What In The......

[Chief Grey Bear]

Well, according to the stats on the last line of paragraph 3, the percentages of harvest 31.8 regular to 21.9 organized show the numbers to favor the MSA. It really depends on what numbers you wnat to key in on as to how you read the values.

You could also draw from the study that we should be fishing springs in the winter for some excellent smallie fishing as they were worried about overharvest there.

What I wonder is why did it take so long for it to come out? Data collected in 2011. Published in Oct 2012. And just now hitting the streets.

That 21.9 seems a little low to me. If you are keeping 3 fish out of 10, that is 30%. Be that as it may, the number should be 0.0.

I think I would shy away from the springs too. Well, that is if you believe the science.

Hope Dodd, of NPS, and MDC’s Mike Siepker, conducted a fish telemetry study at Big Spring along the Current River to document the use of springs by smallmouth bass and the timing of their movement into and out of springs. Their group tagged and tracked 30 fish for a year, documenting the temperature and habitat used by smallmouth bass within the river and the spring.

Dodd said the telemetry study data will help biologists understand the timing of movement and use of springs and river habitats by smallmouth bass, a fish species whose distribution and abundance in the Ozarks has declined due partly to increased water temperatures over the years.

“Combining the temperature data with the SMB telemetry work, we can assess the importance of springs in regulating water temperatures in the river and determine the importance of springs as refuges for fishes that require cooler temperatures,” Dodd said.

Findings from all three studies are extensive.

From the temperature data, the group found that each spring has a relatively constant temperature throughout the year, but not all springs have the same average temperature. From the telemetry study, they found that timing of movement from Big Spring into the river was influenced by temperature. Smallmouth bass inhabited the warmer water of Big Spring in late winter, and moved into the river once river temperatures warmed to similar temperatures of the spring. By late fall, when river temperatures cooled below that of Big Spring, fish began returning with five of 12 fish returning to Big Spring by the end of the study, Dodd said.

So only 12 out of 30 used the spring. And the next winter, only 5 of the 12 used Big Spring.

And did anyone catch the other very telling information that pointed to one aspect of smallmouth decline??

[rps]

Statistical survey and analysis is a science premised upon both math and other social sciences. Skilled people can give deadly accurate results if the sample (number of people measured) is large enough and picked to avoid bias and questioned in a manner to avoid injecting bias. Read that last sentence carefully and ask yourself, "Do I think the fish and game people performed in such a manner?"

BTW, the wife teaches AP Statistics at the high school. I merely took a political science class in college called Sampling and Statistical Analysis. We have concluded that 98.7% of all polls reported are crap and that 99.9% of all poll reporting by journalists are crap. (See how adding the decimal makes it look official?)

[Wayne SW/MO]

I know that the number spending the winter in Bennett Spring is higher than that, at least it was. The bad thing is that unless it has recently changed they don't get any protection, in spite of the fact it is apparently illegal to keep them.

[Smalliebigs]

I would love to know where you found that info???

You can tell by the responses, that no one read the link.

I am not sure what other organizations were a part of the survey but, we do know that every member of the MSA recived one. And is somewhere around 250+ members. Or over half of the 476 "organized" anglers that the states were kept seperate from.

But at any rate, club members are keeping a ton of smallmouth.

I don't know where you come off basicly stating something as a fact when it's horseshit.......not every member received a survey. I'm a memeber and live south of HWY 44 and received or was allowed to give input. That survey is garbage....why would you ever think a random survey of alleged Smallmouth and Goggle Eye fisherman is going to be accurate??? oh I forgot your just trying to get a rise out of anyone from the MSA.....duh

[Chief Grey Bear]

I don't know where you come off basicly stating something as a fact when it's horseshit.......not every member received a survey. I'm a memeber and live south of HWY 44 and received or was allowed to give input. That survey is garbage....why would you ever think a random survey of alleged Smallmouth and Goggle Eye fisherman is going to be accurate??? oh I forgot your just trying to get a rise out of anyone from the MSA.....duh

It was stated either on this forum or in the MSA newsletter that every member would participate in the survey. And when I find it, you will be eating horseshit.

And it is far from some random survey. But no one expects you to understand. I do like to how you and your group always attacks the MDC though. If your club tried a different approach, you might get more done than a once a month fishing trip. Just an observation.

[Greasy B]

And when I find it, you will be eating horseshit.

I’ve heard more eloquent remarks from mean dogs.

[Guest]

Deleted

[Chief Grey Bear]

If you are an MSA member and actually got a survey, chime in. I don't know of any members that actually got a survey.

Nope. I belive the survey came out in 2010? 2011?? I think it was 2010. I didn't get the invite until 2012.

And yeah there were qutie a few on here saying they got one.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I’ve heard more eloquent remarks from mean dogs.

Aww, Scottie knows I won't make him eat them. Not without carmel anyway. Heck everybody love carmel road apples. Don't they?? I ain't the only one am I??

[Al Agnew]

About the Big Spring study...do they mean the fish were IN the spring branch, or in the river just below it? I wonder if they actually checked the quarter mile of river just below the spring, which is a pretty good wintering area itself. The spring branch is nearly all fast water, and I wouldn't think the fish would all move up into it. Just below it is a deep, slow pool where most of the fish using the warmer water would be...and where they would be susceptible to being caught, since it's illegal to fish in the spring branch.

And while I have no doubt that the survey results are being given as they came in, I stand by my assertion that few if any of the active members of the MSA keep smallmouth, though many of them keep a lot of spotted bass.