MoCarp

Feeding

Hmmm

I have been doing research on scuds...the life blood of Taneycomo Trout and one of the limiting factors...back in the day it seemed to be lots more of the little bundles of trout candy... I looked to the aquarium trade and found interesting solutions that would be worth trying...a breeding habitat of corrugated waterproof board ( like used to make political signs in your yard) is cut to fit the inside of a cinder/concrete block ( de-limed 1st) attached with critter friendly aquarium grade silicone adhesive.....a small aquarium scud hut is sold for this purpose....to de-lime concrete for garden or pond use a kiddie pool and a jug of vinegar water solution is used soaking for a day or so then rinsing ( nice spring rains for a day or 3 helps) would be ideal...a number of blocks could be arranged and attached together ( ha! I knew flex steel had a use) position would be important as to remain viable after a high water current event.... though about the feeding part but a floating crappie basket cabled to a brick close to the breeding blocks would work, cuttle fish bone attached to the basket wire inside would be warranted along with the veggies fed to the scuds, trout scraps might be viable as well and supply the nutrients needed for exoskeleton health... Worth a small scale test...if results are favorable larger scud reefs would pump out mass quantities of lunker bulking Trout food

The kind of habitat enhancement would be a major undertaking and by design would be self cleaning to push channel shallowing down current..O2 and Lower temps are a benefit, it would take a sizable excavator and humongous boulders along with steam side changes to stabilize the banks...something this video covers...something worth doing? I think so....needs a plan...a call to people who have done this successfully in the past would be wise....

I watched this the other day and wondered if some of this could be viable in Taney

A few more, common carp was 30....black drum was mid 50s....

Sharks are always around...just don’t drag around fish

Johns folly is correct I have heard them called croaker perch think the are in the drum family...the yellow on the fin is the give away

Pests! those and sea robins eat all your live bait fishing for flounder and trout....creepy looking fish

Those are lizard fish... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synodontidae

Sparrow hawk or American kestrel....years ago in my youth I fancied being a falconer, never could find a mentor...pre internet days....lots of rules and regulations a definite life commitment....sparrow hawks were and continue to be my favorite...but too small to hunt effectively anyone who feeds bird probably has encountered Cooper’s hawks, they regularly snatched starlings at my feeders

Well that settles it....you had one too many wiffs of solvent and spark plug sucking while turning over the engines

I have been doing a great deal of research of late on how to increase productivity on our area lakes... if anyone knows of benthic studies or planktonic work done in our area feel free to share I did come across the issues with Mysis shrimp in western/ mountain states that might bode well for Taney, one issue with the shrimp is they stay very deep, out of typical trouts forage options yet deep water fish’s like lakers and whitefish gorge on them...rivers below hydro dams have some monsters because of the shrimp getting passed through like shad do here at times....un checked mysis will feed on Daphnia, and I suspect scuds but they considerably are bigger than daphnia something to be studied...yet the vast depths of TR could shovel food into Taney.... glass or ghost shrimp are in our area, I have collected them at the Busch WMA, unsure if any ever have been in the white river chain of lakes...these are detritus feeders....the interesting part of my research is that when and how big forage is goes a long way in producing better sized fish.....Stockton used to have some nice mayfly hatches.......all of these things are important to fish communities, well placed management like the introduction of scuds to Taney can be game changers...source point pollution ( golf courses are noted offenders) can crash the bottom of a food chain with a simple insecticide application followed by a heavy rain....politically I’m sure it’s a hot potato yet we all would like bigger better fishing...

We have a handful of species that survived the mass extinction, why? Be interesting to know...when you are out afield there are some interesting things, mammoth/ mastodon teeth extinct bison, and the stone artifacts used by paleo peoples to hunt them.....that old log in the creek might be far older than you think, some test out ten thousand years old or more. https://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2003/01/ancient-wood-uncovered

American Serengeti great read....Al have you ever done anything ice age? In Missouri The mental image of the great ice sheet looming like mountains in the distance with an American version of Africa’s great Rift Valley is worthy of your skills... https://www.wired.com/2011/10/american-lion-or-giant-jaguar-in-search-of-panthera-atrox/

https://www.wired.com/2011/10/american-lion-or-giant-jaguar-in-search-of-panthera-atrox/

https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Panthera-onca-augusta

Before the end of the last ice age some interesting critters, currently DNA studies are rewriting what we knew or thought we knew https://theconversation.com/dire-wolves-went-extinct-13-000-years-ago-but-thanks-to-new-genetic-analysis-their-true-story-can-now-be-told-153223

I remember a professor hammering us into using the scientific names...largemouth bass or Micropterus salmoides... they called them green trout where I grew up

I guess I’m asking what is anything odd you have seen....personally I have seen a few weasels...once for the life of me a giant dove...seemed to be what was described as a passenger pigeon.....Chain pickerel in spring river near Carthage...even found a patch of American Chestnut that was planted in a mine land reclamation near mindenmines......back when I had my health I spent 300 days or more a year a field, hunting trapping fishing....even going on road trips to find odd plants ashes juniper or animals with a now deceased buddy Brian Hedgecorth ( miss you Buddy) saw a mountain lion coon hunting one night near baseline hwy jasper county, and the only cottonmouth I have seen was on north fork....look for and never found any lady slipper orchid, but many early springs looking for things like trilliums....taking a botany class opened my eyes a bit. Arrowhead hunting, exploring so many places....I fished a place were I saw king fishers often....not common most places...so much more to the outdoors than releasing into the grease types so much on the net anymore....get out and enjoy nature before you can’t....these crazy days we need release.

Passenger pigeon, some sighting in recent years

Recently rediscovered in Arkansas