What Area For End Of March?

[Hog Wally]

The otter problem is obvious on my creek the Little Meramec. I leave an open invitation every year for a trapper buddy of mine. Those otter kill for fun. Dead fish with bite marks in every hole until trapping season starts. I still have nice smallies though. Catch and release only ! Your invited. Don't over run the place though. Don't want em to have sore mouths. I haven't waded it for three years but I caught a 20" smallie that time. It only had one gill. Kind of an oddity

[thewhitesnoop]

Yep. We will always have the Mo Dept of Conservation to thank for the otter fiasco. It's amusing that for so long they tried to claim that the otters only ate crayfish in an attempt to cover up their mistake (They even did a study and some research to find this out) lol. Even 1st grade children can tell you that otters eat fish.

MDC's solution: Trappers

What a joke. Do they really think this is the 1700's and everyone is out trapping for furs.

Another brilliant MDC idea: Let's open bass season for rivers on Memorial weekend.The weekend when every person in the state is fishing in the rivers. How stupid is that? How many bass get killed that weekend?

Great job of "Conserving" our bass resources in our rivers....

C'mon Man!

[Hog Wally]

Why do people eat bass anyway ?

[Gavin]

Lots of crappie on the Bourbuese...

[Kayser]

Spotted bass are everywhere, they're pushing out smallmouth, they grow quick, and are pretty darn tasty. Filleted or whole, fried or grilled- gotta love spots for saving a fish fry.

[Hog Wally]

Okay Kayser Come clean out my Kentuckies. Just leave the goggles and smallies swimming free

[Kayser]

I'm game. Opens Memorial Day, right?

[Hog Wally]

Yip.

[crappiepro]

I grew up on the bourbouse, I expect my grandfather was the first person to fish the bourbouse with artifical lures in the 20's and 30's. The river has changed/filled so much in my lifetime it is unbelievable, and from what my dad and grandpa told me, it was a totally different river until the 40's and 50's - all the holes were deep, there were just short riffles - now it's miles of gravel bars

and the otters have hurt what is left really bad. I have many old pictures of unbelievable strings of fish from way up around mint spring and aurthur springs down to tea, including a lot of deep water fish like drum and walleye that are now probably only found in the last few miles of the river.

All that said, it is still good bass river in the fall.