drew03cmc

Namely, smallmouth bass. They have been pushed out of a few streams where they were historically present apparently, because of the introduction of trout.

Troutfiend, Capps has fish in it all year long. Get away from the accesses and fish away from where the pressure is. We caught fish and had the stream to ourselves last November.

The fish in the white ribbon streams spread out and are not as easy as some would think.

Tom, good to see you again! I agree, don't rush right in and start fishing, but rather watch the stream, look for flashes of fish as they feed and locate good feeding lanes. Last thing on your mind at first should be fly choice.

Trout management in Missouri... My idea is simple, if the fish cannot sustain themselves, let them die. Wasting money on an artificial fishery is just that, a waste. The few waters in Missouri that the state manages wild trout in, should remain, but the others should be allowed to pass. I realize that this is extreme and will never fly in Missouri, but oh well, that is how I would want it. The trout stocking has pushed native species out of some waters which has been well documented on here. If the state keeps stocking all of these fish, they could make the section at Maramec above the wire open to fly fishing only, the spring down to the gauge house at Bennett fly fishing only and have a fly fishing only requirement in the C&R section at RRSP. It is currently flies only and as anyone knows, the definition of fly in Missouri is very liberal. For adding a blue ribbon stream, it has to be a stream with natural reproduction. The Ruby doesn't fit and neither does Capps. I like fishing Capps a lot and will be fishing it this year again. There are only a few other streams that the state manages that have natural reproduction as it is now and I have my opinions on a few others which I will not mention on an open forum.

Cricket, until this post, I had quite a bit of respect for you, but I find it hard to believe that being atheistic or, god forbid, agnostic is a bad thing. It is also odd how most homosexuals (no problem with it either) I know come from ultra conservative households...your analogy just failed. Anyhow, about this frankenfish thing, we eat so much crap with added hormones, etc in it that nobody would notice a difference. I wouldn't be against trying it, but would want to read up on it first. Genetic modification has been going on for decades in plants and even animals.

I don't know man, something about smelling the race fuel burning is peaceful... Your mom is lucky to have that river in her backyard. I would be exploiting that!

It can be. Fish it in high water and the larger fish come to the dam to feed on the smorgasbord of fish coming through the dam's tube. It is much the same at Clinton which is about twenty minutes from my front door.

Nice...I wouldn't mind the tug of that one.

Nice fishing Chief. I am eager to get down there.

Perry is no closer than Truman Dam is to you. Perry's Outlet is much smaller than Truman's is.

I am a maybe. I would need a seat in a boat and could bring some grub. I will keep posting if I can make it or not.

Fall Spring Winter Summer The heat is too much for me. I sweat in the winter while fishing, so do the math on summer. I have lost 30 pounds this summer to the heat. I didn't fish much this summer due to not being able to find moving water to escape the heat up here, but I am picking that up this fall with outings as often as I can.

I wouldn't have thought of that Ham. Thanks for adding a place to the list.

Nice picture man. Where were you fishing?

I told my wife about our float coming up and she was excited for me...or it was excited for me to get out of the house...either way, good for us!

We should do that! I amd own for chasing Neoshos. They exist in Arkansas too I suppose...This could be fun. Let's plan this for this spring Chief. JD- I am aware that in most states the smaller sunfish are not game fish. You can still gain information about their native range and what not from the local fisheries biologists and catch them all on 1/32 Panther Martins fished down and across in a small creek. Have you ever caught a non-game fish by accident? Carp, drum, longear sunfish, etc?

I added the Ouachita Bass and I am up for knocking out as many as possible whenever. I will take care of the Kansas fish I can find in streams around here soon. I have already taken care of one of them now that I go through my photobucket account. I will be floating with you and KC soon so one or a couple of them will be taken off as well. I personally want to catch them all on hook and line and subsequently take pictures. I have googled them all and read about them in A.J. McClane's Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes, but am almost clueless about where to find a couple of them.

True. Thanks for the idea.

I edited to show the Florida Largemouth, which I cannot believe I forgot. The thing with Douglas County largemouths is I am trying to accomplish this all from streams where the fish are native. I may try the Wakarusa, but the issue there is the flow through from Clinton Lake. I have caught smallmouth on the Wakarusa. I have caught thousands of largemouths, but either don't have a picture or haven't caught them from streams where I know them to be native. I want photographic evidence of it all. The Pygmy Sunfishes are members of the order Perciforms, along with the bluegill, green sunfish, etc. I would like to catch them, but their low top end size makes it kind of hard. The St. Francis is on my list Al. Thank you! I had no idea of the diversity of fish that are native to that drainage. This will take more than a few years and might take decades to get all of the localized species like the Shoal Bass or Suwannee Bass, not to mention the smaller sunfish such as the Everglades Pygmy or Roanoke Bass. I will update with pictures when I accomplish the tasks. I am anxious to really get started on this and keep you all posted. Thank you all for the input and support. Keep it coming!

Okay, I have something I am trying to accomplish in my lifetime that I need the expert's help with. Here is a list of all of the sunfish species in North America to the best of my research. I am trying to catch them all with photographic evidence from NATIVE riverine habitats. I am looking for advice on where one can locate these fish. I know the Northern Smallmouth will be taken care of in a couple weeks. I have caught them, from non-native waters and years ago without a picture. Also, please add one if I missed one of course. I want this to be all encompassing. Some of them only grow to 2" long so this might be a major task, but I am willing to take it on. Sunfish Species Life List- The ones with an X beside them are already caught with photographic evidence, and with a river beside them are places I know of to catch them. Northern Smallmouth Bass- Neosho Smallmouth Bass- X Ouachita Bass- Northern Largemouth Bass- Florida Largemouth Bass- Spotted Bass- Redeye Bass- Shoal Bass- Flint River, GA Suwannee Bass- Guadalupe Bass- Cibolo Creek, TX Northern Rock Bass- Shadow Bass- X Ozark Bass- Roanoke Bass- Bluegill- X Handpaint Bluegill- Florida Bluegill (coppernose)- Northern Longear Sunfish- Central Longear Sunfish- X Ox-bow Longear Sunfish- Green Sunfish- any slow moving water in the midwest Warmouth- Pumpkinseed- White Crappie- Black Crappie- Sacramento Perch- Flier- Banded Sunfish- Blackbanded Sunfish- Bluespotted Sunfish- Redbreast Sunfish- Dollar Sunfish- Orangespotted Sunfish- Spotted Sunfish- Redspotted Sunfish- Redear Sunfish- Bantam Sunfish- Mud Sunfish-

Dan, get Tom back on here. I haven't talked to him in years.

Very pretty fish! Congrats!

KC, I, too am psyched about the Little Niangua trip. We will talk more about it after your vacation.

Very nice! I am impressed!