skeeter

Have to agree with JSCHEETZ, Dogs and wolves in the wild do not cross breed under "normal" circumstances. Perhaps you were thinking of "Coydogs" ? That can cause BIG problems too. Normally skittish coyotes when crossed with domestic dogs become very bold. Had big problems with a pack of the same in S. St. Louis County about 30 years ago. Took a long, concerted effort to bring that under control as they were in a large undeveloped area surrounded by subdivisions.

Anybody watch the NBC national news at 5:30 CDT last night ? President and Mrs. Bush paid a condolence call on the VT campus and laid a bouquet of flowers at a student memorial site to show support. The "talking head" ( Brian somebody) that does the news immediately jumped at the chance to interview the President while still on campus and the first words out of his mouth were about "gun control" and what the Administration and Congress was going to do. Pres. Bush immediately replied in all candor that this was not the time for that discussion, this was the time for healing !!! Amen to that sir and bravo !! Well said.

"Might be opening a can-o-worms here, but I think tournament fishing has a lot to do with the mindset of fishermen nowdays. Too many people approach a day of fishing with a tournament attitude. " Amen to that Brother !!!

Bill you are hitting the nail on the head with your comments and need not be apologetic for them. More of this type of thing should be posted not just on boards such as this but should make it's way into national magazines and the ESPN network fishing TV shows. Maybe people would begin to get the hint that there is a certain etiquette to be observed in the outdoors. More and more people and more and more development coming all the time. Just saw a full page newspaper ad where the entire shoreline on either side of point 17 by Baxter is going under development. As far as Tracker junk goes, I've heard this story for the last 15 years + about lack of quality and lack of concern at BPS Corporate. One of our marketing bigwigs transferred over there three years ago and after finding out the lack of QC and astounding lack of quality in almost anything labeled BPS ( especially Tracker boats ) he left because he's not that kind of guy ( to his credit ) and wouldn't put up with it. Too bad more of this experience of yours doesn't get out to the poor guy who is a complete neophyte and is buying his first boat.

Steve, Thanks for your reply. You are correct about Lowrance, that is very frustrating and I think I will check out Humminbird too. Guess Lowrance has just gotten too big for their britches with lack of product support for guys who have invested their hard earned dollars in their product. Extremely disappointing for dollars spent.

Steve, you said it all. Fully agree. If you can afford it, research the different models and go for it. By any chance is the Lowrance unit they won't repair an LMS 350 ? They fixed mine once then said it wouldn't be repaired again. Moved that to the bow and picked-up an LCX15mt which is amazing. When the 350 dies, I'll be moving the 15mt to the bow and picking a unit that uses Navionics new HD map chip.

The Fishin' Hole in St. Louis ? You mean the "Rip you off on the warranty Hole " ? Both my current Boss and my Brother-in-law were soundly screwed on warranty issues by this place. Both had fibreglass bass boats and both developed gel coat issues less than a year after purchase. No support from dealer on either boat, one high dollar and the other entry level. It would take judge and jury to decide which guy got hosed the worst. If John Arado is still the owner, avoid at all costs !!! Bad, bad reputation with those of us who have been around for a while.

With the discussion about alternative energy sources you never seem to hear anything anymore about shale oil. Supposed to be more of the stuff locked up in the rocks of the Western U. S. and Canada than all the reserves of Saudi. Yeah, I know it's not an alternative fuel but it is an alternative DOMESTIC source. Can't help but wonder how high a BBL. of oil is going to have to sell for to make extracting the stuff economically viable ? The majority of coal has been supplied from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming for some time now. It's an open pit type strip mining operation and is the prime source for Federally mandated low sulfur coal. Don't know how much is still shaft mined from Appalachia. That leaves the coal fields of Illinois to provide coal for gasification plants and I believe there is some movement there already. Biodiesel ? Yep, I'd love to run it in my Ford dually, but tell me where to buy it ? Sure don't have time to "refine" it in my back yard from leftover cooking oil like several people do. Drove a rental diesel Volvo in Spain last year and you couldn't hardly tell it was a diesel. Great performance and quiet to boot. Feds mandated Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel last Fall with the promise we'd get those same diesels like the Euro's have been driving. Have yet to see one. All ULS diesel has done so far is give poorer mileage, caused premature injector wear due to loss of lubricity and run the cost of diesel up even higher. If you know anything about cracking crude ( refining ) the $0.20+/gal. premium diesel sells at compared to unleaded gas is just another rip-off.

From what I have been reading on another board, there is an immediate opening at Reeds Spring H.S., Reeds Spring MO in your exact field. The current teacher, a highly respected, regarded and long-tenured Gentleman by the name of Collins was just forced into retirement by the School Board for disciplining two students who were repeatedly bullying some special needs children. Unfortunately, Mr. Collins used some profanity while "dressing down " the two bullies and was overheard. If you hear of this opening you may want to avoid that District as there is huge turmoil and turnover there. Reeds Spring is located just North of Branson West. I can understand your feeling about the business world but it ain't a piece of cake ( far from it ) in the education world either.

Taxidermist, I have owned and run a succession of high performance bass boats since 1974 and would advise you to definitely opt for a SS prop. Several advantages to SS being overall strength and better resistance to impacts; SS will not "deform" or bend like aluminum when coming out of the hole or turning or running wide open throttle which will yield better performance and mileage. There are many custom shops around that can do about anything with a SS prop to fit any boat, motor, owner combination. Check with local boat dealers for names of prop manufacturers and visit their websites. Several have charts where you can enter boat length, width, aluminum or fiberglass, engine horsepower etc and get their recommendations for pitch, cup, hub length etc.

Shad kill still going on in Baxter area as of Sunday. While trying to drive the boat we were constantly dodging the hundreds or even thousands of sea gulls that have arrived to eat the shad. No way could you run down the lake at anything close to fast as the water was just covered with sea gulls picking off the shad. Don't remember seeing the numbers of gulls like this in previous years. Most of the time the birds are paddling around on the water, not flying, ( probably too full of shad ) but when you get too close they get spooked and take off every which way. They aren't flocked together in one area just spread all over the main lake and the Indians. Fishing results.....ZERO.

From the Stone County Gazette: Deja Vu: Forest lands listed for sale in Stone County By Sam Clanton The cat came back the very next day. But for Stone County and many other places across the U.S., it’s not a cat and it wasn’t the next day. It’s the sale of our national forest land, proposed exactly one year ago but eventually dropped. This time around, however, there is not a formal public comment period, a concession hundreds of Stone County residents took advantage of last year. The U.S. Forest Service website, www.fs.fed.us, reveals that 2,236.91 acres of Mark Twain National Forest in Stone County will be sold to raise funds to extend the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000 in the proposed Fiscal Year 2008 federal budget. Once again, Stone County ranks number one in the entire state in acres for sale. Once again, people are upset and a fight is brewing. Also ranking high on the list of acreage for sale is neighboring Barry and Christian counties. Taney County meanwhile stands to loose only about 150 acres. Another difference this year is that the sale, packaged as the National Forest Land Adjustment for Rural Communities Act, directs that 50 percent of land sale receipts would remain within the state they were collected. What does our local state representative think about this? “I am totally and completely opposed to the sale of forest lands in Stone and Taney counties, and the rest of Missouri,” stated Rep. Dennis Wood, of Kimberling City. “We need to reserve those areas for future generations. If the lands must be sold, the first opportunity should be extended to state, county and city governments, but I think this is dead wrong, and I’m going to do all I can to stop it.” Wood stated it was wrong not to include a public comment period in the land sale. “We need to give the federal government an answer (to this funding problem) instead of just a protest,” Wood also commented. “I will be terribly disappointed if we have to do this. The sale of forest lands would provide one-time money, and what is needed is a continuous funding source.” Hwy-13.com (Sam Clanton) attempted to contact, and presented questions in writing to State Senator Jack Goodman, Missouri Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill and Congressman Roy Blunt. As of press time, Blunt responded with the following statements. “The offshore drilling revenues proposed in HR4761 passed the House but didn’t pass the Senate, so that source of funding doesn’t exist,” said Dan Waddlington, a spokesperson for Blunt. Last year Blunt announced the land sale would not be necessary as offshore drilling revenues would be able to fund the Rural Schools act. “The (forest lands sale) was resurrected by the administration as one of several options to fund the Rural Schools act,” Waddlington stated. He said another option was an across-the-board cut in federal spending. Congress must authorize the Forest Service to go ahead with the land sale, Waddlington pointed out. “The congressman (Blunt) believes it (the Rural Schools act) can be funded without selling the forest lands,” Waddlington said. If the land sale doesn’t go through it won’t be because the Forest Service is not prepared for it. Perusal of their website makes it very clear how many acres are drawn up for sale. The site’s interactive map viewer doesn’t seem to be functioning properly, however, so pinpointing specific parcels is difficult. Missouri isn’t the only state with forest land up for grabs. Neighboring Arkansas is also greatly affected, particularly the Ouachita National Forest in west-central Arkansas, where many thousands of acres are affected. Mar-08-07 | Stone County Gazette If you want to protect watersheds, this has to be stopped cold. Only problem is the article doesn't give the origin of this " Act ". Don't know if it's coming from U. S. Senate or House or direct from National Forest Service or what. If anyone has any further information please chime in but this rates a big red flag for action ( AGAIN ). Sneaky so and so's ! No way we should be funding schools by selling off public forest land. Once it's gone, it's gone for good.

Merry CHRISTmas to all you master anglers on the site. Can't say that I post much as most of you lucky guys are locals and I'm just a part-timer with a place on TR that has eaten up my time in the area the last seven months repairing hail damage. Used to be a trouter but have to admit my first love is top-water bass fishin' ( kind of like you dry fly specialists, you know what I mean ). Thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie you fellows have going on this site and the good-natured give and take. Best wishes to all for a happy and safe holiday season and am looking forward to your continuing posts and outstanding information. Thanks much to all and keep your hooks sharp !

SQUIRRELS FALLING FROM THE SKY !! Very serious storm in the St. Louis area with 170,000 still without power. Many I work with in that boat and it's causing much hardship. However, there is a funny side. My daughter told me she was watching local FOX station news Friday morning and they were broadcasting live from the news chopper over a heavily wooded neighborhood watching tree limbs go down. All of a sudden the airborne reporter zooms the camera in on a squirrel that lost it's grip on an ice covered tree limb and went plunging down about 70 feet to the ground ! One dead tree rat... Then they zoomed in on another one and then another one after that. Three falling squirrels in about five minutes. So, Saturday morning I watched the woods behind my place and in about 20 minutes I saw the same thing. Having had squirrels invade my attic and do much damage I started cheering for the ice. I would have thought the little buggers could get a grip on the ice but apparently they make mistakes too. Anybody else notice this ? ( Boy, you can tell you're getting cabin fever when you're watching squirrels do a nose dive ! ) ha !

Appreciate that SKMO. Wind finally went around to the South and the kid had to get some baits so we went up to Tri-Lakes and Mark told us Bill had been in and was doing well on smoke with black and smoke with red flake grubs in the cove mouths. We got out Tues. and found the shad and the bass on secondary points in main lake coves. Had one good LM swimming the smoke with red flake at about 35' over 50' on the main cove side of the point, the kid threw a watermelon candy finesse worm on a darter head ( ?!) and put it on me with four shorts, all spots. Lot's of bumps while swimming the grub but no real takers. Not terrible for two hours and a half. Saw about five minutes of surface chasing right at sundown, very surprised but they were little guys.

Thanks for that SKMO. Unexpected chance to take my visiting Son-in-Law out so putting away the leaf blower, the sander and scraper and the paint can ( still repairing hail damage ) and fire the boat up. You mentioned bluff bite ? If you don't mind, what were you throwin' at 'em ? I see where the wind is finally going around to the South today and the bluffs are always my last resort. Thanks much..

This is sort of tongue-in-cheek and not, but our rice buyer told me that the rice farmers in Arkansas are experiencing water supply problems as the water table their wells tap into has drastically dropped. Of course, you don't grow rice without adequate water supply. To remedy this problem a pumping station either was built or is planned, I'm not sure which, on the White River exactly in the immediate area where the claimed sighting of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker occurred. Guess what ? The pumping station has been denied operation by the Fed's as the noise could possibly disturb the remaining population of this "thought to be extinct" species. Where I'm going with this is there are laws to protect our irreplaceable and pristine remaining natural resources. The trick seems to be finding a well heeled source who will fund court actions ( not pleasant but apparently necessary) to enforce the existing laws. Unfavorable press coverage is avoided at all costs by today's Corporate America and the press will report in both electronic and print media any lawsuits brought against polluters and public opinion will turn quickly against that entity. Do not waste your time complaining to politicians, most are " for sale " to the highest bidder, go directly to the courts.

Funny article in the Sunday St. Louis Post Dispatch features an interview with former Cardinal and current Detroit 1st base coach Andy Van Slyke who makes his home in Chesterfield, MO. Quote: " I went to shake hands with Kenny Rogers in the dugout after the first inning of game two ( and told him to go clean up ) but I couldn't get my hand loose from his " Har de har har ! That's a winner folks ! a decent group of players who rose to the occasion. And La Russa deserves a lot of credit. Trashing St. Louis as always, the national sports writers are saying how The Cardinals were the worst team to ever win. Gee, if that's so, how come no one else is getting a victory parade today ???

Gosh ! Isn't this a surprise, surprise ( as Gomer would say ) ? MO Supreme Court outlaws photo I.D. for voters. One week later St. Louis County receives 4000 fraudulent voter registration cards from ACORN. U. S. Attorney has now requested cards be turned over for possible prosecution of ACORN workers. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...2%2C%22acorn%22

Since your post says your home waters are connected to the Mighty Mississippi, I was wondering if those "Bighead" or "Silver" carp have made it up your way yet HawgHunter ? The way the darned things leap clear out of the water about 4 to 5 feet in the air is about most dangerous thing I've ever seen, specially if you're tooling along at the speed most 20' Rangers will run... Been told by a couple MO Dept. of Conservation agents that if they get in your waters you better be wearing protective gear or have something substantial in front of you in your boat to deflect them. We have heard of people being knocked out of their boats by this invasive species.

Any information/experience available what these mussels do to docks ? If they are prolific filter feeders don't they attach to floats, cables and any boats left in the water ? From the pictures posted, if they do attach, I would think they could add tons of weight to a structure in the water ??? Thanks..

Ridiculous !!! What additional services is the State of Missouri going to perform for boaters to justify this price gouge ? The State legislature is due to end their session any day now. Anyone know if this unwarranted increase passed ? I mean, what are we paying for...additional Water Patrol to keep order at party cove at Lake Ozark....nonsense.

Closing the bail by hand on open face reels is one of the best methods to avoid line twists and resulting bird nests. If your line is already twisted or has taken a "set" or "curl" from being on the reel all winter long, simply let it spool out behind your boat ( at low speed ) with nothing on the line and drag it a ways, you'll be amazed at the drag the water puts on it, and retrieve back onto the reel. This accomplishes two things: first it painlessly takes all the twists out of the line and, second, the immersion in the water wets the line and allows it to "relax" and lose the set most lines develop over time. Remember ! Practice catch and release.....It'll grow on you...

[quote name='SKMO' date='Mar 28 2006, 07:05 AM' post='809 If anyone is interested I'll post a pic of mine and better instructions. Best $4 investment I have made for the deep crappie in the trees. SKMO, Sounds like a great idea ! Would greatly appreciate a picture of your stand off pole. Think I know what you mean generally but the idea of not spooking fish and staying off the troller has the makings of a handy tool.