skeeter

Nope, not open yet. They open April 1st or the 1st weekend in April.

Anyone interested can find an informative article in the newest Bassmaster magazine about the effects of the use of Gasoline containing Ethanol in outboards. Title of the article is "Death by Ethanol". Makes no diff if your engine is newer or older this stuff is gonna' getchya' in the wallet. The notorious affinity for water that all Ethanol exhibits is the chief culprit. And now the EPA has approved 15% Ethanol for newer vehicles so be sure and read those gas pumps before filling up the boat.

6.22 Nothing wrong with "lurkers". At least they don't yap endlessly about inane subjects.

That survery sure didn't ask many questions of those who catch smallmouth on lakes. It seemed to be aimed at stream/river fishermen.

Yeah, and "pouring" phosphorus and fecal bacteria down the rivers and creeks from inadequate sewage treatment plants from Cities, chicken farms, cattle pastures and small towns. What River/creek does Buffalo, MO drain it's sewage into ?

Thank you Sir for stating that opinion. Being a Bass angler since way before tournaments started attracting so many participants and grew so numerous, that has definitely become my opinion also. It sure does seem counterproductive to remove the resource we all treasure from their attempts to further the species. "Plenty for everyone" is what commercial Cod fishermen in the Western North Atlantic thought too. Those schools of Cod were so numerous our Boat's skipper used to "hide" from sonar underneath them during NATO war games. No more !

Now they are claiming the entire landmass moved 8 FEET ! http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather/earthquake_center&id=8009020 I wonder if we will hear from any of the Japanese bass fishermen ?

30 million tons of Bighead carp to be exported to China for food. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/article_067546f6-0b89-5c30-a5a1-e56d0e61b740.html

Thank God for Missouri Term Limits. Now if we only had them at the Federal level too !!

Go directly across the main Lake at Table Rock from Point 19. There are two small coves there on the Eastern bank that are not deep nor long. On the right hand or Southern bank of the Northernmost cove there are several tall Pine trees that Great Blue Herons nest in every Spring. They are very noticeable every year with all the noise they make coming back to the nests with food for their young. In other words those Herons shouldn't poop where they eat ? [grin] Good luck with your research.

I wonder why this guy would do that ? Was he busted for poaching or fishing violations and wants revenge ? It doesn't save the State anything. Remember the old saying...."No one is safe when the Missouri State Legislature is in session". Proven time after time, year after year.

Did Ameren/ UE ever get that deal passed where everyone had to chip in and pay for their site development where they are installing their second Nuke plant at Callaway ? I thought that was way out of line...expecting people to pay for a new generation plant (nuclear or otherwise...don't start that crap) so a private Company could make more profits.

Also at Table Rock.

Thanks much for the picture. I'd definitely agree with you that's an Otter due to head shape and ear placement. Since they follow watercourses it makes sense as the River Des Peres drainage system runs under Forest Park. If the City still stocks Grand Basin Lake with Bullheads there is also a great food source.

The "original" (make that old) float n' fly jigs were tied with "craft hair" by the originators down in the Dale Hollow area. "Craft hair" is the material used for hair on the heads of those ugly little rubber "troll dolls" that used to be hot sellers. The diff between craft hair and marabou is the craft hair is far more stiff when wet than marabou. Whereas marabou "undulates" with little movement of the rod tip, craft hair remains almost motionless by comparison. Apparently, different materials are being substituted, with success, for the craft hair. Used to be that F n' F jigs were seldom bigger than 1/8 oz and were tied using a dart head or pointy nosed jig head with eyes painted on it. Without the eyes the jig was a dud.

Weather Channel is more than likely yapping about snow melt coming down the Big Rivers. Heard it's already at flood stage at Louisiana, MO on the Mississippi up N of St. Louis and that's really early. Weather Channel is so unreliable I hardly ever bother wasting electricity to tune them in. For your area of TR I would suggest you average the Tulsa NOAA office's forecast for Oak Grove, AR http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=36.46326301239126&lon=-93.44833374023437&site=tsa&smap=1&marine=0&unit=0&lg=en with the Springfield NOAA office's forecast for Lampe, MO http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=sgf&zmx=1&zmy=1&map.x=139&map.y=242 to get some idea of what's coming. The dividing line between those two National Weather Service forecasting areas is the AR State line just a few miles, as the crow flies, to your/our South so you kinda' have to read the "forecast discussion" at the bottom of the page in the text list and then interpret and average what each office is saying. This Winter I have had no faith whatsoever in the Springfield office's forecasts and found the Tulsa boys to be about 75% to 80% accurate and very good about issuing Winter weather advisories/warnings vs. the Springfield bunch. Tulsa's a heck of a lot further away than Spgfld but their forecast area is just over the hill ! It's gonna' take a whole lot of rainin' to fill this pond back up to normal. It will probably come in one Ozark-Frog-Strangler storm......like usual.

Nice picture on there at 6:52 of Sun just behind the clouds and not over the Horizon yet. Thanks for posting the link.

Can only see limited areas with snow cover left in typical locations. North sides of hills, shaded areas, parking lots and some roadsides with massive piles of snow from plowing etc. Had a temp. of 40 at 6 A.M. so it melted all night but will be gone by the weekend....except for plow piles.

Yes, it was. Found on a fence line in the Missouri River Bottoms area of St. Louis County. It was considered the largest "non-typical" rack ever recorded when found. Perfect habitat for deer....lot's of row crops planted in rich River-bottom soil, good cover along the River's edge and on the adjoining bluffs, water always available and no hunting pressure. An awesome animal and too bad no one had reported seeing it while still alive and been able to get a picture or video. 4 & 1/2 years old and TOOTHLESS ! Makes you wonder what, or how he ate.

Like anything else it depends on the circumstances. First, is there anyone who lives there full-time and has their boat on the dock or is hired to regularly look after your dock ? If not, then I would definitely not leave my rig on the lift over the Winter if I were not present. Low water can prevent lift-floats, depending on the bottom contour under your dock, from dropping down far enough, preventing launching of the boat but your dock doesn't seem to be the type affected by that. High water can prevent access to the dock. All docks on floats are affected by snow and ice loading, you only have to look at pictures of the dock damage in Oklahoma posted on the site to see this. Then there are the wind storms to worry about. If I had a choice, no, I would not leave my boat on a lift if I weren't living here. On the trailer, well-covered and, if possible, in a garage or under a carport with a reputable, on-demand, trickle charger hooked up to the batteries.

VERY seldom do TR coves freeze over. Last time I recall was the Winter of '77-'78. By the time you arrive, if there was any ice in the extreme back ends of shallow coves, it will be long gone. Nice warm-up coming, so they say, but that warm air has to flow over the very heavy snow in NW AR first ! Even some liquid-type rain is forecast in the long-range prognostications/guessing-game for next weekend (not this one).

I have no problem with hunting deer or other game, provided it's in season, with tags, and according to the MDC regs. The size of the herd needs to be controlled to avoid Winter starvation. In the TR area there are no row crops to munch on and most hill-country deer rely on the mast crop so they are much smaller than farm-country deer. However, in my neck of the woods we have a bad poaching problem and we residents have noticed the deer numbers are WAY down because of it. We have bow-hunters staying in the woods long after dark, we have road hunters shooting out of their pick-up windows during daylight and after dark and complete idiots shooting towards groups of homes with high-powered rifles. We also have those who brag ( after a few cold ones loosen their tongues ) about having several butchered deer in their freezers; all of them shot the same year. Many apparently believe since they were born and raised in these parts the game belongs to them, anytime and anyway they choose to take it. So, you're probably wondering....why not report these illegal game-hog activities to MDC ? Believe me, we have, including license plate numbers (if they haven't been removed first!)and vehicle and personal descriptions. Reports have been made by outraged property owners, after finding fresh remains/guts of butchered deer at all times of the year on their land, as well as legal hunters. So far, nothing. Can only suppose the MDC enforcement division is stretched so thin they can't seem to get down here since no one has ever seen an MDC vehicle or officer/agent in the area in response to complaints.

Saw the "official" snowfall map NOAA Springfield has on their website for the Feb. 9th event. Don't know how they come up with these numbers but they show only 2 to 3 inches of snowfall in the Mid-Lake area. Using the old fashioned "Stick-a-ruler-in-it" method in several carefully chosen level areas of the property where I knew all the previous snow had melted to bare ground, we got 6.5 inches. No drifting occurred as there was very little wind. At 6:30 it's -3 degrees and very heavy fog off the lake has coated everything with freezing fog which should be spectacular when the Sun comes up.

Supposed to get up to another 8" in the Lake area today and the way it's coming down right now I believe it. However, temps in the mid 50's are forecast for the late weekend and a nice warmup for next week so that should melt it all......until the next one !

Took the UTV down to the Baxter launch ramp yesterday and someone had been down there with a snowplow/blade, surprise, surprise!!! Don't know who it was but the tires left tracks that would suggest a tractor. They pushed the snow downhill on the launch ramp to block access to the courtesy dock ( ? ) but the ramp surface is still hard packed with sleet/ice/snow and the snowplow vehicle's tires just packed that frozen stuff down worse. Since Baxter ramp faces due North it get's no Sun and the little bit of melting we had yesterday didn't affect it. The short road from the parkie's shack at the campground entrance down to the ramp was snow covered and packed and real slick.