Bird Watcher

what a beautiful fish.. I just love the dark black barring and coloring on clear water stream bass. Keep floating Russ!

Roger's is the best sporting goods supply store in the country, IMO. They beat Cabelas and BPS hands down. Anytime I buy new waterfowl equipment, I buy from them. Somehow they are always less expensive, have great customer service and quick shipping.

I'm going to guess Sugar Creek, somewhere above Cyclone.

This post is my highlight of the year on this site so far this year. That is what it is all about my man, or at least to me it is. The greatest thing that could ever happen in all of my outdoor ventures would be if some day my 11 month old daughter and I share a similar trip. I would gladly exchange one trip like that for all of the other trips I have ever taken combined. Congratulations and well done.

A guy who posts reports on another forum that shall remain nameless catches them all summer down there. He never catches numbers, but he catches a nice mess fairly often. Bandits and planer boards. A guy I work with catches them here and there by drifting tube jigs up James river on the pea gravel points. It sounds like TR crappie get scattered and suspended during the summer. 3rd or 4th hand, I know, but I've seen the pictures. Another guy I work with said he had probably thirty last Friday down there at an unamed dock. He said they were stacked in under it. The only problem was 27 of them were between 9" and 10" and 3 were keepers over 10" That just tells me they are starting to relate more to structure and that the last two years of high water on TR probably did the spawn some good. I think it will get better for you guys the next couple of years. Sorry, I know this is kind of discount information, but you were beggin Bill!

Yank, I can already tell I am going to have to come pick you up some day so we can catch some crappie. I've got a lot of critters to hunt coming up, but come hell or high water, we're going to have to get some sac a laits for your pond. It goes against everything I believe in, but I am starting to believe in your cause...just cause I like the way you roll... You might have to drive farther than your neighboorhood creek though.

I knew it. He also took third at the Field and Stream tournament of champions a couple weeks back. He also beats my uncle and his buddies like a drum at their little personal "sportsman's olympics" every year on Shoal Creek. Like I said back on my previous post, John can pretty much do it all.

You're a good sport Buckshot. Good luck with the pond.

Relax Greg, Yank is going to get a school of Stripers, a couple hunner Flatheads, some Blues, maybe some Blue Fin, and some Florida strain in this pond to keep the crappie in check. It will be ok. Yank, Help this doubter see the light. Nancies...

Ha! Finally someone who understands where I am coming from. You're ok for a Yank, I guess.

alright look, obviously you are going to fry your brain on this. It's all been studied and had volumes written about it. Just google search it, or better yet, talk to an actual fisheries biologist instead of asking all of us ignorant, laymen fisherman for advice. I've already read it, I know what it says, but if you think you can reacreate the wheel, or in this case small impoundment crappie population dynamics, then go for it. Don't read anything into the above Yank, no ill intent meant here, but I can tell you have your heart set on it. Only one thing to do in that situation..go try for yourself. Good luck with it. I hope it works out for ya. Not to say that I haven't fished a pond or two in my life that had nice crappie in them.. I have. But I have fished a lot more overun with crappie like the one Cricket posted a picture of. I hope you get the right balance figured out.

John Sappington...I didn't know he was guiding for trout in Branson. That guy can catch or shoot just about any critter that grows in these parts. What a nice fish.

You Yankees sure are hard headed sometimes. That's what I was trying to tell you back on post#2. Now a pond stocked with triploid crappies...That would be awesome.

There is so much timber in that lake...I always tell myself to look for the primary structure first...creek channels, points, etc., then fish the timber. I always target the very biggest trees in the forest for crappie. They seem to like the big, ( I mean BIG, you'll see what I mean) trees. There is a slot on bass on that lake so there are plenty of fun catching 15-20" fish. I've done well on spinnerbaits and senkos in there. I'm sure you could probably catch them on about any of the popular baits for the time of year. The thing I would suggest for your boys though is the catfish over by the automatic feeder. KDWP runs that feeder for catfish and it turns on in the evening. There are huge catfish that come up around it when it goes off. I talked to a PSU student that saw the Kansas State Record channel surveyed and released there this spring, so there are BIG catfish in there. There are also walleye, but your guess is as good as mine on them. Good luck and be careful. There are a lot of trees..there are some boat paths, but if I am not in them I just idle.

I'm with Cricket, and I'm feeling a little juvenile.. Do you have to be an old guy to tie that pattern?

That sounds a lot like the spooklight over here just south of Joplin.

I have no idea, but that look on the the guy's face drinking coffee is hilarious. I can't decide if the coffee was hot, if he was laughing, or if it's a pose for one of those hillbilly post cards. Looks like a good time none the less.

I have never had much luck there either...but it's been years since I have fished it. It is a beautiful lake. Now Bone Creek on the other hand...I'll just say this. It's farther than Grand, Stockton, and Table Rock for me, but it's worth the drive.

The tick has rotational barbs around it's mouth. They kind of appear like a drill bit. If you turn counter clockwise, they lay down and slip right out. If you turn clockwise, they stand up and lock into your skin. Think kind of like a slip anchor. I remember seeing this years ago and when I saw it, they had pictures taken under a microscope of the ticks barbs and mouth.

I don't care what anyone says...it will happen if you bowhunt long enough...Heck! it will happen if you rifle hunt long enough...You just have to learn the hard lessons and do everything you can to prevent if from happening again. Remember what Oscar Wilde said about experience..."Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes." Now get back up in that tree and try again! Later. p.s. I found a lost deer once by going back a week later at daybreak and listening for where the crows congregated. They knew where he was and they were gorging on him every morning when they woke up. It's a long shot, but it might work.

When it gets a fake ID and goes on Spring Break. J/K..I like the term "feral trout"

a word of caution. Crappie, especially white crappie, will completely infest a pond and stunt all the other game fish in the pond in a short period of time unless the impoundment is large enough to support their population. I have heard fisheries biologists state anywhere from 100 acres to 500 acres as the minimum size of a pond before they suggest stocking crappie. They do make a designer crappie that is bred specifically for pond stockings. They are less prolific or maybe even sterile and therefore won't overpopulate like the pure strain whites and blacks do. Just my .02. BTW, Stockton is full of crappie and I am sure you could catch some there to take back. LOZ is also good and has a smaller length limit.

Yes they are. It is hard for me to believe anyone would not like them when they are trimmed up properly. Thanks for the report

I thought it was Catch and Release only up there? Nevertheless, I didn't know Stripers were wiped out of Bull Shoals. I think they still catch them there. I understand that they have trouble with the oxygen depletion at the depths it takes for them to find their desirable temp, but I didn't know they had problems other than they quit stocking them. What were we talking about? Missouri Trout? Ah yes, trout. Trout are great, trout are pretty, it's just too bad they taste so shhh.....er..., bad. They taste bad.

Lake SWEPCO in early Feb. You can catch Flatheads, big ones on topwaters while you are bass fishing at night. One night a few years ago we had 5 over five pounds on Spooks. I guess that is a good nightime memory now that I think about it!