joeD

Are we lake fishing or river fishing? There is a difference. Just like there is a difference between the Great Lakes and Wisconsin or Minnesota waters and our Ozark streams. So, to answer your question(s) Mitch, I will assume: 1. River fishing 2. Winter fishing 3. Ozark stream fishing in the winter with either a plastic tube jig or some sort of jig (natural or silicone) with a pig (plastic trailer of some sort, or a jarred substance). 4. That people in the north have a quite limited selection of attractive women to choose from. ( Just look at the cheerleaders for the Wisconsin Badgers football teams or the Minnesota Gophers basketball team. Then look at the cheerleaders from Alabama, Florida, or UCLA. Quite a difference). Anyway. Umm. What was the question?

Gary Pinkel is in trouble. Look at his news conferences. Notice his eyes. They are almost always downcast now, when he is talking. He rarely looks up. It is a tell. He talks to a spot at the reporters' feet, instead of straight ahead with confidence. Just an observation. Switch James Franklin and Johnny Manziel of A&M, and Mizzou would be 9-2 and Texas A&M would be 4 and whatever like Mizzou.. Simple as that. Quarterback play in college football is the single most determining factor in a team's success. Therefore, looking at Mizzou's quarterback situation, well, now you know why Gary Pinkel's eyes tell no lies. Mizzou cannot compete in football, in the SEC, as long as our quarterbacks are so ineffective. Then again, it's not about football is it? It's about the university as a whole getting a piece of the money pie that is the SEC conference. Kill or be killed. Don't get left behind. Unfortunately, college is about business, about making money, in other words, behaving like a corporate behemoth. Educating our children is secondary. Sorry. Off the soapbox now. Anyway...Good luck to Mizzou football, they'll need it.

It was a rape charge. Student body panel punished him. There is no legal or law enforcement action against him. My opinion? Either dismiss him from the team, or play him. This purgatory of being on the team but not playing is nonsense.

James Franklin is not a good quarterback. Neither is Berkstrasser. Also, and importantly, those two are not Chase Daniel. Or Blaine Gabbert. And they don't have Jeremy Maclin. Or Will Weatherspoon. Or Danario Alexander. Or Will Egnew. Or Dave Christianson. Or..or..or.. Mizzou, unfortunately, has not replaced the talent that has left the program, with equally capable players (which teams like Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, and others do). Which, naturally, brings up the Pinkel question. Can he win in the SEC? Also, and I think it's important, and relevant, what about Bill Snyder at K-State? Look at what he has done and what he is doing. At K-State. Also, of note. Kentucky fired their football coach because he lost to Vandy, albeit in a big way. We lost to Vandy. Had a hard time with Kentucky too. Face it, although Gary Pinkel is a fine coach and a decent human being, who has elevated the Mizzou football program to prominence, I think he is overmatched in the SEC and will have little success in the future. If being a middle of the road SEC team and getting into non-impactful bowl games is OK with you, then Pinkel is your man. Otherwise..

Ahh, the vagaries of the White. We love it. We hate it. But we'll always come back. PS: If the generation schedule was known in advance, then, wouldn't the river be even more crowded?

Mic- The answer to your question is yes. Smallmouth fishing on creeks is done. And on most other Ozark streams too. Oh, I'm sure lots of people will tell you otherwise, that you can always catch smallies in the winter if you vary your tactics. And that is true. Sometimes. Or less than sometimes. There will always be, of course, exceptions, and pictures to prove it. What those pictures and stories don't say, however, is how many fishless hours and trips were spent before and after a nice fish was caught. Smallmouth fishing in the winter is just not that productive. Sure you can do it. Sure you might catch a fish (HOORAY! I CAUGHT ONE! THOSE GUYS DON"T KNOW WHAT THEY"RE MISSING!). Chances are, though, you will be shut out. Count on it. So, the question is, how do you want to spend your valuable fishing time?

Ooof. You tinkerers. Am quite sure you're right. Still love poking you with a stick. Cant help it. Carry on.

Name one city in the United States (not Vegas) that a casino has had a positive effect. .

The water water will be ulraclear. I always throw a white super fluke. It will work. The trouble with jigs on the jacks fork, is that they will invariably get hung up in the rocks. This will happen over and over again. It will not happen with an unweighted fluke. You've been so advised.

Dremels, rabbits, glue, jig heads, needle noses, gold strips, vices, marabou. Impressive to say the least. The chances of you catching a trout with your creation? Not good. But carry on , good soldier. Hope springs eternal.

This 18.5 incher was caught this past Friday, the 12th. Fishing was fair. Water was beautiful, as was the scenery. It was in the SMB Management Area. Of note. No spotted bass were caught. This has been true all year and on different sections. Water condition has been stellar. Of note. I realize that being overweight and smoking are not recipes for good health, or good pictures.

Yes yes yes. I am absurd. That is the least of my foibles. But. BUT. I am completely baffled why so many of us, no, scratch that, so many of YOU, OAF anglers, are so defensive about spotted bass in the Ozark streams we love to fish. This notion of "who came first," and what constitutes "native" as a some sort of moral or ethical guide to our fishing habits is nonsense and disingenuous. The focus of progeny as a function of the "rightness" of a certain species of fish to be in a particular stream is wrongheaded, and moreover, as an argument, moot. For those of us who have fished for smallmouth bass in certain waters, for quite a long time, the negative effect of spotted bass on the smallie population is a fact. To conclude otherwise is a mistake. Not in your waters? Spots and smallies coexisting in 3 and 4 pound harmony? Awesome. Count yourself lucky. Otherwise, I'll continue to try and protect the streams I fish from these useless invaders. Maybe with luck, the Asian carp in the Illinois River will eventually make it downstream on the Mississippi to the Meramec confluence, and start upstream. It would be cool. Think of it. Another species of fish that we can pursue. After all, acceptance is the American way.

Sorry Ozark. Mizzou went for the money grab. Which is fine, I guess, for the university as a whole. As far as football, forget about it. We'll be a spear carrier in an elite conference. Any thoughts of gridiron success are delusional. We have neither the player talent nor the coaching prowess to be anything but a nuisance for the elite of the SEC. Basketball will be different.

Sorry. Somebody puts a piece of paper on your windshield, and you become tediously affronted, calling "foul", because "your rights" have been violated? The Constitution, its Amendments, the Bill of Rights, Supreme Court, all in a grocery store parking lot? Good grief. You should be worried about what the Government is doing to YOU! Wake up. Your ability to live a life of your own choosing is slowly being nullified by technology and big business. And government interference. Get mad about that. Pamphlet. Jeez.

Why is it so difficult for so many stream anglers to come to grips with the fact that spotted bass are both a nuisance and a threat to smallmouth bass? That the the very presence of spotted bass in our Ozark streams is worrisome, to say the least. On this forum, we fish for trout and smallmouth bass. We don't fish for spots. If YOU do, fine. Godspeed. Start a new forum, called "Spotted Bass: Really, We Are Misunderstood and Belong In Your Ozark Streams." Really. If you love spotted bass so much, wouldn't you be in favor of our Ozark streams becoming slower, siltier, less healthy? Allowing spotted bass to thrive? Imagine replacing the smallies in the Jacks Fork with spots. In the Huzzah. Big Piney. Gasconade. I make no apologies in saying that my interest in keeping spotted bass out of streams I want to fish is the correct and prudent path. Selfish? No question. Simply put, absolutely NO stream will suffer by protecting smallmouth bass. They will, however, suffer in both quality and health, if spotted bass are allowed to flourish. I love fishing for smallmouth bass in Missouri's Ozark streams.

Or, God forbid, try throwing a jerkbait on a spinning rod. Despite what you have been told, there is no nobility in failure.For f.... sake, I don't get it!!! Why is the act of fly fishing more important, no, desirable, than catching fish? Never mind. don't answer that.

No he didn't. Why? Because, throughout history, it has become obvious, that the scions of so called "great' men, have fallen woefully short of their fathers' legacy,in both character and deeds. Romney. Bush. Kennedy. Osbourne. Richard III. DeWitt. Queen Elizabeth. Gene Simmons. The list is endless. Spineless, no account sons of men of achievement do not make good leaders. Period.

Since it's an election year, after a presidential debate, let's, for once, tell the truth. I want one person on this forum to come clean and say that he purposely fishes for spotted bass on a "smallmouth" stream. For pleasure. As a target. Thought so.

Experts are overrated.

Look at all the many and varied things that bass hit. Face it, we have no idea what goes on in a fish brain. Basically, if you throw something in the water where bass live, you have a chance. The fallacy is that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. " If I just had this, then...." Just look at the fishing section at Bass Pro. But. I heard that Zoom might come out with a different hued "pearl white" fluke that is scented....

I remember that fish. Nice spot. Caught it on a woolly bugger that was dropped below a renegade I think. Norm is the reason I only fish the Current from the wire to above Parker. Based on his stories.

Nick- Hire a guide. You will learn so much. They live there. They fish there. You don't. It's a too big and changeable a river to walk in with a few "hot" flies and expect to do well. Especially if it's a once a year destination. Get over yourself and pay the money for a guide. It's a great investment that will serve you well in the future. Take advantage. You go there to catch fish don't you? Or, you can become a fly-fishing martyr, toiling year after year, gaining hard won wisdom, but still not catching the numbers and size of fish others are. Legally. I'm not religious, but I agree with Billy Joel. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. Really. Often, stubbornness is not a virtue. Hire a guide. Catch fish. Learn. Be happy. PS: Crooked Creek at 62 is the Pyatt Access. It is extremely low. Not the best place to fish right now. But it is a wonderful smallmouth stream. Don't give up on it.

Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervour. Benjamin Disraeli Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em. George Hanson "Easy Rider"

Don't forget Sean Weatherspoon. Jeremy Maclin. Danario Alexander. Ziggy Hood. Justin Smith. William Moore.

Not what I wanted to "discuss." However, Mizzou has "put" quite a few players in the NFL, and not bench warmers either. With all that pro talent, why hasn't Mizzou been better?