kdan

One more time, lets see what happens this time. Maybe its to big, pic is 2.24 mb and max single file size is 2.0 mb. I dunno, I give up for the time being. Maybe I need to catch smaller fish??? gee! lol!!!

Well I am still trying to down load a picture with no results. Is it stupid me? or is it this dang computor?

I actually downsized to a 1/32 oz and did quite well this morning. Not so well later in day though, didn't get any on 2 inch tubes.

It does sound like a few finally moved in. Glad Michael and Cristina managed to catch a few. Yes, It was a good day to be out and to see "new" friends. Thanks for sharing both fishing and friends, Laker.

This one wore me out, whewwwww, I am going to bed.

You are mistaken on the shad. There are no threadfin in LOZ, only gizzard shad. The millions you see in late summer are merely the offspring from that years spawn. LOZ is too cold of a lake for threadfin to survive the winters. Threadfin is a southern lakes bait fish. As for the stocking program, MDC stock some paddlefish, 330,000 walleye per year, hybrids, and every fifth year stripers. This per Greg Stonner, resident fish biologist here on LOZ at Thunder Mountain in Camdenton.

I know they stock walleye and hybred whitebass. As for any other species I am not aware of any. Are you wanting to know what species you can expect to catch from LOZ? If so, then you might catch a wide variety of fishes. Whitebass, hybreds, stripers, channel cat, blue cat, flatheads, spoonbill, black bass, small mouth (up the rivers of course), white crappie, calico crappie, walleye, and if you go up the Gravois arm you may even catch an aligator or pirriana (rumors), as well as several different perches and bluegill. There is of course the carp, buffalo, gar, and drum. Maybe even some I don't remember or know of. The shad are a self sustaining bait fish. You might check a wildlife code book or go on line to MDC for more info. Hope this helps and good luck fishing.

Well there is more to this, so now you will hear "the rest of the story". After this fish broke me off, I guess that is what I get for refusing to use anything bigger than 7X during daylight hours. I was contemplating what to tie on next and how to go about catching the next "big one". Laker walks by and asks where did she go? I dunno, downstream is all I know. He says he will tie on the big "hibanator" and run it through the fast water to see what he stir up. As I am going through my box and retying I watch Laker run that ginormus fluff ball through the fast water. well you ain't agonna believe this but that big fish layed up underneath the "waterfall" and Laker caught this thing totally in the blind with out a clue she was in there. After a brief fight she was nothing but dead weight on his line. After removing that wad of feathers from deep within this fishes mouth, he lets her go and she sinks like a rock and lays over on her side. Oh, I might add she had a gigantic girth and was squirting eggs the whole time she was being released. Any ways, as Laker heads off toget someone from the hatchery (we don't want her to die) I gets a long stick and lay over the side so I can reach her. As I lay over the edge holding her upright with that stick and fearing my $400 prescription glasses will fall off my head, what seemed like the rest of the morning but probably only 20 minutes she finally regains enough strength to stay upright. By the time Laker gets back with the hatchery guy she had swam off. This fish was big, old, and probably nearing the end of her life or she wouldn't be in the creek. And now you have it, "the rest of the story". Some times it takes skill and some times it just takes luck to fool one, but it ALWAYS takes skill to land one!! Way to go, Rick!!

You are right Ducky. It was a beautiful day at the park. Nice to have met you. And nice fish too!!! It was indeed a thrill to watch Laker fool that 13 lber. It is alive to be caught again another day, probably on March 1. (to bad) And a great big congratulations to you Laker on number 31.

I could not agree with you more!!! Missourians got along just fine the past 100 years with out having to contend with otters or bears, and now we will have elk and cougars??? Smart, real smart.

Yup, gonna still be iced in.

Or you could go to Millers Landing to put in and be just around the corner from Racetrack Cove and TanTarA. A private place, I think he charges 5 bucks to put in.

Al did design at least one. A copy of the original drawing hangs in the lodge at montauk, and a good friend of mine, and Laker67, has one of the original stamp art works done by Al. I think it was 1984. Also Laker67 has a near complete collection of trout stamps starting back in the 70's.

Hi Justin. The parents were probably not wild, but the offspring certainly would be. I am glad to see them showing up in more numbers as of late. Thanks for posting the picture.

The orange belly is a trait of the arlee strain that mdc now raises for stocking. As the young trout grow, they will most times have orange throat markings like the cuttthroats.

I think "laker" is just poking some fun.

What an interesting topic. I have injoyed reading them all. I have caught a "dogfish" from the Rock River in Illinois, that was a rather strange fish. I also caught a "hellbender" from the Niangua river below Tunnel Dam. Hung him from a tree, skinned him out. chopped him up, and deep fried him. Taste just like "spotted owl". One of the most exciting catches was when I was drift fishing with shad on the 31 mile marker of LOZ. I caught a 50# plus flat head then the next bite was a 60# plus blue. You ask how I knew they were that much, well my scale only went to 50#. Another quite exciting trip actually didn't happen to me, but rather to my best bud and fishing partner. When he caught his catch of a life time. A 27 pound 10 ounce Brown. Even though I did not catch that fish, I was still very excited about it!. Keep'em coming.

Well, spank my gran-ma. This subject has been beat to death in this forum. With the less than one percent success rate of spawning I don't buy into the stream bred wild trout, no doubt there is a few though. That is neither here nor there, YOU had a great day on the Current and I am envious. Excuse me if I sound argumentive, that is not my intent. Who is this Missouri Trout Hunter guy by the way? Is he a biologist? or work for MDC? Or just an avid trout fisher?

Stream born???????????? But it does sound like you had a great day.

Thats what I thought. Thanks wrench for info.

Laker, today was family day, for early Thanksgiving. so spent the day cooking and eating. It was a great time. Man, I really miss spending time with my sons. That was a really nice crappie. A big calico, was it? Too dang big to eat though. Gotta have those 9-10 inchers for that. YOU DONE GOOD!

this is an opinion and not fact filled. I think this is just the nature of how shad live and travel. They are always schooled up, darting to and fro. but since the fry are so small in early summer and don't get to a bait size till late july or aug I would say that the shad are most likely a spring spawner.

I give up!!! I am going fishing!! Kdan was last seen headed to the lake mumbling some thing about buying books, sending to school.

I now make reference to the Missouri Conservationist, November 2010 issue, page 5. And I quote. Q. I recently caught several crappie from LOZ. When I was cleaning them I noticed that some had egg sacs with eggs. Do crappie spawn in the fall? A. It is not unusual to find immature eggs in female crappie or other fish this time of year. Although greatly diminished insize outside of the spawing season, female fish retain their egg sacs (ovaries) that contain eggs that will mature in the future. In crappie, those eggs will be held until spawning in late March or April of next year. The mature eggs will be located near the center of the ovary, with progressively less mature eggs toward the outside. The spawing will begin with the right combination of day length, temperature, and water level in the lake. End of quote. This would seem to document what I have been trying to tell you. Which is #1 crappie do not spawn in the fall and #2 female fish carry their eggs from one season to the next.

I know what you saw. And I know what I have observed for the past month also. That is immature eggs in preparation for next years spawn.