Aug 22 Nd. Fishing Trip

[NoLuck]

Jerry, I've heard a few people saying Montauk has declined also after the flood. But over the last few years Montauk has had better quality fish.

[brittsnbirds]

Wayne,

To the casual observer Bennett hasn't changed much really. But to us old grumpy folks it has changed considerably.

Some people will accuse us of being over critical. They say that all things change. Opinions vary and all that other stuff. I heard a lot of people that only come down to Bennett a trip Or two a year and they were all pretty disgusted with the quality of fish. One guy and his son were planning on staying a week and were only there for the second day. They said that they were packing up and headed to AR. They both claimed it was the worst they ever seen also at Bennett.

Maybe we all just need to go to the park store and buy a 2 wt and all the matching gear!!

Wayne,

To the casual observer Bennett hasn't changed much really. But to us old grumpy folks it has changed considerably.

Some people will accuse us of being over critical. They say that all things change. Opinions vary and all that other stuff. I heard a lot of people that only come down to Bennett a trip Or two a year and they were all pretty disgusted with the quality of fish. One guy and his son were planning on staying a week and were only there for the second day. They said that they were packing up and headed to AR. They both claimed it was the worst they ever seen also at Bennett.

Maybe we all just need to go to the park store and buy a 2 wt and all the matching gear!!

Actually Rich we ALL need to email this guy (andrew.branson@mdc.mo.gov) and voice our complaints. I would also suggest we cc: to mogov.mail.mo. I noticed in the Governor's bio he talks about 2 most important things are faith and family. Well I don't know about you guys but I find myself doing a lot of sole searching as I am standing in a trout stream having a little one on one with the man. As far as family goes what better way to bond with their family than to take them camping and fishing down at BSSP or one of the other trout parks. As you, Mike and I have discussed we have fond memories of our trips as kids down at the BSSP and other trout streams in the MO. Don't forget who on March 1st every year is up to his Arz in cold water waiting for the horn to go off. They make that event a big dog and pony show. If we emphasize in our emails how the atmosphere of the experience of catching "quality" trout as well as the tag sales (down some 9,700 as of 8/26/2013) has degraded/declined plus the fact that we may be taking our business somewhere else maybe it will make a difference. I also noticed that the Governor talks about putting people back to work but I suspect at the BSSP they have laid people off. Well if their attendance continues to go down and they keep managing the fish production and distribution the way they have I suspect that is counter productive to the Governor's goals!

I'm trying to put an email together that isn't too opinionated and critical of the current hatchery Administrators operation as I know when someone tells me how to do my job I usually shut down (wife). However if we all explain that we are pretty much disgusted with the degradation of the fish size and quantity maybe it will make a difference. My other issue is that the "new" hatchery and improvements to the runs was suppose to increase production and allow them to more easily manage the fish. With all of that I would think that we would have already observed a better fishing environment.

Wow, rant off!

How about we all get on the band wagon and fire some emails off!!!!

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think there are several things that could improve everyone's fishing and experience, but not necessarily change attendance or Roger bank account. I have a hard time with all the youngsters fishing from the bank with mom sitting behind them in a chair. It's not just the fact that it can disrupt what Bennett is about, but they never catch anything! My first change would be to set aside an area where only kids with one parent could fish and stock it so they can catch fish. My choice for this would be the spring and the the 50' or so above the whistle where they would build a boardwalk to make it easy fishing, neither would be open to adults or kids alone. They can do the wading thing when they get old enough to know what they're doing. The second thing would be to designate the stretch between the dams as C& R and enforce it.

If the present trend continues look for 6" trout and an amusement park above Larry's.

[NoLuck]

Well Pat, I'll be back in NC next Wednesday and I'll fire up the old laptop and send an email or two. I'm back down at Bennett getting all leveled out and hooked up on my seasonal spot. I'll let you know if the holiday crowd has any effect on fish size and quality.

[brittsnbirds]

I go back to the fish management issue. One of the recurring questions you hear from fisherman to fisherman from vendor to fisherman is "catching any?". The next question is "any size". If you don't have quality fish/stock the quality of fishing is not going to be there. It's a trickle down effect. Then your tag sales ($27,000 est. down this year) will be short. Your sales in your stores both on site and off will be short. Businesses will close their doors and the park will turn into a playground for kids and floaters.

Rant off.

Thought you were going to push that job off to the other operator NoLuck? At least you have the trailer at it's new house. Make it much easier to just run down for a 2 day trip. Have fun out there, found out my son is getting Xferred again with Amazon to Louisville from Indy. So I'll have another town to check out next year!! If you have time do a sampling of the water we fished and see if they are any better. A guy in the shop acted like they were holding the bigger ones back for this weekend.

Catch you later.

[NoLuck]

I am in the process of turning that job over Pat. But I gotta train him first. This job is a little more than just turning on a machine.and watching it run.

[NoLuck]

Pat, we did catch some nicer fish this weekend. Don't know if they were held back or if they brought them in from Shepherd of The Hills. There was still a bunch of dinks left and I saw plenty of people keeping them too.

Hopefully they kept a ton of the little things. Crowd was pretty big sometimes and sometimes not. The water is starting to come around pretty good now also. I probably only fished a total of 6 hours from Saturday around 6pm till today at 12;30. Got everything pretty well lined out at the RV park and I just need a few more little things to complete the set-up.

[stlfisher]

If the demand for fish so high and money so tight the logical way to solve that problem is to reduce the daily limit of fish. Do you really need 4 every day? And why would anyone keep a 6 incher...what a waste of fish. (I do realize it would be annoying to catch them all day though)

[Wayne SW/MO]

If the demand for fish so high and money so tight the logical way to solve that problem is to reduce the daily limit of fish. Do you really need 4 every day? And why would anyone keep a 6 incher...what a waste of fish. (I do realize it would be annoying to catch them all day though)

Well it was 5 fish for a very long time, so I suppose if 4 is too hard to keep up with than 3 will have to do, or 2, 1? C & R?

Do you really need 4 every day?

I suspect you will get a lot of yes on that. Not from me, but many will say it isn't worth the trip, can't have a fish fry, etc.

[NoLuck]

Heck they should make zone1 all C&R. Zone 2 keep and 3 keep. That would cut down on the demand I would think. As long as they put decent fish in the C&R area. It'll never happen as too many people sit on top of the dam and also they fish the gut hole above the Holland dam. Lots of fish are hauled out of those 2 places. Which is fine because they are just fishing by the rules.