skeeter

If you knew the conditions Vietnamese catfish or SE Asia Tilapia were raised in you wouldn't touch any of it much less eat it. Remember Agent Orange ? That's another reason to avoid Vietnamese Catfish but not the only one.

Glad you guys got some much needed rain in good quantities. My neck of the woods only got .52 inches. More is Forecast Thurs. thru Sat. and, of course, Sat. is the day I help our Grandson move

Agreed. Stumps and rocks are great but brush is a turn-off for Mr. Bass for some unknown and not-understood reason on pea-gravel.

Phil's initial post on the extremely heavily censored Branson1 forum on this topic somehow got past the outrageous amount of censorship over there. The old obnoxious fuddy-duddy that runs the forum won't allow any conversation or post he deems to be controversial or negative about Branson...even well-meaning discussions about the safety, or obvious lack thereof, of the impact of this huge watercraft on boaters and Anglers on Taneycomo and who or what Government agency is permitting this oversized thing.

Our Son is a Contractor in Springfield and has been in the "museum" very often doing work. He says the aquarium features are incredible but the delays are due to "fine tuning" of the displays to get them just right to suit Johhny who is being very painstaking with every detail down to the smallest feature.

I've had the same thoughts and observations about how introducing structure on pea gravel flats affects Bass and it hasn't been good. Bill, you're the first person I've ever encountered saying the same thing. They seem to give the new structure, whether placed by MDC efforts or downed trees that have washed in during flood events and sunk, a very wide berth and remain far, far away from it for some reason. This is purely a guesstimate on my part but I wonder if it has anything to do with that structure possibly harboring something that preys on Bass that they have experience with from the time they are fingerlings ? Large Flathead maybe ? I've only noticed this on Pea Gravel, not larger rock. Don't know if MDC fisheries biologists are aware of this.

As to the question if this is going to be "Safe"...it might be "safe" for the passengers in the boat but a 50 person capacity boat, probably jet driven if it can do "donuts", is going to be one large boat creating a hellacious wake. Hope you "Trouters" put a fast stop to this disaster and it doesn't force the boat-ride people to re-locate to Table Rock. There are already enough problems for anglers trying to enjoy a day out fishing with the ballast-adding "wake boats" putting their ridiculous wakes over the bow, gunwale and transoms of even the largest fishing vessels.

In my opinion, I think Johnson Outdoors wasted their money in building-in a non-side-scan transducer into the Ulterra and the Ultrex. Probably most guys that spend the money to buy either one of those trollers want the functionality of side-scan...sure, there are exceptions but if your Sonar is a side-finder and you paid the tariff for that function, surely you want to use it ? On the Ulterra, they left out the little space on the mount-bracket where you would normally route a transducer cable to run thru it and down the side of the shaft for some unknown reason but there are several ways around that. Don't know if they left that helpful feature out on the Ultrex too ?

Isn't that what your smart-South-end-of-a-burro-headed-North comment intended to accomplish.. ? It sure didn't do anything else...

Just in case you flunked reading comprehension, the brush isn't floating yet since the rainfall forecast was changed. Sounds like you're one of those with diarrhea of the keyboard who just can't quietly benefit from a well-meaning heads up about observed conditions and just loves to post anything to argue with and criticize others.

Jeremy Rasnick....yeah, in this case, you're wrong...dead wrong ! Try and give guys a little "heads up" based on first hand observations and weather forecasts on here and get nailed with accusations about "ranting" and "slamming mdc". Try being polite, not jumping to conclusions and not slamming others whom you don't know anything about with accusations. Your negative remarks contribute nothing and only cause hard feelings ! And yeah, "I'm serious"....my formerly teen-aged Daughter's most commonly used comment. TrophyFishR....we're so very glad to learn running over floating debris, at speed, just below the surface won't bother whatever you happen to fish out of. Hope you realize you can get off your couch, get away from your Wife that puts up with you, walk the banks and bring your own rope ?

I see where the Spgfld National Weather Service office has backed way off on the rainfall potential from previous forecasts they issued. They were saying anywhere from 2 to 4 inches previously but have now cut it back to 1/10" to just 1/4" each day. They were originally talking about possible flooding concerns from heavy, continuous rainfall but that small amount of rain won't even produce any run-off. This storm system is very changeable and unpredictable and their computer programs do not have a good handle on it at all.

Taking a few walks on the exposed Lake bank in our sudden warmth the last few days. Quickly became obvious ALL the MDC brush piles I saw will become boating hazards when and if the Lake rises from our predicted 4 days of rainfall. The rope they used years ago to tie-down the brush and trees to the concrete-filled blocks with the steel cables embedded in them used as weights has rotted away and the brush and trees are no longer secured to the concrete blocks. The wood has most-likely dried enough to re-float it when and if the Lake rises and any Winter Anglers should keep a sharp eye out for low-floating debris.

Yes, I still have all four. However, if you mean the weekend of the 10th/11th, I will still be out of town returning on the 13th.

Understand. I'm not in Springfield either. I'm in Lampe, MO about mid-lake on Table Rock but traveling on business until 12/13. I could ship one I guess but the cost would probably double the price to you. If you fish Table Rock, check back with me and we can meet somewhere near where you launch. Thanks for your interest.

Know why you never see a juvenile Pigeon ? Because they're a cross between a Rat and an escaped Parakeet !

What you will quickly discover at that site is that due to some ridiculous agreement with the EPA, you cannot find/buy Ethanol-free gas within about a 100 mile radius of St. Louis.

I tried to post pictures but there was the same error message that was non-specific and always repeated. You can see them at : http://springfield.craigslist.org/bpo/5878990347.html

Four (4) Transom Savers all attached to trailer by fitting over rear roller. Two are basic Swivel-Eze with flat sided, rubber-coated "V" for the Outboard end....$20.00 ea. One is a "Tourney Pro" model with moveable, adjustable contact rubber pads in the Outboard "V" end....$30.00 and one is a "Tourney Elite" with shock absorbing shaft....$35.00 Cash only please. Message me if interested please.

Regarding your oh-so-true comment "those bomber crews had bad statistics" I was recently shocked to learn the Eighth Air Force suffered slightly more casualties in the European theater than the hard-fighting Marines did in all of the Pacific campaign. 8th AF casualty rate was 2.6 % while the casualty rate for the Marines was 3.6%

Not trying to hi-jack the thread but those danged Coyotes are, in my book, 90% responsible for the serious decline in Turkey population around Table Rock. Awesome deer, you can sure tell they aren't from "hill country". They grow 'em big where they have good access to row crops. Thought I was looking at an Elk when I first glanced at the picture. Thanks for posting !

I started just using the rope on Motor Guide to just release the latching mechanism then actually lifting the motor back into the boat by grabbing the heavy duty cables and wiring assembly going into the head to actually lift the motor out of the water. One cord in 18 years and it seems doing a minor thing like visually inspecting not only the cord but where it's routed thru the motor brackets for any sharp edges helps avoid on-water surprises. I hope the M-K motors are OK because I'm waiting on a National back-order to put an Ulterra on the new/used boat. Eventually hope to hook it up with a Helix10 with all the bells and expensive whistles required to connect the two....the Humminbird is costly enough but all the additional junk required to connect the two is going to require a tax refund first

You gotta' get within three feet with the Bug-a-Salt and then you have to clean up the Fly carcasses AND the Salt, but it's sure fun The good thing about Bug-a-Salt is it doesn't "splatter" the pests.

If you were lucky enough to see a Spitfire still flying...congratulations. They are easily identified by the elliptical shape of their wingtips and extremely rare. Makes me wonder if some Company has started making expensive reproductions of that famous British design.

Speaking of larger and larger boats and docks and more and more of them, don't ignore the fact that our good old MDC is a culprit in encouraging them by spending our Sales Tax and Permit/License dollars on rewarding a TR Commercial Marina owner with $100,000.00 for installing larger boat dock slips and the pump-out facilities to service the unnecessary huge boats.