jdmidwest

If a stream is only producing 6" parr marked trout, it needs to be managed or policed better. Trout with parr marks are youngin's and are not growing to adult size for some reason. My guess, predation, poaching, or the stream will not support their growth.

Left out to Two Rivers Campground at 4 am Sat. morning, picked up a cousin along the way, and made the campground around 8:30 after breakfast and some camp shopping. Rented a canoe for the first day and floated from Eminence to 2 Rivers. Water was low, quite a bit lower than July when we floated it last. Fall colors were starting to show. Several fish, nothing great except a 25" pickerel on a shad rap. It was a odd float, no longear, bluegill, or google eye, only smallies and largemouth bass. Another cousin met up with us and we camped for the night at 2 Rivers. We went down to the river and watched the giggers in action, working the holes with the bright lights and the jet boats. Was quite a sight with the fog rolling in. Talked to several of the old timers that felt they should put a end to the gigging season for a few years to improve the quality of the fishing. Awoke to a heavy fog on Sunday, in my mind and the air, and booked a float from Williams to 2 Rivers. After a good breakfast at Ruby's in Eminence, we were on our way. The fall colors seemed to have changed overnight and the hills were showing their colors. It was another beautiful day on the river, but fishing was very slow. I managed to pick up a few dinks, but not what I expected for this time of year. Water temps were probably in the 50's based on the tingling in my legs. We saw an eagle both days and got some good shots. The drive back thru Ellington and Piedmont in the hills was almost spectacular. The colors were almost brilliant and will soon be in full bloom.

Typically, there is no camping at either spot. At Baptist, there is a little access road on the left across from where the trailer drop lot is that leads 1/4 mile down river to a good spot. Not any place to camp along the river from the park to Baptist, the gravel bars are grown up.

I have seen some mean spirited stuff going on with some companies lately. There are alot of people unemployed or working below their pay scale just to make ends meet. I have seen some companies squeezing out their high paid people knowing full well they may find a replacement of equal or higher quality for less money.

If he picked up the cost, it would be comparable to giving you a $143 raise a month. Has he handed out any raises this year? Looks like the company may be having some financial difficulty and is cutting benefits in order to stay in business. It may be getting to the point where which is better, a 401k match and full insurance, or a paycheck. Unemployment only pays $300 a week and no benefits.

Same thing forced us into what we have now, we had a cancer claim that raised our group of 8, so we switched to the current. Same thing is forcing all insurance companies into increases, they have to cover higher risks and increased payouts. Insurance has been rising by large percentages for several years, they have to compensate for the payouts. BTW, my employer does not even participate in our group, he is a government official also, and is covered by that policy.

I really don't subscribe to the sat tv for news, I glean that off of the net, you don't have to listen to a slant. I do like it for trash tv with larger than life shows and comedy. I like having a good laugh at times with Comedy Central and others. I do like a little distraction from the real world at times. And a football game from time to time. Dish has always been lame on hunting and fishing shows, I watch them at Dad's on his Direct TV all of the time.

Here is what I live with, throttling, but it beats dialup and was only a few dollars more. Good news, there may be a wireless internet coming soon for around $15 a month due to stimulus money. Economy Plan Download Thresholds Level Total Download Download Speed Level 0 384K Level 1 450MB 300K Level 2 900MB 210K Level 3 1300MB 174K Level 4 1800MB 134K Level 5 2250MB 90K Level 6 2700MB 48K Level 7 3150MB 30K

We had some frost in SE, MO this week and alot of dry weather. I don't look for much in the way of good color this year locally. Things have been turning brown for a few weeks now. Sumacs are showing red and some maples are changing. My poplars dropped 1/2 of their leaves early due to the dry spell.

Youngins listen to too much loud rap music nowadays, but they do understand the all caps. I did type it sloowwllyyy at first for everyone. Locally, there have been a few stories in the news about persons making drug deals with police officers, seems like they dialed the wrong number or something.

The fire rings will all disappear on the next rise, that is the beauty of Ozark Gravel bars. Ozark Floaters are not really the "leave no trace" kinda people. They are just now getting over the age old practice of sinking the empties and carrying out the trash. The original "floaters" on the Current River were the loggers that were floating rafts of timber down the river as they stripped the forest. Honestly, we have made some progress.

You might want to look into a health savings account and a major medical policy. It is what we switched to at work a few years ago and seems to be working fine. Employer pockets what he used to spend monthly minus the premiums for a $3k deductible medical plan. He matches 50/50 of the deductible and most are never out of pocket more than they were before. There is a prescription card program and a supplement like Afflac. I have never used it but it did cut down on the abusers that felt insurance should pay for all of their expenses. You have to pay out of pocket for small stuff, but are covered if anything major happens. Insurance premiums are on the rise in all companies, better half seen at least a 30% increase at her job. It is not because of the man in office, it is insurance companies covering the liabilities of what they have to insure now. They have to carry kids to 26, which would have normally been transferred to a higher rate individual policy, they now have to insure the major risks which are coming in as a dead expense with all of their bills, and other things. Insurance is a business and they have to make a profit to keep in business. Its not the man, but it is his plan, the plan his cronies forced down our throat. Was any one expecting it to all be free? Did you expect cheaper insurance??

I think that 500mb limit is a monthly limit, not a daily limit. At least that is what Skyway has on mine. I do major stuff on work bandwidth, I use Teamviewer and cue up downloads from my office computer after business hours and dump them on a usb stick when I get to work. Look into Skyway if you have a landline. $39 a month for 128k access which only lets you surf a little faster but still no streaming video, youtube, or pic intensive projects. They have better plans also and you install/own your own equipment.

But, if you artificially introduce alot of trout into a habitat by "stocking" them, do you not understand the unfair advantage they have over the native fish that inhabit that stream system? Let me elaborate, you are a smallmouth bass in a hole of water with 300 minnows, 250 crayfish, and several other smallmouth buddies, some goggle eye buddies, and a few pickerel guys hanging out in the weeds and you are thinking about lunch. Along comes a MDC boat with a guy tossing in some new guy in large numbers that likes the same food as you, they have been in a truck for a while, and now they are looking for lunch too. What happens to the menu? The waitress starts running out of the daily special is what happens. The only saving grace for you as a smallmouth is that the Alpha Predator is looking for the new guy and not coming after you. So you sit and wait till the new guy gets fished out.

At least you did not make a drug deal with him, might have landed you in jail... I have heard of that happening alot lately on the news.

Now I am going to miss Terriers tonite. Looks like we are going to lose Fox News as of NOV. 1. National Geographic, another good channel is gone too. If I had access to higher speed internet, I would just watch them on there, but don't have that option either. Oh well, guess I will just have to tye some flies.

Yeah, I heard Ron White showed up this year and stole your glory.....

It is Tuesday night and was surfing the channels. Started watching Basic, the movie on a channel that used to occupy FX and realized, IT IS NOT FX ANYMORE! Was warned last week during Sons of Anarchy that we may be losing it, but thought it was just some clever advertising from Direct TV to get more subscribers. Seems like it was true, Dish would not pay for the FX, and Nat. Geo Channels any longer. They cried that FOX was upping the rates 50%, but since my rates have increased over the past 6 years from $20 to $55 for the same service, I felt I was covered. What a scam. My Dish stuff is heading for the junk heap. Trouble is, Direct is crap too, and I live in the country where we have no options. Even the local channels are gone for the most part since the switch to analog last year. Oh well, Jackass is on MTV, that is always quality TV..... Plus side, I may just spend some more time online with all of you!

If trout don't compete with smallmouth in the 11 pt, why do most fishing reports reveal the best methods are on crayfish patterns, stoneflies, and streamers, weighted and fished deep. Why are my best producing lures imitating crayfish and minnows for both species? 11 pt trout are not dainty little bug suckers, they like meat, minnows, crayfish, and larger insects, just like smallies. You don't see any reports about a fine Trico hatch in any of the reports. And based on my personal experience from fishing the Greer to Turner section both before when the trout were stocked monthly to recently when the trout were left to fend for themselves without stocking, smallies have returned and we catch more of them. You artificially introduce an extra 100 hungry trout into a pool of water along with all of its other inhabitants, there is increased competition for the food source that is available in the pool. Do you think the trout just sit there and wait in a pecking order? And most stream temps below the spring branches after the cooler water of 55-58 degree spring water mixes with the warmer waters of the main river soon becomes ideal smallmouth habitat. I have caught nice smallmouth bass in waters below Greer Spring, Boze Mill, Alley Spring, Welch Spring, Cave Spring, Pulltite Spring, Round Spring, Mammoth Spring, and others. I have caught nice largemouth also along with pickerel, goggle eye, and walleye. The theory that a spring branch "sterilizes" a stream and makes it inhabitable to all things but trout does not hold water based on my experience. The cool waters of a spring are what enhances our smallmouth streams.

Yes, does are legal in all counties during archery season I believe. The 4 point rule only applies to the buck if you are in a 4 point county. You are allowed 2 deer during archery season, but only 1 buck can be taken before firearms season. You can take any combination of deer as long as you do not take more than 2 during the season. Check the pamphlet for the fall deer/turkey season, it explains the season limits.

How can you justify a statement like "The stretch below Greer has never been good smallmouth water" when in our lifetime it has always been a stocked trout stream. Who can remember the time prior to when it was first stocked with trout and native species did not have to compete with the trout? One thing I have noticed is that with the cessation of monthly stocked trout in the upper sections from Greer to Turner, you can catch more smallies in that area now. Trout and smallmouth compete for the same food sources in the wild, crayfish, minnows, hellgrammites and other large nymphs, terrestrials, etc. And both occupy the same rocks, structures, and riffles together in the stream. One of the reasons I like to fish for both are they are so similar in so many ways. In some areas you will find trout sipping a Trico spinner or a caddis, but for the most part, in MO, they are meat eaters. You will seldom see rising trout on the 11 pt.

As I stated, the dams lowered the temps of the water and changed the habitat to the point that smallies could not strive. This is not the case on the 11 pt and Spring Rivers, I have caught nice smallies on the entire length of each river. They actually move up into the cooler spring areas in the winter because it is warmer than the lower parts of the river away from the springs influence. Same goes for the Walleye and Google Eye. The increased pressure for food sources that they share with the non native trout keep their numbers and sizes down for the most part.

I have a feeling that soon we will see cell phones littering the stream bottom like powerbait jars. People dropping them to get them out of the vest, tossin them in the water after the wife finds out where you are, knocked in the stream by a well placed cast from another angler that does not want to listen to your crap on the phone.... Mine stays in the car. I miss the old bag phones that were tethered to the car. People get irritated today if you don't answer on the first ring. They are getting too lazy to leave a voicemail, and assume that you have caller id and will call them back if they don't leave a message. Just another distraction.

All of the trout in MO are essentially Put and Take, they would not survive long without MDC adding them to the stream during the year in most areas. Even the catch and release stream and ponds at Montauk require a monthly stock to keep fish in them due to fishing mortality. The smaller the river, the stricter the rules to ensure a quality fishing experience. There are areas to suit all fishing styles and methods so nobody is left out. I like catching trout and really don't have a problem with the current system. If the white ribbon portions were done away with and nature was allowed to resume its course, I would still be able to enjoy the areas and catch native fish. It is my understanding that trout hatcheries are at max production and the possibilities of making a new hatchery is not possible. No cold water source to supply them. So, we have what we have unless demand for trout falls or we increase production.

Most modern blanks are built with the ferrules on them now so you can assemble it right away and check the spline. There will probably be one point that seems more flexible than the rest, but maybe not. That is a test of a bamboo, the graphite is more consistent. You could also flex it to see the action. The deeper the rod curves to the handle, the slower the action. If your casting style is toward a fast action and the rod flexes low toward the handle section, it will be too slow for you and you will not like it. Pick up a rod that you like to cast, line it up and pull the line tight toward you and note the curve of the rod and how far down the rod it goes. Take the new blank, attach a line to the tip and do the same thing, see if it matches the action. Otherwise, poke and hope. If it does not suit you, sell it, trade it, or give it as a gift. Consider it practice for the next one.