Walcrabass

Now that we have opened the subject of watching out for all the critters in Missouri it brings other things to mind. Missouri is trying to reinstate the Prairie Chicken. I think that is great because they were a native species. This program is undoubtedly expensive and from what I understand it is not taking off like we had hoped. But getting back to the subject of money I have found that it drives a lot of things in our world. A few years ago we were polled on the subject of restocking Elk in Missouri. If my memory serves me correct we overwhelmingly said yes to this idea. As you know it was dropped and I am told that the Cattlemen's Association had a lot to do with it. I am thinking that they have a few dollars amongst them. I was told that they were "concerned" the Elk would give Black Leg to the Cattle. I believe the Cattle are what gave it to the Elk in the first place. But the Elk lost out. Along with the sportsmen, photographers, and conversationists. We lost revenue for the same things again like food, lodging, licenses, gas, etc. I probably should mention that I am not in favor of reinstating dangerous species at this time. The whole point here is that we need to try and then possibly fail, not fail from not trying. I hope that we see some changes in the Bass regulations in Missouri for the betterment of our economy, sportsmen, Missouri Department of Conservation and all others involved.

I understand completely what you are saying. As for the identification of the Kentucky Bass this is how I see it. If I am wrong someone please tell me. I know that there are other identifying methods but these seem the simplest to me. 1. If you impose a line straight down from the eye and the jaw hinge point is behind it with the fishes mouth closed......Largemouth. 2. If you impose the same line and the jaw hinge point is straight below or shorter then.... a. open mouth to feel for "Rough Tooth Patch" on tongue, if it is present it is a Kentucky. b. open mouth to feel for "Rough Tooth Patch" on tongue, if it is NOT present it is a SMALLMOUTH. This takes out all guesswork from Muddy Water coloration. As you said no 6" fish are legal anyway so no need to check.

My main thrust for this topic on the Kentucky Bass is that they are in DIRECT competition with the Largemouth. They spawn at the same time, eat the same food, spawn in the same places, etc. I have been told and read that they spawn at a smaller size. This means that they get a jump on the Largemouth in number of spawning years. This is coupled with the fact that they do not reach length as quickly and so are harder to remove from the lake. I understand that the gene pool needs to be kept as wide as possible. I think back to the Brown Trout that were developed by a man in England. He mixed the Eggs and Milt of several super trout at the same time to get a better genetic diversification but still maintain his goal of better trout. Some states have as many as 13 types of Bass. Surely we can find a way to differentiate between 3 or 4. I am constantly thinking of the 4 point rule for Bucks. It literally saved hunting for mature Bucks in other states. We have finally adopted it in several counties but maybe 30 years later than it should have been. I think we simply need bigger Bass. We have millions of Shad die each year. Many of these are pretty big. We need more Large(Mouth) Predators to utilize this food source. If we have the money to buy land, lease it back to the farmers, and then not allow hunting, fishing, or field trials on it then maybe some of this money could be used for a program for the Bass. I feel sure there are many more fishermen than people who want to see a field of wild flowers. Think about how many Missouri fishmen go to Texas, California, etc. to fish. How many of those states come here to fish? Fishermen bring in a lot of money in gas, license, motels, food... and all of these bring in sales tax. Our Department gets a share of this sales tax. We simply need to help out in the catagory of better Bass Fishing whether it is through stocking or allowing the Kentucky Bass to be taken at a smaller size and greater creel limit. After that, stocking, slot length limits and other tools could really take off.

I have always been extremely interested in how other states handle there wildlife. In Texas they would like for every Angler who catches a Bass of 13 pounds or more to contact the Department of Fish and Wildlife so that they may keep this fish to use for broodstock. They are looking to increase the size and numbers of Bass through this effort.They are also allowing the release of genetically superior Deer on some of the Larger ranches. If you look at what they have done through these efforts it is quite amazing. Texas also stocks Florida, California, and crossbred larger Bass. I know that their growing season is longer and thus bigger fish. All this is leading up to the fact that we continue to put Kentucky Bass in the same length and creel limit as Largemouth. I was told by a Game Warden many years ago that it was because fishermen couldn't differentiate them from Largemouth. Why then are we able to tell Largemouth from Smallmouth? I would like to see the Kentucky Bass in a category of it's own with a length limit of about 11 inches. Then maybe the Largemouth we have would get a better chance. I would also like to see our Department start an aggressive program of stocking the larger species of Largemouth and at the same time enforce a slot limit that would give them a good foothold in our lakes.Something like nothing under 16" and only one fish over 22". These lengths could be adjusted in later years as the "NEW" Bass took hold. It is kind of depressing to watch other states improve their Bass population in these ways and we are not attempting the same. Yes I have heard that these other species are more aggressive,just another great reason to do this and a perfect way to let the slot length do it's work. Any comments from other Anglers or the Missouri Department of Conservation would be appreciated.

Were you hopping, crawling, jigging, or swimming the jigs. Just guessing from the size your jigs and the water depth fished you were swimming or crawling.

Just wondering what the results of the "AFT" Tournament were for Saturday. Our fishing wasn't that good. We might have had one bite...not for sure. If you caught a bunch we're going to go into depression.

Unless I am doing things wrong the coordinates for fish Attractor 10-1 show it to be quite a ways from shore unlike the red dot shows on the unsigned locations map.

Is this a color graph? I have been thinking of a new one myself. This time I would like to have a color graph that will show the bait fish easily. Also want GPS on it. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know