laker67

You obviously do not trust the person or persons giving you the original crappie report, and now you are asking for futher info that you can discredit. How do you know that the 63 viewers fish or live at loz, and what makes you think they are crappie fishermen that have fished in the past week? Trust me that anyone on this forum will give correct info and happy to share until they read a comment like this.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your best friend and fishing buddy Phil. My thoughts and prayers to you and Vince's family. That trip you made to the upper lake last night, is good for the soul. I often think and reminisce about the loss of our good friend and fishing buddy Jimmy, on nights at taney.

Now you know exactly why I have night fished for the past 36 years. It seldom has to do with catching fish. That just comes as a bonus. Like you said, you need to get out more.

Have never caught many sizeable browns under a moon, but Kdan and I have caught a fair amount of 6 to 12 lb rainbows under a moon on the tailwaters.

Congrats on catching that huge rainbow. The fish chuck had was 31 x 21, that was the only thing that Jerod had in question. Could well have been another fish. Next time just weigh the net and the fish together. Most nets are a pound or less. Point your net hoop upstream and when the fish is ready he will swim out. The net bag actually helps keep the fish upright as he is recovering. Other than hanging it on the boga, you did everything else good. Once again, a great catch.

Well congrats there Pete. Glad to hear that they honored your father.

Good for you buddy, that's the way it should work. That was a good heads up call on your part and I am really pleased with mdc's response time. Come on back down soon, it was great to see you and Amanda.

According to the report I heard, the fish was weighed on a boga, which is a no-no, weigh the net with the fish in it. It was also taped and probably a pic or two, that's too much even when they are in good shape. Most of these fish are killed after the fact, it's not the battle that does them in.

If my failing memory serves me correctly, the alligator snappers and the hellbenders started declining in numbers about the same time. Which I think was maybe around 1980 or so.

Hey Leonard, the 14.5 lber that centerpunch witnessed caught yesterday evening was found belly up at # 3 this morning. Jerod looked at the fish and verified that it was the same one. Chuck took the fish to his shop and mdc was going to pick it up from him.

Don't care, if its big, I like it.

Yes sir we should all be that fortunate sometime in our lives. I will take the 20 inchers any day of the week. My post was more about the triploids and just using Bman's fish as a reference point. I think the trips would grow larger than the resident fish in all locations, with probably the prime location at taney.

Actually I referred to it as a "nice catch elsewhere". 20 states show rainbow catches larger than the largest fish caught in missouri, which is 18lb 1oz. 10 are showing fish in the mid 20's to low 30's. Most trout fishing destinations in the west are showing 23 lb fish and much bigger. Not counting alaska, montana tops the list at 33 lb. Like I said, 15 lb and larger rainbows are caught on a yearly basis elsewhere.

You know what scares me the most, and will make the hair stand on my neck every time? It is noisy at the outlet, and Leonard has a habit of sneaking up behind me, yelling I think at top of his vocal range, "Rick is that you"? Scares the heck out of me every time. Paybacks Leonard, I am going to buy a stuffed beaver and set it the drivers seat of your car some night.

As far as the few you speak of. They are the ones who are rude, make their presence known in a crowd, and are not so liked by most. That is what most people base their assumption of lunker hunters to be. The ones who play by the rules and do it the right way are seldom noticed. They don't crowd you out, they are not loud and obnoxious when they hook a fish, and most times have caught and released a good fish without most knowing. You are right about derbys being fun. It's a braggin rights competitive thing that most of us enjoy amongst ourselves. It's a meet up with old friends on the creek, and as much a social event as competitive. It also sponsors a good cause. Years ago a crack down was made at bssp on derby day. It is a hard thing to prove much more than unsportsmanlike methods. Several were just asked to leave, but very few complied if any. At that time, JIm Myers worked for mdc and watched those people like a hawk. It was a tremendous effort on his part to curb and discourage, but had little lasting impact. I look at it this way. When mister snagger takes his trophy home and someone asks, "what did you catch him on"? Right then and there he has to decide to lie each time he is asked, or just tell the truth up front. I suspect that most will continue to lie each time, because a snagged fish is illegal to take into possession. You and I have mutual friends and I am positive that you do things the right way. Feel privledged to fool and land a nice fish within the park. If someone happens to be watching they just might change their minds about lunker fishermen when you gently release the fish to do battle another day.

I have said it before, I am all for triploids in all of missouri's waters. It could help put missouri back on the map for large rainbows instead of the midgets we now produce. Fish like the one that Bman just caught, is a monarch in "our" waters, but just another nice catch elsewhere.

Like you said a misunderstanding, it's ok and thanks.

Just when I thought things might be changing and people were willing to joke about things again, here we go. Seems some got the gist of it, so I will say to billfo, yes it was meant to be a joke and I hope he enjoys many more of those crawdads. Thank you for expressing your concern.

The snagging first, and playing a fish to exhaustion, was a pretty common tactic years ago. Jeff was referring to that in his post. They play the fish out and break it off, or release it near the bank. Then it's just a simple matter of placing your jig or fly in front of the fish and he actually sucks it in as he is gasping for air. A common tactic and highly frowned upon and used by alot of derby fishermen when money and valuable prizes are awarded. They give the "honest" sight fishermen a bad name, because most associate this kind of fishing with sight fishing. You can bet your bottom dollar that Jeff, myself, and a handful of others will be the first to say something and attempt to discourage this unsportsmanlike conduct.

I like it!

I think you should retain part of the name, "Pete's". Also you should come back to bssp this coming weekend. It's Clarence Holland derby, they might turn out some 12 inchers.

I heard through a reliable source that only 6 lunkers were weighed in by late in the day. Don't know what the total was, but it sounds like a drastic decline in numbers from the normal derby. They used to turn out 40 and at least 39 would be caught. I would say that Mr. Hood's input on this forum would not be widely accepted by most. Personally, I would welcome his participation.

My top five choices would be Sowbugs, three gray and two tan.

The crawfish ,with the darker legs, appears to be a Williams' Crawfish. They are rare and endangered and known only to exist in the white river system. How did he taste?

Sure you can, I will bait it with Leonard's chicken liver flies.