ness

Any reason not to share the Agent names, e-mail addresses and numbers? They're on the web, right? I'd put those in my phone today if I had them. Lotsa folks have e-mail on their phones, but did you guys know you can text to an e-mail address? If you've got the capabilities, you could attach a picture too. That'd be a pretty effective way to communicate a violation, no?

It's open and Tom, Lisa and Travis are running things for the bank.

It's called Westover Farms right now. Here's a number I've got for Travis -- their Sporting Clays guy -- (573) 743-6284 Westover Farms

I don't see senior in any of the pics, and the group looks smaller than normal...

Coupla good posts right there, Kathy and Dan. As much as we've hashed and re-hashed the enforcement issue, it bears repeating: if you see something, call it in and document it as best you can. Most cell phones take pictures, if you're not carrying a camera. People, boats, cars, license numbers, dead fish all help inform. Kathy: good idea to post them on the forum here too. Dan -- thanks for carrying the torch. I'm sure folks here would love to get an update on MSAs efforts in this area.

Wow! Who's that guy and how do we get him interested in this whole thing?

It's interesting to see how this conversation has devolved into personal attacks, political tirades, tackle bashing, etc. All counterproductive, in my opinion. Al makes two main points: giggers kill gamefish and it's impossible to police. Seems to me that cutting out all the other nonsense and focusing on these two things just might lead us to some ideas to improve the situation. One of my favorite sayings is 'If you want to cook an elephant, first you cut it into little pieces'. In my experience, it's not a widely-known or well-publicized problem. So, that's a decent place to start, no? We've got several assets at our disposal: this forum; MSA; Conservationist; our St. Louis Post friend. I have no doubt that it's difficult to police, but I'd need more convincing to believe it's impossible. It seems to me CAs have access to jet boats and lights, and might just be able to check creels on the water, or at least at some of the take outs. As was mentioned above, a bust or two, especially if widely publicized, could serve as a wake-up call to those who feel they're unlikely to get caught, and a deterrent to all. I wonder what the CAs would say about that? There's a precedent for restricting gigging on Blue Ribbon trout waters. How did we get there? Just some thoughts that, hopefully, may help steer this in a more constructive direction.

Still working on mine. I expect to mail them mid-week.

Saw the story on PBS a couple years ago. Really good stuff. You might be able to find some info through their site at pbs.org

I wonder how much of the stuff they do is 'because that's the way we've always done it' and how important it really is compared to some of the other things they could be working on. My tummy tells me they've got some latitude in what they do, when they do it and where they go. PR? Kill two birds with one stone and do a little PR and write tickets at the same time. I'd wouldn't write them off 9/1 to 1/15, just because it's hunting season. Gawd forbid somebody kills a deer without a tag.

I think the situation could be improved with the agents they already have. Sure, I'd love to have more agents out there scaring people straight, but it seems to me a little cage-rattling could get them to focus on areas where we see the problems. Does anybody know what kinda hours CAs work? I would think that if they put in 40-hour weeks they could cover an awful lot of ground. I'm certain I could hit every major stream access in a county multiple times in a week. And, they could do a lot of good just parking at a popular access for one Saturday a month checking licenses and creels all day. Hit another one the next Saturday. Word will get out and people will be more likely to follow the rules. Hell, just parking a truck at the access would do some good. I've never thought the hiding in the bushes technique sounded very effective. I fished the 11 Point last fall, and was stunned by the fact I could call home from a 1-lane gravel road just up from the stream. Same old phone, same old service (Verizon). Maybe they're covering more areas or maybe I was lucky. Any way, it's worth a shot. I firmly believe the best things people like us can do are report what we see, and better yet, get a dialog going with the local CAs, express our concerns and try to convince them to pay a little more attention the the problems we see.

Ran into this article in the NY Times of all places. Has a nice photo essay on trout fishing in Iowa's 'Driftless Area'. Always looks like such a pretty area; there's a ton of streams up there and pretty easy access I believe. Iowa

I'm hoping my tendency for procrastination will be reduced by my declaring, publicly, in this forum, that I will begin work on my flies.....soon. Snowed in at the moment.

Good points there. Any time you have an 'opening day' you're insuring that it will be popular. For whatever that's worth.

Gary, With your vast experience and abundance of criticisms and ideas, why don't you just step up and volunteer?

Holy crap -- there are piranhas and alligators in LOZ too? The turds were bad enough. I think we need to drain that puppy and start from scratch. You guys can have your thread back now.

Well, you weren't asking, but I'll throw this out anyway: If you've got somebody just starting out, NFOW and Crane are about as tough as it gets. I took my nephew to Crane a couple months ago and it was a struggle. And he's been fly fishing for several years at Roaring River. As for NFOW -- there aren't any fish in there. At least it seems that way sometimes.

Watch out for Champy. Makes Momo look like a cuddly little puppy.

Who are you quoting, Wayne? You can't enjoy the game if you don't know who's playing.

I suspect by 'good trout water' Brian is referring to places where trout tend to be in the wild. And that would be where their predators, including humans, can't see them. Places like fast, broken water, deep water, etc. -- you know: good water. I know Brian, and I'm certain he wasn't trying to slam trout parks or anywhere by saying they weren't the 'good water'. He's a peach. Try 'sight fishing' to a big brown on the Current, or to a rainbow finning in shallow water on NFOW, and see how successful you are. It's not a tactic for every place, every time. It does work at the parks though.

Good stuff right there. I hadn't really thought about it in that way, but you're right -- designation of an area and/or regs do highlight the importance of an area. Now if we could just get a CA to drive by occasionally so people know they take it seriously. I wonder if MDC ever thought of using uniformed mannequins? Or maybe just park a CA truck at a popular access. Kinda started that out as a joke, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. The truck part, that is.

Worked -- just like the last version did, as far as I remember.

I think Phil purposely picked blue for its calming effect. Here's a photo test: It's my son demonstrating that waders work in reverse.

Can Explorer and get the free Mozilla Firefox. Or get a Mac.

Yeah -- I think these guys (MSA) are trying to do some good, and this thread and the other is filled with negative waves, man. It's ok to ask questions, but this seems to be putting them on the defensive -- and I don't think they deserve it.