MoCarp

regulations play a huge roll, our growth rates are very close, one reason I’d like to see 12”, 10 fish bag limit Special regulations limit harvest 12” min length, 15 bag..The aggregate daily boat creel limit for crappie for boats with three (3) or more anglers shall be 40 crappie larger than 12 inches. https://www.mdwfp.com/media/301436/grenada-reel-facts-2021-final.pdf

My father in law kept bees, helped him many many times, cranky bees can be particular to certain hives. Moving to fast or blocking them can be an issue, lefty was bald so that’s not it, but he always wore a hat…..this time of year some animals will try to raid the hive and they will be pissy for a while after…make sure they have room to expand….raising an established hive isn’t easy….bee moths (spray) or bee martins eating the workers….you need a smoker, net helmet….jar feeders….old cabin shop in Carthage catered to bee keepers, before him and his wife were murdered..Bob used to work at atlas…my father in law knew him from there…..I miss the helping extract it from the comb…royal jelly was always returned….. fresh honey was something I took for granted…….

These in 1” green pumpkin seed…….

“One of Oklahoma’s latest #OKinvasives, the Harris mud crab, was found in Lake Texoma in 2011. These small crabs are native to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, but their tolerance to a wide range of salinity conditions has likely enabled their inland invasion. #NISAW From ODWC

I had forgot people said fire in the hole! Code for get out of my way!

They spawn on big tree limbs….little George’s were good when I fished there as a kid… snap them and buzz it up slow fall it back they would exhale it…think those spots are a different subspecies….haven’t fished it since I was 14…

Interesting….late /70s early 80s fish ran bigger because less people were fishing….winters over that stretch we had lots of snow and bitter weather….seems I remember gravel being dredged and sold….browns were a new addition…can’t remember when they put the limit on them…..no powerbait back then, cheese, marshmallows, salmon eggs, night crawlers…I liked chunking big spinners…Cleos and when the came out shad raps….never measured trout, weighed them….you could limit out on 3-5 pound bows….Taney will be ether a jet boat tour..Vegas show on the water…or a quality trout fishing hole….right now they are trying to have both….as table rock goes the way of LOZ….you will look back at the good ol days….I’m sure the old floaters opined about how things were before the dams……

And so it begins

Normally the walleye are done by March, mid to lateJanuary to 1st moon phase in February…..you can get stragglers… sometimes high water makes that area unfishable…..power site is a fickle place…can be great when timing is right…all it takes is a aluminum boat banging about to shut fishing down

The old floating headlight lanterns work set up over the channels place I did it was 40 ish feet….they can be tiny early in the season thumb nail size and clear as glass, not good for much….

If you want to catch gizzard shad use a light floating to attract them net them that way with a small mono cast net or a big dip net….

They run early typical moon faze end of January, trick is to find them stacked up, in the first 3 deep holes downstream, fish are very jumpy

Interesting, if you are a hog farmer the last thing you want is thousands of pounds of free pork suppressing prices…the hogs can and do spread sickness to domestic livestock….Ironically no one says anything about the CWD study with monkeys…ran ten years….and yes they caught it……

Anyone who has fish our waters know fishing isn’t as spectacular has it has been in the past, there are exceptions….arguably Taney has blossomed with the new regulations, tweaks in regulations help…but can they be better? Many would say yes! Revisiting Crappie harvest regulations, perhaps put more pain to those who go on a freezer filling spree every spring….perhaps forage options….Mississippi/brook silversides…native herrings….turn zebra/quagga mussels in to monster sunfish….better native strains of walleyes..perhaps supplemental stocking of smallmouths to take advantages in spotted bass reductions…perhaps seeding daphnia….when lakes are drawn down seeding shorelines with oats or annual rye then as spring waters rise introduce daphnia to the new flooded vegetation, mimic the post flood year booms we see every few year classes…..worth studying….with new technology brings hyper pressures and new challenges…..

All the new goodies give the average Joe abilities and skill sets only the top 10% had, boat control, remembering your spots, to mentally picture what was underneath….how fish were reacting…this puts more pressure on the fish…one reason I feel the need to reevaluate length and bag limits….the shear amount of pressure from all the tournaments….far more people using than ever before, local and tourist… supplemental stockings should be on the table to ensure good genetics, smallmouths for sure and a real effort on our river strain walleyes…expand pan fish opportunities…Read ear sunfish, even yellow perch….bluegill Smallmouth need more protection, supplemental stockings…the trend now is technology to boost females that naturally get far bigger than males in bass and walleyes….if Missouri and Arkansas are not researching this they should be. we are in a new era, live scope could help biologists learn more than sampling alone…some fish species are notorious to electro sample ( deep) smallmouths and walleyes in particular

I have seen muskrats gather and eat mussels, they seem to open them with ease….have used a shell half with lure for a trapping attraction everything seems interested, coons do eat mussels but if you see empties in a pile it’s mostly certainly muskrats…up around Nevada north seems to be a lots of mussels, even In the ponds….unsure of the species, I never took the time to key any out…but these are very large and lack the scallop wing looking shell structure of the ones I find in riffle areas near Carthage heal splinters if I recall…I read somewhere zebra and the larger quagga mussels were good to eat… https://mdc.mo.gov/field-guide/search

Has anyone eaten mussels gathered in our waters? I know some are quite common, some scarce even endangered. Missouri regulations “Daily limit: 5, combined total of all species (except Asian clams, which may be taken and possessed in any number). This limit applies to live and dead animals. Possession limit: 10”

My best hunting dog was a ladner’s black mouth cur, had a few kick me dogs, my current Chihuahua

Yes most are legal, be it gill netters for paddlefish or spotlighters selling deer sausage of someone keeping 400 crappie in there freezer…..they impact the success of all legal anglers who is the most pessimistic? btw my name isn’t Mr Carp

Grand Rapids man arrested for selling catfish caught in Kalamazoo River https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2013/06/grand_rapids_man_arrested_for_3.html

Officers Bust 4 for Poaching Gamefish with Cast Nets https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/officers-bust-4-for-poaching-gamefish-with-cast-net/192587

Local man learns you can catch fish, but you can’t sell them https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Local-man-learns-you-can-catch-fish-but-you-cant-sell-them-569552161.html