jdmidwest

That was what I thought too, but look closely, it is a bighead carp or an asian carp. Buddy caught a yellow carp later in the day on a cricket too. We were fishing around downed trees that has sloughed off the bank. The bluegill were actual bluegill, no longears or greenies that day.

Thanks for the compliment. Look at California now, sure would not want to be there....

True, but is it really a solution that will prevent the spread? If not, it is futile.

That part was just a joke, much like the banning of felt soles because they are just one of the known factors of transmission. It has been proven that tourists transmitted it, so using the same reasoning, tourists should be banned.

But banning felt soles impacts everyone, residents and tourists, so your theory on that is out the window. The idea of banning them on only the streams that are currently infected makes the most sense. But, if it was the only way to spread the organism, it would be the perfect solution. Unfortunately, there are numerous ways to carry it from one place to another. Maybe on the wheels of the stocking trucks as they move from stream to stream while doing the fish stocking. How about the boats, rafts, tanks, nets, and trailers that Fish and Game uses to stock, they could be a possible transmission mode. True, MDC has numerous locations. But you and I know well that there will be signs at every point of access warning against the felt soles. Just yesterday, on the Diversion Channel Access, I saw a nice full color graphic on invasive species, another sign on horsepower limits, a full bulletin board for area regulations, a ballot box for surveys that was booby trapped with a wasp nest and no survey forms, numerous MDC Area Zone Markers, a sign that stated use only during the hours of 6am til 10pm to keep out party animals, and another sign that I don't recall what it said. It will result in more than just a line in the rule book that you have to look hard for at most vendors. This will only impact certain trout streams, not others from what I have read. It will not be a "statewide ban" affecting all streams.

Its the tourists that brought the stuff in, so why not ban them. Its not the boots, its the people that wear the boots and go different places. The logistics of banning the use of felt soles on certain streams would be as simple as the regulations for the different areas, blue, red, and white ribbon. One big sign and all of the accesses and public statements about a ban on felt soles on an infected stream would not be any harder logistically than to ban it on all of them. But, as the brief statement in the article posted says, which streams other than the trout parks, will be posted later. So it seems, by that wording, they will only be banned in certain trout water, not statewide.

Why not just quarantine the river and prevent anyone from fishing there unless they agree to fish that stream exclusively? Banning felt soles in the actual streams that have been infected with the didymo does seem sensible. That would eliminate the need to ban them elsewhere, the transmission factor would be stopped, and maybe some would be happy.

He has been in Jackson for about 10 years and just now found it. He called last week and reported a pretty good trip. Looks like the weather will be good around there next weekend. I hope they did not get any of the flooding from Lee. Sounds like it should fish the same as around here on most warmwater streams. Wiki says it got its name from Buffalo fish, looks like it should have been called the Drum river...

As most know, the beautiful clear smallmouth stream that starts out in Madison County turns into a flood control ditch around Advance. Below that at the Block Hole, it turns into a channel that drains it into the Mississippi. The old Castor still meanders south at Advance, but is mainly a slough robbed of inflow by the levee. Saturday, I had the morning to fish only, so we decided to test out some new mechanical work on the boat. We dropped the boat in at Scott City Diversion Channel access and motored up. It was hot, miserable. The water stunk like a cesspool from being backed up since this spring from the flooded Mississippi. We had tossed a few rods in, managed to drum up a few bass and bluegill, but not much else. We motored down to the Mississippi and checked it out, watched a tug come up. Sunday was to be Lake Wappapello, but the weather kept us guessing that morning and we stayed at home. Today, after a 40 degree temp change, forecast of 30 mph gusts, and a strong frontal system passing over, we headed back to the channel. Armed with minnows and crickets, we motored up river past Bloymeyer bridge and tied off to a tree out of the wind. I loaded a ultralight rod with a cricket and bobber, and a medium action rod with a minnow and bobber. Both were only out a few minutes when the cricket went under and up come the carp, 8lbs and lots of fun on the light rod. I looked and the minnow was gone, I reeled in a small gar. And that was the way it was going to be for the rest of the day till we run out of crickets. Bluegill, channel cat, carp, and a shad on the crickets. Channel cat and gars on the minnows. Many times I was cranking in 2 fish at one time. Its not the clear, pristine river as it is on the upper end, but it is loaded with fish.

I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with the Buffalo River system between Nashville and Jackson TN. I have a friend that wants to fish it next week. From what I am reading, it looks to be alot like the 11 PT here without the trout. It is a State Scenic Riverway.

Or the rock snot can come over the top of the boots into the neoprene if you are not wearing tight fitting gravel guards and stay viable to the next fishing spot. What if you do what I do on occasion, leave the bootfoot wader in the boots and travel from spot to spot. I take the waders off to keep water off of the floorboard, but the boots fit tight enough that they all come off in one unit like a bootfoot wader. Water and other material can be trapped in them from one location to another.

I don't want the government to spend any of my tax dollars on it, that is the whole point. Don't waste money on boot cleaning stations that don't get used. What is the real method of transmission, where did it come from, and what can be done to stop it. There are more than plenty of private interest groups that can fund that out of donations, voluntarily from citizens. If it was such an issue, why did several Environmentally concerned companies come out with new felt soles this year. Because there are more than one way to transmit it and the government was grasping at straws with the felt sole bans?

Who is to say that I back my boat and trailer in the didymo infested waters of the White River at Bull Shoals and drag it all thru the snot, leave with it hanging all over the frame, in the bearings, in the lights, the wires hanging down, the fender wells. Then my next stop is Taneycomo. But I washed and dried my felt soles good on the way in the taxpayer funded didymo cleaning station. Or maybe 11 Pt on the way home.

Funny, if an individual would have sunk a 5 gal can of gas in a stream, HAZMAT would have been all over it. But.....

It does take all people to run this world, and it really would run better without so much GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION. I am surely glad you brought out the politics on this one. It is not any party, it is simply the Government thinking that they know what is best without really thinking it thru. The government is here to protect us and we need less government.

No, the only way the government funded brains have figured out to date is to ban felts. I really don't think there has been enough thought on this matter. And did I mention the alternative boots were all more expensive than and of the best felts were before the hoopla? There have been other threats to the trout in the past, but none required an executive order to change our equipment.

I thought Norfork Fishery was declining because of low water flows and low O2. Or was it the runoff from the new subdivision that was built near the dam? I also thought the Didymo problem was in the Bull Shoal tailwater.

But, the question was, have they ever determined where the didymo come from in the White River System? Since, historically, all of this area was a shallow ocean at one time, who is to say it has not laid dormant all of these years waiting for the right conditions to bloom again? How long can it lay dormant and still be viable? If memory serve me correct, it is a single cell organism, pretty simple in its life structure. What are its weaknesses? Everything in nature has a control of some sort for the most part, a predator or vunerabiltiy.

So the White River is a barren wasteland for trout now that it has been invaded? I have not been there in about 5 years.

Outdoor Life this month had a do it your self boat plan for a 2 piece drift boat that converted into a 1 piece pram that looked pretty good. Plans were only $45. You could float your favorite trout stream in style or detach the pointed end, put a small outboard or trolling motor on it and have a lake boat.

That was not a bear, it was me looking for a beer.

I guess we could start trout fishing naked. A friend brought up a good point today, how much research has really went into the matter anyway. It is a fairly new issue, one discovered in the past few years. Has anyone actually determined how it arrived into the White River system? I am sure DNA mapping could narrow it down to where it came from. Who is to say it has not laid dormant in a stream sediment for a long time and was resurrected from a flood? I don't have a problem stopping a problem before it gets out of hand, but I want to see a little more research on the matter. If everyone is so certain that it is the felt soles, why haven't all states banned them immediately? Trout fisheries have had to deal with lots of problems in the past. Whirling disease, copepods, various viral attacks, and others. But the solution has never been to ban a method or piece of equipment to prevent the spread. Zebra mussels have spread everywhere, but nobody banned boats because boats were not the only way they were carried from one place to another. What torques me is the fact that I own several nice pair of felt sole boots and have never been out more than $50. I went online last night looking for new ones that would meet the spec and perform like felt, most of them are in the 100 to 200 dollar range, and most were out of stock. First of all, I am frugal. Second of all, I have never seen a boot that is soaked in water all day, dried out, then soaked again repeatedly ever hold up more than a few seasons. I have had better life out of cheaper pairs than I have out of the nicer ones. I really have a hard time justifying the expensive pairs. And all of them had cleats of some sort, which I hate. They make too much noise, they are hard on boats and floors.

Its probably something that will have to go into the rule book in the Spring of 2012, but Parks may start posting it immediately. Good point about the laces, cordura material, neoprene, or any other porus material. What if you slip and bust your but on a slick rock in the White River, transfer rock snot to your neoprene on the butt of the wader and sit down at a trout park and transfer it that way? Finally found the cleaning station at Montauk this weekend up by the hatchery bldg. It was full of leaves and nasty tepid brown water, did not look like it was money well spent. Oh well, another good reason to stay away from the Trout Parks and smallmouth fish.....

Usually any part of the deer except the tail will spin. Local whitetail is fair, the best comes from farther north where the deer hair has more air space and density.

Not this year around here, have not been able to pick more than 3 pieces a week due to this dry weather. The only okra I have eaten has been on a buffet.