Kathy E.

Thanks, Bill. All of it is very much appreciated!!

I want to cry. Fished all day yesterday and between us we caught ONE SMALL BASS!! Water temp was 57- 58-degrees, water was pretty off-colored, maybe the next step up from being muddy. Went all the way to Linn Creek cove and fished all around the coves just opposite and to the east of it. GREAT coves, big fish coves, but NOTHING!! We did everything and still nothing. BUT we were coming off of a significant cold front, too. Even the crappie are being tight-mouthed. Our daughter was supposed to come for crappie today, which is why we went bass fishing yesterday, but she reneged. So, we SHOULD have gone bass fishing today because two days since the cold front AND another strong front moving in this evening. BUT we didn't. So we will just have to try our luck again after this front has passed. Thanks for everyone's help. By the next time we go it should be the spawn. By the way, LOTS of fishermen out but it doesn't look like anyone was catching anything. Weird thing was that yesterday all the boats that looked like their anglers MIGHT have known what they were doing -- wrapped boats, power pole outfitted -- were fishing main lake points. I don't know what THAT means but with temps up to 57 and 58 I would have thought that most bass would be moving back into the coves by now.

Great. I have both those colors. Good deal. Thanks, again!!

I have LOTS of Chompers AND lots of Warts. This is sort of what I was doing with the Wart this past week. We are heading out tomorrow. I will give this a try. What color chomper would you suggest? I doubt we had enough rain to muddy the water so the color should be excellent, just partially stained and clearing near the shoreline. Thanks, Mike. Kathy

Water temp was 57.8 to 58.6, which should have been getting into ideal territory. NO signs of bedding activity yet. All hell is getting ready to bust loose, though. Maybe I should have tried a jig and pig but I did not.

Okay, so we tried crappie on Wednesday but there were a bunch of people on our community dock -- only two of whom belonged there -- and they had cleaned out the crappie. We went out in the boat but had no luck. But we went out yesterday and I did catch a short bass on the orange Wiggle Wart. I would cast it all the way to shore where it would snag on leaves under the water 30% of the time. I mean, the fishing was sloooow BUT I did have THREE other strikes, even though I caught none of them. I was retrieving fairly slow most of the time although I would alternate with a retrieve, stop, retrieve. Unfortunately, I cannot remember precisely what I was doing when I got the strikes. By the way, all of the strikes took place midway from shore to our boat. BUT I also tried fishing the depth of water where the strikes were coming -- about 10 to 12-feet -- but got no strikes in that area. It is like they were following the bait out from the shore or close to it. Water is clearing up nicely. It is still stained but better than it was the last time I reported in. I think we will try to go out again on Monday or Tuesday. I'd been hoping to go out over the weekend but the weather is looking sort of 'iffy.' Thank you for your report, slothman. I had tied on a spinnerbait but I didn't use it. I did use the Ned rig with no luck; I used a black lizard Carolina-rigged with no luck; and the WiggleWart seemed to do the best even though it was just one fish. My husband never had a single bite but then he was using a FireTiger Wiggle Wart and maybe that made the difference. Oh, two of my bites AND the one fish were off of or near secondary points; the other bite was about halfway down a gravel bank off of a main lake point that was NOT on the channel side. The wind, which was fierce yesterday, sort of dictated where we were fishing. Our trolling motor is simply no good at handling the wind and my husband will NOT buy another one. Go figger, right? No matter where we went, we were in the wind as it was shifting around pretty good. Another factor probably against us was that the prevailing winds yesterday here where we fish were from the east and southeast. Sometimes wind direction doesn't seem to matter; yesterday, perhaps, it did. Not many anglers out yesterday so I think the bite is slow or fairly non-existent. The ones that I did see, including two with dual power poles (which means they are serious) were concentrating solely on secondary points, if that helps anyone.

Thank you, Basfis and slothman. We are planning to fish on both Wednesday and Thursday this week. I wish we could go out today and tomorrow but my husband has to finish up a job he started in our boat. I had been planning to use the Ned rig, as Bill Babler suggested, but now I will try the craw-colored Wiggle Wart first on gravel banks (maybe wait until the sun warms them a bit though) and also try the spinnerbait. What color spinner bait worked best? What blades and weight? Also, where were you fishing it? Was the water stained or muddy where you were fishing? Our water is clearing by the day but with rain predicted for tonight, one won't really know what it will look like tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for all the great tips. I will let everyone know how we do over this next week.

Friend went out today and fished the Gravois where the water was very muddy. The water color mid-Lake is stained so that you can see a lure being brought in one or two feet under the water as it nears the boat. My friend caught two, neither one a keeper. She caught one on a Carolina rig and the other on a spinnerbait. Hubby and I will be going out again on Wednesday and possibly Thursday as we prepare to weather another month of (ugh!) social distancing. I am a loner, ordinarily, and I must admit I MISS SEEING PEOPLE!!

I dip the crappie fillets in the buttermilk, then roll in seasoned flour and then into the Fry Daddy set at its highest possible heat setting. YUM!

Hi, Bill! We were fishing around the 24 to 25 mm. I will have to try the ned. Had a couple of weak bites but may have been shad which were out in droves. I think we will be crappie fishing off the dock this weekend. I will let you know how we do. I bought buttermilk already so we are set!! LOL! Our friend snagged a huge spoonbill last weekend. His photos are awesome. Thanks for the tips. Good luck to you, too. Stay safe.

Hubby and I were out 'social distancing' on the Lake yesterday and, boy, was the Lake crowded. Go-fasts, cruisers, and LOTS of bass boats. Even some pesky waverunners -- isn't it too early for those knotheads?? LOL! Anyway, we found 55-degree stained water near the backs of coves but caught NOTHING during our four hours of fishing. What's more, no one with whom we spoke from boat lengths away had caught anything either, unless they were lying to us. (No, LIE??) (LOL!) We were in a spot where we could see guys trying LOTS of different things but never saw anyone pull in a fish. We tried Rogues, pointers, Megabasses, jig and pigs, Carolina-rigged worm, spinnerbaits, Wigglewarts, did everything we could think of and got two halfhearted strikes in 4 hours -- probably from big shad. We will be heading out again in the next couple of days because we arrived back in Missouri from Florida last Friday and we still have another 8 days of serious social distancing to complete. And I'll bet we will have many more after those 8 days are up, too.

Great fish! Way to go!

Everyone, you MUST join CFM right now! And those of you who are able to have GOT TO MAKE A DONATION! Right now, they are the only fighting force that is arrayed on our side against the MO Legislature. And their new director, Brandon Butler, wants to go after the legislators with (metaphorically speaking, of course,) both barrels blazing. But he needs OUR HELP TO DO SO. Please do what you can.

Hidden away in the bill, as well, is a part that would deny legal redress to anyone injured by polluters or those who contaminate our waters and other natural resources, or at least that is what it seems to do. I cannot help but think of the West Lake Landfill, in Bridgeton (near St. Louis), where a smoldering, sub-surface fire is creeping steadily closer to the buried radioactive waste. Boy, I'll bet those landfill operators donate even more money to the legislators than the deer farmers do. With all that the legislators are trying to do to MDC, our free-flowing streams, our whitetail deer, and the strings that they are attempting to pull in favor of the state's polluters I'll bet our parents and grandparents -- the ones who worked so hard for conservation in Missouri, and who helped to make our wonderful state what it is today, are turning over in their graves. (That is, if they are dead; many of us, unfortunately, are still alive to see them try to ruin the most-conservation-minded state in the country). We have to do what we can to make these folks sit up and take notice. Did you know that MDC received over 28,000 letters, phone calls, and postcards in FAVOR of their new deer farm regulations during the last battle with our so-called legislators? If every person who cares enough to send a letter or postcard or make a phone call is truly equal to 1,000 who are too lazy to do so (according to marketing principles), then that tells me that close to 3 million Missourians are AGAINST the legislature on the deer farm issue alone. How many MORE would be against something that would restrict stream access AND reward polluters??? Just think of how many people enjoy our free-flowing streams? It boggles one's mind to think that the General Assembly can think that they can pull this one off. Oh, wait! They ALMOST -- but for one vote -- got captive deer reclassified as livestock, so no telling WHAT they can do, if push comes to shove. I shudder to think of it.

Blue tongue is not transmissible from whitetail to whitetail. It is NOT transmissible from cattle to deer or from deer to cattle. It is carried by a midge that gets into the deer's nose and lays its eggs there and which then proceed to release a virus that then raises havoc in the deer's system. Here is one scientific journal's description: A deer must be bitten by a midge carrying the virus to become infected. The disease is not transmitted directly from one deer to another but must go through the insect vector. And then there is this: Cattle SELDOM EXHIBIT signs of EHD, and even when they do the symptoms are mild. So, your game farm friend may have lost cattle to a disease but odds are great that it wasn't EHD. If you are that misinformed about EHD, no wonder you believe everything you are being told by the captive deer folks about testing requirements, etc. Do some research, at least, before you post things that are so obviously incorrect. The EHD epidemic had nothing to do with the relaxation of testing. If the captive folks 'go out of their way to install barriers,' as you state, they would be installing double fencing and damming their water sources so that nothing could reach outside the pen. They would be inspecting their fences so that nothing could escape; in fact, deer escape high-fenced ranches with regularity. That game farmers don't and won't double-fence their properties speaks volumes about these folks. In fact, the mere suggestion, by the Conservation department, that they start to double-fence their properties -- and this was back in the early 1990s -- sent the game farmers into a tailspin. They don't care if their animals infect the wild deer; more than once I and others have heard them bragging about how, if that happens, then the only place hunters will be able to go to hunt guaranteed non-diseased whitetails will be a game farm. Because when OUR deer are all infected, THEN the game farmers will sterilize their soil, double-fence their holdings, and repopulate with truly non-diseased deer, if they are able to find any at the rate they are going of infecting our wild herds. Whitetail deer, whether in a pen or in the wild, are wild animals. The are NOT livestock. What other 'livestock' do you know of that cannot bear to be handled, and which will die at a high rate of 'capture myopathy' whether they have been in a pen for 5 years or were just trapped? Plus, as long as disease can be transmitted from these penned whitetails TO WILD WHITETAILS, which are owned BY EVERY MISSOURIAN AND EVERY AMERICAN, not just a select few, then the governing agency of the animals which would suffer the most harm and which would result in the most harm to the general public, namely, the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, should be in charge. This is an issue that should be of major concern to any North American who enjoys watching, hunting, photographing or eating non-diseased wild whitetails. There is no point in arguing with you any further. You obviously have no idea of the seriousness of the situation, nor do you even bother to check your so-called 'facts' before posting them here. And you obviously do not care whether or not future generations will have non-diseased whitetails to hunt or to otherwise enjoy. EHD kills some whitetails, not all. CWD kills every whitetail, with no exceptions. Whitetails can build up a resistance to EHD, since it is a virus, so that future generations may not be as susceptible to the biting midge that causes it; CWD has no way of stimulating a whitetail's immune system because it is a TSE -- transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. There is no cure and researchers are no closer to discovering one than they were 50 years ago. The disease-causing prions can be transferred into the soil and into the food supply. No one yet knows what that means for the humans who will be eating the prions contained in our bread, tomatoes, and other ag crops. How many will it take to cause vCJD -- the always fatal new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans? No one knows, but the roulette wheel of chance is spinning. That is one risk that I and millions of other thinking people feel would rather do without. And the best way to do that is to try our best to keep CWD contained, which will never happen as long as game farmers are allowed carte blanche to operate in the same reckless manner they have been all along. Common sense measures should prevail.

First of all, there is no such thing as coincidence. Follow the trail of CWD and you will almost always find a game farm nearby. If there is no game farm, there is a high probability that the infection was caused by a night hauler having had an accident and losing his (infected) animals OR a captive deer person releasing infected deer (that I admit he may not have known were infected) back into the wild. A slight chance exists that a hunter might have brought back an infected deer from a CWD zone and not disposed of its brain and spinal cord properly and deer got infected that way. But the preponderance of evidence suggests that the CWD plague has followed on the heels of the game farms. No one is wanting to put these folks out of business. But did you know? 1.) The game farmers are lobbying the Missouri legislature to remove oversight of their deer from the Conservation department, with all of their many wildlife biologists and veterinarians, to the Ag Dept, which has not a single wildlife biologist NOR wildlife veterinarian? 2.) The game farmers have got the Missouri legislature well on their way to declaring captive deer 'livestock' and not wildlife? How can it be that they are livestock when they are roaming the pens, according to the game farmers, and immediately become 'wildlife' when one of their shooters downs one of them? 3.) Before the legislators got involved some years back, the Conservation Dept. was testing around every captive pen for the presence of this disease. Threats from the legislature of this being a 'discriminatory practice' shut this testing down. We need this started back up immediately. 4.) The CWD testing programs is now voluntary, not mandatory as it was a few years ago. Do you really believe that EVERY game farmer, when confronted with an obviously sick deer, is going to do the right thing and have it tested? The game farmers are the ones who initiated the phrase "Shoot, shovel, and shut up." A percentage will hide the evidence and let the wild deer be darned. Mandatory testing won't solve every problem -- the captive folks could still cheat -- but at least the Conservation dept. would have an occasional presence at these places, with access to their documents, and the ability to ask questions. Right now, the department is pretty well hamstrung. These are all common sense measures designed to protect our native wild whitetails and, by extension, Missouri's more than 550,000 deer hunters and the more than $1 billion annual economic impact that deer hunting contributes to the state. There are only slightly more than 300 captive deer operations, with an annual economic impact so small that it doesn't even get broken out of the Ag. Dept.'s budget. Doesn't common sense require that we at least try to strengthen the regulations that affect our wild deer -- as well as the jobs of over 27,000 Missourians who find full time employment in some aspect of hunting for wild whitetails?

Did you read the article? CWD in 22 states now, and counting. Follow the deer breeders and you'll find CWD. There probably are some good deer breeders who would never do anything unethical. Unfortunately, there are others who aren't so ethical -- or legal. How do you tell them apart? One night hauler (person who illegally transports whitetails) testified in court that he had made thousands of illegal hauling trips taking deer from CWD-endemic zones in Saskatchewan to fenced areas in Texas and elsewhere. And that is just ONE hauler! How many more just like him remain in operation as this is being written? And the people who pay to go to deer pens can't by any stretch of the imagination be termed 'hunters.' They are shooters, plain and simple, and judging from some of the tales not very good ones at that.

More details: from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., third floor, Capitol rotunda. CFM will be grilling hot dogs and burgers for attendees.

Brandon Butler, executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, has just shared with me the exciting news that CFM is going modern. The organization already had a Facebook presence and they are getting ready to join the Twitter-verse. CFM is gearing up to confront, head on, those who would thwart the 550,000 hunters of wild deer in Missouri by supporting the 300+ deer breeders whose very presence in the state -- and continued transport of deer across state lines -- threatens the health of our wonderful wild whitetail.s Legislators in Jefferson City not only are trying to change the definition of captive deer from 'wildlife' to 'livestock,' which even the Agriculture Department opposes, they are trying to remove the Conservation Department from having anything at all to do with captive deer, including assuring that the deer are healthy and not infested with disease or deer lice. The Conservation Department already has many, many wildlife biologists and wildlife veterinarians on staff; the Department of Agriculture has no wildlife biologists nor do they have any wildlife veterinarians. Misguided legislators, such as Representative Rocky Miller, have stated to me (paraphrasing here) that all someone has to do is look up the fix in a book, that Missourians don't need a wildlife specialist to work with deer to know what's best for the animals. Really? Mr. Miller is a civil engineer. Would he be qualified to retrofit a utility company's substation transformer??? Could he 'look up what to do' in a book?? Not in a timely manner, I'll wager he couldn't. Anyway, this foolishness has gone on long enough. Our wild deer are at an ever-increasing threat from pathogens being brought unnaturally into our state by the captive deer breeders and operators of shooting pens. These folks are 'greasing the palms' of our legislators to such an extent that our legislators really believe that deer hunters simply don't care about the health of our wild deer. Look to southeastern Wyoming where over 50% of the deer are now infected with CWD -- and where population declines of 10% are occurring every year because deer are dropping right and left. Is this the future we want for Missouri? Captive deer breeders and owners of shooting pens don't care about wild deer. More than once they have told me that they don't care if every wild deer gets sick and dies. They say that if that happens they will simply sterilize the soil in their pens, double-fence, dam streams, and re-stock with healthy deer. Then the only way someone can shoot a healthy deer is by paying to shoot in one of their pens. Their aim is to put the Conservation Department and other wildlife agencies out of the deer hunting business. With CWD now found in 22 states, they are doing a pretty good job of it, too. Make plans now to attend the Rally for Whitetails which will be held on April 16 in Jefferson City. The legislators have prodded a sleeping giant -- the deer hunters of Missouri. If this isn't worth a day of your time, than I don't know what is. In the meantime, if you use Twitter #superbucks2050 to get all the latest information on this and other topics of interest to deer hunters. A good resource for those who are unfamiliar with the captive deer industry is this article: http://www.indystar.com/longform/news/investigations/2014/03/27/buck-fever-chapter-one/6865283/ It's a long article, but one that you'll be glad you read.

I would also imagine that the legislature is more inclined to try to 'snow' the citizenry of Missouri with a vote on these two measures than to try to get them past the Governor, who is a real sportsman. They know they have no chance with the Governor; they feel that they MIGHT have a chance with the populace, which means that if and when we find out that these two items -- or even one of them -- are on the ballot, we all have to get busy immediately: raising funds, campaigning, etc. Because the game farmers have deep pockets, and they aren't afraid to throw money wherever in order to get their way. And that is probably why we find ourselves in this predicament right now; that, and the desire by the legislature to finally get their hands on the conservation sales tax revenue. And what a travesty that would be!!!

Plus, the legislature is in session for only 6 months of the year. What if something needs a decision during the OTHER 6 months? Why allow people who can barely figure out legislation in which they, as mostly lawyers, are supposedly well-versed the chance to decide -- or attempt to decide -- issues of vital importance concerning our fish and wildlife? We would have to be fools not to see where this is coming from: the game farmers who continue to chafe under any attempt to reform or limit their operations, even though those same operations have been deemed culpable for virtually every case of CWD that has been documented. And even where there is no direct connection of a particular case of CWD to a game farm, I cannot help but believe that when CWD of 'unknown origin' has appeared -- and there are but one or two confirmed incidences like this) that in my own mind, at least, I feel that there probably was some type of hauling accident or release involving diseased deer (perhaps a game farmer who was going out of business and simply released his animals) rather than put them down or find a new home for them. Follow the game farms, and you will find CWD in their wakes.

Missouri is the envy of every other state when it comes to the way our Department of Conservation is funded and managed. Any and all proposals, amendments, etc., are just the legislature's sneaky way of trying to slip one past the people of Missouri in order to steal the conservation sales tax funding. Plus, there is another resolution that they are trying to pass that would increase the number of commissioners to 8, which would allow for all sorts of squabbling as to how conservation dollars are allocated. So far, the sales tax revenues seem to have been allocated in a reasonably fair fashion. In my mind, if it ain't broke -- and the Conservation Department by no means is broke -- then why fix it? Also, transferring control of captive whitetail deer to the Ag Dept. is a bad idea on so many different levels it simply defies imagination. Right now, testing is VOLUNTARY! Do you know what that means? The game farmers don't have to test if they don't want to. They have a saying in the captive cervid industry -- that is the same up in wolf country -- that is, SSS -- shoot, shovel and shut up. As long as deer farmers have that attitude, and make no mistake some of them have that attitude (note that I say 'some' and not 'all), then the testing should be mandatory AND overseen by the department of Conservation. These animals might be behind fences but by no means should they be considered domestic animals, such as cows, pigs, etc. For one reason, you can never domesticate a buck deer. It will always be wild, and during the rut it will ALWAYS be one of the most dangerous animals anywhere. More deer kill humans each year than any other animal in North America. Plus, WHY should captive cervid operations -- which number only about 300 in the state -- conduct their business in a way that could very possibly jeopardize EVERY WILD DEER in our state? There are 550,000 free range hunters and only a piddling number of 'shooters' who visit these game ranches to shoot penned deer. Why should OUR deer be condemned to die a horrible death because those game farmers who are in it only for a profit choose NOT TO ABIDE BY THE RULES? And if you think they abide by the rules then, why, pray tell, do we have CWD in Missouri? Keep the MDC as is -- out of the hands of legislators -- AND do NOT transfer control of wild cervids -- elk, whitetails, mule deer -- to the Ag Department. That is, if you enjoy hunting truly wild deer that are not diseased AND if you would like to see your children and grandchildren enjoy the same things that you have for however long that you have been hunting.

Here's what I think, FWIW. I love whitetail deer -- big bucks, in particular -- and I suppose MDC does, too, because they assign undercover agents with some regularity to infiltrate known groups of big buck poachers. Whitetail deer, however, can use all sorts of land-based habitats; it is much easier for them to escape (in most places, and I'm not talking about the after dark, open habitat feeding places where they can be quite vulnerable to poachers) than it is for smallmouth bass, a species which is limited for the most part to Ozark streams in our state. I think if MDC would assign a couple of undercover agents to infiltrate some of these outlaw gigging groups that would be a great step forward. I don't care if they actually become friends with the poachers first, or 'meet up' on a stream sometime after dark and let the 'friendship' proceed from there. I don't even care if the undercover operative has to gig a few smallmouth to gain the poachers' trust. Just get in and get names. . . The second prong of my anti-gamefish gigging program would be to have each and every person who is upset about the way our smallies are being targeted by these outlaws carry a camera along the next time they head out to the stream. If you just want something to do this winter -- and gigging season is still ongoing -- this might be a good thing that YOU can do for our stream smallies. Document with a photo every gigged smallie you see. If the fish is dead, then measure its length and weigh it, too. Note where you found the fish -- the stream, and the mile, if possible. Nothing will get MDC's attention like a sudden deluge of digital photos -- or mail-in photos -- and measurements of a precious resource like a smallmouth bass. What we should also do is log in here or over on Midwest Anglers -- or both -- and post our photos on these two sites, as well. When enough photos of dead or dying gigged smallmouth have been posted, I'll bet others will join in with the rest of us in demanding that something be done. Now, I don't propose that we outlaw gigging. I've interviewed enough giggers to know that a LOT of them would never think of gigging a smallmouth bass, fish fry or not. But even these ethical giggers acknowledge a problem with those who would kill a stream's smallmouth. I am not too sure that even the ethical giggers might buy into a crusade to root out these outlaws because the outlaws are just damaging the ethical guys' reputations, too.

Hi! I'm new here and have been following -- with great interest -- the impassioned and well-informed replies regarding MDC's Smallmouth White Paper. I would like to cover this in this weekend's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in the Outdoors column, which I write. The resulting article might appear in the newspaper, the online edition (STLToday.com) or both. What I would like from the users of this forum is their permission to quote portions of the various posts in my article. There is enough information here -- and in the White Paper -- for two articles, at least, plus I would also have to give Kevin Meneau a chance for rebuttal (or whomever the MDC powers-that-be designate to do so). Any forum members who have posted on this topic, and who would not mind my using one or two of their quotes (in Al's case, probably way more than one or two quotes), please email me with your forum user name, your real name, your home town and whether or not you would provide me with permission to transfer some of this discussion to the Outdoors column. My e-address is osagebeach38@aol.com Kathy Etling Outdoors St. Louis Post-Dispatch