straw hat

I have attached a few web pages which address the stocking of Florida's in states near us. http://www.arkansassportsmanmag.com/fishing/AR_0406_02/index4.html http://www.fishingtennessee.com/Articles/Summerlin/Florida%20Bass.htm http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/news/story?page=b_fea_bt_news19_0802 http://okiefish.com/OklahomasLARGEMOUTHBASS.htm http://www.oklahomabassfishing.com/largemouth.html If I find any particular research that has been done on this subject that I think you would be interested in then I will pass it along to you. Obviously you have been reading on this issue. If you are truely interested in dealing with this subject your first step would be to contact the fishery biologist for the MDC and talk to him. As far as my involvement... well if you have read my bio then you know my health is not good but I would certainly be glad to help with any advice or research that I can. You might consider sending me a pm with your phone number and maybe we could talk in more detail over the phone. Be prepared though, this could be a very long, aggrevating process with a lot of politics.

I agree with your concept but there are a couple of hitches with it. The biggest; If my memory serves me correctly, it is illegal for private citizens to introduce non-native species in to public lakes. I know that some states have entered into contracts with private fisheries (eg. Trout Unlimited)in order to stock lakes within that state. That is something that you would have to explore with the MDC. Secondly; The Florida strain does not survive very well this far north. There is two other options though. You can buy Florida brood stock and release during the breeding season (very expensive and ineffective) or a better idea would be to by Florida/northern bass fry that have already been raised down south. If you want I can take a look in more detail in the old research articles. Someone has surely done some work on this in the past. Let me know if you want me to look into it.

mrgungho; I forgot to mention that Turback is still 4' high and dropping while sac is 3 1/2' high and dropping. More rain to come on thursday.

mrgungho; I hope this info helps you. Went to cc today. Water up to 2' above normal and moving fast. The water was dingy but not as muddy as I expected. The temperature had dropped 5 degrees (down to 48 F.)since the last time I had been there 7 days ago. I caught several small crappie but only 3 keepers. Several small whites as well. I talked to several boats but I wouldn't want to repeat what they said on an open forum. HAHA.

I am going tomorrow and will let you know what the lake looked like are after all this rain and ice/snow. God am I glad it melted!

Frost1920; All I can say is that I didn't read Ann's comments that way. I would rather focus on the challenge of catching fish.

Absolutely correct. Under 6" in length these are not as clear but like I said that should not be an issue. Personally I am in full agreement. If there is anyone out there monitoring this discussion and want clarification on identifying any Missouri fish then you may want to purchase the book "The Fishes of Missouri" by Bill Pfliger. The same key he uses is used by most states and is very clear and accurate. It can be bought from the Missori Conservation Department and is available in hard cover and soft. If my memory serves me correctly it is not too expensive either. It also gives a great discription of there life history in Missouri. By the way Walcrabass; I read an interesting article last night. The researcher studied the bass feeding pattern in a lake for several months. His testing showed that the clearer the water the more the bass feed on smaller shad followed by larger shad then crawfish. As the water became muddier the small shad became a much smaller part of the diet,the consumption of large shad went up slightly and the taking of crawfish increased considerable. This may be something that bass fisherman already know but I thought I would mention it.

Please don't misunderstand. I am not telling you how it is but rather what I have heard in many conversations. I learned a long time ago that us fishery biologists don't always get it right. Myself, I tend to agree with the race horse senerio. You would think that there would be enough bass in a lake to assure genetic variability, especially if the bass taken from lake A for s[awning was only used to produce fry for say lake B. This could help the situation as well. In regards to the Kentucky bass issue. I also would like to see seperate regulations for this species for exactly the same reasons given earlier. I have been many times before that fisherman can not tell Kentucky bass from largemouths. I know that it is more difficult below 6" long or from muddy water. certainly no one would keep a fish that small anyway. Over the years I have read several research articles on cats that say only about 20% of the fisherman can tell the diffence between a channel and a blue cat. This goes along with the "dumb" fisherman concept you mentioned. I certainly have met more than a few fisherman that couldn't identify these fish. Frankly, I think this is sad. If you are going to fish I think you need to be able to identify your catch.

Walcrabass; I am in full agreement with your comments. I worked in and around the fishery business for nearly 30 years and Texas' programs are excellent. From the discussions that I have had with other in the field there appears to be two main concerns. First and most important, money. Most states, including Missouri, do not have any hatcheries or limited space for bass reproduction but allow natural reproduction to provide for "stocking" of the lake. A program such as Texas' would require an additional hatchery and labor. Not cheap. There is one other concern. True, by selectively using only the largest fish it does lead to a larger bass but with each time a larger bass is collected the odds become better and better it is a descendant one of the fish that was bred before. In the long term this leads to less genetic variabilty in your wild stock. This can cause the fish to become less adaptable to climate changes, desease, stress, .... While I am not in the field anymore I do still read a lot of the research journals and this is an area that Texas is very closely monitoring (dna testing just adds more expense too). I hope this helps.

Ann; Well put. I couldn't agree with you more. Bob;I feel like I owe you an apology. I agree with you fully on your recent comments about calling the sheriff's department. The only reason I brought up the event that happened to my wife and I was that if the law enforcement officer insists on taking your name you might reconsider. I would not want anyone to go through what happened to us. I do strongly agree with your earlier comments.

Gilly; A new agent took over Stockton last year. He is a young man, tall and slender. He has checked me around 6 or 7 times now. He seems to be rather serious with little sense of humor. A very "by the book" type of person but on the other hand I have not found him to be rude or unfair either. I can tell you one thing!!! He is quieter than an indian when walking through the woods. I have great hearing and I never hear him coming!!! Bob; Unluckily the county sheriff's office has always required that I give my name. In one case I later ran into the offending party and a few of his freinds (6 people in total)on the lake. He new who I was and threatened my wife and I both with serious bodily harm. If there hadn't been some other bank fisherman around to help I don't know what would have happened. Later I called the sheriff's office and they said the name was a matter of public record and could be released if requested. Since that incident I have not called again.

The subject of catch and release is an important one but something that concerns me more is the increase I have seen lately in taking illegal quantities of fish. I saw one person lately with a bucket full of 10" white bass. When asked he said that he figured he had about 20 and they were still hitting. When another person said the limit was 15 he said for us to go to .... I have meet several people during the last few years that catch a limit of crappie during the spawn, go home and clean them and then come back and catch another limit. There have been other instances as well during the last few years. These people are going to ruin our resource and I hope the new agent puts a stop to these activities. I hope I have not offended anyone on this site but this is something I fell strongly about.

You might also consider going to Wal-Mart and pick up a Hot Spot map of stockton. It not only shows all the launchs but also shows some of the prime fishing spots marked including underwater cover, what species can be caught in those "hot spots" and during what time of the year to fish these places.

Good report. I can confirm your info on the crappie. I have been catching 25 +/- small ones to each keeper and most keepers around 13 or 14". Most of my better fish have been on bad weather days (cold, drizzle and windy).All 15' or less.

I wish I could give you good news. I have fished the Greenfield Landing area about 6 times in the last 3 weeks. I have taked to as many people and boats as possibel and have not seen or heard of one walleye yet. Sorry.

Yes, this unit is color and also has gps capability as well. They have them at Bass Pro where you can see it in demo mode.

WOW!!! Congratulations on the great bass. What did you catch him on?

I read your report and if you have seen some of my fishing reports over the last two weeks you will notice I haven't been doing any better there. Just wanted you to know that I have been fishing the launch side and if you decide to try it I can tell you that once that side gets shadey (1 pm plus or minus) it dies. You may also need a big stick to keep away the other fisherman! HAHA Last Saturday I counted 12 fisherman between the launch and the bridge. It looked like opening day at Bennet Springs!! I wound up moving over to the rock rip rap.

Whenever you get some experiance with this unit please let me know what you think of it. I have been considering getting one of those and would appreciate your opinion. Thanks.

Been to Greenfield Landing a couple times in the last few days, I have seen a lot of small crappie and white bass being caught. Most of the people I talked to had a few keepers and I had 4 one day and 2 another. I haven't seen any walleye caught yet. Todays trip was terrible for me so around noon we switched cats and my wife caught one 4 pounder of the rock rip rap. Not great fishing but it sure was a beatiful day. I hope you all did better than we did.

I would just like to say thanks Bob. Your help is appreciated.

Don't know what it is worth but I have spent a lot of time around Greenfield landing and Springfield cove the last two weeks, including today. I have only heard of two keeper bass during that time and have not meet anyone with a keeper walleye yet. I know that most of the crappie and bass that I have caught (including today)have been 10 to 12 feet deep and very sluggish. With this warmer weather the bass should pick up soon. Good luck.

I have been monitoring this site for about 4 or 5 months and really have enjoyed the information that everyone shares. I have found that most fisherman are very polite and considerate and this site has further proved the point. I have a Master's Degree in Fishery Biology and a Bachelor's in both Biology and Chemistry. I have worked on various freshwater fishery projects from Florida to Louisiana to Missouri over the last 30 years. I have been a fishery manager and worked extensively as an environmental engineer. Obviously I love to fish, mostly crappie now (ocassionally cats and walleye), but I spent many years chasing bass in various lakes and streams. Due to failing health I rarely get to use my boat but am still able to go bank fishing ocassionally. While my fishing may be somewhat limited anymore I am always glad to share my knowledge of fishery science. I fish Stockton Lake and monitor that part of this site daily. God bless you all and good fishing.

Hey Saugeye, did you go to Greenfield Landing today? The wife and I spent about 6 hours there today and we only came up with two small crappie. There was a tough north wind all day. I hope you did better.

http://mdcgis.mdc.mo.gov/website/stocktonlake/viewer.htm One last try for the full address.