jdmidwest

Came home this afternoon and took a little Siesta. Awoke refreshed and decided to stomp out a creek for some smallie action. Got to the stream and noticed it was muddy. I had crossed it on Friday and water was clear. We had no rain on the weekend. Further investigation revealed the culprit, in stream 4 wheelers. Based on the tracks it looked like a 4 wheeler and a jeep sized vehicle at least, maybe 2. I followed the tracks up several holes and the water was all muddy. Looks like it was done today or last night based on the tracks. There was one spot about knee deep where they had really churned up the gravel in a whole with all 4 turning. It really messed up the fishing and at least one Longear Sunfish bed. I did not follow them all the way up, I turned around disgusted after a few holes. I did manage to catch a few. Reports will be made to the Bollinger County Agent. I hope this will not become a trend again like it was a few years back.

It is County jurisdiction, and it is an old, one lane, low water bridge on a paved county road. Much like States can have different laws than Federal, Counties it seems have the same problem with no consistancy. According to the agent that was bombarded with this problem, there is no county road right of way in Madison County. They do mow the shoulders along this road.

Spent the weekend in one of my favorite parts of the state, the St. Francois Mountain Range. Saturday started early with a drive down scenic HWY E outside of Fredericktown thru the mountains. It is a narrow, twisty road, but the scenery is great. St. Francis River and bluffs, Marble Creek Valley, and of course 5 miles of gravel roughness to Crane Pond Lake. Arrived there around 6 and met my buddy who had already caught and released several nice bass. We proceeded to spend the morning doing more of the same in peace and solitude. We had the lake to ourselves. Around 10, we pulled out and off to the next adventure. Taum Sauk Reservoir has a upper and lower lake, it is a pumped storage facility run by Ameren UE. A few years back, the upper lake levee gave way and flooded the valley. Millions was spent rebuilding it and its operational again. The lower lake is open for fishing. The tourist shop and upper lake is securely closed to visitors at this time. We fished here for several years. At one time it was stocked with Stripers and was unique for that. Since they pump water out of the lower lake into the upper lake to generate power, the water levels fluctuates alot, much like a tailwater. We were not prepared for what we found. The lake was pumped out and lower than we had ever saw. New Berms and Structures of Rip Rap have been created. Timber has been killed out by flooding, the lake is filled with trees. The water is pure mud, probably a result of the additive they put in to settle the mud out after the flood and the new raising and lowering of generation. We caught a few fish, but it is a ugly place now and will take several years to regenerate. After that, lunch at Bailey Joe's in Arcadia and fishing at a private pond for bass. Back again today to Crane Pond, different story. Front came thru, bass turned off. Wind whipping up whitecaps and fishing was poor. We were still the only boat on the lake. The pretty lake at daylight is Crane Pond, the muddy one is Lower Taum Sauk.

What exactly is wrong with eating a fish? Are you all vegetarians?

I know the bridge, and it seems like you are trespassing according to the local game warden. I have accessed there for 30 years and went there last year and seen the same thing and left and started asking questions. Someone got shot a few years ago at the bridge and both owners, above and below posted it to keep away the problems. Seems like Madison Cty does not have any right of way on either side of the road at the location for some reason and you are sol on that too. According to Jeff Scott, the local agent, the Sheriff Dept. will issue a ticket for trespass. Like it is stated above, you are in the right if you are in the water and stay in the water, but there is no place to park without trespassing. Did you ask permission from either of the owners before you set out? That would have been the polite thing to do and may have gotten you a free pass.

Actually, if you read the whole article, he merely states that our Smallmouth Fishing is World Class in its own way. If sitting in a boat in an impoundment catching a 5 lb. smallie is your idea of World Class, so be it. Mine is a nice 18" on a fly rod on a clear stream that can only be accessed by creek wading. He has a point about the management areas, they really have not produced many more fish. But I am thinking most of it is the cause of the enforcement of the area regs and not the regs themselves. Most of the areas still suffer from undersize fish poaching. I would be happy with an 18", 1 fish limit also, but without enforcement, it is pretty well useless. Most streams I wade, it would only take a few anglers killing alot of fish to clean them out. Alot of it is that there are many more fishing the streams for smallmouth than there were 20 years ago and more increased pressure. And most Ozark streams have declined in flow and quality in my lifetime. Many productive streams I used to fish are now gravel filled runnoff canals. Castor River is about half of what it used to be when I started fishing it out of jon boats many years ago.

I have never really noticed alot of "skinny" smallies around here, just evenly proportioned. Lazy Lake Smallies have a pot belly, they don't have to stay streamlined to fight the current. Same goes for stream Largemouths and Kentucky Bass unless they are full of eggs. If you are catching alot of pot bellied smallies, you must be fishing them off beds.

Some mother's son, cheated death one time, continued to fight on the war against Terrorist. 1,000th GI killed in Afghan war was on 2nd tour By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 9 mins ago KERRVILLE, Texas – The 1,000th American serviceman killed in Afghanistan had already fallen once to a hidden explosive, driving his Humvee over a bomb in Iraq in 2007. The blast punched the dashboard radio into his face and broke his leg in two places. Marine Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht didn't survive his second encounter with a bomb this week. The death of the 24-year-old Texan born on the Fourth of July marks a grim milestone in the Afghanistan war. Leicht, who spent two painful years recovering from the Iraq blast, was killed Thursday when he stepped on a land mine in Helmand province that ripped off his right arm. He had written letters from his hospital bed begging to be put back on the front lines, and died less than a month into that desperately sought second tour. An Associated Press tally shows Leicht is the 1,000th U.S. serviceman killed in the Afghan conflict. The first death — nearly nine years ago — was also a soldier from the San Antonio area. "He said he always wanted to die for his country and be remembered," said Jesse Leicht, his younger brother. "He didn't want to die having a heart attack or just being an old man. He wanted to die for something." The AP bases its tally on Defense Department reports of deaths suffered as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan. Other news organizations count deaths suffered by service members assigned elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes operations in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Leicht's brothers told the AP that the military also told the family that his death put the toll at 1,000. When military officers went to tell Leicht's parents that their adopted son had died in combat, sheriff's deputies had to help navigate them to the 130-acre family ranch tucked impossibly deep in the Texas Hill Country. It was here that Jacob Leicht chopped thick cedar trees and hiked the rugged limestone peaks, growing up into an imposing 6-5, 200-pound Marine with a soft heart. He watched "Dora the Explorer" with his brother's children and confided to family that he was troubled by the thought of young civilians being killed in battle. But for Leicht, born in a Lemoore, Calif., Navy hospital, the battlefield was the destination. He threw away a college ROTC scholarship after just one semester because he feared it would lead away from the front lines. "His greatest fear was that they would tell him he would have to sit at a desk for the rest of his life," said Jonathan Leicht, his older brother. When Jacob Leicht's wish finally came true, it didn't last long. His first deployment was to Iraq in 2007, but he was there just three weeks when Jesse Leicht said his brother drove over two 500-pound bombs hidden beneath the road. One detonated, the other didn't. The blast tore through the Humvee, shooting the radio into Leicht's face and knocking him unconscious. He felt something pinch his thumb, and the gunner's face was filleted so badly by shrapnel that medics couldn't keep water in his mouth. None of the five people were inside the vehicle died. Jesse Leicht said an Iraqi interpreter, the only one on board who wasn't seriously injured, dragged his brother from the mangled vehicle. The blast snapped Jacob Leicht's fibula and tibula, and the recovery was an agonizing ordeal of pins and rods and bolts drilled into his bones. But all Jacob Leicht could think about was going back. He launched a campaign for himself at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, writing letters and making phone calls about returning to combat. More than two years later, he was finally healthy enough to serve again. Nine days before his brother stepped on a bomb in Afghanistan, Jesse Leicht enlisted in the Marines. Using Facebook to reach a friend stationed at a base not far from his brother, Jesse asked the soldier a favor: If you see Jacob, let him know I signed up like him. "Hopefully," Jesse Leicht said, "he got the word."

I was there last weekend, right after the 2 foot rise on the 20th. Friday, I dropped off my buddies and let them float while I cooked supper and sipped a few brews, river was a bad shade of Brown. Sat, floated, did not fish, watched the sideshows with the drunken floaters, river was still messed up but getting better. Sunday, the river cleared up alot and I fished till noon and caught several stockers above the falls at the Bayou. Last year, this time, the river was stocked with old brood stock from the hatchery and we caught some biguns. It was one of our annual get togethers, we stayed at Riverside and had a good time.

Fat pig, worthless paddler, and enough gear to sustain a woman and a baby for 3 days, you will need no less than a 19 footer with a trolling motor or small outboard. You may want to invest in a river jon or a big jet boat. In all reality, a 19 foot square stearn alum canoe handles quite nicely and can carry alot of stuff. They can be floated on most Ozark Streams. Put a 3-5 hp outboard or a nice trolling motor and you will have it made. My first canoes were square stearns in 17 and 19 foot. We floated many times without motors and they handle nicely on most water with a little experience. Put a motor on them, we could troll holes, motor back up and get snagged lures, power thru still water, or outrun a storm. I still have a 17 ft square stearn AlumaKraft canoe sitting beside my 17 foot Grumman. Since I only do day trips, my yaks are all I use.

Trout can stand colder water, anything above 65 to 70 and they stop feeding and are more prone to disease. Most hatcheries are fed on spring water which is about 55 degrees on average.

I think it is more habitat than anything. Other states have more deep cold water habitat than we do. The streams that support them here in the summer warm up too much and stunt their growth. Our lakes do not provide the temperatures needed for good growth. They are similar to trout in their temperature requirements, just a little on the warmer side. When placed in warm ponds, they do not do well. Our spring feed streams and deeper cool rivers that are spring fed provide our best habitat in MO. Alot of the habitat has been altered by man, dams and trout stocking. I really don't think fishing has much to do with it, but would not be opposed to stricter limits to ensure better sized fish. The Tennessee River system provides some real nice fish, Pickwick Lake being one of the best Smallmouth areas I have ever fished do the size and health of the fish. Kentucky Lake is changing over into a good smallie fishery also, most feel it is the change in currents creating the habitat necessary for them.

Sam A Baker Park has cabins and a boat ramp with a long hole that can be trolling motor or outboard for some warmwater fishing. Don't know where you are coming from, but it is a nice park on the St. Francois River. Its short notice for a cabin, but you may find one open during the week. Pretty country, nice backroads driving for a little diversion. The ramp is at the lower end of the campground with deep water for a boat for about 3/4 of a mile of fishing. You could catch any of the species you mentioned this time of year. You are only about 20 minutes North of Lake Wappappello Old Greenville access for more fishing opportunities.

Ted Nugent on Black Bear Hunting.. If you are this politically incorrect... By Ted Nugent Washington Times - 6:37 p.m., Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Ah, the joys of spring cleaning. What a wonderful American ritual it is to pursue cleanliness next to godliness as we tidy up our homes and properties following another cabin-fever-inspiring wintertime. Personal hygiene doesn't end with sacred temple management but surely extends into our beloved homes as well. My kids were all taught this self-evident truth, and spring is welcomed by most Americans thusly as we clean up for another grand year of the American Dream. Likewise, many of us begin to lovingly grab fistfuls of good mother earth as we connect to the sacred ground while we plant our gardens. Show me a person who tends his own garden, and I will show you a person with a higher quality of life. No food tastes better or is better for you than hands-on, homegrown. It is indeed perfection as the circle of life goes unbroken. I like it. Tribe Nuge celebrates all these fine traditions and we enjoy them all immensely. But in addition to cleaning, maintenance and gardening, there are more powerful, intense springtime connections that millions of Americans enjoy and are pivotal to a Nugent spring. Nothing says "Happy New Year" like spring turkey hunting, and with more wild turkeys in North America than at any time in recorded history, the mighty thunder chicken should be in everyone's sights. With a radar approaching omniscience, this wary, wild, big-game bird is a force to reckon with, and when you challenge yourself with a simple, primitive bow and arrow, you are stealthily creeping into the world of the near-impossible. Maybe that's why they taste so good. Hard-earned sustenance is always better than assembly line fodder. Know it. Kill it. Grill it. But if you really want a springtime arrowgasm, nothing compares to the annual May trip my sons and I take into the lap of God - our ritualistic, last-frontier black bear hunt in Alaska. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, like millions of American sporters, the great spirit of the black bear beckons us into the wild again for a perfect rug-steak boogie. And like the incredible conservation success story of the wild turkey, there are also more black bears in North American today than ever in recorded history. How cool is that? Unlike California, New Jersey and a few other states that continue to waste untold tax dollars with proven counterproductive, politically correct damage-control procedures - like capturing, tagging, relocating, recapturing, retagging and re-relocating, and paying off in more wasted tax dollars in compensation for destroyed property and livestock, and in some cases, human lives, then eventually killing the bears anyway and burying them - most states, like Alaska, keep this magnificent big-game animal in the asset column by managing black bears as the renewable big-game resource that they are. My wonderful sons Toby and Rocco and I join our friends the Sims family in southeast Alaska's Prince of Wales Archipelago where monster bears run amok smack-dab in the middle of God's country. Like whitetail deer, elk, turkey, moose, caribou, antelope and other big game, bears are exciting to hunt and delicious on the grill. And of course the legendary bear rug is put to the ultimate wise use as well, I assure you. There are those poor, ignorant, disconnected souls who howl and squawk against bear hunting. But that self-imposed ignorance is ignored by those of us who know better, and we hunt and kill thousands and thousands of black bears all across North America every spring. With more than a million bears thriving beyond their historical ranges, we generate billions upon billions of dollars in revenues for local communities for licenses, permits, fees, guides, outfitters, travel, food, lodging, supplies, sporting goods, souvenirs and a long list of economic productivity that puts the mighty black bear solidly into the asset column where this majestic beast belongs. My bear encounter last week in the stunning wilds of New Brunswick gave me pure wilderness chills as the omnivorous beast slowly made its way into my beautiful forest ambush, where a well-placed arrow killed it within seconds of the shot. This gorgeous specimen was an old, mature bear with a spectacular long, luxurious black coat, a mouthful of deadly capable fangs, and claws made for taking down moose and other bears. Maybe guitar players, too. As my hero Fred Bear said, the mighty bear will "cleanse the soul!" Bear hunting is not for everybody, just like the city life, escargot, sushi, tofu, NASCAR and everything else in life. But as long as we continue to respect the big-game animals like the black bear that feed, shelter, clothe and inspire us, America's wildlife will continue to thrive and be the envy of the world. The hunting lifestyle is quality control, not to be confused with the irresponsible waste of damage control when intelligent hunting procedures are abandoned in the name of "feel good" political correctness. Never should bureaucrats be allowed to waste more of our hard-earned tax dollars to kill our big game for us when we the people are more than happy to pay for the joys of such a direct connection to nature. Nature as healer, bear tenderloins as BBQ. Perfection is just an arrow away. Ted Nugent is an unstoppable American rock 'n' roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is author of "Ted, White & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto" and "God, Guns and Rock 'N' Roll" (Regnery Publishing)

Looks like Darwin had to be sidetracked again by our government. Don't eat the raw crayfish as a stunt. A few years back, it was don't swallow whole perch, they can lodge in the throat and kill you. Seems like the raw crayfish have a parasite that can grow into the size of a grape and infect lungs and what little brains was left of the person that eat them.... Don't Eat Raw Crayfish.

Unfortunately, the natives probably gigged them......

MDC operates on its own budget separated from the MO Government, which normally lives within its means. The laws that are put forth governing game is made by the state, not the MDC. You call suckers "trash fish", but if you have ever had one fried fresh, it is better than trout or smallies in flavor. Once again, just because you don't understand something, you should not preach against it. Educate yourself. The only "trash fish" are the ones that nobody eats and wastes by keeping them till they freezer burn. Carbon Footprints?? Treehugger?? Mankind's gift is the fish of the stream and the fowl of the air and the animals of the forest, from them we will find nourishment, thus is the real reason we fish and hunt.

MDC employees Biologists that monitor stream populations of fish and other species. When they set a season, they are pretty sure it will not affect the population of the stream in a negative way. A few years back, MDC tried a age old method of fishing called Grabbing or Hogging. At the end of the first season, they determined that too many large, mature catfish were being taken with the method and the season was discontinued to preserve the population. I have never gigged a fish and have never wanted to gig a fish. If there are poachers taking illegal fish, then it needs to be stopped, but gigging is a valid sporting method that provides entertainment and nourishment to a group of sportsmen. I don't bow hunt any longer and I know alot of deer are crippled by bow hunters each year. This may affect my gun season, should I get on a high horse and campaign against for my interests only? I don't snag paddlefish and am sure game fish are caught and harmed by that method also, should I campaign against that? NO. Just because you don't understand something does not make it wrong or odd or incorrect, it just means you lack the ability to reason and learn about them before you cast judgement. I don't have any links or papers that show actual data on the matter, I just trust the MDC to do the research for me. If you want, google "gigging effects on missouri streams" and see what pops up or do a similar one on the MDC site. Or, if you are really bored, call a fisheries biologist and ask him to provide some statistical data on the subject.

I was just fishing for the reason he wanted to purchase the rod. But you are right, he needs to try to buy.

Don't forget about Obama causing the Oil Spill.....

Its a legal sporting season, set by the MDC, monitored by the MDC, and enforced by the MDC. The rules and regulations are on the MDC website, in the fishing handbook, and the MDC handbook of rules and regulations. Surely you can figure that out or do you just like dumb questions????

It is a genetic mutation caused by a lack of a certain pigment in the skin, I think melanistic is the term. It was explained to me by a biologist as we floated the Norfork stocking Brown Trout one time. Several of the stockers were almost white. If they are totally white it is albanism or albino. It is not the Golden Trout breed from out west.

A sportsman should never complain about another LEGAL sporting method like gigging, a long standing tradition here in the Ozarks. Just because you don't understand it or do it, its legal and some enjoy it. Just because you think they may take an bass or two you want to outlaw it. I would guarantee there are many more tickets written for undersize and over the limit bass fishing than there are gigging violations. If we were to use the same analogy and a gigger got on his high horse about people attacking undersize bass based on a few poachers he saw on the stream, he would want to abolish bass fishing. Enforcement of existing laws is what we need, call the 1-800-392-1111 and report the poacher instead of complaining about a legal fishing method that does not affect the fish population. Complaints are fuel for the fires of Anti Sportsman groups like PETA and others.

Make it about politics, shut it down....

Do you fish Dry Flies any?? If you don't, then you will probably need to stick with the 5 or 6 wt.