brownieman

I been tryin to tell you guys what kinda fish rapalas produce. Kinda surprised that size fish hit such a small rapala...right spot at the right time...that's the lucky part of fishin. Then again, kinda hard for our waters compared to those large lakes to hold very many fish of that size. 6 years old...amazing. Thats what a ton of forage will do. bm

BBB, The only fish in my book thats just dowright crappy tastin is smallies...I think wrench even has a way to cook up a mess of chubs...tells me they are kinda like 'Ozark Sardines'...guess when you catch as many as he does you have to eat. Just giggin ya wrench...some other bored evening I'll tell the 'Chicken Hunting Preserve' story...you'd have to know the owner to truely appreciate the story. Only critter I've seen him kill that he can't make eadable one way or another is crow...believe me he's tried, I can't go there...I aint eatin nothin that eats road kill, thats where I draw the line. Maybe if we make it to the 'Mad Max' era they may taste pretty stinkin good, lol. bm

Just curious smjoe, How did he see those nipple piercings (hurts just to say it, man) get seen and come into play, wait a minute...maybe I don't want to know, lol...none of my business, just curious. I'll understand if you just tell me to shut tf up...I'm kinda used to it, lol. bm

I don't wants show you many more...done showed almost all the pictures I have which is just a few of what I've caught. All I have left is pics of the bigger ones, lol...I aint tryin to make no enemies. I sure don't see the fish I used to, mainly cause I can't fish it like I used to. I suspect years ago me and a few buddies did put a pretty good dent in the population of big ones. Far as the real big ones I released many more than I ever kept...was just fortunate to get in on some good fishing years cause a good fishin hole is getting harder and harder to come by. At that time I liked feeding my kids what was by my standards one of the healthiest, cleanest meat money couldn't buy...I liked it too, finally figured out a way to broil those larger fillets with about 3 seperate flavors all in one fillet...a meal that's just hard to beat. I may just have to go down tomm. and see if I can't catch me a stinker...talkin about it is makin me crave one, damnit, lol. later on

Chief, Can't help to wonder with the greed factor considered and the way things are these days if 'Said places' like you mentioned don't have a discount drug outlet on the other end of town...hell, for that fact on the street corner, lol. Always wondered the same about the 'Quite Smoking Joints'...bet they have a discount smokeshop on the south side of town, ya know. Just absolutaly NOTHING surprises me these days. Like wrench said future generations will be the ones that will have litte clean anything left...it's really too bad. bm

We been our own worst enemy for years now and we're in a self destruct mode. If nothing else it gives all the educated idiots something to focus on with no solution on the horizon. If there is a cure or a fix found the 'Big Money' buries it real fast. That's why I never minded keeping a few fish to eat from what I feel is a halfway clean stream (the Current) during the winter months...with the exception of the trout farm on the headwaters and the sewage lagoon outlet that dumps straight in the river below the park. I say again we are destroying at an alarming rate the very world that supports our existence...this is the result of a species with a thought process IMO. Environmentaly stupid as opposed to most other critters. later on

If what you're callin Heartbreak is where I think it is at the end of it is what we call the Charlie Bluff Hole...another 1/2 mile down or so Ashley dumps in. That is a darn good strech...have hung some dandys down through there...tons of pocket water, sharp bend left at the head if you're walking upstream. later on

I'm still wondering if she was flailing from drowning or fly fishing...just didn't want to expose my stupidity again but what the hey, lol Did you save her life, mess up her fishin or what... either might get a guy kicked in the nads by a woman, lol. Is a touph crowd...or sumpin... later on

Alright damnit, I'm gonna try to get back on topic here, lol. This 1st pic is of a couple caught on the current...I caught the one on the bottom and he caught the one on top. I was just razzin him for catching dinks. Told him I bet my 8,9 pounder could eat his dink 3 pounder...you guys be the judge. 2nd pic is of a couple I caught on the maramec years ago...had my buddy hold em up cause that was easier than showing him how to work my camera, lol...not super hogs but I've never caught any monsters out of the Maramec. Last pic is probably the last big one I kept 10,12 years ago...he had a hook and line hanging out of his you know what and was bleeding also. I caught him way down around Welch Cave...didn't weigh him but was 31" long. If you all are sick of seein these old pics just say something...like I said, just an extra boring evening. later on...just a thought, could I possibly be the ghost angler...cmon, give an old guy a break, lol

Hey, You guys tryin to contaminate my thread with where you live...wtf...lol. I don't give dung...just razzin a little, tryin to keep my sanity on a boring evening. later on

May not be much help but I always shot a double barrel 20 guage. Used 7 1/2 shot in the 1st barrel, 6 shot in the second. If I was hunting in brush used 6s in both barrels to bust the brush. My 20 didn't have the knockdown power needed for pheasant but that's all i had ever shot...mainly quail hunted. Used lighter shot in the first firing barrel to not blow the birds to pieces if they were close and 6s in the second barrel for distance. If you don't mind hearing a little ramblin I'll tell a little red tailed hawk story on a quail hunt one time. later on

Well, guess I'm the idiot here once again...I'm talkin about the park near St. James. Guess I'm not familiar with Blue Springs. That's ok, I pride myself in showing off my ignorance...bout all I got left worth showing off, lol. later on

The closest MDC office is right there in the park by the entrance gate to the right. They also have some sheds for equipment and stuff on the backside of the park. That's where most of the MDC employees do their, uh...work?? later on

Eric, Meramec Springs is run by The James Foundation. The MDC operates the hatchery within the park and the 2 don't get along very well...that is what has kept the MDC from building more raceways for rearing fish there because Lord knows there is no lack of water from the spring. About the only time the agents spend much time in the trout parks is opening day because that's a big paycheck for the dept...plus they all get together in the hatcheries and have a big table of donuts and a giant coffee pot brewin. Easy pickins and kind of a play day for em, ya know. later on

Don't know about your area but around here getting caught by an agent is unlikely. Kinda like the jokes about cops and donuts...unless it's a bright, warm sun shiney day they might have to get outta their truck unless they can mail them a ticket via a spotting scope, lol. later on

I hear ya beefy, I swear to this day that sob winked at me, or maybe he just had water in his eye, lol. Whatever the case...the agony of defeat is more likely than the thrill of victory when we venture fourth into 'their environment. later on

Those otters are pretty sharp...maybe they've learned to use baggies. I've seen numerous things, example...a guy fishing at Tan Vat last year with one of those fish baskets in the water. He was corn banging them to start with, that was bad enouph but then I saw him catch a dink and pull that basket out of the water and throw the dink in the basket which already had 8 or 10 dinks in it. I had to say something...i don't even want to get into the conversation that resulted. I told him when I was getting ready to leave that there would be an agent there pretty soon...least he yanked his basket out and took off still full of dinks much to my dislike. oh well, the saga continues, lol later on

Good job, If it were me I'd have me a new Ranger to sell...maybe it would give me a little spendin money to use the old clunker I got, lol. later on

Cricket, That pic, well, I gotta show off a hog we caught on the White years ago from my old jon. This pig nailed a 5 1/4 inch rapala...neither of us had ever landed one like that before, lol. later on

From the looks of that boat and water surely you weren't on the Niangua...or am I wrong again ?? later on

Thanks Mike...so much for that thought, like I could ever afford or feel like getting down there anyway these days, lol. Thanks again for the info and stay after em. later on

Elite knowledge, lol...that's good. Yeah, they were from the current. I don't have very many pics of big ones...do have one pic of a couple from the meremac and the North Fork tailwaters and some from the Current. Caught some dandys from the NFOW but no pics that I can find. The first time a buddy and I went down to the North Fork in my old long jon years ago the first keeper we caught was a 9 pounder, we thought we had found big brown heaven and almost every time we went down there it was...had a few trips that weren't very good but most trips we caught an amazing amount of big ones, some from the White also. Sure learned my first hard lesson about tailwaters. Wasn't too far behind the dam and they shut the water down...long story short we had to walk and drag my old jon 4 miles back down the river. From that time on I learned to keep an eye on the water level and if it started dropping shag my butt back down the river. There's nothin elite about it beefy, just a ton of time spent locating and staying after a bigun when I located one. I've had many a grudge match with a fish over the years. There used to be a huge brown around Loves Cabin on the Current in a hole we called 'The Shute'. Real fast shallow water with a huge log jam in it. This fish would push 15 I have no doubt...he had broke me and a couple of my buddies off a few times on bait, was legal back then. I actually geared up one of my heavy surf rods with a baitcaster and 30 lb. test line and a 7" rapala with the intention of landing his a$$. He only had to run a short distance to get in that log jam and if you couldn't turn him he would have you in it quick. If he peeled drag for 10 ft. or so he had you beat. The size of him and the swift shallow water next to that log jam made it a touph one...he definately had the advantage. One crappy rainy morning I trunged my butt straight to where he lived...first cast he rolled it. After changing my underwear, lol...I slung it out there and he hit it, hooked him solid and had my drag sinched down tight. Got him outta the pocket around the log jam and got him up close to me...when I tried to move towards him he got a second wind I guess, turned and I'll be darn if he didn't peel my drag and make it to the log jam and hung me up. I ended up getting my plug back and that was it...that's one fish I never got the best of and will never forget. I know he would have pushed 35" and weighed 15 or better. Far as I know nobody ever landed him, would say he died of old age. Me and a couple of buddies chased that fish for a couple of years and he beat us all, then we never saw him anymore..if he's still there he is probably about 30 yrs. old by now. My hats off to that fish...from one old fart to another he got the best of me, lol. At least I finally had the pleasure of getting close to him, just once but it was indeed a fish I will never forget. Sorry for the ramblins, just had to tell a fish story today...that fish has been cussed many times over the years, lol. later on

Without a doubt in my book...white bellys are bar none the very best. A little touch of red around the gills doesn't hurt anything either. later on...like it's not late enouph right now, lol

Since Halloween is getting closer thought I would post another scary picture...mind you I haven't kept these kind of fish for years...I was just a poor man trying to feed my family, lol. Fresh salmonoid can't be bought in this part of the country anyway...fresh after it's thawed out maybe, lol Kids are grown and gone...along with the wife, I don't eat much so these days the fish are pretty safe. I'll keep a 15, 16 incher once in awhile to stink some grease, not that I even feel like going that often anymore. Sorry, I never did the typical out streched arm shots most guys do...figure there aint no need to make em look any bigger than they really are. later on

Getting to be my favorite time of year...from the sound of that I would love to be down in your neck of the woods. I have never fished that river...with 2 units running is the water still wadable? Maybe I'm stupid, well no maybe, lol, but I'll wade water that probably shouldn't be waded. As long as there is not too much snoty bedrock in it I generally come away unscaved...sometimes wet but alive. Fall and big browns go together like whatever your favorite saying is, lol. later on.