Chief Grey Bear

I hope you guy's are talking Sunday. Otherwise it will be Sat afternoon for me. Dylan has a B'ball game Sat morning and then I have to go and visit my dear sweet mother. I should be back to town about 3:00. I have the whole day Sunday. Well so far I do. I haven't got any orders yet from the warden. Sunday is not looking to be a good day, but should be a fishable day anyway. The wind may work to our favor. Prolly not though.

If we can't call them out, we can't get the ball rolling.

Where you been hiding JC? I don't mind cold weather fishing. Well as long as the wind ain't blowing to hard. As in not more than about 5mph. Much more than that and I don't last but about 2 hrs. Mainly that is my fault cause I don't really dress as heavy as I should. But then again if the fish are biting good...... Do you ever fish J A Reed? I used to fish that quite a bit when I lived up there in the late 90's. I saw the biggest Bobcat in my life up there. He must have had a good diet of domestics that were in the area to the north of the CA. Haven't seen that place in almost 10 yrs. May be houses all around it now.

No, I was fishing to see if this was a tax free, hiding behind the cloak of religion status.

I was hoping that was your truck I left the note on. It was just a guess on my part but when I saw the tag on the front, I took a chance. My son Dylan and I got to the mill about 10 min until 9:00. We started fishing at the old bridge and worked our way down. Dylan missed one at the new bridge. I didn't have any action until we got the first hole below the bridge. I missed two and finally stuck one. We fished until about 9:30 or so and then loaded up and headed down to the other access. When did they put up the new fence? We hit the other access about 9:45 or so. Saw a dad and son fishing at the bridge. We started moving upstream and hit a couple of likely looking spots. I caught one and we started moving on up as we were in the vicinity of another person. We made contact with him and stuck up a conversation. Actually he struck it up. He said "Well, I guess the word is out!". We were still making our way down the well worn path and I looked up and said, "What's that?". He stated it again and I said, "Are we disturbing you?" "Oh, no not all" he said. I guess as it turns out, he said that the stock truck made a delivery on Christmas Day (his words) and now everyone is hunting them. He was pleasant and he had is Chiefs red on and we talked a little football. Dylan and I walked on up to the swimming hole and started working our way back down. I missed three more at a place I call the cattle hole. I had them on good but not good enough. We decided to leave it to the others and headed out. The Shoal Creek was more of a hunting expedition. I was checking for a couple of spots that my dad has told me of. He was born and raised just west of Wheaton and spent a lot of time as a young child on Shoal Creek and a couple of others in that area. So with that and some things that I have read, I getting a couple of spots narrowed down pretty close. After looking around a little we headed back to Neosho. Just north of Wheaton we spotted 7 or 8 Bald Eagles flying like buzzards. Then we saw 2 more near Stark City. Just beautiful. On the way to the house we stopped at Hickory Creek. Action was a little hotter there. We fished there for about an hour maybe and then went to the house. We decided to do a little squirrel hunting out east of town. As we were leaving town I believe I saw Ollie and his neighbor fishing the north end of Hickory. I should have stopped but didn't. Wasn't sure if was him or not. Next weekend is looking to be near 60*. Any takers?

I assume you are speaking of MDC agents. And if so, I don't see why not. That is part of their job. It may not be the most convenient part of the job but, it is part of it.

Does this TEAM have a tax fee status?

I as well planned on hitting some water this weekend. I guess I just as well make it Capp's.

Not sure where you read all this name calling, but I don't recall reading it in Al's post but, I can quote some names from others that have posted to this thread. I can't prove that Global warming is happening, such as you cannot prove that is not happening. But as for your post from the MDC, I would think that it would be fairly elementary to understand why we are experiencing more ice storms than snow storms here in the Midwest than we ever have in the past. One other thing. What if someday in the future we all can wake up one morning and we find that everything is a-ok. Then all those that did not believe in Global Warming can say "See, we told you so!!, But no, you wouldn't listen. Don't you fell stupid now!" I do hope and pray that will happen. But also think to yourself, what if we wake up and it is the other way around?

By all means yes. I would probably post under "General discussion". I think you will get the most exposure.

Please share your thoughts and dreams here. This is one of the best places that I know of to get the word out.

How would you know if someone was using their given name anyway? Are we going to conduct background checks and make sure all info matches? I know this is not where you guy's are aiming. A name is given as a means of addressing and identification. Both are accomplished here whether it was their given name or the one they chose to use here. For all intents and purposes, we know who we are dealing with. As far as saying that someone is hiding behind the names given here or someone being a tough guy, I haven't seen any kind of threats to rumble. Just because some have different views or opinions, or don't sugar coat their thoughts, doesn't necessarily mean a cyber fight has broke out. I think the biggest problem with forums like this, is that when a post is sent out for the world to read, do we really know what the tone of voice was the author was typing in? I look back at the sentences posted in this post and can easily read it in a hostile tone. But that is the nowhere near the tone I'm using to type in. I'm just grateful for spell check! Now, if they could just develope a "Proper English Check".

But it did make a good story that made some nobody a Nobel Peace prize winner. Thank god he created the internet too so I can ramble on this website. As far as pollution goes, we should all do our part to protect this beautiful land we have the chance to enjoy for the few shorts years we are around on it.

Well, you guy's didn't miss much. The water is up just a little and from the Lazy Boy bridge on down is murky. No action to really speak of today. Fished for just over an hour for one strike. Did also see one bust the top for something.

I'll be on the lookout for ya. What ya looking at, 8:00am area?

I don't think I would go as far as to say they are similar in color. I don't know of any snake that is similar in color to a Copperhead. That is one snake that is very distinct in color. Markings? At a quick glance, yes you could have a valid comment with that. A small bit of looking though, one can easily distinguish the difference. As for my post about my encounter with the Copperhead under the willow weeds, that was some tongue-in-cheek with a little humor. But the part about the duck walking, there is some truth to that. That sucker startled me and I meant to leave him be. Quickly! It has been my experience that they stay mostly in wooded/rocky areas. But then again that is mostly where I have been. I have not been privileged enough to spot one on the prairies of western Missouri yet To me the Copperhead is one of the most beautiful snakes. I used to always want a pair of boots made from them.

No, Kyle, he didn't. I have never been to the hatchery, I just always figured they raised Browns too. Maybe he misspoke when he stated that. I think Ollie may be able to shed more light on that subject. As clarification, when I posted to Tim's post, stating that it "...adds some validity to the link...." I was not typing exactly what I was thinking. What I meant was that if the author of that link was finding trout in Hickory upstream from MDC stockings, or before it was being regularly stocked, then it may be possible that the trout the author was finding may have been the trout placed by the folks that Tim was speaking of. Am I making any sense?? I didn't think so.

I'll be looking forward to your psot. My brother-in-law came by last night and it looks like at this moment I'll be taking him there this Sunday about 1200 noon. I'm putting my money on him canceling though. but that is him.

Thanks for reporting that Tim. That is some great info and lends some validity to the link I posted a couple of weeks ago. Can you state what time frame this was happening? If you want it to remain confidential and private, I understand. The brown I caught was in the 14-15 inch range and was curious as to the possibility of a little reproduction going on. That's odd about the Brook down at RR. Last year, while my son and I were fishing Hickory, we happened along couple of serious fishermen that were very knowledgeable of trout and Hickory Creek. Before I struck up a very pleasant conversation with one of the gentlemen, I recall hearing one of them stating that the fish he just caught was a Cutthroat. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I'll never know.

Sounds like the snakes from SW MO moved to the East. LOL!! I was just doing a little figuring in my head, and in the last two years alone I have floated or waded somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 different miles of streams in my corner of the state in the following counties; Jasper, Newton, McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, and Dade. And that doesn't count the strip pits and MDC lakes and ponds I hit in Barton, Vernon and Bates counties. Some of those miles on numerous occasions and unless I am just extremely unlucky in spotting them, I just ain't seeing as snakes as I did 15 or 20 yrs ago. And as for seeing a copperhead in the water. I think I may have seen one. One night while frogging on Spring River in the late 80's, I was shining my Coleman lantern up under some willow weed. I saw what appeared to be by my quick calculation to be a copperhead looking at me. Sorry I didn't stick around long enough to verify the markings and pit between the nostril and the eye. As soon I focused in on the lite skin pigment and dark arrow shape bands, I was like a duck on water. It positively what not any banded water snake I had every seen.

I happened upon an MDC agent today at the Allen Bridge CA near Neosho. We talked about many things and got a great story from him about a 22inch rainbow that came from Shoal Creek this year. I spoke to him about trout poaching in Hickory but didn't get any ideal answer from him. But at least they are aware of the rampant problem. Then I asked him if browns were stocked in Hickory. He said no. Only rainbows. He stated that all trout came from the Neosho hatchery and all they raised was rainbows. So I took the answer as gospel. I then told him that a few weeks ago that I caught one in there. He stated that he has heard of a few comming out of there over the years but was unsure of how or when they showed up. So, I am still at a loss.

You two gotta date every Sunday thing going? I'm down there with my son just about weekend either on a Sat or Sun. Somethimes both. I would more than happy to hook up with you two and give a trout a two a severe case of soremouth. What time do you usually fish it?

I can't answer that question but I have noticed a drastic drop in the population in snakes of all kinds, especially in Banded water snakes. As a young river rat in the 70's an on up into the 80's, snakes seemed to be everywhere. Every log jam in the creeks and rivers would have one if not two sunning. Even lakes like Stockton, Grand and Table Rock, had what seemed like 100's of them around. It seems like now I can go half the summer before I see one. I don't believe it to be a change in the amount of the food source. I do believe that many houses have sprung up along creeks that has had negative effect. Not necessarily on the bank but close enough. And of course we have heard the old adage that the only good snake is a dead snake. And of course all snakes are poisonous. And they were attacking. Another thing I miss is the great red wasp nest that were always a fixture on the bluffs of the above mentioned lakes. They were there by hundreds. I haven't seen one since the late 80's or early 90's.

Well, I have to report that after about 4 months of using Fireline, I am both impressed and disappointed. I love the ease and accuracy of casting. I love the strength of the line in the beginning. I liked the fact that when you occasionally get a loop, you can fix it much easier and without loosing a lot of line like mono. What I didn't like was the fact that the last foot or so of the line was always weak. In my experience, it got weak faster than mono. I did not experience the wide fraying that has been mentioned here, but did notice some fraying. I had a few odd breakoff's that happened as my plug hit the water and I started reeling, with in a foot or two, a fish would take it and snap my line between the reel and the end of my rod. I know that you may be thinking my drag was to tight, but with this line I was running a loose drag. I got to wondering if I was getting line rot. I thought that since this is a braided line, and does soak up water, it must experience some type of break down while constantly getting wet and drying out on the reel in between fishing trips. Does the Power Pro Braid as mentioned here come in any other color than green?

It's funny Ollie, but I have caught many more bass and of larger size in Hickory Creek which is very comparable in length and temp. of water. There just seems to be something about Capp's that bass and other species don't like. The upper ends of fishable water of creeks such as Center, Jones, Jenkins, Indian, Big Sugar, Flat, Turnback and many more support many species such as perch, google eye and the like, that you just don't find in Capp's in the same numbers. Capp's should be just stuffed full of the Long Ear Sunfish,aka, punkin seed. It has the favored habitat of shallow, flowing, gravel bottom, and ample food source. But I have never caught much less seen one. BTW, did you get my PM the other day?