skeeter

This whole thing smells like that pig does. The report I read said the eleven year old boy shot the hog several times with a .50 cal. handgun. It also said the boy was backed up by two guys with rifles in case the pig charged the kid. They better have been there as I'll bet the kid, although appearing to be a Bubba Jr. size wise, would have been picking himself up off the ground each time he let that .50 cal go

I'd suggest Sanibel Island FL. Excellent shelling while strolling on the beach, wildlife refuge on back half of island, beach access limited to those staying there, no high rise condos allowed, outstanding tarpon fishing May and June and fishing for other salt water species with local guides using light tackle and open boats. Lot's and lot's of beach front condos for weekly rent and this is the "off-season". Just be sure and check the pool before jumping in first thing in the morning !

[quote name='Kansas Fly Fisher' date='May 25 2007, 07:41 AM' post='3845 One question though, why does this little gal have to pay for the drive-off out of her check? She didn't have anything to do with it and couldn't stop it if she wanted to. Just curious. I think it's great that your footing the bill, but I still wonder why an employee is responsible for this theft. John Completely agree with KS fly-fisher. Not trying to pick a fight but this policy of the clerk paying for drive-offs sucks !! What are they supposed to do? Confront the thief or chase them down ? Ridiculous rule but kudos to you for stepping up to the plate for her. Corporations and their asinine policies

Baxter's gas hit $4/gal. last weekend for 89 octane so hope you're not filling up on the water. $175.00 sounds about right for 91 octane for the twin 25 gal. tanks on my rig filling it up on land. Wonder if the boat traffic will be so heavy this coming weekend with ga$ price$ and wet forecast ?

Ummm.... Assuming you meant to type "AARP" cards ?? AAA is the Auto club, but they give discounts for membership too. SOME....AARP aged people have had chances to "build nest eggs" while others have this on-going thing called "KIDS". These days they aren't out the door at 18 or 21, plus they have this habit of moving back. It's called the boomerang generation.

Looks like a sure case of " Trout Obesity " to me. How close is the nearest McDonald's ? Only half kidding here, for a ginamous trout that fish had some weird proportions. Darn shame no one could have tied into it and them told the story of hooking the HMS Queen Elizabeth II as it swam away and spooled you !

Further bad news re: gas prices. Hugo Chavez just announced about an hour ago that Venezuela has stripped the international oil Companies of control over the massive Orinoco Belt oil projects. And you know what today is ? May 1...happy May Day comrade Chavez...hope you and your buddy Fidel enjoy yourselves today. Lousy Commies ! Wait and see what this does to crude prices, have no idea what to expect.

Terry that's an excellent point. I don't believe the oaks will re-flower when they sprout new leaves, thus no acorns. Turkey deer and squirrel are facing a tough winter. Last Fall the White Oaks had a bumper crop of acorns and I heard a lot of hunters grousing that the deer weren't moving much because they didn't have to go far to find food. In the Ozarks hill country, where not much in the way of food crops are farmed, this is gonna' be a tough year.

WOW !! 22 1/2 inch Smallie ! Congrats. Any pictures by chance that you could post ? I'll bet that was a beeyootiful fish !

It sure killed those blasted gum balls on my sweet gum tree YIPPEE !!! Won't have to clean them up all year long like usual... Yep, oaks look brown and not the brown they develop when they flower. Some other trees seem unaffected but unless trees had enough sap up in them to split open due to hard freeze, they are not dead, just under stress.

Ham, Read your post with great interest and respect for your opinion and your interest in how other fish and game departments manage Kentucky Bass. I and probably several others on this board can tell you what happened at Table Rock at the time of the implementation of the 15 inch limit in the late 70's. Prior to the 15 inch limit and prior to the ethics of "catch and release" when a bass was caught at Table Rock it was gone from the lake. It was becoming more and more difficult to catch anything for the average angler as proven by a three year intensive " creel census " study by MDC. You could not believe the moaning and groaning of the local resort owners and others when the 15 inch limit was installed. They all swore they were going to be run out of business. But, you know what happened ? All of a sudden, within about a year or so if memory serves, the average guy was catching fish and catching more fish than pre 15inch limit. He was having to release them, true, but he was getting that satisfying tug on the end of his line more frequently and instead of coming back to the dock or ramp "skunked" he had that wonderful smell of Bass on his hands and some pleasant memories. Are there Kentuckies on off shore structure that never see a bait ? Heck yes, but it takes a better fisherman than me to catch them with any regularity. As Bill posted previously, the Kentuckies are NOT in competition with the LM for forage fish as they definitely frequent differing habitats in the water. Anyone who is concerned about lack of forage fish in Table Rock doesn't pay much attention to their electronics or doesn't have the sensitivity set high enough.

Bill, Regarding your unfortunate sighting of 50+ bass carcasses under a dock in Big Indian, I would like to urge you to identify the specific location of the dock. Those of us from the Baxter area that are disgusted by sightings like this would love to have this information and possibly "have a word" with the individual or put the "word" out about them. Two things are going to happen if this irresponsible behaviour continues. 1.) Bass tournaments are going to be outlawed, either completely or during the months of March/April/May. 2.) Fishing season for Bass will be closed on impoundments as currently happens on MO streams March 1 thru Memorial Day.

Let's hope the cattle egrets don't turn out to be major pests like other imports such as starlings. Running past Goat Island Saturday morning spotted three lonely white pelicans huddled on the North tip of the island. A little late for this species to be migrating through and was surprised to see only three. Usually they are in a flock of about a dozen or so birds. Also saw a mature Osprey flying around in the Baxter area Sunday afternoon.

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.