Members Fisherman Sam Posted July 12, 2011 Members Posted July 12, 2011 I'm thinkin about giving the Courtois Creek near Steelville a try this weekend. Anyone know how the fishing is there or what stretches are the best? I know that MDC released some tagged smallies in there. I'd like to get after some of em. If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. ~Doug Larson
Gavin Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 Its fair to middling fishing at best....usually do the Blunt's to Butt's, or Butt's to Scotia float. Butt's to Scotia is better scenery..Unfortunately, both of those stretches will be wall to wall people on the weekends...I'd go way upstream and wade fish if you really want a shot at some fish. Cheers.
Members Fisherman Sam Posted July 12, 2011 Author Members Posted July 12, 2011 Is it floatable at all upstream? If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. ~Doug Larson
Gavin Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 Depends on how much dragging you like to do..Pack light if your gonna do it..
Members Fisherman Sam Posted July 12, 2011 Author Members Posted July 12, 2011 Gotcha. Thanks for the info Gavin! If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. ~Doug Larson
Al Agnew Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 We talked about this at the Float and Boat a bit... I'm not really happy about MDC's methodology on this tagging thing. I understand the reason for offering the rewards, and have no problem with that in itself. And I guess I understand the reason why you have to return the tag to get the reward. What I have a problem with is exactly what Fisherman Sam is an example of...by tagging fish in just five streams across the state, and publicizing the streams where they tagged the fish, I believe they are causing quite a bit of excess fishing pressure to descend upon those streams. I'd bet there are a lot more anglers fishing Courtois Creek this summer than usual. Will that skew their results? And will it affect the fishing on Courtois Creek in the next few years? I would have much rather they publicized the fact that there are tagged fish out there worth money, but without saying which streams hold the tagged fish. That way maybe you get more normal fishing pressure over all the Ozark streams, at least until the word starts getting out that a lot of tagged fish are being caught on Courtois Creek, etc. Just food for thought. But Fisherman Sam, it may mean that not only will you have to contend with the hordes of party floaters if you go on the weekend (and to some extent during the week), but you might have some competition from other anglers as well.
Members Fisherman Sam Posted July 13, 2011 Author Members Posted July 13, 2011 I can see your point of concern Al. Maybe MDC shouldn't have publicized the exact streams in which the tagged fish were. However, from a conversation I had with the resort staff of one of the resorts on the Courtois, the tagging has caused no significant increase in fishing. My feelings on the issue are that the tagging only presents a great opportunity for the avid fisherman. People who do not regularly fish on MO streams will not be willing to put forth the effort to make a trip they would not normally make based on the prospect of having a slight chance of making money. So I do not believe that this project by MDC will harm our streams in any way. Furthermore, to politely and respectfully combat your proposed "example" of my desire to catch tagged smallmouth, my excitement towards catching tagged smallmouth is solely planted in a scientific viewpoint. As a 3rd year biology major with a special interest in studying fish habitat and life cycles, I could hope for nothing more than to help my state's conservation department gather data on the habitat and movement of smallmouth. I want nothing more than to preserve and protect the fish we love. Believe me, Mr. Agnew, when I say money is of the absolute least concern to me. If you have any other questions or concerns for me, please feel free to PM me. If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. ~Doug Larson
Al Agnew Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I wasn't blaming you for it, and I applaud your reasons for doing so. I'd be doing the same thing if I had the time right now to hit Courtois, and I would simply report the tagged fish I caught and probably not remove a tag to get a reward. (Although a $75 reward would probably tempt me too much!) I figure it might be more useful to MDC to have a chance to get multiple reports off the same tagged fish. I do know that a couple people in the area have told me that there were a lot of people fishing Courtois for those tagged fish. And while I know that it's not enough of an incentive to bring people in from all over the country, I can certainly envision people from the area choosing to fish Courtois more rather than fishing Huzzah, the Meramec, or other streams within an hour's drive or so.
Members Fisherman Sam Posted July 13, 2011 Author Members Posted July 13, 2011 Haha the $75 reward would be tempting! And in no way did I intend for my reply to sound mean or unpleasant to you, and please accept my apology if it did. I just felt that I needed to make it known that I was not just going after the money. Anyways, Al thank you for helping me to keep my fishing motives in the right place! If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. ~Doug Larson
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