straw hat

The worst most damaging weapon ever developed is words.

Dutch, thanks for the offer. It sounds like this may be too much kick for my wife to handle. What do you think?

Good suggestion. Unluckily I don't have any friends who have handgun(s).

I have checked all the ranges around Springfield and none of them have any handguns and they do not have rental programs. I may see if there are any places around Joplin.

I have a few simple questions about buying guns. Lets start with an easy one. The stores will not let you buy a gun, test fire it and if you don't like it take it back. How in the heck are you to try out a weapon before you buy it?

Hey Dutch, I think he wanted a picture of your stinger, not your stringer.

That's better than the ones we have caught. He would fry for sure.

Your lucky. I have caught dozens while fishing for crappie over the years. All of mine looked like they came out of a copy machine. Around 6" long. Just big enough if you are desperate for food. lol

I know that the wife and I have this happen a lot this time of year and it is usually bluegill. One way to tell for sure is if the eyes are missing from the minnows head, That is the first thing the bluegill goes for. Every now and then we do catch one. Anyway, just a thought.

Tough fishing. Most caught on bluffs, 25 tom 29' deep with minnows. Came home with 8 keepers between the wife and I but they were all 11 to 13". LOTS of boats. Beautiful day.

Oh, God bless you bfishn. I can die in peace now. That has been driving me crazy.

".....I thought it was at 39* that it stopped mixing. And that the water on the bottom would remain around 39* as the surface freezes. Otherwise, if it continued to mix, it would freeze from top to bottom at the same time......I am going to research this again. " As my daddy use to say...'Don't listen to what I say, listen to what I mean.' Your comment above was correct and that is part of what I meant to say. My typing finger (there is only one) has two left feet. Also as water drops below 39F then it become less dense and floats and that is why ice doesn't form on the bottom of the lake. NOW for a more serious note. There is only one condition where ice will form on the bottom. That is in very fast streams under very cold conditions. The velocity of the water makes it difficult for ice to form on the surface but the rough surface of rock on the bottom gives Ice crystals a place to start forming. I have only seen this once. A strong fast current but an air temperature below 10F for 4 days. At the time I witnessed this it was -7F outside. There is a German name for this phenomena but I have racked my brains for the term for years and just can't remember it. It was something like fiblegrist or something. I have done dozens of searches on the internet but just can't find it. One of those things that just nags at your brain.

I would say that is especially true of black bass.

I appreciate the input and I say this for what it is worth but when I was in graduate school (fisheries major) I learned in limnology about the density factor of water. It reaches its maximum density at 39F. Above that warmer water will be on the surface. Once the water reaches 39F it will destratify and mix. Now that matches what you have all said B UT.... One of the other things we learned and did on field trips was to study the effects of things like minerals, tannic acid, algae, plankton dirt particles, etc on this characteristic. In Louisiana, where I went to school, there was a lot of tannic acid and dirt particles in the water which effected the water density. Most waters there turned over at a higher temperature (around 60F) depending on wind and rain. I guess that just stuck with me and I must have assumed that it would be the same here. Our water here would have different characteristics than Louisiana for sure. Thanks for the 'waking me up' to this.

You really think so? Turnover this late in the year with the water temperature about to enter the 40's. It just seems a little late in the year for that.

Hit a mid lake area off a deep bluff using minnows. My wife and I caught a total of 9 keepers but it was tough fishing. Water sort of a grungy color to it with about 6 feet visibility. Was surprised by the color and lack of visibility for this time of year. water temp was 50F. Whoops, almost for got to mention that we caught them 25 to 30 ft deep.

Great job!!

I keep detailed fishing records for over 30 years of crappie fishing on Stockton. My records are nearly exactly the same as Dan's. The winter pattern begins around 56F. However, (there is always a however with fishing), this does not apply well to many south facing drop offs as the crappie might be considerably shallower there during the winter.

Just be ready. A LOT of people. Bank and in boat. Wild times at CC.

Well the wife took a rare weekday off and we went to CC on Tuesday. Started off by approaching a section of bluff that is usually good when the water starts cooling off in the fall. Started over it with the fish finder and...Holy Cow!!! Fish and shad stacked up like crazy. Nearly a full screen on my finder. I told the wife 'we will be home with a limit by noon'. Of course one should never be too sure of things when fishing. We started min now fishing in the middle of that mess, around 15 to 16 ft deep, and the fight was on. At the end of an hour we had 6 channels from 2 to 6 pounds and 4 17" large mouth (car). N o crappie Finally decide to go chase crappie and moved on but it was fun. Wound up with 11 crappie and 2 white bass. Slow but OK.

Just north of State Park Marina.....63F, 4 ft clarity with a good stain. A few crappie at 17 to 24 ft and 2 17" largemouth at 24 ft. Bite slow and light. Ruark … 63F, 4ft clarity with a nice stain CC....59F, heavy stain and 3 ft clarity.

My heart and my prayers go out to his family. So sad.

That doesn't sound good. Lets hope it was nothing serious.

What is the current bag limit and length limit on polar bears?

May the Lord bless you with many fishing trips during your retirement and may they all be rewarding.