crappie crippler

The silence is deafening. Nevermind. I'll stick with the other guys.

As I stated, you have a theme for each one. It will vary. Most are 1/8 oz. or smaller crappie type jigs. Has to be something simple. Not everyone makes 3/4 oz. bass jigs.

I'll take a 10" goggle eye any day. Lots of "muscle" in that compact body. Best creek fight there is!

I am a member on another fishing website that holds a "jig swap" once in awhile. What happens is, everyone who enters (usually stop with first 20) ties a jig. If 20 people are signed up, you tie 20 jigs all the same. Each of the 20 people make 20 jigs of their choice but all 20 are the same. Lots of "20's" in there!! Mike makes red/white/blue and Dave makes green/purple/orange. But 20 of them. One person is assigned the "swapmeister". When your jigs are finished, you mail them to swapmeister with a postage paid mailer inside of your mailer. Large bubble mailer with smaller bubble mailer inside works well. When all entrants jigs are received, you will get back 19 jigs. Each one tied by someone else. Sounds confusing but very simple and lots of fun. You can have a theme such as perch jigs, shellcracker jigs, favorite jigs, etc... And if you are serious about tying jigs you get lots of neat ideas from the others. Swapmeister keeps the spares for having to go to post office. Anyone want to try it?

Hey Quill... how many times have you heard "trout line"??

October 19th 2009

Plug- A term often used by Greybear to describe a fishing lure Biggun- A term used to describe the size of a fish ( varies depending on who tells the story) Wait a sec, are Ozark and Redneck the same thing???

I did not play her too much after I saw that it was something I had never caught before! While taking the hook out, she was spurting tiny marble sized eggs everywhere. Hope there is a boy in there somewhere. I have fished at Roaring River a few times over the years and caught one trout. Not much into it, but since catching them at Hickory I've been studying up on them a bit!!

It was a great day. Even if the fishing is slow it is fun to show the youngun how the creek flows, where the minnows gather, good holes vs. bad holes, etc... Always a good time! Tyler is finally at the age where he actually pays attention and does not start chucking rocks midway through a sentence. Ozark: I had to ask one of the other guys watching us if it was a brown. First one I had caught! Did not measure it, but around 10". They do have a posting for browns. 15" is min. length limit. Other than that I have heard of very few other browns being caught there.

Took the boy back to wade Hickory since the big snow melted today. Did not fish too much but was rather disturbed at the amount of trash on the bottom of the creek. Where does this come from? I have been to the creek on several occasions and never see anyone littering. Together we pulled out about 25 beer cans, 2 whiskey bottles, several 2 liter pop bottles, 40 oz. beer bottles etc... For such a beautiful park it is very disappointing to see all this garbage. I see it on the larger creeks and rivers as well, but not so heavily concentrated like on this small creek. I do not have any answers, but I will bet that the majority of the trash comes from non fishermen. Whoever is responsible should be ashamed. I spoke with one gentleman near the ball fields that told me the history of Neosho, the park, the Indians, the caves, the Confederate soldiers, arrowheads, honey holes, and plenty more. Another young lady was picking up trash as I was tossing cans to her up on the bank. She had a bag full in no time. Many good folks use the park area but it only takes a couple to ruin it for everyone. I hope the upcoming cleanup effort will be worthwhile. I look forward to it!

Off the subject a bit here Buzz... what kind of flies do you tie? Would like to see some

I am heading to the store now!

JD: I am going to share my Spaghetti Incident story in the short story column. Look for it tomorrow evening. It does involve a snake and is quite humorous looking back on it now. However, at the time I could not see the humor in it!

I would like to come help with the cleanup. I noticed a few of the areas when I was there last weekend. Can I just show up or do I need to be a member of the stream team?? Have a couple youngun's that could help too.

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the info. Will check it out if the weather cooperates soon. Not looking froward to 35 degrees and snow coming in Saturday! Hopefully this will be the last cold shock. But, I look for one around the 2nd week in April. Always messes with the crappie spawn around here.

Fellas, I think the sidearms have been holstered on this one! The first tube I had was purchased from a guy I work with. It had a heavy rubbery canvas cover and I thought it was cool. First trip out the seams were bursting. Maybe I am a lardas* but I say it was dry rot! There are some really cool designs out there, but some of them cost as much as a 10 FT. scamp. Prices are gonna discourage folks from using them unless they get more allowance than I do. Drew, sounds like you made a good trade! You should reconsider and start up again. Think it would be fun to have a float tube tournament somewhere. I have seen a few clubs for tubes but most of them are out west in California.

Can anyone give me directions on access points to Elk River or Indian Creek for successful wade fishing? I do not own a canoe and would like to do more fishing south of Joplin. I have not fished those creeks for years. Hoping to take my son down there for some perch jerking or goggle eye, or smallies. I am not asking for your secret honey holes, just access points for wading. Your help is appreciated as I am not real familiar with the area. Thanks

My Dad builds rods. He does have a fancy rod wrapper machine and you can spend lots of money on start up. But one of the pros to doing this is satisfaction of using something that you built yourself as a tool to perform your favorite pastime of fishing. I still get as giddy as a schoolgirl when I catch a fish on a jig I made and I have been tying them for years! Also if you choose to sell them, you will make your initial investment back in a hurry. Many folks like to have a rod made just for them. It can be a booger starting out though. I would go with the simple V-shape wooden wrapper to practice. Check online with www.barlowstackle.com , www.jannsnetcraft.com , wild river distributing for blanks and components. Also lots of books, videos, and web sites out there for instruction. Good Luck

So, only a couple of float tubers use this forum??

JD I somewhat agree with you there. There are many, many folks that break hunting and fishing laws. I work in the same building as a few of them. How many people fish/hunt in Missouri? How many game wardens are there? The same could be said for people that run red lights, or drive 90 MPH on the highway. How many people drive in Missouri? How many policemen are there? Everyone who breaks the law is not going to be caught. Plain and simple. There are not enough enforcement officers to be everywhere all of the time. I think with the resources MDC has, they do an outstanding job. Always room for improvement, but improvement costs money and that is not easy to come by these days. DANG...... I was just looking for someone to fish with. Already opened the can of worms, so let's go!

I will have to wait and see it before I believe it. Don't think it could be justified. How is a float tube bothering bank fishermen anymore than a canoe or jon boat? The whole idea is to be respectful of other fishermen. Myself, I do not go within 100 yards of bank fishermen. Make them mad and all it takes is one accurate cast with a sharp hook and you are toast! If you are wearing a life vest, not much should be said by MDC or anyone else. I guess I will pay the fine. As for the bank fishermen... I fish that way sometimes and have never had a problem. Lots of $40,000 Bass Boats and ski boats seem to think they own the lake though. Let's ban those too while we are at it. All in favor...............

I see a couple things wrong with that Gavin. First off I can carry a cooler behind the seat of my float tube. May not hold a 30 pack, but serves its purpose. And B, If you are travelling too quickly... look at the fishing you missed. Good Luck out there Speedracer!

Kevin: There are several good strip pits within 50 miles of Joplin. Mindenmines is good. Over on the Kansas side near Big Brutus are some nice pits too. Take a long time to fish them all. Bushwhacker Lake is MDC lake north of Joplin near Bronaugh. Excellent for flyrod bluegills. Also an occasional hybrid. Some near 1 1/2 lbs. We should get together and try it out sometime.

What you are looking for is a South Bend Trix Oreno. They range in sizes and colors from about 1" to 6". Type in Trix Oreno on eBay. Usually many of them and they are fairly cheap. I have a case of them in the shop from the 1970's. Will try to find them and give you a holler. I think these are 1 1/2" red/gold.

My favorite is the Fish Cat. Not so much a belly boat as it is a "V" shape. The seat is much higher than in a round tube and seems easier to manuever. Whatever your preference you can't wrong. Lots of fun and very relaxing in the summer time. Can get right on top of the crappie hideouts. Would like to try the pontoon type someday. Have to ask the wife to raise my allowance!