troutfiend1985

So, if I like catching "gay bass" over straight bass, do I have a problem? Gay bass, the next epidemic, call Bill O'reilly.

eric1978, I just want to say that I admire how much you care about smallmouths. It reminds me of how I feel about trout.

I might be getting out there on Friday afternoon. If not then absolutley on Saturday. I plan on fly fishing for bass, and maybe carp if I see some tailing. I'm also bringing my spinning rod, haven't used that in almost a year. If you see a guy in his mod twenties with a german shepard, that'll be me. Tight Lines.

What would you ever need 141 smallmouths for? I realize that between 6 guys its 21 or so per person, but man talk about not only braking the law but flipping it off as your doing it. I'm glad justice was served. I have no sympathy for poachers. You would think the risk of loosing your boat would be enough of a deterrent to keep people from doing things like this, but I guess some never learn. I hope they never come to Missouri or Arkansas. Paochers are no friend of mine, and there is no way to justify this kind of act. I do have one question, what do conservation departments do with the fish that are illegally harvested? I hope they don't just pitch them. If they are consumable you(or at least I) would think the right thing to do with them is to donate them to a food kitchen for the poor. Tight Lines

Yeah, I saw that article. Lightning is scary and shouldn't be messed with. I know of guys who play golf and thunder doesn't scare them, they're crazy and they are lucky to have never been hit by lightning.

I know, the forum is not really for smallmouth bass flies though. Maybe I'll start another topic on bass flies, but the list was already long enough and "other" is always an option. I should have qualified that these are trout flies and not bass flies, so I am sorry for the confusion. Flytyer, you probably know more about smallmouth flies than I would ever know, never been for smallmouth. I need to one day, but if I have to drive 2 and half hours, then I'm going for trout . Tight Lines.

Ignoring it could work in certain situations, but I think if you know who the people maybe extending an invitation to go fishing might help. Of course if you aren't on good terms with them, then I would ignore their comments. Competition brings out the worst in some, and unfortunatley it seems that you are experiencing this. People try to sabbatoge each other and resort to mud slinging in an effort to throw you off of your game. No matter what, just do what you are doing and ignore the gossip mill.

I fear no frog!! lol. But the idea of startling a venomous snake is a little creepy. I bring back pics.

I'm going down next week, although I'm assuming that I'll be skunked as I haven't fished in two months and haven't been to Crane in almost a solid year. Has anyone been down lately? I see the forum has been dead since early march so I would assume that is a no. My main thing is whether the man eating snakes are out in force yet. Any tips for avoiding snake contact? Will post a report, probably late next week. Any info is appreciated.

So, if Bennett is down, and they run there numbers for future stocking from the previous years numbers and less people are going this year then last year is next years fish population going to be like this years? Thats what I am really wondering. That and when the heck they are going to have a fish cleaning station so the gut fly hatch stops. I think the lack of a fish cleaning station bothers me more than anything, I can live with down years and down numbers but they really need to do something about this. Not only is seeing trout carcasses unsightly, but it makes fishing really weird in that the trout become cannibals. And a C&R zone wouldn't hurt anything, as the great Forest Gump said; "One less thing" in that the MDC would have one less area to stock. Tight Lines

Yeah, that whole scare the masses idea is not a good one. Someone posted on here that a local news station was advsing people to carry guns. Not trying to get into the 2nd Amendment here, but telling people to carry guns is bound to get an over reaction from someone. Most likely a younger person as with the situation you mentioned. I don't understand why a responsible media would tell people to arm themselves for bears. Bear spray is effective and I think the best thing a person could do is to arm themselves with information, that Black bears are not usually agressive towards humans unless they are threatened or you are between the cub and its mother. Information is the most powerful thing in these situations. Tight Lines.

MY frustration about Bennett is similar. It seems everytime I go back there the place is getting worse. One thing I can't understand is why there is no C&R zone. A C&R zone would at least help, after a while you wouldn't really need to stock that area. I just don't understand why the MDC hasn't changed up how they are managing Bennett. It's a shame too, Bennett could be a really nice place.

One of the posters says that there are multiple cameras, he also says that the cameras serve to catch people committing law infractions. There may be more than one, but the MDC has said no this. The tech guy that installed the cameras said there was only one, I have no reason to not believe him.

From all of the reports I've read, white will probably be the ticket. Lilley has sure been tearing them up. Good luck!!

I know I'm late to this. I've only had trout guides, and never once did they fish with me. SIO3, I think you made the right call to not pay the guide and ask him to take back. If a guide intends to fish, I would think from a business standpoint it should be on him to inform his customers of this. I've just hired a guide for Yellowstone, and I would probably have a problem if things were going rough and he started fishing. If things were great and he wanted to fish a little at the end, that would be fine with me. OR if things were really great and you catch a rare hatch, the salmon fly, I would probably tell guide to pick up a darn rod and fish. You hire a guide to learn an area quickly. I understand the do-it yourself mentalitites, but if you're on a once in a life time trip, I think it would be foolish to ignore a guide. Especially, I least I think, if you're going to a place you've never been before, the sole purpose is to fish and the place has a ton of hatches or the fish are spooky.

I just thought I would see if any one would like to start up a poll on their favorite flies. Seems that there are so many now days that a newbie might want a little help on their selection. I tried to include the major flies that I know of. I know that I put the wooly bugger in the nymph category and that a wooly bugger really isn't a nymph, but I'm not trying to create too many categories. I'm also not trying to get people to share the "secret fly." I have a couple of my own that work almost everytime I go and I don't feel the need to share them as I made them up myself. Just thought this would be fun. Tight lines.

I just thought I would see if any one would like to start up a poll on their favorite flies. Seems that there are so many now days that a newbie might want a little help on their selection. I tried to include the major flies that I know of. I know that I put the wooly bugger in the nymph category and that a wooly bugger really isn't a nymph, but I'm not trying to create too many categories. I'm also not trying to get people to share the "secret fly." I have a couple of my own that work almost everytime I go and I don't feel the need to share them as I made them up myself. Just thought this would be fun. Tight lines.

I just thought I would see if any one would like to start up a poll on their favorite flies. Seems that there are so many now days that a newbie might want a little help on their selection. I tried to include the major flies that I know of. I know that I put the wooly bugger in the nymph category and that a wooly bugger really isn't a nymph, but I'm not trying to create too many categories. I'm also not trying to get people to share the "secret fly." I have a couple of my own that work almost everytime I go and I don't feel the need to share them as I made them up myself. Just thought this would be fun. Tight lines.

Well hey, I have to apologize. I misread your last statement, and if your only concern is that people might take bears too lightly then I was wrong on my last post. However, I'm still standing on the idea that black bears really aren't that big of a problem, it's humans that make the problem i.e. feeding. Also, just a tid bit of info, DDT played a large role in the decline of the bald eagle. But, electrocutions is also one of the highest killers of eagles today. Yes, I mispoke about the hunting effects towards eagles, but their decline was directly linked to human activities. While eagles are making a comeback, BGEPA still prevents possessing eagle parts or hunting eagles. However, you cannot deny that buffalo were nearly wiped out by over harvesting. I say, let the black bears come back. If they start posing a problem, well, humans will do what we do best. Tight Lines.

JD,I'm trying to understand your logic but I just can't follow. We have hunted many things in the US, and we have put some species on the verge of extinction if not totally wiping them out. Take the bald eagle and bison, you cannot eagles because of their protected status. So what is this argument about bears have been hunted before Europeans inhabited the US? It would be one thing if the state says its legal, and if they do, I have no problem with it. Also, how much of a nuiscance are they? Are they your main concern as a farmer? Over coyotes etc. I'm not a farmer but I have a hard time believing the low populations of bears are the big cause of most agriculture problems associated with wild animals. Have you had problems with bears? Are these problems re-occuring? I just don't see what you are saying.

Thats too bad. Hopefully things will get to the point that you can get on that dream trip. One of these days you'll get there. Tight Lines

I think the more accurate description is humans are the pests. Don't know what you can do about us, but it sure seems that when you get down to it, we are the problem. Tight lines

Hey I totally understand, it was just an honest question. I have no problem with hunters, its the people who hunt purely for the sport of it that bother me. To me that would be like catching a limit, cleaning the fish and tossing them in the garbage on the way to the car. I didn't know that people actually eat bear. Zander, instead of waiting for something that might take years, you should head on down to Arkansas and try it out. It seems that you are pretty interested in the whole thing. I don't know how much the hunting permit and all that costs. I learned somehting today, and that is a reason to celebrate. Tight lines.

Nice fish!! What did you get them on if you don't mind.

Well, I think the conservation department has a compelling interest in informing citizens of Missouri about the come back of black bears. There are two good reasons that I can think of this. First is the misconception of black bears. People either have two general views of them, they are a bear and thus dangerous, or two, they are cute and I want to feed them,/not give the bear the space a wild animal needs. These are both generally wrong. Bears are dangerous, as are most wild animals. But they seem to be rather timid from all of the research that I have done(15 minutes browsing Washburn Library). But bears, as with all wild animals need space and human encroachment might equal into conflict. So there is one reason I can think of. The other reason is efficiency. It is much easier for the MDC to release information through a mass media outlet than to answer questions one by one. This saves money by cutting down on time that an employee will spend on trying to answer multiple peoples question relating to the same general answer/subject. As for this fascination of hunting bears, do people really eat bear? Or is one of those sport hunts? I respect hunters, but I find myself lacking sympathy for those who hunt wild animals solely for the purpose of enjoyment/trophy hunting experience. It seems when I say that then people ask me how can I justify fishing, and the response is that fishing does not by itself eqaute to the animals death. And I always carry a stringer in case I mortally hook a fish. But my question is, for those who are wanting to hunt black bears, will you eat black bears?