Some Thoughts On Quality Fishing...

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think it depends on ones age. I've changed over the years in regard to what I consider a quality experience on the water and the fish only make up one part of it. Companions, weather, the stream and amount of solitude all add up.

I've fished a world class smallmouth stream, the John Day in Oregon, a lot and Missouri doesn't have the environment to match it. It also can't match the big rivers back east. The water simply doesn't exist here.

While world Class may not be feasible here it doesn't dictate the quality of the experience and Missouri does have the environment to have a first class trip many times over. The bigger worry to me is whether it will last. When I think back to what it was like when I was a child and what is going on with the rivers and creeks now I'm not encouraged.

[Tim Smith]

I've fished a world class smallmouth stream, the John Day in Oregon, a lot and Missouri doesn't have the environment to match it.

John Day smallmouth fat on native salmon already struggling to survive? That's a world class prostitute, not a world class fishery.

The Missouri smallmouth fishery is infinitely better.

[Wayne SW/MO]

John Day smallmouth fat on native salmon already struggling to survive? That's a world class prostitute, not a world class fishery.

The Missouri smallmouth fishery is infinitely better.

I you're fishing for smallmouth it is what it is. The salmon in the river have bigger problems than the smallmouth.

This in no way was meant as a negative remark on what we have in Missouri, but explain how it is infinitely better?

[Feathers and Fins]

I keep reading this on the forum about Missouri not being a world class fishery! Guys im not sure how many of you have been around the country and fished other areas, But I can say I have fished 32 states and what I see in Missouri is far better than most the other places I have fished. If you are basing your thoughts on the "world class" by name recognition or notariaty, STOP! I dreamed of places where I could go to and catch 20 or 30 smallmouth a day and fish over 18 inches. I can here in Missouri.

The streams here are much nicer then other places the lakes far cleaner and the air you dont see when you breath it. NO PLACE is perfect if you look for whats wrong! Even the most wild sections of the Yellowstone and Creeks around Jackson hole on private land I have seen trash and land distruction. Yes Missouri water can be made better! But the deffinition of "world class" really needs to be put in check and not worry about what the "World" thinks or rates it but what can we do to make it even better wiht the goal of trying.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think of world class as something based solely on numbers and on many rivers 20-30 fish would be a mediocre day. I'm glad this isn't considered a world class smallmouth fishery, there's enough competition with stringers and I don't see a need for economic pressure also. A world class fishing title would mean more guides, more pressure and fewer fish because like it of not our streams can only handle so much pressure because they aren't all that big when compared to many other rivers.

I've fished these streams for roughly 60 years and sadly I can't think of one improvement.

[Tim Smith]

I you're fishing for smallmouth it is what it is. The salmon in the river have bigger problems than the smallmouth.

This in no way was meant as a negative remark on what we have in Missouri, but explain how it is infinitely better?

I think of world class as something based solely on numbers and on many rivers 20-30 fish would be a mediocre day.

It's fine to want numbers and size but a definition of "world class" based only on numbers cuts the heart out of fishing. All fish are not the same and all smallmouth are not the same.

Is fishing for a smallmouth out of an aquarium the same as fishing for them from a native population? No.

Is fishing for a smallmouth population that is contributing to the decline of a valuable native fishery the same as fishing in a smallmouth populations millions of years old that is stable and coadapted with the organisms around it? No.

Regardless of what other problems western salmonids have, smallmouth are definitely one of them. I've combed through the literature and what I see is roughly a 10% hit (just from smallmouth and not including other exotics like walleye). Compare that to the seals (which elicit screams of bloody murder simply because you can see them hunting) which generally take less than 1% of the returning run and you get a feel for how skewed perceptions are.

Native Missouri smallmouth were here before we were and if we don't screw everything up, they'll be here after we're gone, along with the other fisheries and species to which they've adapted.

Missouri smallmouth are infinitely better than any thing hauled in a bucket and dumped as an exotic invader to pull on somebody's pole.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Quality fishing to me, depends on what my mindset is, and who I'm fishing with. Like sometimes I head to the Ozarks to target big Smallmouth, and other times I'm taking someone fishing for the first time, and numbers and a quality experience are more important. When I am fishing in the Ozarks, just being there warms my soul, I've always been that way, that alone makes me happy, the fish I catch is just the icing on the cake!! Yesterday was a perfect example of what a quality day of fishing means to me. While down near Heber Springs visiting my wifes family for Easter, I took my two brother in laws, and one of there wifes, who had never trout fished before. Darla caught several really nice rainbows, and she was estatic, her and my brother in law are wanting to go buy some fishing poles now. That made my Day that they had so much fun, and have possibly introduced them to a new hobby they can both enjoy. Now if I had been by myself, or one of my hardcore fishing buddies, we would of been hammering the banks with jerkbaits and flyrods for a trophy Brown, instead of drifting the high water for cookie cutter rainbows. Either way, I am just thankful to be there, and I do think that many of our Ozark streams, are truly World Class!

[Al Agnew]

The total experience is different from the fishing itself. As I think back on the "world class" stream smallmouth fishing destinations I've fished, or the "world class" trout streams for that matter, there are few of them that measure up to the total experience of an overnight float on a small, little floated, scenic Ozark stream. With apologies to Tim, the John Day was comparable, though I agree with him that catching non-native smallmouth is a little less terrific than catching native ones. The New River in West Virginia also came pretty close. The other smallmouth destinations were inferior in my opinion as far as beauty and a feeling of "wildness".

But my original post was all about the fishing, and what we want from the actual fishing. And I do think that the fishing could be improved. It's just that I think it could be TOO easy, TOO good.

[Gavin]

Depends, I always want the possibility of a big fish, native or not. But big is relative depending on the fishery and the species. The actual catching part...nice when it happens, but the people, places, and memories you aquire are far more important than the fish. If I only wanted big fish...I'd fish lakes for bass, and tailwaters for trout...but I dont enjoy either of those activities very much..I just dont like the atmosphere.

[Wayne SW/MO]

It's fine to want numbers and size but a definition of "world class" based only on numbers cuts the heart out of fishing. All fish are not the same and all smallmouth are not the same.

I just don't know what else you can use? Quality can go a lot of different directions, and in my opinion requires a lot of judgement from the fisherman. A world class designation would need to impress far and wide and I don't what beyond size and numbers could do that. The John Day smallies are no different then your Colorado brookies, someone put them there so you might as well enjoy them.

Our fish could use a lot of help, but the MDC is timid and doesn't want to interfere in the harvest of native fish anymore then they have to and the DNR is lost in the money pool.