drew03cmc

Brown top with a light orange body, think it is the stream craw color or maybe ditch craw...one of the two.

That is probably about $150 worth of rod and reel as it sits now. Those reels are on ebay all the time in NIB condition. Those rods are common enough that you don't have an insane amount of money there. Fish the hell out of it and enjoy the slower pace of fiberglass. What length and line weight is the rod?

In typical OB fashion you pick and choose what to use. What I said was that the White River chain has didymo because the water temperatures, post dam construction, are now conducive to the spread of didymo. Wow, you are even more condescending than you were before, but that is okay, I am used to it. Yes, new boots aren't THAT expensive, but for a state to mandate that you MUST wear rubber soles is pretty shady, and a way to get more tax dollars out of us. I bought felt soles four years ago without knowledge of bans, and bought felt soles because I didn't want to bust my butt on the slick rocks in our spring creeks. From what I hear the rubber soles aren't nearly as good as the felt on the slick stuff, especially shelf rock. I am not asking for your sympathy. Even if something happened that most people would be sympathetic about, you are one of a dozen people here that I would tell to take your sympathy and shove it.

The actions of man caused this, building the dams with bottom discharge causing cooler waters that are hospitable to didymo. Why is it that people HAVE to spend the extra money on wading boots now? They seem to think that all outdoorsmen are made of money, or at least those that fly fish...It is a joke that I am darn sick of. Oh well, I don't fish in the winter much, but when I do, I wade. Felt for me. until they are pried from my feet. I have spent the money on them, and to be told now that you can't use them is criminal. That is like a school selling a text book, Volume 1, for full price, in April, then in September telling students they need Volume 2 by Christmas. It's terrible.

See what happens when we screw with natural waterways? We disrupted the native smallmouth and created trout fisheries, not to mention creating a habitat conducive to didymo.

Yes, Ozark Bass. My Shadow Bass from Shoal, was much differently marked, and Shadows are not in the James drainage. I guess, experts like you all are, should have read more closely.

You can get a Coosa for $800 brand new. kcpaddler.com

Okay dad.

The Tarpon is not flat bottomed. Sorry to burst your bubble. Enjoy it though, they track well and are pretty quick.

Nope, just tired of hearing about all of you guys running off at the fingertips, as it is, about catching these mammoth bass and having NO photographic evidence, other than pictures from a month ago. You, in particular, have no room to talk after posting pictures date stamped a month ago trying to pass them off as current. I was just asking Al for a picture of the big guy so I could see what he caught. Now, you have to re-read what I said. I said a doubted a 25" largemouth from a Missouri river as they are not that common. 22" fish are common. Re-read my post please before you run off at the mouth. There is NO river access in Kansas, so yes, it would be amazing to catch a 22" bass in a Kansas river.

Wow, I am impressed. That is a nice fish for a river in Missouri. He grew fat in the backwater no doubt. Wow, thank you!

Al, a 25" largemouth from a stream is anywhere from 7-10 pounds. I find that unlikely to have happened in an Ozark stream. Do you have a picture of this behemoth?

Brother, that is absolutely amazing!

Wrong stream. Shoal is about right. You don't have to worry about Cricket catching much Chief.

All trout stocked in Missouri are stocked with the intention of being a sport fish for someone to fry up. Quit putting these invasive species on a pedestal. Why couldn't the state have stocked something that at least belongs in this hemisphere? Brown trout do not belong here and should not be treated as sacred cows.

Al, it is good that you have fished across the country. I, for one, dream to one day fish across the country. I have mentioned the fact that spotted bass would stabilize eventually, and it appears, at least in your eyes, that it might be happening sooner than anticipated. The genetics keep the Neoshos from attaining the same top end size as the northern strain fish. The water and habitat quality and type is ideal for growing big bass where there is faster water. You will not find Neoshos in slow water. When talking about the Neosho smallmouth, you have to look at the number of fish over 18" in a given watershed. I have seen ONE over 18". Chief hasn't seen many, but where the northern strain fish are present, 18" fish can be in every pool.

Your drive is less than mine brother. I don't really feel sorry for you. You know there are places to fish in Saint Louis, you don't HAVE to drive to fish. I enjoy fishing the lakes when I can't get down to the Ozarks. Your idea to pick a fight made my day entertaining too!

Oh well, sounds like it's been fun

Come down here and prove habitat degradation to me. You can't. This is pristine smallmouth habitat and there are holes where all four of us caught ten fish from a single location and could have killed two more hours there doing the same thing. I guess that is normal. There are a few streams down here that are definitely overpopulated with small brownies. You can watch them kill your plastics and have five fish watch that one do it from inches away. If you truly believe they cannot be overpopulated, drive your happy ___ down here and fish with us one day on this creek we are thinking of. Al has said the population has been decimated by spotted bass numerous times and yet we have heard nothing of them this year. Why is it that you don't align yourself with his beliefs on this as you do everything else?

The people removing the smallmouth and thusly preventing overpopulation and stunting, were the native Americans, not to mention the natural predators. In this area, take your choice of tribe. Now, on the stream we fished two weeks ago, I had a hook in the two largest brownies I have ever had on, lost them both, but knew they were both over 15.

Eh, I could tolerate a 12-18, but it's not ideal for many waters in the state. While it would, in theory, protect the bigger brownies, it would, most likely, prevent people from keeping smaller fish as the smaller fish are not desired by meat hunters.

There is no record of any mixed stocking in these drainages. Now, I am against all of the spot regs, but you all seem to be in favor of them, so keep them if it makes you all happy. I haven't read or heard anything about spots this year, so I don't know the status of the "invasion". You might have something in that it is better to err high than low. I do understand how confusing a slot limit can be for some fishermen, but for those of us with a whole brain and most of our teeth, it shouldn't be too tough

Eric, yet again, I must tell you this. You can tell a Neosho from a northern strain with a couple little indicators. Simply put, the bottom jaw of the Neosho is going to protrude in front of the upper jaw to the point that the teeth on the bottom jaw are visible from above. The mouth is larger, meaning it extends to the middle to back of the eye, whereas the northern's mouth stops at the front of the eye. Also, the Neosho does not have scales on the caudal membrane, where the northern does. There is little to no tiger striping on a Neosho at any time of year. The Neosho is a thinner fish, weighing less for the length. Yes, I, and anyone else who knows what they are looking at and for, can tell the difference. You, never having caught one, probably couldn't tell the difference. When did I say I would rather see a big smallmouth in a skillet? I didn't and if you think I did, you misread and misunderstood anything I have said. Why put regulations on the Neosho fish (seldom growing beyond 17") that prohibit one from keeping an 18" fish, which is at the top end of its life cycle? The 12-15 slot limit would allow one to keep and mount a big Neosho without having to be over 18", which you may never catch, while releasing the majority of the "bigger" fish. Missouri might not recognize the Neosho smallmouth as a separate species, but Oklahoma at least gives the fish the consideration it deserves and as such has refused to stock northern strain fish in Grand Lake because the rivers that feed the lake on the upper end hold native Neoshos and would eventually be cross bred and the genes in those streams would be diluted. There are no smallmouth in Grand, and the ODWC doesn't want any there. Missouri could at least recognize the unique genes that are present in the Spring and Elk drainages and put different regulations on those two systems, much like they did with the spotted bass regulations on the Meramec.

Vicious Ultimate, pick your breaking strength by matching it to the rod you are going to use. Personally, I have 14 on my baitcaster and 8 on my spinning rod. I am having no issued picking up fish with the heavier line and it gives you more protection should you hang up in a tree while floating down river. You can almost stop your boat dead in the water.

Eric, that is no BS about some streams in Mac county being overpopulated. We floated two weeks ago and caught hundreds of smallmouth to 12 inches and a couple larger than that. We caught none over 15", but we saw several that would broach 17 or 18. They are in there, but you are not going to catch them. Trust us. We fished to them and dropped plastic on their heads. Nothing would stir these behemoths to bite. Now, in my opinion a lower slot, from 12-15 would help out these fish, which as we have discussed on here do not grow as large as the smallmouth in other parts of the state due to different genetics. Why should we (in SWMO's Ozarks) be forced to abide by laws that do not enhance the fisheries we frequent, but rather were implemented with the singular objective to improve smallmouth fishing in the Meremac River system and its tributaries by a bunch of guys that have rarely, if ever, fished in the waters we speak of? You mentioned the James River. Well, I hate to tell you this, but those aren't Neoshos. Those are northern strain smallmouth, and with the James being bigger water, you should see larger fish. We should put you on some Neoshos one of these days that you can escape from St. Louis and let you see what we have harped on for over two years. When people comment that smallmouth cannot be overpopulated, I can only laugh.