Trav

Still available!

This is becoming a terribly hard item to find. Any help would be appreciated.

I spent this evening pushing logs off my dock and watched a guy with his son(I presumed) and they were trolling. Never got away from the Rockaway area in front of my dock and watched them catch several.

Interesting. Have fun in Alaska!

I prefer the 90 degree stuff myself. But I do have a hankering for the tropics. Have a good travel! If there is anything I can do for you down here let me know. I will do what I can to help. Enjoy!

Naaa, Im not shocked. Im not tasting foot all the time. Haha

Big M does mean Big Mouth! Haha And everyone here can tell you that I am not afraid to use it!

Haha Just watch out for my big red dog!

I thought all the fish were coming out Shepherd of the hills? Could have sworn I read that there wasnt anymore coming in from Neosho.

Like said earlier Bman, I would have opened my big mouth. At least then his relaxing day would have been interupted.

Your right about the critters red. I have a 8 foot fence for the furry ones and the squirrels still manage to steal some strawberrys. The birds really nail the grapes as well. I just have learned to share a little of my bounty. I have known about the lady bugs but if I dont dust the worms will be too much. So I kind of weigh the pros and cons. I learned to plant ten times more than I will eat to make up for it all. Guess the critters have to eat too. Haha

The soil on my hill is so rocky it is unfit to grow veggies in so I use raised beds and truck in my dirt. They drain much faster so all this rain has done nothing to my crops except turn them into monsters. Im probably using too much fertilizer as well but boy do they look big and healthy. Some of my corn is 9 feet tall and almost all my tomatoe plants are in the 4 to 6 feet range. My squash are like bushes and are spilling all over everything else. My biggest issue every season are the bugs. Aphids and tomatoe worms being the biggest pests. This year I have been sevin dusting pretty heavy. Im crossing my fingers that it will do the trick.

Phil is right. I know I am a bit spoiled. I am a trophy hunter. And a self admitted greedy one at that. Even though I release all the fish I catch, I cant help but to brainstorm for ideas to get even more of the big fish in the lake. I dont even get excited anymore about a rainbow unless its over 3 pounds. And browns have to be in the 5 pound range before I even raise an eyebrow. Saying that just goes to prove that Taney has excellent fish compared to other trout populations. But I wouldnt go so far as to say it is the best. Thats what I want to be able to say. I have heard rumors that some of those California lakes have more 3 pound rainbows per square mile than anyplace in the world. Thats what I want to be able to say for Taney. I thought they stocked 10 inch bows? Now I have caught alot of bows that were 10 inches. Just last month to be precise. How did those get in the lake? Anyway, Maybe a larger slot is the answer, but I know there has to be a way to getting more large fish in the lake. And I am positive that protecting them is the key to maintaining them. We cant grow them to trophy sizes and let the tourists take them home. We need them to stay in the water.

I have 26 tomatoe plants (2 are cherrys), 6 green bell pepper plants, 3 red bell pepper plants, 3 yellow bell pepper plants, 2 jalepeno plants, 2 banana pepper plants, 8 cabbage, a healthy strawberry bed, Swiss chard, leaf lettuce, green onions, alot of corn, 8 squash plants, tons of carrots, radishes and beets, Sweet potatoes, green grapes, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, cilantro, rhubarb, asparagus, wax beans, pole beans, green beans, peas, and also cucumbers. My garden is just over an acre.

cooper creek access?

There is a good tackle store there on main street. Unfortunately there isnt a place to store your boat for a weekend. They are working on a city dock but it dont exist yet. There is a ramp so you can put in pretty easy.

Thats what I am talking about Frenz!

Drew, If anyone is so thin skinned that they cant take some criticism, constructive or not, then they really have no place on message boards that discuss contraversy. I find myself apologizing or justifying my opinions more than I like, but I do it just to be civil or to keep it civil. Like Greg and Phil points out, it will be very boring if we all agreed on everything. I dont take anything personal for it doesnt really effect me. Expressing ideals is very harmless for you can just ignore them if they dont match your own. I started this topic months ago. Mainly to express that, in my opinion, Taney could support more species. Species that once stocked wouldnt need stocking management. Not to replace the trout. Through out the debate I have come to the conclusion, after much research and yes, this debate, that Taney probably will not be able to self sustain anymore fish than it already does. I now believe that there are probably only two species, that isnt already in the lake, that could self sustain. Yellow perch, not exactly a trophy type, and the channel cat. And channels will probably have a limited population due to the lack of spawning grounds. Im confident that pike and musky would self sustain but not without harming the current population of self sustaining species. So not an option. I also feel the lake is too small for Stripers even if there wasnt a risk of losing our beloved trout. That puts the lake back into its fish tank status. I am confident that the lake would be able to support more put and Grow species. Mainly speaking of walleye and smallies. That brings up the issue of money management and the feasibilty of spreading the resources of MDC. It could be done. Although justifying it might be a hurdle. The theory of "if it isnt broke..." holds true. I still believe that you can make a good thing better though. My investment in this ideal is to only give the lake that has the largest diversity already, a bit more to brag about. Dano is right. This high water, wich I predict will continue well into fall, will make the winter fishing phenominal. Wich to me will be of even better benifit for us locals because the tourists wont be grilling all our trout. Here on the lower, I like the high water. The fishing down here is super right now. Keep it running! As far as the slot limit just improving the numbers of medium sized fish....I have to agree. It protects a brood stock that dont spawn anyway. I say we need to reverse the slot. Say that you can only keep Rainbows between 12 and 20 inches. It will give the rainbows more adjustment time instead of only giving them the average 30 days. Will make a more savvy population. Do a modification like the Brown rule that only one rainbow over 20 can be kept. Of course, I believe that there should be more stocking of Browns. Boost that 15 thousand a year to maybe 45 thousand. If you cant keep a bow until it is 12 inches the additional Browns will have plenty of food. And push the size limit of browns to 30 inches. You want to talk about bigger fish, that will do it! Im not a biologist, but I can say with confidence that if you protect the bigger fish more, then you have a better angling experiance. Am I wrong? Would you rather catch 1 big fish or 4 little ones? Since we know that they wont stock walleye and smallies as Put and Grow, then we can manage our trout to the effect that it will give us bigger fish! That should satisfy everyone!

My Dad trolls probably 85% of the time on his home lake. Does a killing on the walleye.

cough cough

There are plenty of rainbows over 3 pounds down here in the lower. I have caught more rainbows over 3 pounds than I have Browns. Just because I target large browns doesnt mean I dont catch bows as well. I call them incidental catches. I doubt they were stocked that big so plenty are growing in the lake. Greg, What ever you think, dont think I am bashing Taney or the trout. I am absolutely proud to live on such a great fisherey. I really dont care if it is a big aquarium. Its my home. Although a few more walleye and smallies in the fish tank couldnt hurt to much. What I really despise though is all the trash that backs up behind my dock. Haha But nothing can be perfect. I know that I am far from perfection myself.

I think it has made the fishing better, but I dont fish the trophy area. I do know it has put a cramp on the flyfisherman who prefer to wade.

And it is still running high. Expect it to continue until fall.

Only one was over 11 though. As far as odds go, I dont know if I can say I have caught over 10,000 Browns. Or even a 1000 for that much. I only caught 42 all of last year.

shhhhhh my probation officer might hear you! Haha