skeeter

Criminy ! Some mercenary ding-a-ling comes to TR once in a blue moon and starts spouting off about species and length limits ? How typical ! Those of us old farts that remember the sad state TR was becoming pre the late 1970's 15" limit probably recall how lengthy and maligned studies by MDC fisheries biologists changed for the good what this fishery was becoming. Many of the Resort and Marina owners we knew were predicting bankruptcy and, instead, the 15" limit not only benefitted their business as more and more fish survived fishing pressure long enough to successfully spawn, but the entire idea kind of led to the early recognition and adoption of the whole "catch and release" concept. If anyone recalls, this "Elite" character's whining about different length limits for Spots was discussed, at length, in the 70's and discarded due to anticipated difficulty of the general public in identifying K's vs. LM.

Having owned two AWD vehicles I can tell you that AWD generally uses more fuel than a 4WD vehicle with an electronically or manually shifted transfer case that allows true lock-out of the front axle(s). Please notice I said "generally" as there are now some much-improved AWD-equipped vehicles that have far better systems in them that only engage power to the front end when it's truly needed. No, I don't know which ones they are but just that they are available, at a price of course. Also please realize that "true" 4WD is only possible with locking front and rear differentials. There are many stories of drivers of what they thought were 4WD vehicles that got stuck because both the front and rear wheels were on patches of slick ice or in deep mud on the same side of both axles and their non-locking differentials at both ends of the vehicle put the power to the wheels with least grip and there they sat. We used to openly laugh at the bozo's working at Jeep dealers who didn't order locking rear diffs on their stock units and told potential customers they were 4WD. I'm not aware if Ram has their V-6 diesel pick-up built with 4WD or not but their first batch of that truck completely sold out in 48 hours....mostly to fleet sales I think. It's tough to beat a diesel's torque production for towing but their extra cost to buy and the cost of fuel for them is another story. Also thoroughly agree with what J-Doc wrote about Nissan....beware !

Went to the heavily attended meeting. MoDOT promises to keep one lane open during nine month construction period. Attendees persuaded them not to begin work during height of tourist season so will most probably begin total deck replacement on the Tuesday following Labor day 2015 and require Contractor to re-open both lanes the Thursday prior to Memorial Day weekend 2016. Expect long delays crossing bridge during construction and VERY narrow lanes. They will use traffic lights at both ends of bridge with vehicle sensors. Engineer says driving deck is worn out and in bad shape so they are trying to move this re-construction up to next year but no guarantees. Trying to persuade them to utilize RF control boxes on traffic lights and emergency vehicles to over-ride vehicle sensors when Ambulance,Sheriff,Fire vehicles are approaching bridge crossing. These have been around for several years in large Cities to control traffic lights and MoDOT said they could install receivers/activators on their two lights but it would be up to Mercy Ambulance Service, SSCFD and Stone County Sheriff's Dept. to equip their vehicles with the transmitting units.

"B" or "D" get my vote...like the colors and fish silhouettes. "C" is a definite no..we got "enuff" OAFS around here ! What are the measurements please ?

FYI for those of you located or operating a business South of the Bridge or just trailering your boat over the Bridge, you might want to attend this meeting. https://www.ozarkssentinel.com/public-invited-to-discussion-on-plans-for-kimberling-city-bridge/#sthash.ZXMe8Sij.dpbs MoDOT is now saying they are planning to start work on the bridge in 2015 and they are seeking public input. As usual, there are all kinds of rumors circulating about anything from complete closure of the bridge for six months to one-lane traffic for 12 months (like they did on the 86 bridge over Long creek maybe ? ).

eyedabassman, If you're re-locating to Blue Eye MO from WI, we have Personal Property Taxes in MO ( don't know if WI does) so before you waste a trip to the DMV, you'll have to procure a Personal Property Tax waiver from Stone County Assessor's office (maybe call them first @ (417) 357-6141 ) to take with you to the DMV office in order to get your boat registration. Then, Stone County will send you a declaration form on which you are required to list all your Personal Property as defined on the form and pay Personal Property tax they assess on all your declared vehicles and other property by Dec. 31st each and every year. You'll get a paid receipt back to be kept somewhere safe as you'll have to take first the waiver, and then next year the receipt, along with proof of Insurance, into the Dept. of Revenue office ( DMV) for boat and vehicle licensing. Welcome to the area. Maybe we'll see you on the Lake someday.

Don't know about the rest of this Gent's post but when I read THIS part above I just started thinking " hmmmm....the Bourbon, MO so-called "PD" shot a treed bear....sounds about normal" !

OK, gotta' admit I was stirring the pot kind of chuckling at the comment about "fat stores" becoming exhausted and killing fish. Yeah, we know predators put on the feed bag in late Fall and "stock up" but it's not like they don't eat over the Winter. Cold water Shad die-off always occurs and that's a good thing, within limits. Makes the seagulls very happy :-) The "die-off" in harsh Winters more commonly occurs in ponds/lakes that become completely iced over and then have heavy snowfall on top of the ice which blocks any sunlight from reaching the oxygen-producing aquatic vegetation which then dies and decomposes, using up yet more oxygen which does eventually kill fish. I've seen MDC refuse to stock private farm ponds if they were less than eight feet deep as those are more subject to oxygen deprivation and fish kill. The way the article was posted on that source I posted the link to read like fish were similar to hibernating mammals that do rely on stores of fat to fuel their lowered wintertime metabolisms. The same news release was printed in other publications but with more complete explanations.

http://www.hometowndailynews.com/19474/harsh_winter_affecting_missouri_fish.html Particularly the last paragraph.....??

I recall reading recently on one of the Springfield news sources that Arkansas DOT personnel were meeting with MoDOT to learn how to better remove snow and ice from their roads. They admitted there was a lack of knowledge on their part and after reading some, not all, of the above comments it sounds like a lack of funding and equipment too. At least they were forthcoming about it ! Also saw videos on the National News media of the huge traffic nightmares on AR I-55 and AR I-40 thanks to this recent storm. Great picture, thanks for posting....

Very true, just ask the City of Santa Monica, CA about that where MTBE leaked into the ground and polluted their wells. One teaspoonful pollutes the contents of the proverbial "Olympic sized" swimming pool. Both additives are bad news.

Not true. It was claimed to be all about about lowering imports of foreign oil. Ethanol has its' own pollutants and was "sold" to U.S. Legislatures at both State and Federal level by the powerful Ethanol/Corn Lobby as a "renewable" fuel source to supposedly lessen dependence on foreign oil imports. So far, Federally mandated 10% Ethanol gasoline content has made thousands of corn belt farmers fabulously wealthy, raised food prices beyond belief, including meats, and has cost the U.S. citizenry untold billions of dollars in mechanical repair bills. At least, in 2012, Congress finally put an end to the ethanol subsidy.

Different specific gravity between Ethanol and Gasoline causes Ethanol to separate from gasoline in a fuel container that is not in constant motion with the Ethanol falling to the bottom of the container. Ethanol's natural affinity for water causes water to accumulate in the Ethanol causing interior rusting problems of Internal Combustion engines. Equal amounts of gasoline vs. Ethanol yields approx. 30% lesser fuel economy for the Ethanol in spite of Ethanol's octane boosting properties. We need to discover the reason 87 Octane or 89 Octane Ethanol-free gasoline is not available in Missouri and change that. Sounds to me like someone's palm is getting greased...as usual !

And a big "AMEN" to that. Almost as soon as the boat dock moratorium was lifted, there was another 20 slip monstrosity placed almost directly across the White from the mouth of Big and Little Indian creeks ( Baxter area) on a shallow, very gradually sloping pea gravel bank !! ( Have fun moving that one ! ) While I don't know about that being a "good fishing area" , there are scads of newer docks around the Lake placed directly on/over good fishing areas with large numbers of unused, empty slips owned by the "dock-slip speculators" who attempt to double their money buying up these new slips and then re-selling at ridiculous profits to unsuspecting newcomers. If the COE truly wants to accomplish something positive for a change, they should put an immediate and permanent stop to this practice or there will be no natural shoreline left. This issue is far more important than the contrived 50' vegetative boundary nonsense but since money is changing hands, it's obvious why it's not being addressed !

I wasn't there and I didn't see them but any Canid close to 80 lbs. is either pure Wolf or one of those Coy-Wolf hybrids that have been verified expanding their range in the Northeastern U.S. and Southeastern Canada. There was an excellent program about the Coy-Wolf on PBS-TV Wed. night, 1-22-14, at 7 P.M. CST on their "Nature" series. Most of those programs are re-broadcast or can be viewed on the PBS website and if you can find it I would suggest anyone interested watch it or record it. Good, solid info. presented in an interesting, non-boring format with lot's of videos of the animals. Apparently they are a lot less "shy" of humans than pure Coyotes and that is worrisome to many. Sorry about the loss of your family pets, Coyotes are really bad about that.

Being one of the biggest, soft-hearted dog persons around, I have to admit that picture of the dead animal in the article was pretty tough for me to look at as Wolves are supposedly what our domestiic dogs came from.

Kind of surprised no one has posted this in the Conservation Issues area or commented on it yet with all the attention given to Cougar sightings (the four legged ones) :-) ! http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140116/LIFE06/301160026/DNA-confirms-animal-killed-state-grey-wolf MDC has been explaining to everyone the Cougars sighted in MO are just young males passing thru but here we have a seemingly healthy female Grey Wolf in the prime of breeding age ! Could it be that all that howling we hear at this time of year (mating season) isn't coming from just our local coyotes ??? Hmmm..... The animal pictured in the article looks a lot different, up close, than the typical Coyote and I applaud the hunter for recognizing it and turning the carcass over to MDC for testing.

According to what CBS National News broadcast just reported they were headed towards Hwy 65. That would follow landing protocol as it would have meant landing "into the wind" so I don't know where the passenger the media quoted saw a "cliff" but there is a considerable drop-off at the SE end of the COO runway. Either way they avoided a disaster. Southwest is abandoning the Branson location/airport in June 2014.

According to one of the passengers on the Southwest Airlines flight that mistakenly landed at the College of the Ozark's airstrip, "We have all deplaned from @SouthwestAir 4013, and the mood is somber now that we realized we were 40 feet from the edge of a cliff,” Schieffer tweeted " !!!! http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140113/NEWS01/301130056/NTSB-investigating-Southwest-airport-mix-up-near-Branson?nclick_check=1 Can you imagine the loss of life (124 reported passengers + aircrew) if that pilot had not recognized his error and slammed the engines and reversing gear plus brakes to full-on during that landing ? And that's not even mentioning the environmental disaster resulting from a 737 crashing into Taneycomo.

Good point Wayne. To my knowledge ongoing collection of taxes has not shut down so the money is there and this fear-mongering garbage being spread by the Administration and the biased media about defaulting on the obscene debt payment is just that.....garbage....as usual !

Read where only COE operated campgrounds will close. Those operated by this private organization that currently operate several COE campgrounds on TR will remain open....BUT...since the COE just ruled against the legality of it's contracts with these private groups that is not a sure thing. At the Baxter launch ramp, for instance, the iron gates leading to the campground are past the road leading to the launch ramp, so if the COE puts up barricades to the launch ramp road that WE own, simply move the stupid things and launch and enjoy your day of fishing on OUR Lake. It's OURS,.not THEIRS !!!

Under our current system, there is no way for a challenger to defeat an incumbent without first prostituting themselves to special interest groups to raise campaign funds. That is precisely why we need the 28th Amendment installing retroactive Congressional term limits and also retroactively abolishing the obscene Congressional Pension. Get the "Lifers" out of Congress ! When you have term limits, imposed by Congress, on the Presidency vs. Congressmen who can be re-elected until death, the so-called "balance" between the Legislative and Executive branches the Founding Fathers intended no longer exists !

Hey now, don't go insulting Mules. Many of them are a hell of a lot smarter than a lot of people

Yep, the McGard Company makes motor-specific locking prop nuts. www.mcgard.com Just don't misplace the key after installation and record the key code somewhere for safekeeping just in case.

The despicable, brutal murders committed by the two runaways from LUC are the worst but not the only area crimes perpetrated over the years by runaways from LUC Boy's Ranch. At least the previous crimes were crimes against property. There are several threads started by former "residents" and employees of LUC on a website http://www.topix.com/forum/city/branson-mo . Anyone seeking the "other side" of the story on this operation might want to read a few postings there. After reading several of the narratives it became clear why kids would runaway from this "Boy's Ranch" if you can believe everything that was posted.