Little Niangua...with Bigfoot ?

[fishinwrench]

Dropped in at Fiery forks at 10:30am and paddled up a mile or so. The water was up about 1 ft. from normal and had some good color to it. After catching a few dinks on poppers and muddlers I grabbed the spinning rod and pitched jigs to the woody cover along the banks for awhile but they either weren't in it, or they were so far in it that I couldn't get a bait to them. I switched to a small tube and put a little pattern together by fishing the weed edges inside the eddys, By concentrating only on the eddy grass I caught a bunch of 10 - 12 inch Smallies and lost one on the jump that would have gone 15-16".

Later in the afternoon I parked the canoe, grabbed the flyrod and took a walk up past a section that was too fast to paddle up through, to try some poppers in the slow weedy section above it. I caught 4 little smallies and a couple of largemouth and then I ran across THIS ! ....

WTF makes a print like that ?

[FishinCricket]

Okay, that's just freaky!?! What is that?

(Open Wednesday? Maybe I'll haul the boat up to Manito, pick you up on the way? Or a better idea?)

[ozarkgunner]

Okay, that's just freaky!?! What is that?

(Open Wednesday? Maybe I'll haul the boat up to Manito, pick you up on the way? Or a better idea?)

Turtle?

[FishinCricket]

Turtle?

That would have to be a prehistoric snapper! What is that, wrench, ten inches?

[fishinwrench]

More like 13" And yeah, I think I'd rather run into Bigfoot, or a bear, than to see a turtle that big. LOL Actually I think gunner was referring to a turtle digging (like they do when they lay eggs). But there would be tracks where it exited the hole, no?

Besides, there were other "footprints" from whatever it was nearby....but that one was the most distinct.

If it is a footprint then whatever made it was either 4-legged or wasn't very heavy, because my own footprint in the same sand was alot deeper. I dunno, but it looks like 3 big toes in front with a 4th toe kinda off to the side.

Do you think it resembles this? : cuz I'm beginning to think so.

[Danimal]

Looks kind of like the hindprint of a bear. No other tracks?

[fishinwrench]

Looks kind of like the hindprint of a bear. No other tracks?

There were other tracks in the gravel and mud that looked like they were from the same critter, but they weren't as clearly defined.

[crappiefisherman]

So have you sent the photos to the local conservation dept and other media or are you just showing us this earth shattering discovery??I think its a bear also, .Are both photos of the same track?? I hear that might be close to the hundred acre woods owned by the robins family.

[ozark trout fisher]

So have you sent the photos to the local conservation dept and other media or are you just showing us this earth shattering discovery??I think its a bear also, .Are both photos of the same track?? I hear that might be close to the hundred acre woods owned by the robins family.

I'm thinking a bear. I've seen bear tracks before, and that looks like one.

A pretty big bear too, I would guess.

[fishinwrench]

So have you sent the photos to the local conservation dept and other media or are you just showing us this earth shattering discovery??I think its a bear also, .Are both photos of the same track?? I hear that might be close to the hundred acre woods owned by the robins family.

Yes both pics are of the same track, just different angles. No I don't see cause to "alert the media", I know that there are a few bears around here and we used to see tracks alot when I lived in Georgia but they looked more like oversized cat tracks (probably the front foot) and I saw what I'm pretty sure was a small black bear near Mill creek here in MO. several years ago. I was just kinda shook over the size of it at first....but I think the sand exaggerates that somewhat.