time I am down there, one of those four cars is yours.

Buzz had a lead on me most of the day. I was always about 2 or 3 fish behind. Then we hit this one hole and we caught the heck out of them. He at one time cauaght three in as many cast. We caught at least 10 or 12 from that spot. We also so had a double on. How cool is it to do that in December! But luck was about to change for me. As you can see from the pic below, I started catching them two at a time. They must have tied on the feeding bags from about 12:00 to 4:00. There wasn't any of the tap, tap, tap stuff either. It was BAM! Fish On! It was a great day. Buzz ended up with 17 and I with 27.

Buzz and I took a float trip today. With a day that temps were to reach into the 60's, in December, we thought we better do some type of fishing. So we headed off for one of our favorite streams in Mac County. We weren't disapointed either. Though it was very windy today, as Buzz said, I think the wind actually helped us today.

Kind of hypocritical to complain about the post when you are reading them too.

Thanks Tim. I knew(or hoped) there was gonna be one there, I just didn't think he would bite after we went tromping through it. Crazy things happen.

"U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Haleyville in northwest Alabama, said he has spoken with EPA officials and doesn't believe the cow tax is a serious proposal that will ever be adopted by the agency." " Chief jumped all over it like I was nuts. " You have never been more correct.

Far out Phil! Thats pretty groovy!!!!!