Sell Me On The M S A Matt.

[Chief Grey Bear]

What specifically has the MSA accomplished?

What, besides a newsletter, do I get for my due money?

How many current, dues paid, members are there?

[smallmouthjoe]

I think what we get is power in numbers.

[msamatt]

CGB:

Specifically we have, since 1992, posted our "Free the Fighghter" at MDC and U.S. Forest Service river and stream accesses throughout the Missouri Ozarks in order to help educate the reader about just how long it takes, on average, for a Missouri Ozark smallmouth the grown to 12". We have worked, with help from other conservation organizations such as the Ozark Fly Fishers and the Conservation Federation of Missouri to fight against any proposed changes to laws and regulations which would allow the spread of in-stream gravel mining. We have worked and will continue to work to help make the public aware of and hopefully to help defeat any regulatory changes which will, in our opinion, diinish the quality of our Missouri Ozark stream and river smallmouth fisheries. We have worked and will continue to work to encourage the Missouri Conservation Commission and the Missouri Department of Conservation to adopt regualtions and practices which are conducive to the protection and quality management of our Missouri Ozark stream and river smallmouth fisheries. We work, Stream Team 509 to routinely cleanup stretches of the Bourbeuse, three accesses on the Middle Meramec, and monitor water quality at several different sites in the Meramec watershed. We also like to offer our members a network of other smallmouth fishing fanatics with which any member can potentially fish.

What else? Anyone who joins us currently will also recieve a copy of Chuck Tryon's 200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures, a one year subscription to Outdoor Guide Magazineand a 3 month subscription to River Hills Traveller

I'm sure I may have left something out but those are some specifics. As far as the total number of paid members, I'll tell you when you join.

Regards,

Matt Wier (my specific name).

[drew03cmc]

Is anything done west of the Current? Do you all take surveys of the streams for the size of fish found in certain stream stretches? I am wondering, what we would be getting for our money besides a couple subscriptions. What incentive is there for protection of the western Ozark streams that hold native smallmouth of a different genetic strain than the ones in the Meramec, Gasconade, etc? Do you fish any streams west of Springfield for smallmouth? I can admire the drive to improve Missouri smallmouth fishing. The amount of members is a secret? Honestly?

[fishinwrench]

I am wondering, what we would be getting for our money besides a couple subscriptions. What incentive is there for protection of the western Ozark streams that hold native smallmouth of a different genetic strain than the ones in the Meramec, Gasconade, etc?

Drew, Tryon's book alone is worth the cost of membership. Sounds like a darn site more incentive than Trout Unlimited, and certainly on par with FFF or any other fishing related organization I know of. We are talking less than the cost of 2 spools of tippet material here. C'mon man, don't nitpick. They are looking into a SWMO chapter which I'm sure will address any different western native strains you might be specifically concerned about.

Have you considered joining a Stream Team, or anything else in the area of your concern ? The MSA is the only group doing ANYTHING as far as Smallmouth preservation....that I'm aware of. I plan to join ASAP.

[Ham]

I think I need to participate as well.

Go to sleep Glen, it's past your bedtime.

[fishinwrench]

I think I need to participate as well.

Go to sleep Glen, it's past your bedtime.

I only require 5 hours. I don't fall into an 8-10 hour coma like the majority of the world. LOL

[timinmo]

Guys

I don't pretend to speak for Matt or MSA but I think if you were to form a SWMO chapter it would be what you make it. This is not some big corp. it is just a group of concerned fisherman that would like to make things better. Will more voices be heard better? We would like to hope so.

Why I joined was to try to protect/ improve the resource. For me it is more of what I can do to improve and/or protect our fishing and stream resources, not what someone can do for me. I wanted to try to improve, what seemed to me, to be headed downhill, so I became involved. Have I improved things? Don't know, but at least I have tried. We can all sit back and complain how things are so bad. If you believe that, are you just going to be satisfied, or are you going to try to improve it?

Well I am off my soap box. Hope to see you on the river.

Tim

[Wayne SW/MO]

Chuck Tryon's 200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures,

That's certainly a very good incentive. People sometimes ask about county maps etc., well this book has maps to virtually every access site on streams east of the James. These accesses aren't just MDC accesses, but bridges, low waters crossings, fords, etc.

Members in SWMO that are connected could be in a position to better inform the state MSA in what is going on in this area. The White Paper is a good example, with the bulk of the members 200 miles away it's hard for the leadership to address problems in this area to the MDC. I think a chapter in this area could go a long way towards correcting that.

[msamatt]

Is anything done west of the Current? Do you all take surveys of the streams for the size of fish found in certain stream stretches? I am wondering, what we would be getting for our money besides a couple subscriptions. What incentive is there for protection of the western Ozark streams that hold native smallmouth of a different genetic strain than the ones in the Meramec, Gasconade, etc? Do you fish any streams west of Springfield for smallmouth? I can admire the drive to improve Missouri smallmouth fishing. The amount of members is a secret? Honestly?

Drew, its not secret but its kinda a need to know number. I know and I'm not sure why you need to know. Is there some magic number which you would read which will either be the incentive for you to join or the reason why you don't want to join? We're a relative small organization, we currently have, to the best of my knowledge around 230 paid members. Our number of members always go up and down. That said, because we partner with other organizations such as the Conservation Federation of Missouri our voice is larger. As far as your other questions are concerned here goes:

Is anthing done West of the Current: what do you mean by done? Do we have members who fish and live West of the Current? Sure. Have we posted our signs at river accesses West fo the Current? Yep. Do we pay attention to an represent the interests of anglers who live and fish in Western MO, you bet.

Do we survey fish size? Nope, we don't have the means to do that, in fact that's the MDC's job.

I don't understand what you mean about the "incentive is there for profection of the western Ozark streams..."

I think you misconstrue what we do. We don't make the fishing regs, the Missouri Conservation Commision does.

Have I fished any streams west of Springfield? Not personally, I've fished the James, Finley, and Flat creek but that's as far West as I've fished in Missouri. Does that mean that I don't care, and the MSA doesn't care about the waters and smallies in that part of the state? Nope, it doesn't have anything to do with it.

Why should you join? 1. You took the time to respond to this thread so, unless you just like stirring the pot, you probably actually care about the quality and health of our Missouri Ozark stream smallmouth fisheries. 2. It sounds like you're passionate about the smallmouth streams in your part of the state 3. There isn't any other fishing/conservation group focused on improving the quality of and conserving our Missouri Ozark smallmouth fisheries 4. If you join you can, as others have already mentioned, be our eyes and ears and voice in your part of the state.

When we start a SWMO chapter of the MSA its going to be up to the members of that chapter to work with the rest of us to sustain what you want to do. We don't have any full time personnel in a home office which we can send down to do things for you. We can, by working together, help make the MSA stronger and work to do the best that we can to work towards making smallmouth fishing in our Missouri Ozark stream fisheries better for future generations that it has been for us.