Fishing Shoal Creek

[Chief Grey Bear]

We had a great time the other day fishing Cedar Creek. We didn’t take any fish home though. That is not because we didn’t catch any that were not big enough, it is because we practice catch and release most of the time, especially on smaller creeks and rivers--fisheries that take much longer to recovery from fishing pressure.

Now don’t get the idea that we don’t like to eat a mess of fish with fried taters and onions. That there is some powerful eating! You can’t get that in any fancy-pancy restaurant.

I need to digress

I can remember back when I was a kid, not much bigger than my son Dylan, when I would join my parents, a couple that they ran with and their kids. They would pick one of the coldest Saturdays in January or February to pack up and head down to the river. Dad brought a floor furnace grate that he had put adjustable legs on all four corners. They used it to cook on.

The kids would head out to find all the small-to-medium-sized sticks we could to get a fire started. The menfolk would start on gathering some of the larger logs. We would get a fire going good and when it burnt down just right, we would put that furnace grate over the fire and, wamo!, We had a instant stove.

Now the men would start slicing taters and chopping onions. Another would start breading fish. On this day the men did all of the cooking and tending fire while the women got to sit around and tried to stay warm. Us kids would be looking for squirrels and rabbits with our BB guns.

After the fish was battered and the taters and onions were prepared, into the cast iron they would go. After about an hour of cooking, we would eat one of the finest meals known to man: fried fish with taters and onions, and pork and beans. Of course, it tasted even better outdoors from the kettle than eating the same meal at home.

Off to Shoal Creek

Dylan and my daughter Sissy, pictured at Cedar Creek, went to Shoal Creek with me the other day to the bridge at Lime Kiln access near Neosho. There was a young man out there fishing off of the bridge. He was very proud to show off the goggle-eye or northern rock bass that he had on his stringer. I have got to say he had a couple on there that were some of the biggest I have ever seen. I would have been just as proud of them as he was. After making some short talk, he was fixing to leave and offered us the rest of his worms. We thanked him and went back to grab our rods.

I couldn’t wait to get down into the water and start fishing our way downstream. Out of courtesy to the nice fisherman, we didn’t fish around the bridge until after he left.

We walked downstream about 100 yards to a good looking waterhole. On the way we hit a couple of promising looking logs but didn’t even get a nibble. I thought the sites looked pretty good, but misjudgment is just the way it goes sometimes.

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The identifying characteristics of the northern rock bass, Ambloplites rupestris, more commonly known as "goggle-eye" or "redeye" from the family of sunfish are that they are thicker-bodied than most of the species with a large mouth and very large eyes. A distinct pattern of dark spots arranged in parallel lines along the sides differentiates the northern rock bass from its closest relatives the Ozark bass and shadow bass. The northern rock bass is found with the Ozark bass in Newton and Jasper counties in Southwest Missouri. The average size of the fish is 11 inches and one pound in weight. Their lifespan is seven to nine years.

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After we got to the first hole, we fished around a downed tree that had hung up at the bottom edge of a riffle--just a classic looking area to hold fish, and it did. We quickly caught 5 or 6 goggle-eye. I was surprised that we didn’t pick up any small mouth bass from this spot though.

After fishing here for about 15 minutes, we noticed a husband and wife making their way back upstream. We struck up a pleasant conversation with them. They had been fishing here just about all day and had a really nice stringer of goggle-eye.

After seeing those two stringers of fish from a stretch of creek about 200-yards long, I knew the section was going to need time to recover. These stringers of goggle-eye were all in the 9-to-11-inch range in length. Now if you are talking crappie that is not even legal size to keep but for goggle-eye, bluegill, and redear, that would be considered a good-sized fish. For these species of fish to get this size can take 6 to 8 years.

Here is the link with a pic of the kids. http://www.joplinindependent.com/display_a...raber1159203818