jdmidwest

Honestly, it was all in fun, as you could tell by the jokes at the start. I just brought attention to an article about a fellow OAF angler.

Then why did it show a pic of a middle age balding man holding a smallie with a caption of "Kurt Kirchmer with a Castor River smallmouth caught on a live crawfish." if you have not baitfished since you were a kid. I would look into the article a little deeper, it may be a misprint.

I really need to invest in a waterproof digital. Wet hands and splashing fish are hard on one that is not waterproof. I have never understood what the attraction is to taking a pic of a fish out of water. Most have seen a 20" smallie, this one was no different. It was not the first, certainly not the last I hope. We caught several close to it during the course of the day, many 12-15, several 8". They all looked alike except for the one eyed one. I have one fish hanging on the wall, I kept him solely to make a mounted Brown Trout from back in the early 80's. He is only 19", was pretty and fully finned. If I had to do it over, I would have let him back. Deer antlers and one head mount are on the wall, but you eat the meat from them. The only photos of me on the wall with fish are of a few I caught the first trip to Alaska, a special trip. I have taken pics of fish from time to time, I tend to take pics of friends and scenery. That is the memories I want to dredge up later, I can always remember the fish.

Fire the gatekeeper and replace him with an ICE agent.

Make that a can of worms, or a bucket of minnows...... I think this one is going to go well. When I fish with live bait, what I catch is what I keep if it is legal. I use crickets and meal worms for gills, minnows for crappie, worms for catfish. But, when I plan to catch and release other species I don't eat like bass and trout, I use artificials or flies. The fish just swallow bait too deep and you damage gill and gullets more than artificial. Less mortality.

Sorry, I did not get a pic of that one, my buddy was still behind me in the previous hole. He did get a pic of a double I caught a few holes down, 13" and 8" on a F7 Rapala, but I have not seen them. Normally, I don't like to keep a fish very long to take a pic and my camera was in dry hatch all day this trip. I have a pet peeve about stressing fish just to get a pic. I will say he was nicely colored and very thick bodied. I will email the agent, but I think the area is above the ONSR. ONSR lands are public with very few private plots. This was all private land and certainly one large cattle ranch. Watering ponds and wells would be a good solution. Most of the farmers I know locally know better. I think a visit from the local MDC guys may give him some options that would be better than what I saw. I will not hold my breath, I run across it a few years back on Big River and got a run around. MDC said it was DNR's problem, email from DNR did not find any sign of cattle in stream. I guess they don't own a gps and can't access the coordinates I provided.

Sorry, just had to post this one. What is the survival rate of a smallie that swallows a crawdad and a hook? River Hills Traveler Link Never had a fishing day that wasn’t fun I find it amusing that the folks who constantly complain about restrictions on fishing all have the same argument. “It takes the fun out of everything” to quote Ken Elfrink of Robertsville. I have been fishing for 30 years now and I have never had a day that wasn’t fun. I have been caught in some of the worst storms, been bit by a copperhead, and been hooked by my buddy but I always have a good time. That is the whole point of going for me and everyone I fish with. We catch plenty of fish to eat and have plenty of stories to tell, it may not be every trip but that’s okay because the grocery store will have plenty. (I wish I knew where they fished). Every now and then we catch a big fish (my personal best small mouth is 18 inches) caught out of the Jacks Fork in a management area. My goal is to catch one 20 inches or so and that is another reason I go so I can try to match or beat my previous best. Yes I could travel to Tennessee or to Michigan and catch a 6 pound smallmouth out of a lake or large river but it doesn’t have the same appeal to me that wading an ice cold Ozark stream and fighting the best sport fish I have ever had a pleasure to catch close to home does. Another argument I hear is that restrictions kill kids fishing because they can’t keep anything.Really, because as a kid on the Current and Jacks Fork I caught a ton of sunfish, goggle eye, and if I was lucky a decent sized smallmouth and if it was legal to keep the fish we did and had it for dinner. Kids don’t care what they catch as long as they catch fish, and I can’t remember a trip that we couldn’t catch something with a crawdad below a split shot. The Ozark streams in my opinion are the prettiest and best fishing in the state. The restrictions have never kept me from wanting to go fishing, it may limit the type of fish I can keep but I never go away unhappy and if you have ever seen me you know I definitely don’t go away hungry. I am not a biologist and I don’t know what is best for our fisheries but I do know I always catch bigger fish in the management areas. Case in point is floating above Alley Springs and floating below Alley Springs. The last five years I’ve floated both every year and it isn’t even close in comparison. The management area produces bigger fish and larger numbers of fish. I agree with Mr. Todd that the Ozarks are great but I disagree when he says the management areas aren’t working. I also don’t think he fairly compared the Ozarks to bodies of water that were the same when it came to catching large smallmouth. I believe an 18-20 in smallmouth in those streams are amazing and I would love to see more of them. I don’t agree that regulations run people off and keep them from fishing. I have never met a person who stopped fishing because of regulations. I can always find a place to fish that suits what I’m looking for whether it be a stringer for dinner or a personal best for a replica mount. The MDC gets paid to study and protect our fisheries. I may not always agree with their regulations but they are looking at a broad picture and in my opinion most people who disagree with them are doing so based on their own wants and not what is best for the wildlife. Everyone has a right to their opinion and I’m glad we have one of the best Conservation Departments in the country that actually listen to the residents when considering regulations. And I have faith they will ultimately make the right decision and do what is best for the wildlife and not what is best for us. Without the wildlife we will have nothing to hunt or fish and nothing for future generations to enjoy because you will always have people who abuse every system and ruin it for everyone else. Regulations aren’t a bad thing in my opinion. I hope Mr. Todd and Mr. Elfrink have fun the next time they go fishing and we may disagree on certain regulations but I think we all have a passion for fishing and that is a great thing to have in my opinion. I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer and gets to catch a lot of fish. (Even if they are too small to keep)

Growing up, the garden was our sole source of veggies. We grew all of our produce, canned, froze, and preserved what we grew to sustain us till the next year. We bought very little at the store. I know several that still do. In past years, my garden did the same with the corn, beans, okra, and tomatoes. But not this year.

Launched out at 2:30 am on Sat Morning to do a little float weekend on the 11pt River, best place to be on a hot summer day. Arrived at Thomasville 8 am after parking truck at Cane Bluff. Fishing started out great, smallies and goggle eyes on almost every cast. By the 3rd hole, I had already landed a nice 20" smallie on the Rapala and my buddy had gotten a nice 9" goggle eye. Water was great and everything looked fine. Then came Posey Spring Branch, it entered on the left along with about 20 head of cattle crossing the stream like they would in so many places to come. From there to below Graham Spring Branch, both sides of the river was destroyed by cattle, tromped to mud in most places. There was one place with over 50 head standing belly deep in a hole, the water was stirred up into pure mud and, well, other cattle by-products. I was not expecting this on a stream protected by the National Scenic Riverways. The water was nasty and stunk, we did not get out much and did not swim. A thunderstorm rolled thru and I had to get out and stand under an ash tree with cow crap squished between my toes of the crocs at Dry Creek for about 20 minutes. Bass were slow in that stretch and goggle eyes quit, longears picked up in numbers. This was my first time on the upper stretch floating and was impressed and disappointed. We arrived at Cane Bluff tired and wore out at 7 pm after paddling most of the lower part after Graham Spring. Roaring Spring was neat, we missed Blowing Spring along the way. Had a nice supper at Rivers Edge Fish and Grill in Thomasville, which was packed at 8:30. Off to Hufstedlers, pitched a tent and sweated myself to sleep at 11. My buddy said it was not 2 minutes from the time he heard the zipper close on the tent till he heard the snoring... Sunday, drove up to Whitten and put the yaks in. Got a late start and did not launch till 10 am. Alot of jet boat traffic due to the fact that Halls Bay chute is now closed off and dry, only places to access the upper trout part of the river are at Whitten, Turner, and Greer for the jets. Many that did the overnight from Greer to Riverton reported that Sat was a bad jet boat day on the upper river. Good news, the boats petered out a few holes below White's Creek. Fishing was slow, river was running good, higher than I have seen it in years for a summer. The river was great, cool and wet for a hot summer day. Sunday was the best, we bailed out and sit in the river and sipped a few cold ones to keep cool. Spent about an hour playing at Hall's Bay in the waves. Then the long drive home with dinner at Jolly Cone in Van Buren. HWY 60 is now 4 lanes from Winona to 67, and 67 is almost all 4 lanes from there north now, cutting a good 30 minutes off the old drive. We did see several snakes, including several cottonmouths on the upper river. One was hanging in a tree about 5' off the water in a run above Cane Bluff, luckily we spotted it before we floated under it. We passed one along a cut bank that was reared up and showing the open mouth thing, probably protecting something. Could not get the camera out of the dry hatch fast enough to get a pic.

I really don't understand why they seem to like waking canoeist all of the time. I have had the same problem in the past, even with an MDC agent. One time, we were the only boat on the river fishing and not drinking and we were harassed by both local pd and MDC. That is why I stay clear of that river on Sat. in the summer, too many hassles.

I was on Akers to Pulltite 2 weeks ago Monday and they were tossing in floaters as fast as they could unload canoes. Akers parking lot was 2/3 full. It was a nice float, but crowded. I await the kids going back to school. The next 3 weeks are some of the busiest camping weeks of the season outside of the 3 summer holidays. Everyone is getting the vacation in before the kids go back.

As a kid, I used to sit in the garden during the day between the rows with a Scoped Ruger 1022 and pick off the varmits as they had their way. Growing up, our gardens covered almost an acre of ground. The groundhogs would sneak out and I would whistle like a hawk to get them to rear up, then go for the head shot. We never had problems with deer and rabbits, just groundhogs. There is no telling how many of the suckers I have shot thru the years, I even went to other neighbors and helped them out with their problems. Now, the vandals come during the day while I am at work. I have to rely on traps to do the job. They are not as efficient as a sharpshooting teenager, but they work sometimes. Ness, sad thing is, I don't eat maters, but the family does. I like the beans, corn, squash, and okra. I have tossed around the idea of a fence, but then it is something else to trim and mow around. The electric and 3' chicken wire did not stop the squirrels this year, I only put it up when the corn was getting close. I do plan on burning the brushpiles off that are making the good cover for the rabbits. I like watching the rabbits, young ones have raised under my shed the past few years and come out to feed while I sit and grill in the evenings. They are fun to watch and are pretty tame. Neighbors cats usually keep them in check and I have found several killed this year by them. But it has been a prolific year for them, I think all of the blowdowns from last years storms have created alot of cover in the adjoining 20 acre woodlot. Thom, we all have our ups and downs. I just try to pass some things along.

OK Ness, I'll just wing them a little. But I may have to have that boat myself.... Were we able to get a better pic. And I wanted some more info on the builder, I may give him some more business.

Hatchery fish are almost always marked, they burn off a fin to keep track of them. Fish flush out of the parks during floods and smaller fish are almost always mixed in with the stockers when they move them around. That is why you will see some in streams. MDC tends to stock a variety of sizes if they have a surplus from fingerlings to brood stock. Browns are stocked as fingerlings in the 6 inch range. Any stream that supports both browns and rainbow always end up with predation of the smaller rainbows from the Browns. Has anyone ever seen any browns on redds in MO in the Current or Meramec? I have never seen any, usually always Rainbows.

If they stay on Peck Ranch, things would be nice. Most cattlemen blocked it last time because of potential fence damage and disease introduction. Then there is the car/elk thing, but people survive Moose collisions in other states. And there is the CWD introduction into our deer herds that is possible. Who knows, I think they should monitor the results of Ark. a little longer to see what happens.

What man?? That guy is further down the ladder on the evolutionary scale. Cro Meth Man with teeth. What is causing the red stain around the boat? Did he just fillet a spotlighted deer?

As I stood out in the heat spraying water on my dying garden, I wondered what costs I have incurred this season for the fresh veggies out of the garden. The sweet corn was ravaged by squirrels one weekend while I was out of town, 3 rows produced a dozen under ripe ears. I have yet to pick a bean, replanted 5 times, only to have them stripped by rabbits. 15 rabbits have been relocated and still having problems. 1 coon and 3 possums, missed the armadillo. Seeds and plants $50 Composted Topsoil $40 Trip to farm for composted horse manure $20 Gas for tiller $10 Stakes for trellis and tomatoes $20 Fertilize $15 Box Traps $35 Coon Traps $25 Box 22 shells $2 Electric Fence Charger and wire that did not work $48 Antique hand plow $15 Paint and Polyurethene for Hand Plow $20 Water for the garden $20 a month Time and labor, at least 10 hours a week since April Peat Starter pots $5 Roundup $10 on, and on...... Yield so far 1 peck of cucumbers 1 peck of squash 12 ears sweet corn 1 bushel of asst tomatoes Few peppers Several salads 20 qts strawberries plenty of flowers to look at 0 onions Maybe some horseradish this fall, only dig on months with R Few sunflower seeds 10-15 apples 0 beans 0 sweet peas 2 messes okra I think I am still at a loss.

If its Carbon Credits, it may be Al Gore trolling for money to support his defense fund regarding the Massause thingy he got caught in.

There are management areas for Goggle Eye too, 8" minimum on streams like 11pt, Little Piney, and others. I think Jack's Fork may be one of them also, need to check the regs.

Didn't MO outlaw foam on most waters a few years back? I think that may be the guy that spawns the debates about trespassing on streams and navigability. Where's his big yellow rope stringer for a live well? The debate is still on, that is classified as a pontoon. Wait a minute, note the duck decoys in the background. Its Ducky Doty in his youth....

Did anybody click on that link?

On the Current and the Meramec, Wild Eggs did not survive well in the rivers. Biologist's have set out egg boxes in the past and have not had any luck. In the 11pt, I think spawning is successful in the Greer Spring branch. Some of the smaller streams have some success too. It is all about the water temp and quality.

Live shiners seined from the stream or fresh Crayfish.

Doesn't that sit a little high? How does it affect the stability?