jdmidwest

And a happy birthday to Todd, Don, and me. 3 Great guys that were "born on the 4th of July".

Trout spawn in the Spring River? I have never seen that. I thought the water conditions down there would not be right. What time of the year do they spawn down there and where? I have always wondered why they have not made a catch and release area from Lassiters to Dam 3. I guess there are 2 many bait fishers.

The Conservancy and MDC are 2 separate things I believe. The Conservancy is similar to the Sierra Club.

Al, you know how the smaller counties in Mo work. Short handed and crippled by the good buddy network. Their monies are spent on the weekends patrolling the 2 main lakes in the county. You have an access close to you at the gravel pit that has a similar problem. I kiss the ground when I return to the truck parked there and see all the windows in it.

Here, call them, this is all of your local contacts. Someone will probably be more than happy to help you. Contacts for Jackson County Resource Forester Danny Hartwig 1401 NW Park Rd. Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: (816) 228-3766 Urban Forester Helene Miller 4750 Troost Ave. Kansas City, MO 64110 Phone: (816) 759-7300 Chuck Conner 3424 NW Duncan Rd Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: (816) 655-6250 Conservation Education Consultant Mike Fraser 4750 Troost Ave. Kansas City, MO 64110 Phone: (816) 759-7305 ext. 2236 Email: mike.fraser@mdc.mo.gov Outdoor Skills Specialist David Wyatt 3424 NW Duncan Road Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: (816) 655-6254 ext. 225 Email: david.wyatt@mdc.mo.gov Conservation Education Consultant Claudine Lamb Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery C 4750 Troost Ave. Kansas City, MO 64110 Phone: (816) 759-7305 ext. 2233 Email: claudine.lamb@mdc.mo.gov Private Land Conservationist Nick Prough USDA - NRCS 1000 W Wall Harrisonville, MO 64701-1629 Phone: (816) 884-3391 Fax: (816) 887-5772 Email: nick.prough@mdc.mo.gov Urban Watershed Conservationist (local government contact for land use planning issues) Stephen Van Rhein MDC Office 1 Victory Dr Suite 100 Liberty, MO 64068-3813 Phone: (816) 792-8662 Fax: (816) 792-8662 Administrative Office P.O. Box 180 (zip 65102) 2901 W. Truman Blvd. Jefferson City, MO 65109 (573) 751-4115 Fax: (573) 751-4467 Northwest Regional Office 701 James McCarthy Drive St. Joseph, MO 64507 (816) 271-3100 Ozark Regional Office 551 Joe Jones Blvd. West Plains, MO 65775 (417) 256-7161 Kansas City Regional Office 3424 N.W. Duncan Road Blue Springs, MO 64015 (816) 655-6250 Northeast Regional Office 3500 S. Baltimore Kirksville, MO 63501 (660) 785-2424 Southwest Regional Office 2630 N. Mayfair Springfield, MO 65803 (417) 895-6880 St. Louis Regional Office 2360 Highway D St. Charles, MO 63304 (636) 441-4554 Central Regional Office 1907 Hillcrest Drive Columbia, MO 65201 (573) 884-6861 Southeast Regional Office 2302 County Park Drive Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 (573) 290-5730 Email: stephen.vanrhein@mdc.mo.gov Natural History Biologist Larry Rizzo MDC - Kansas City Regional Office 3424 NW Duncan Road Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: (816) 655-6250 Email: WILDLIFEDIVISION@mdc.mo.gov Emily Horner MDC - Clinton Office 2010 South Second St Clinton, MO 64735 Phone: (816) 655-6250 Email: WILDLIFEDIVISION@mdc.mo.gov Conservation Agent Ryan Wood Kansas City Regional Office 3424 NW Duncan Rd. Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: 816-847-2631 Derek Cole Kansas City Regional Office 3424 NW Duncan Rd. Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: 816-763-2075 James Taylor Kansas City Regional Office 3424 NW Duncan Rd. Blue Springs, MO 64015 Phone: 816-690-8446

No I don't work for them! I am just concerned enough about my favorite pastime to get to know the ones that manage it. I know alot of the people that manage the fisheries, forests, and enforcement in MO and Ark depts. They are a great bunch of guys and a wealth of info if you ask the right questions. And your opinions and ideas will go a great way if you share it with them. Why would they be afraid to talk to you in a civil manner, unless you are wild eyed and crazy! I really don't know what you are getting at or what more detail you need. They have a website, regional offices, and various other ways to contact them. If you are mad at them because they idled their truck with the A/C on while they wrote a ticket or investigated a probable game violation, call the local district and vent on them. It would be nice to see someone riled up about all of the fuel taxes we pay for roads but have one of the worst highway systems in the US. How about accounting for all of the rest of the sales tax? What about federal and state income tax?

If you want a detailed report, here it is. MDC is a public state entity that has to account for every dime. Annual report 2006

Good analogy there, and the ratio of income left over to spend is about right, 50 percent take home pay to spend after the gov takes their part..... That should make it clear and simple and illustrate why we have license fees also to supplement the tax revenue. As far as land goes, the MDC waits for someone to offer property to them, they don't attend sales to buy property. They don't want to give the impression that they can come in a buy up stuff with their great buying power. I do know they have made several purchases to compliment the lands they already have.

The tax is one eight of a penny on the dollar. Mo state tax is 4.225 cents per dollar total. Then add County and local taxes which total 6.725 cents per dollar here. The 1/8 cent tax is barely noticed.

"Made in China (buyer beware) By Michael D. Sorkin ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 07/01/2007 Americans were shocked and then angered this spring when their cats and dogs began getting sick or dying from pet food that turned out to be tainted. That has been followed by a near-daily stream of recalls warning about all kinds of other toxic imported products, including toothpaste, baby bibs, toy trains and human food. Now consumers are wondering what else at the supermarket or home store might hurt or kill them. Last week alone the list included glassware from Pier 1, with 21 reports of cracked or broken glass; reclining chairs blamed in eight injuries; car tires blamed in two deaths; and fish and shrimp that the government says could cause cancer. " Looks like America is going to have to start manufacturing its own products again. Imagine that, factories that will create jobs. Economy that becomes self sufficient instead of one that relies on foreign countries for products and is at the mercy of them at any given moment. Maybe the industrial boom in China will go bust and the steel, copper, and petroleum that they are consuming will fall back to normal. Life will be good again, except for Walmart. I wonder where they will buy their stuff?

Well, it seems like you can never go back. Most streams in SE MO are falling into the same repair. The water table is dropping, the streams are filling up with gravel, and accesses are being blocked. Our grandkids are going to have a whole different world to hunt and fish than we did. Growing up, I had free run of alot of timber plots that were managed by timber companies. They have since been clearcut and made into private hunting clubs. Any stream near a county road was open to the public. I could only think of a few persons that would post their land or block access to the streams. Now, I can only find a few places to get in. The people are the same for the most parts, the attitudes have changed. The county had threatened that guy yesterday to either block the access or they were going to charge him to come out and bust up the fights and drugs, so the story goes. I found this out after the fact yesterday. I guess they were blaming him for generating the problem in the first place. I have seen this happen in other neighboring counties of Perry, Ste. Gen., Butler, and Madison. Swimming hole access near a county road or bridge posted with no trespassing or parking by order of the court of that county.

I did not discuss the DNR, it is a separate Federal Entity that draws its money from the Federal Gov. I don't think you even get a chance to vote for their money. DNR's funding was cut by the last president and we pay more for it as a result. MDC is a state operation that draws off the 1/8 cent tax as its only funds other than license fees. Look at the CORP lands, you have to pay every time you pass near one of them. Does any one not have an air conditioned vehicle personally? I would rather see MDC have air conditioners than a prisoner have a TV. Or a deadbeat sponging off the government and my tax dollars driving around in an air conditioned new vehicle buying steaks with the food stamps. I think most of us would like to see how our hard earned money is spent. I already voted for where my dollars are to go. I personally use MDC lands and benefits and I am glad we have it. I use them several times a week. You can use almost all of their services for free. They are a pretty well managed organization but they are at the mercy of the Director. I think the one there now is doing a good job.

GF, I did not attack anyone person on here, just the ones that question the 1/8 cent sales tax. It is money well spent and the MDC is probably the only government agency that has operated within its budget with out asking for a raise or increase in funding other than permits which I feel is justified. The same 1/8 cent tax was approved again by voters, they did not ask for 1/4 cent or a bigger increase this time like other government entities would, just what they had been operating under. Individual land purchases have been slow lately. Elk in MO could have been a disaster to our farmers and our deer populations. They did not think twice about otters and bears and both look like they may be problems now after the fact. We have dodged the bullet so far with CWD in the deer population, and if they had brought in Elk, who knows. Working with landowners is a great thing because most of the land in MO is privately owned. Someone needs to help educate the landowners to preserve MO wildlife and water quality. And they will stock your fish pond if you need them. As far as enforcement goes, alot of game violations get by because of the lack of agents in the field. 1 agent per county does not cut it. And I would not feel bad if MHP increases the number of troopers either. There is never one around if you need it. I think we should respect the ones that help to preserve our outdoors.

Apparently the only MDC lands you use are the trout parks. I assume you do not hunt or hike or access a river with a boat or fish any of the public lakes. I assume you do not participate in the any of the winter trout fisheries. I know you are not a farmer or a landowner with stream access that requires assistance from the MDC to manage your own land. I know you are not a duck hunter and you do not use those areas to hunt waterfowl. I know you have not taken a lunch hour to hike thru an MDC natural area for a little healthy exercise instead of a greasy big mac. I assume you do not access a stream that was previously blocked off to you because a new city guy bought the land and by god its his and no one else's. Thank god MDC has the opportunity to solve this problem and I can attest to several locations I use. Whats the big deal with the trout limit any way, how many go to waste in the freezer? They taste like crap anyway compared to all of the other fish in MO they rank right up there with carp. If you are worried about the measly 1/8 percent sales tax, wake up and think about where the other 6 2/8 th's go to. Wizzed away on alot of worthless stuff like deadbeats that suck money away while the rest of us work to make them a living. I have long awaited a line on my tax form that states "Where would you like us to spend your money?" Outdoors and conservation would be my box.

Fished the Home Waters today, first time in quite a long while. I fished the Bear Creek in Wayne County, my truest Home Waters as the creek and its feeders run through all of the lands my family owns. I have fished them for 40 some years now. This section was my Grandfather on Mom's side. Lower down on the creek than where it cuts thru our farm. I had not been there since he passed in 2000. I first choose a section that I had always liked near the old iron bridge. Mom told me that they had posted the area and maybe I needed to see the owner to make sure it was alright. After a 30 minute talk with him, I left with no access. I went to school and run around with him and his sister, my dad hauled him to work one summer when they worked the same job, he owed my Grandpa a debt at the country store he used to run that was never collected. I asked nicely to cross his fence, talked about family, and did not press the issue. The answer was no, and I left to a different spot. I accessed the creek at the spot where I spent alot of the night Grandpa passed away, things had changed alot in the last 7 years, the lane had grown up and a gate had been put up to keep the shitbums out. A popular swimming hole had become meth alley like the other place I started. The creek has shrunk over the years, I barely got nut deep in the crossings. I remember when Grandpa used to carry me on his shoulders through the deeper parts. Of course, my legs are longer now. The fishing was poor, did not see many in the stream. The fine smallmouth stream has changed alot since the days of my youth. I remember one fine brown bass I watched one summer that lie under a leaning tree. I would lay on that tree and watch his bright red eyes and tried several lures to hook him to no avail. I did see a nice sized copperhead or cottonmouth swimming the river, at first I thought it was a regular water snake. Then I noticed the body floating high in the water, the tongue sensing the air, and a stripe thru his eye. The clencher was the cats eye pupil. It was either the darkest copperhead or the lightest colored cottonmouth I have seen. The stripe thru the eye leads me to think it may have been a cottonmouth that had just shed out.

A few years back, MDC spent a summer in the trout parks running surveys for the trout management. The problem is, X amount of Hatchery space can produce X amount of trout, no more, no less. The X amount had been maxed out. The options for more hatcheries are not possible to very slim. The Y factor in the equation was You, there are more of You fishing for trout than the hatcheries produce. They had a problem, and they spoke with trout fishers to find the answers. Close parks one day a week, Catch and Release one or two days, lower the amount of trout kept, size limits were all some of the options. Catch and release looked to be a favorable option till I asked, "Will you stock the park on the C&R days?". Who would fish a fished out trout park on an OFF day? DNR would lose revenue on the campers and MDC would lose tag revenue. So they made the colored management areas, Red, Blue, and White and cut the possession to 4. Shortly thereafter Ark dropped from 6 to 5. Those of you that complain must not remember the days at Meramec where possession was only 2 fish. They have purchased alot of land, only when someone offers to sell it to them. Their management for the most part is excellent. Some of their actions are a little hard to understand but the end product is usually good. I would like them to double the enforcement part of the system, protect what we have instead of making more critters for the poachers.

On a spinning rod, if the keeper is anywhere but the back side opposite of the reel seat, it will catch the line as it is spinning out on a cast. The distance from the reel seat matters too for the same reason. The same should apply to any rod, but the first guide on a spinning rod is larger and the loops coming off the reel spool are wider. Bait casters and closed face reels have a more concentrated point leaving the reel. I have on that is mounted on a side instead and it snags the line every once in a while. Most fishing shops have a plastic one that mounts to your rod with small O rings and they work fine. If you have a problem with them, go to a hardware store and get different O rings. They don't require anything to tie on or finish out the wraps. They are removable and will not harm the rod or change its original design. I have one on my Orvis 1 ounce rod that I have used for years. It did not come with a keeper, the extra weight would have exceeded the 1 ounce. It is my favorite rod for dry fly fishing 7' 4wt.

You are right, the hook enters their mouth and if they spit the bead, you hook them. The right amount of spacing prevents from hooking too deep and hurting the fish. So effective that some streams have regs on them. Amazingly, the damage was minimal to the fish, I did not kill any or have any gill hooked. The only foul hooked fish were the salmon that were on the redds. Then, you would just pull the hook off with some rotting fish flesh attached to it. We were there just as the reds were starting to die, they would beach themselves or drift down into pools. I have never tried them locally, never had the opportunity of fishing a shoal with hundreds of spawning reds in MO or ARK. In AK, the rainbows and the dollies fatten up well on the eggs and the carcasses during the spawn. In Sept, their bellies look like they are going to pop. You catch a fish and they puke eggs up on you. The other post has the pics, this one happened by accident on my slow dialup.

The famous Alaska Trout bead. The ultimate lure for trout and dollies. Designed to imitate a single egg, a single fertilized egg that has started turning white. To fish it, you can peg it on the line above the hook. Depending on the stream or area you fish, where you peg it is important, the distance that is legal varies. Some parts it is not legal at all. It can be as deadly as bait. The trips to Alaska are strictly catch and release for any species other than salmon and pike for us. Last time we caught and released several trout in the Kenai that had been released several times. 30" to 36" fish were on every hour. The dollies were good sized and very colorful. The fish move into the rivers to feed on the eggs and the rotting flesh of the salmon. Like the bears, they gorge themselves to make it through the harsh winters. The beads are craft store beads in 6mm and 8mm, pink, red, or orange. They are then painted with nail polish to give them the white color. Everyone of the native alaskans have their own theories and formulas on the paint scheme. This one worked well last time. Heres mine. - Faceted craft beads, orange, 6mm or 8mm - Love My Nails Platinum nail polish The pics are of the production area and the veteran of the last time. Several hundred of these will be produced for the trip in different colors and sizes. Other flies will follow soon.

The famous Alaska Trout bead. The ultimate lure for trout and dollies. Designed to imitate a single egg, a single fertilized egg that has started turning white. To fish it, you can peg it on the line above the hook. Depending on the stream or area you fish, where you peg it is important, the distance that is legal varies. Some parts it is not legal at all. It can be as deadly as bait. The trips to Alaska are strictly catch and release for any species other than salmon and pike for us. Last time we caught and released several trout in the Kenai that had been released several times. 30" to 36" fish were on every hour. The dollies were good sized and very colorful. The fish move into the rivers to feed on the eggs and the rotting flesh of the salmon. Like the bears, they gorge themselves to make it through the harsh winters. The beads are craft store beads in 6mm and 8mm, pink, red, or orange. They are then painted with nail polish to give them the white color. Everyone of the native alaskans have their own theories and formulas on the paint scheme. This one worked well last time. Heres mine. - Faceted craft beads, orange, 6mm or 8mm - Love My Nails Platinum nail polish

Yep, doesn't sound like he was too happy. I hope the press did not see that article, the deadly grills will be outlawed. Who remembers the band "Boston"? Me. Dam I am getting old.

Rainbows taste better!

Or getting a trip cancelled is a frustration. Any day fishing is better than a day of work!

I have not floated the upper part this year either, was going to Sunday, but due to the weather coming in, we did the other float. I suspect the cattle operation above the gravel pits may be running cattle in the river or some runoff. By the way Al, nice carvings, I saw a yard full of them...

The only thing sprinkled on the charcoal is barley and hops to keep down the flames.