jdmidwest

I remember this one guy that was sitting behind a deer decoy in the middle of my field on opening day in camo. Lucky for him, I have a scope and used it to check out the strange thing in the field before shooting. Trespassing and no hunter orange. Not to mention just plain stupid. But then he went back to state custody for Meth.

I have seen several "sportsmen" lately shoot at the breast. What a waste of good meat. And I am not a fan of decoys either. Or gobble calls. Too many numbnuts in camo that can't tell a legal bird from their own butt.

Lowrance has cables that lock on. I am guessing that Garmin does not? Good save.

Quick question. Are tax preparers happy that this day is over?

Dash cam catches a biker that gets attacked by a flying snake. http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/this-is-the-real-reason-you-should-be-scared-of-motorcy-1794400523?utm_source=lifehacker_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2017-04-18

I am not from the Springfield area, I usually travel halfway across the state toward Springfield to get my best fishing. Usually a 3 hour drive for me or more to the locations I mentioned. I would check area lakes that MDC stocks with Redear and hit those in May.

I'd skip the lottery tickets for a few days with that luck.

I don't know about license restrictions, but I would hit Bull Shoals and Norfork Tailwaters. North Fork of the White would be another. Both excellent trout fisheries. Eleven Point River is outside of the border but worth the extra few minutes. May is panfish spawn, I always like to hit a nice redear or bluegill bed for some hot action on some nice bulls. Spring rains can make streams iffy, but if you catch them clear, Jacks Fork would be a nice warmwater float.

All that corn you have been feeding him...... Should be tasty. Good Job. My shoulder is still not well enough to take a shotgun blast, so I get to sit this one out. First season since 1976.

Planted green beans, cucumbers, and squash today. I have one strawberry turning red. Snow peas are blooming. Still no lettuce, spinach is spotty.

Morels tend to be symbiots to trees. Mostly ash, sycamore, elm, poplar. But I do find them around other trees or where trees were.

A friend and owner of Foutz's Fishing Shop in Cape Girardeau, MO died yesterday in a one car accident north of St. Gen. on I 55. Most any fisherman in this area would have known him and had been in his shop. Some may have known him on here when he ran a shop in Columbia many years ago before moving here. He was a Bass Pro Dealer, had a well stocked archery dept., and a full line of other outdoors products. He had grown over the years and had just opened up another location in Perryville last spring. Great guy, passionate fisherman. I will miss him. http://www.mccombsfuneralhome.com/danny-foutz/ On the way to the city yesterday, we passed the accident scene. It looked to be a horrible accident. On the way home, my daughter read the online article that covered the accident, but they listed him as William Foutz, a name I never knew him by. I finally put 2 and 2 together last night when I googled William Foutz and it came up with his home address.

I have a friend that lives a few miles from Barnes, we will probably stay with him. Not going to do the 4 hour drive each day. I will try to take you up on the jet boat trip. Never been on that part of the Meramec much. I should have several long days, planning on getting bunches of flies tied and seeing the sights in St. Louis.

Monday will be full. May have a 6 week stay in St. Louis for the radiation. It will only kill about an hour a day probably. I will PM and get with you then.

Its the calm before the storm. I go in Monday for the rest of the story. I meet with the Oncologist and Radiologist. That will let me know about chemo and radiation therapy. Upside, I have several hours between appts. Will have to visit Tom or Bob on Manchester and look over some fly tying materials.

As part of my recovery, family doc prescribed some casting therapy to loosen up the shoulder on the side the surgery took place. He was off on Thursday and Friday and I made an appointment to go and see him for a few days. Original plan was to pull the boat down and fish Pickwick for the smallie spawn that is going on. But the weather dumped a huge front that was still in the area Thursday morn as I pulled out. Change of plans, spent the day boat shopping in Memphis and touring the new Pyramid Bass Pro Shop. By far the best one so far, the main floor of the show room is a swamp conplete with floating boats, fish, and waterfowl swimming around. Quite a place. Friday dawned and our job of the day was to meet a guy at a ramp on the Tennessee River and check out a boat for sale on Craigslist. We did not have to meet him until 1:00 so we had time to fish. TN stocks several streams in the spring around Hurricane Mills with trout so that was the plan. First stop was to tour the area that Loretta Lynn owns at Hurricane Mills. There were 2 stocking points there, but a nationwide Motocross Rally was forming for the weekend at the campground so we just looked around. Off to Tumbling Creek and found a good access point. Fished for about 1 1/2 hours, caught 12 myself with a bluegill and a chub. Buddy caught 8. Shoulder casts well, but gave me a little pain. Been taking things too easy the past few weeks and out of shape for the most part. Off to the TN River and tested a 2014 Nitro Z7 Fish and Ski, looks like it will be our new Pickwick Lake boat. He was fishing a state tourney for high school students and needed it for the weekend. Probably go pick it up next weekend. Off to Montauk in the morning with my daughter to piddle with the park trout and work the arm a little more.

I have been wanting to visit your place, how about first day of turkey season? I could help you get rid of the noisy beast.

One thing I noticed around here. Due to lack of snow this year, leaves are thick and fluffy making it hard to spot morels. We did not have a snowfall that made the ground white here this year.

I have never heard of an inaccurate USGS topo. Their cartographers have always been quality. And I forgot that, I use the topos too.

I think USGS was spending too much in the search for Global Warming. But. I like their stream gauge network and check the earthquake page from time to time. Back when I made trips to Alaska, I looked at the volcano site some. It is nice to have the info.

I have searched a few graveyards in the past and did not roll any skulls or mushrooms. I deemed them a lost cause. I do have one that has a good pecan tree growing in it.

It is starting. Not quite full on yet.

Sculpins like meat. I have fooled around with them cleaning fish on trout streams. They will give you a vicious strike it it is something they want to inhale. And inhale is how they feed. I remember some guy on Norfork Tailwater that used to catch them and put them on a hook for trout bait.

Today, 2 weeks after surgery, I caught a break in the weather and went to the farm to check my bees for the first time since spring thaw. Temps were in the 70's and weather was nice, but another storm coming in. Lucky for me, the girls were happy and working away. 3 hive made it thru the winter, 2 were in really strong condition, the other average. 2 hives were bearding bees, a sign of over crowding. One had a large number on the outside. I made my way thru the hives and added boxes without any issues or stings. I added an extra deep box to the middle hive with all of the bees hanging outside and by the time I left, all were inside. I went and put honey supers on, knowing that with my further cancer treatments, it may be a chore later on. I may even go back next weekend and add one more for good measure, it looks like it may be a great spring for honey production.

A few small ones today in the yard at the farm. Searched a few other spots and came up nil.