Justin Spencer

It is the feds but they have left their accesses open because they have a good supervisor for their district, they can leave the river open because it is not run by the national park service, but is under USDA. Our district supervisor does not like her only river access or the people who use it so she shuts it down whenever possible.

It is actually a Wild an Scenic Riverway that is overseen by the forest service and not the National parks like the ONSR, long story, but good move for them not to be part of ONSR.

I guess they do, I don't have much to fight with, they really don't need me, I need them. Believe me, it drives me nuts but thank goodness I'm not in the National Scenic Riverways where they shut the whole river down, should be unconstitutional to close public land.

Bingo!

Ahhh, but they do!

They locked the gate at the highway. Stupid tea baggers, donkeys, and pachyderms.

They can take my permit, but if you open the gate, I'll use it.

They told me any gated areas would be shut down.

If the government shuts down it looks like river accesses that are forest service sites will be locked up. On NFoW that is Hammond, not sure about other rivers, but know the EP and Current probably have some.

Bourbon BBQ viennies, now that's livin'

Targeting, tons of commercials, and long halftimes are killing D1 football. I used to love it, but can hardly sit for an entire game. And did I mention that targeting is the dumbest thing ever. Probably 75% of the ones I have seen have been overturned, but the penalty remains, brilliant. NFL has overtaken college I am sad to say.

Loving this team, they seem to wear down defenses, and overcame 3 turnovers to whoop the Giants. NFC east suuuuucks!

Won't be pretty when conference play begins I'm afraid.

Good looking pup, I love Britts!

Not unlimited, but unless we have some sort of famine in the Ozarks they should be okay. They reproduce in plenty of areas giggers can't reach, and in other areas gigging is not permitted. Question for smallmouth men, would you rather get rid of spotted bass invading your streams, or get rid of illegal gigging, just wondering what you consider to be the major problem for our smallmouth fisheries.

Is gigging allowed in the river portions where smallmouth have to be 15 inches to keep?

It was good meeting you, you should be proud to catch a trout here as a fly rod newbie, this river humbles many tried and true fly fishermen, who often go home skunked. Hope to see you again.

Anything is possible, heck remember when the Chiefs beat Green Bay. Denver is much better than KC, butour defense is turning people over so who knows. We better at least split with Joakland, hope we sweep, but division games are tough.

It's like any other kind of fishing, there are good spots and bad spots, good trips and bad trips, and unless you gig often it is rather difficult to hit a fish. Giggers usually don't gig the smaller suckers because the payoff is not there, so these fish are left for next year. It is a great self sustaining fishery.

This comment had nothing to do with poaching or gigging. Obviously laws need to be followed as they are there for a reason. I was referring to people's opinions in general be it about gigging, sport fishing, catch and release, catch and keep, politics, etc. We all believe our opinions are the correct ones, but opinions are just that, in most cases we can't really prove our opinion is the correct one. The law is the law and should be followed, just like we shouldn't stop fishing because of poachers, gigging shouldn't be stopped because of poachers, driving shouldn't be outlawed because of drunk drivers, guns shouldn't be banned because of murderers etc.

It always helps to be able to see both sides and realize there is really no wrong or right, only differing opinions, each of which have merit.

Not true, but every fish can be gigged, so let's outlaw the cruel practice if terrorizing fish for our own thrill just to thriw them back so they can be terrorized again.

Anyone with a 401k is most likely to be invested in the stock market, that money invested was not fake and most people who want to some day retire are invested. Those that have lived off the govt probably are not, so while conservatives outwardly like to complain about the bailout, secretly they are glad they get to retire or they neverinvested and will rely on the goverments social security to take them to the big bailout in the sky.

Nice!

I think the number of legally kept smallmouth is being downplayed for some reason. Most of the local people around here that go smallmouth fishing keep all legal fish when they go out. I see pictures from friends all the time of nice 15" plus smallmouth that they catch on NFoW and Bryant creek, and they usually keep a limit when they go. Seems like legal harvest could quickly deplete the resource, if you notice big time changes in a stretch of water you should probably check with MDC to see what they think. It all comes back to trying to keep as many user groups as possible happy, which is not an easy thing for MDC to do. Enforcement of all laws is tough in the remote locations of the rivers and creeks in the Ozarks, even as crappy as much of the world has become we still have a pretty good resource here that provides us with good fishing, floating and gigging year after year. I am fortunate to live here and enjoy it year round, and while I wish I could still gig in the water that flows over my land I am overall pleased with how the NFoW is being managed.