World Class Smallmouth Fishing Sign Posting Project

[Dan Kreher]

North Fork is really a warm prairie stream. It is locally known as a great catfish stream. It flows through a lot of row crop territory. It has high mud banks on both sides. Just about everything opposite of what a smallmouth would like.

Actually for some odd reason, it is actually called Muddy Creek where it flows through Lamar.

I think you are asking.... When are you and I going..... I don't have any vaction time this year but, I am game anytime to wet a line with a fellow Smallmouth Snob.

June is a great time for some brownie fishing over here!

What 2 accesses are you looking at on Spring River?? I know one you are looking at is at La Russell. If your other is Kellogg lake at Carthage, the access to the river is City owned, as well as the lake. And for that matter the lake is not a part of the river. It is a big 25 acre pond. Near Talbot, the river takes two different routes that create a huge, many, many hundred acre "island". There are two parking lots within the vicinity of both arms of the river but no actual river access.

LaRussell is one as you note; the other is Talbot and MDC lists 'canoeing' on Spring River as an activity as well as 'bass fishing'.

With your great knowledge of area around Joplin et al would you be willing to post a few signs around there if I mailed them to you. We can only do the MDC approved signs at official public accesses (MDC, USFS, NPS). I'm going thru the approval processes with a couple of these separate agencies currently just to cover all the bases.

We have another sign that is larger in format and similar in messaging that we are free to post at any semi-private/private access for which we get the owner's permission. I've had several folks contact me via this board and elsewhere wanting to post SMB signs at these types of locations. Initally, we will be sending these signs to canoe outfitters across state but could also get those put out at selected popular access spots later this year.

Back surgery for me late next week will keep me from fishing until mid-June at earliest. Plans sort of up in the air for summer.

[Dan Kreher]

Missouri Smallmouth Alliance

Sign Posting Day

When: May 6th, 7:00 AM

Where: Meet at Denny's restaurant on South Outer Road across Hwy 44 from former Chrysler Assembly Plant in Fenton, MO

Bring: An appetite for a free breakfast, a cordless drill or screwdriver, road atlas/GPS and full tank of gas

What: MSA volunteers will be assigned a stream access checklist and provided educational signs, driving directions, access maps and mounting hardware for posting specific public stream accesses

Who: Existing and prospective members of the Missouri Smallmouth Alliance

Volunteers organize and disperse to Missouri Department of Conservation-approved angler educational signs at approximately 140 public stream access points located in Central and Southern MO Ozarks

For more info, send me a PM via this board or e-mail me directly at dankreher@yahoo.com

Thank you.

We had a great turnout last Sunday morning for MSA sign posting project with 18 volunteers showing up to help. Just that day the group posted nearly 100 separate locations on 15 different rivers in MO. Yesterday, I just mailed out about 50 signs to 6 other volunteers who came forth to answer my solicitation for help on the Ozark Anglers board == and 4 of these guys weren't even MSA members YET. We took care of that as thanks for their efforts. One approval from NPS is received, we'll post another 25 or so locations on Jacks Fork and Current rivers later this summer. Thanks to all who helped out with this important project. It will really make a difference in educating anglers on the slow growth rates of stream SMB here in the Ozarks in hopes that they think twice before reducing one of these wild fish to the a quick meal.

Now we begin Phase II of the Sign Posting Project -- hitting over 100 outfitters across state to have a larger format SMB angler educational sign posted at their locations. These signs will include info on the general statewide regulations for management of stream SMB -- something that's sorely needed based on a general lack of understanding by the casual angler. Our results from posting public access points certainly indicated a lack of angling regulations info at those locations. Hopefully, having these larger and very noticeable signs posted at the offices of most canoe outfitters in MO Ozarks will further angler education in this area.

MO Smallmouth Alliance doesn't need any volunteers to deliver these signs -- we're going to mail them out once we make initial contact with each outfitter. Would have been great to deliver them while we were out posting last week but that was just too much to ask of the volunteers many of whom spent 8-10 hours driving 300-400 miles of backroads hitting accesses already.

Thankfully, given the planned posting location for the larger outfitter signs as being either inside a building or posted on a wall near the door, we won't have to go to this trouble and expense distributing them again for many years.

[Addicted to Creeks]

i could probably post a couple here up north if you guys are interested in getting some on the salt river watersheds

[Dan Kreher]

After over 20 volunteers have posted approximately 150 public access points on our smallmouth bass streams across the state, we still have a handful of accesses in need of signs which are as yet unassigned. ONSR access points on Current and Jacks Fork rivers are excluded from these totals as the NPS has agreed to post an abbreviated version of MSA's world class signs at these locations themselves.

The accesses in need of signs include:

Current (Carter Cty) - Van Buren Riverfront Park

Current (Ripley Cty) - Deer Leap Rec Area/TL Wright access

Jacks Fork (Texas Cty) - South Prong access

Little Black (Ripley/Butler Ctys) - Ringo Ford, Mudpuppy CA, Greenville Ford

Noblett Creek (Douglas Cty) - Noblett Dam access

Flat Creek (Barry Cty) - Lower Flat Creek/Stubblefield accesses

James (Stone Cty) - HL Kerr access

Finley (Christian Cty) - Jim Turner

Anyone who frequents one or more of these areas and who's interested in helping to spread the message of SMB conservation, please send me a PM for more details. Signs, directions and posting materials will be delivered to you via US Mail.

Thanks.