jdmidwest

What surprises me most about this thread is that most seem to be reading the paper version. A true sportsman worried about the environment would go online and read it or save it to a book reader. It would save trees, save the MDC the printing costs, labor to mail, and postage that could be used on some other project like a nice Bass Cook Book. http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag It is and always has been a first class publication that I have enjoyed for many, many years.

Meramec Spring trout park. I have had some of my worst experiences fishing there. Rude people, crowded, and other things. The worst was when I stopped in for an afternoon of fishing, paid entry fee and bought a tag. Go down to stream and there was a jon boat puttering around cutting moss. Went back and asked for refund. I have drove by many times since and never stopped.

Pulled up my snap peas today and cleared out the lettuce bed, its done. Replanted both for late summer. Picking a few small grape tomatoes, green beans, jalapenos, and cucumbers. Zucchini just starting to set fruit. Dill is headed out. Everything else is catching up. Sweet corn is only about knee high as is the patch of okra. The other patch of okra is only about 5 in high, it was planted only a few weeks ago after a short drying period. Cowpeas are looking pretty good, no blooms yet. Horseradish is doing good, should have some nice roots this year. We went from too much water and no sun, to hot and dry. I am watering the beds now to keep them happy. Tomato plants still look weak this year, all vine and no foliage. I am going to cut some trees this fall to open up the main garden to the sun again. My pole beans are vined and looking great, but. Jap beetles have started on them and they are not producing flowers or beans yet, just vines. Bees are still packing in the honey.

Thats what waders are for, leeches don't stick to them. I have had several latch onto me wading around the thick flowing water weeds. Only took a few to make me just put on a pair of waders. Interesting little critters, rubbery, stick like glue. Looks like the campground is still there. But like the last time I was by, a machete would help.

I wonder if you could scoop them up, boil them, shuck them, and make a nice etoufee?

Separate and identifiiable is the rule. Cutting a fin of all the ones that one person has would make them different from the other if you were tossing them in a bag. But I would not advise going to all of the trouble. Metal stringer poked thru the tender spot of the lower jaw is the way I carry them on the stream. As long it is attached to your body, you will not need to tag it. Gut them and toss them in a ziplock with either your daily tag or something with your Conservation ID and the date and they should be good for possession and transport in a cooler for camp or trip home.

I don't disagree that it all runs downstream. But I remember a time when it happened in many major streams. I would rather see it where it is and know it will stay there then try to stir something up and find out they have a majority vote somewhere and get it back in other streams. No matter what we do, we can't protect all of the environment all of the time. I have resolved to the fact we are in the next big extinction, number 6, so it really does not matter.

I might try to make some mead this fall when I harvest honey. I will just have to see what the bees leave me. It has been a goofy spring.

Looks like you are pretty rich. There are starving kids in Africa that would feast on that pic for a week.

So how is the campground?

I think the rule is, if you own all of a small stream environment, you can do what you want. Better them mucking up a small branch somewhere than tearing up and down a more significant riverbed. That would scare the crap even more out of the cattle.

Your has dried out to mud? Last I looked the yard was still ponds and streams here. You must have better soil and less ticks. Our woods have been too green for mushrooms since May.

Skip Clearwater and spend the whole time at Duck Creek. Unless you just want to go over there and look. I doubt if the walleye would be around. Winter months are better for them and I never hear much about them over there. St Francois has been stocked for them, but I looked at the Patterson gauge yesterday and they had a 6 foot rise from Wed/Thurs rain.

Look like tater tots.

Omg. You have never heard of Sponge Bob Squarepants? Thundermans, Phineas and Pherb, or Sanjay and Craig? Phil, don't you let the grandkids watch tv?

I bought a factory second Ellis Battery AGM 5 years ago and it has performed well. In the second boat now and I have never had it run low. I have fished it a whole weekend trolling and drifting without it going dead on the 43 lb trolling motor. I always charge it back full when I get home, I don't let it sit low. I will bring it back to full about 2 times during the winter. I have a shutoff switch on it to prevent any accidental discharges by a switch left on. I would buy another in a heartbeat, most lead acids only last a few years before going weak.

I never said anything about machine guns. I have never seen a machine gun, much less owned or shot one.

Buy an AGM style, you won't regret it. They hold up so much better than an lead battery. Buy a good digital charger to maintain/charge them too.

I have friends that target the white bass this time of year. They use inline spinners, silver blades and red feathers. Look for feeding schools with activity on the surface. Both lakes fish about the same I am told, but have no actual experience.

A friend of mine spent some time this year in the Isles of Man. They freaked out when he talked about concealed carry and building AR rifles. Not something they can do over there. One of the blessings we have and fight to keep.

Live, local, late breakin. A black bear came to town and got shot because he was about to bother some children. We were pulling out at the boat ramp at Perry County Lake this afternoon when we got the story from a local old timer. He said it weighed 400 lbs. Looks like KFVS shrank it down about half. http://www.kfvs12.com/story/29316511/caught-on-cam-black-bear-loose-in-perryville

I took a bee to the foot yesterday. Learned not to wear crocs and shorts for even a simple task around them. It is swelled up even more today.

Stealth bug

Lane Spring is an interesting little area, I used to fish it alot when I lived in the Park Hills. I never spent a day there, but would drive out and camp the night, then fish the next morning. After that, I would leave out to other areas or float a bigger stream. MDC used to stock it during the summer and there were even a few holdovers in the winter sometimes. But they have changed it since then, I think most of the trout are below the campground.

You just can't use spinners and jigs in the bait zone, they will ticket you for that too. But if you put a dab of bait on a spinner or jig, you are legal. Bennett is its own special critter, backwards from what I like to fish. I like fast moving water when I fish for trout, almost all of that is in the bait zone. The only place I really like is below the main bridge at the hatchery. I have caught many there on flies.