straw hat

Gilly was asking about the Sospenders. I have used them ever since they came out. They work very well. The CO2 cartridges are posted with their weight on them and should be weighted each year to be sure they are still full of CO2. Each time they go off a new cartridge must be put in. They actually generate a 30 lb bouyancy where most of the foam zipper types are only 15 lbs. (depends on brand) I am one of those unlucky people they call a "sinker" (no that is not "stinker"). One out of every 12,000 people can not float. While I took swimming in college some times you are just to far from shore to swim even if you are a floater. A Sospemder will float me a zipper type will not. By the way some of the cheap brands of zipper have an expiration date on them. The cheap foam they use degrades with time. You guys might want to check yours out if you have this type. We talked about the winds on Stockton but it is not just the winds that are an issue. I had a Glasstream bass boat sink on me a few years ago. The water feed to the areator came apart inside the chamber of the boat. The line was a 1 1/4 Diameter and the boat sank in less than 30 seconds!!! I was wearing my life jacket and had no problem making it to the bank. By the way my current boat is foam filled, it will not sink. Just a week after my incident a man sank a new bass boat while back trolling on a windy day on Stockton. The Water Patrol agent who did the report on my incident told me about it. While this bass boat had 900 lbs of positive flotation. It still sank. I was told by the agent that positive flotation is the the amount of weight that the boat will handle over and above the weight of the boat and motor. This man weighted 250, had a trolling motor, 6 batteries, one anchor and of course all of his gear etc .... Once he started taking on water the boat sank quickly. Luckily he did manage to get to shore.

Bill you are so right. The new PFDs like the Sospender brand are so light and comfortable you really don't notice them. The old excuse of them being to uncomfortable is not valid anymore. Besides, inconvenient and alive is better than the alternative.

Good Point. The only reason that I can think of is that Pomme De Terre Lake is only about 1/3 the size of Stockton. Maybe with the longer run the more wind velocity you can build up? Has anyome heard any news on the lost boaters? The news I listened to last night didn't say anything about them.

Bob is going to be a great help to you and I am sure you will get your moneys worth with him. I am going to try and stear you toward finding the crappie. I normally fish with minnows so I will leave it to someone else on this site to advise about jig fishing. I have done it but certainly there are others on this site much better than me. Right know the crappie are on prespawn and with the ups and down of temperature and rain they certainly can vary in location. Most of the year I would simply direct you to standing timber or sunken brush but for the prespawn I would suggest; Look for some deep water (15' to 30') near a pea gravel bank. In the next two weeks they will start moving up on those banks to spawn. Right now they are staging in deeper water nearby. If there is some brush in or around that deeper water that is better. Cooler days they drop deeper and warmer days they move shallower so you are going to have to hunt some. Crappie are schooling fish so I would recommend that if you don't catch a fish in 15 or 20 minutes change up, a little deeper, shallower, etc. Some have already moved into the creeks because of the warmer water there but in those locations you some times have to beat away the other boats with a stick!! I would start in an area maybe 1 to 3 miles from where a tributary enters (eg. turnback, Little Sac, Sons Creek, Maze Creek, etc. Search for temps around 52 F to 55 F. Good Luck

I once heard a weather man explain this. He said that the prevelent wind in our area is from the south. With Stockton running from south to north the wind runs the length of the lake. The lake is like a wind tunnel, the hills on the side funnel the wind toward the dam and with that long of a run the wind really picks up steam. Now having said that I can tell you I have absolutely no idea if he was right, but it sounded good to me.

I went back and read most of the old entries on this subject. The varying opinions are interesting. Cheif Grey Bear, erin1978 and many others commented on not messing with mother nature. Mother nature is excellent at survival of the fittest. The fittest may be the best for mother nature but may not be the best for fisherman. What if the spotted bass is the most capable at surviving? I am rambling. What I wanted to throw in the pot is this. We often forget that it was man that set up the fisheries in Stockton. Nature set up largemouth, spots and smallmouths as river fish. The exceptions would be natural lakes such as reelfoot,swamps and the oxbow lakes. Along came man and produced the impoundments and subsequently the government managed them in order to produce fishing oppurtunities. Considering that these lakes are produced for recreation I think the ongoing conversation is appropriate. What is the best approach? I sort of agree with Bob, leave it to the MDC. I do fully agree that it would be good to submit your ideas to the state. It is the sharing of these ideas that provide the necessary input so they can manage the lake in a way to make the most out of it for us sportsman.

Walcrabass and fozzie; you are both right about the cross-breeding. While most species breed within their own species there is some cross-breeding.

I too would like to praise Bob and all the people like him that search for those two people. May God bless you and may God comfort the family who have been touched by this tragedy. May God guide them in finding these two. Please remember to wear you lifejackets when boating on the lake. I would never want to hear of a OAF member (or anyone else) drowning while fishing. You are all my freinds.

You are right walcrabass. The Florida and Northern are both subspecies of the same species, Largemouth Bass. Both having the same number of chromosomes. Being subspecies they can cross breeb and the off spring can reproduce. This is different than say Stripers. A species such as Stripers can breed with a different species such as White Bass ifthey have the same number of chromosomes and a matching number of genes on each chromosome. This almost always limits the crosses to members of the same family (sea bass in this example). However, this type of offspring (hybrid) is almost always sterile and can not spawn.

I forgot to tell you, I was around 1/3 to 1/2 way abck in the cove.

I was drifting nearly down the center of the cove. I would say most of them came at 16' to 20' of water. They were not oriented to timber or anything else. They just seemed to be suspended over deep water and scattered. The water temperature was fairly good (51 F) and the bite was slow but consistant nearly all day. When I did get a bite they hit it pertty well. P.S. I just noticed that they still haven't found those missing fisherman. I probably saw 9 or 10 boats buzz by today and not one of them was wearing a lifejacket.

Fished Maze Creek today. Slightly muddy but fishable. Caught about 30 crappie, 7 keepers. All very deep (20"). Visibility 1'.

Didn't feel good enough to fish today but my wife and I did a drive around the lake. Zac Seale; You asked about Maze Creek. Very dingy with a light current. I could see down in the water about 6"!! Roark; Very clear, water 48 F. CC; Very muddy, no debri on surface but a fast current. Temp was 51 F. According to the web sites the lake is nearly 4' above power pool. Turnback is 4.5' above normal and dropping fast, Big Sac is 4.5' high and dropping and Little Sac is 2.5' high and dropping fast.The muddy conditions are probably going to clear slowly considering we are suppose to get more rain tommorrow.

Just let me know whatever sites you can't get into and I will check it out. As far as a contact at MDC? Well I wouldn't want to give away my age but I worked for them in the late 70's!! The people I knew are probably not around anymore. If by now you are trying to guess my age I hope you have a lot of toes and fingers.

OOOPS!! That attachment was under "Post Conditions of Lake". Sorry.

I just checked the USGS web site and Turnback and Big Sac are up about 7' (rocking and rolling). This means that what CrappyKing said was right. Real muddy and a lot of current. I always check that site prior to going to CC in the spring. My experiance says that it will probably even have some floating brush and debri. If you want a link to the USGS stream level site so you can check it out before trips, then see my entry for yesterday under "Lake and Launch Conditions" on this page. Good luck.

Here are some links to sites that I often use to determine where I go fishing. Links.doc

You are most welcome. The varying opinions is why the state usually apply different regulations to different areas in order to keep everyone happy. And as you know you can't make everyone happy! If I run across any more information I will gladly pass it along. Good luck

Some light reading for you guys. HAHA Interesting stuff. Spotted Bass2.doc

I have found these conversations interesting. It might interest you gentlemen that I have heard these very same type of conversations from biologists for years, after all they are fisherman too. Usually the state listens to all sides and looks at there finances and decides a logical course of action. This would be something like one like or two with Floridas, leaving Kentukies untouched in all lakes but one and maybe trying the heated water discharge idea (interesting idea). Just an educated guess. I am looking for any information on the effect of competition from Kentuckies and will let you know what I find.

I fully agree. Postings have helped me a lot so in return I have been posting notes on all my trips this year. I also encourage all to post their observations.

I am going to try aqain. Florida Research.doc

Well it gave me an error message which indicates I can't attach a Microsoft word document. Sorry.

I am trying to attach a copy of some research articles I have found. Key points and my notes are highlighted. Whew!!! I need to take a break. I thought I was out of this business! HAHA

Someone has apparently already beat you to the idea. You might want to read the attached website. I also included a reference to a research article done many years back on introducing Florida's into Missouri. I'll see if I can find an on line copy of it. L. K. GRAHAM, The introduction of Florida largemouth bass in Missouri ponds, Missouri Dep. Conserv., D-J Final Rep., Proj. No. F-1-R-21, Study 1-14, Job. No. 2, 1972. http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/fish_genetics.html