zander

After grad school, I worked for Oklahoma State University dept of entomology and plant pathology on CYVD (cucurbit yellow vine disease). It is transmitted by squash bugs, but with this disease the plant is doing fine, then starts to yellow a little bit, and then totally collapses like someone totally deflated it. It is pretty fast. I doesn't sound like this is the disease, with the small brown patches you are looking at localized areas of necrosis which could be caused by some bacteria or by some fungi. I sure there is an extension agent somewhere around here that could ID it for you or send it off to the plant path lab to ID. The lab at OSU would get leaf samples in all of the time they would ID.

I do not want to make it seem as if I am willing to swim in a toxic waste area, but we are talking about E. coli not heavy metal contamination or anything like that. E. coli is eveywhere and on everything albeit in differing quantities. I imagine the numbers were higher during that time period. The warmer waters will promote their growth. But unlike with mercury, cooking the fish solves the E. coli problem. If you guys saw me at work you would laugh your tails off because I have the biggest container of Germ-X on my desk and am kind of a germaphobe in general. I open doors with the cuff of my shirt or pinky finger, push buttons with my knuckles etc. But I'd eat a fish from Lake Springfield, as long as it is cooked. If you don't want to then don't.

still trying to make up my mind, will try to do that by around the beginning of fall

to be able to help more, where exactly is home?

As some of you know, my wife is from Croatia. Every spring, her and my son go to visit her family. They usually stay for around a month. The times I am fortunate enough and rich enough to accompany them I have a great time. The times when I am stuck here get pretty lonely. I had to stay this year. Tomorrow is my son's 4th birthday and I'll miss it, but will try to make up for it as soon as he gets back. They get back back on the 27th of May so it is coming up soon. So much has happened with me and my job since they left. I offically found out yesterday that I got a promotion I was trying for. 150 people applied and 8 got it. It is for a relief team manager. Basically if a permanent mgr is out for a while we would cover their teams. That project lasts for 6 months. Usually this is a door into becoming a full time mgr with the bank. The advantages of that among other things would be that I could get 3 weeks of vacation each year instead of the two weeks I get now. That would come in pretty handy. My brother in law mentioned to my wife in passing the other day, "Oh tell Phillip that when we were in Hercegovina we saw a river full of "mladica" and they were in there spawning. Your cousin went down and caught one of them." Here is a brain exercise: Krabby patty recipe is to Plankton as Motherlode is to a '49er as Old rich guy on death bed is to Gold-diggers as Mladica is to Phillip Taylor Understand???? For someone who has never caught one or even seen one in real life, it is my absolute DREAM fish to catch. What is it? It is the largest salmonid in Europe. It can grow to over 6 feet long and historically could weigh over 100lbs. It eats grayling and brown trout. This is the fish that Neanderthals swam with, that darted away from cave bears. This is a fish's fish! Pictures below. http://www.hitech-solutions.com/Trout/Mladica.htm In Croatia I have not been able to fish for them since we usually go to Croatia in the late spring and the season lasts for the month of February. I guess the season in Bosnia is different, so when I go next, my fly rod will be with me along with a bunch of PMS's. All I have to do is wait for next year and hope that things work out so that I can go. My wife goes to Croatia to see her family, I go to see that beautiful part of Europe.

Before the great flood happened I was catching rainbows on a flyrod while trying to catch white bass in Swan Creek. And I used to feel the same way about lower Taney, but if you troll some spoons around the Empire area you would stop feeling that way, I know I did.

I am not sure where or if they post them but every other time I go back behind the dam fishing, there will be a CU guy come down there with instruments and testing kits. It is a legal requirement for them to monitor the water. I've spoken to the guys many times and they all say the water is fine. I can think of a lot more questionable things people eat on a daily basis.

The fish are fine to eat. CU tests the water more than you can believe.

That is along way from Roaring River. Neat!

As long as I am not put on a different schedule at work I will be there.

When we were out on TRL yesterday, I saw lots of 5-7 inch gizzard shad holding around the flooded brush around the point in-between Mill Creek and Little Mill Creek. I bet that would be a good place to run a line.

I was going to tell you my Lake Springfield honey hole location, but I kept looking at your avatar..... if you change it I'll let you know

In college at Louisiana Tech I wanted to get out of my lease early because my truck kept getting broken into. It was a known problem at that apt complex since it was very close to Grambling State University, but of course the landlord didn't mention that when I signed the lease. The landlord stated that it would be fine to break my lease as long as I gave up my security deposit and paid rent until someone else moved in. Being a poor college student that really wasn't an option for me. Walking back in the woods behind the apt complex one day I found a dump site in a little bottom full of old fridges and stoves and dishwashers from the complex Took some pictures and went to talk to the landlord again. Asked again to be released from my lease without penalty, she declined. I then casually brought up the dump site I saw and how the removal costs to cart off the junk once being ordered to do so would certainly far outweigh the amount of my security deposit and loss of rent. She agreed to let us go. As soon as we were settled into our new place, I let the DEQ know anyway, and within two weeks they had trucks back there cleaning it up. Keep in mind this was LOUISIANA. Creator of the BAYOU DEGRADEABLE movement. I may have come in on the turnip truck, but I was driving it! If they care there I would think they would care anywhere else. Good luck with it! EDIT- in relation to chub minnows comments, I wouldn't think it would be the freon they would worry about as much as the PCB's found in electrical components of these appliances. The freon is bad for the ozone but it floats up up and away. The PCB's would be absorbed by the soil or organisms.

Last year when taking my then 3 yr old son out in the boat a few times I can give you the following advice. 1) Don't expect to fish a whole lot. 2) Obviously make sure the little guy always has his life vest on. 3) Never take him out of your field of view. 4) My son would fish for 3-4 minutes and then he was done, We found that filling a minnow bucket half full of water, he could play in that with different toys brought from home. 5) Catch lots of fish, they like how the fish wiggle and make it hard for you to get the hook out of their mouth, actually they see this as hilarious. Good luck with it.

I like your avatar. You'll learn a lot here without a doubt.

good size to them both

well it is a good thing I'm not a lawyer, someone could have gotten the chair. Thanks for the clarification Trav.

My interpretation of the regulation is that if the sunfish or bullhead is greater than 5 inches AND it was caught with a net or trap the it must be released. But if you catch it on a pole you would be fine using it for bait. I doubt that the agents would inspect the fish lips for a hook hole but I am sure there was some reason for writing it into law into the first place.

no soft plastics period is the rule above Fall Creek

Thanks for the great info. You encouraged me to go to BSP at buy a new spinning setup and get the 4/15 SpiderWire Stealth to go with it. I can't wait to try it out. I had tried to use FireLine a couple of years ago but I guess I didn't have the understanding really on how to use it. I dulled fingernail clippers, used it with no leaders, and cut the tar out of my hands trying to break it. Then the cheapo reel I had it on gave out so I gave up on it. I am excited now about the chance to use it again, I do remember the incredible sensitivity I felt while using it though.

And of course it happens to some of the best of us as well. I found these of Bill Dance on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cc6koI0fDo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUeT3q0nG8M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvAHYR5DnZE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YLvVP9ZPP4 Enjoy!

If you go up to the Lake Springfield Boathouse and Marina there is the park officer there named Justin. If you ever see something like that again, you might want to give him a call as he's usually around.

It depends where he was fishing as to whether or not it was legal. If he was fishing below the dam then you are right the fish would need to be released. But since Lake Springfield is an impoundment, if he caught the fish there, like it or not, it was legal.

It was a nasty river then too, but I guess my skin was nastier Actually I had a friend that lived on down the river towards Marksville, and he used to DRINK the water right out of the Red. I mean he had cattle and horses on his land and he would go over there and gulp some down. It never even made him sick, although it just about made us sick to watch him do it.