Fly Fishing for smallmouth with Ozark Sweetwater

[Harps]

I knew I was doing it wrong.

Trigg.

[Browntrout]

Sw mo newton and mcdonald county. Still are some but lots of groups have immigrated here that dont follow regulations. Using nets and spears and taking fish of every size. A coworker of mine said he ran into a guy spear fishing who told him he had took 75 fish the day before.  My last smallie outing yielded 1 small bass. Where normally i would have got into at least half a dozen.

[Mitch f]

5 minutes ago, Browntrout said:

Sw mo newton and mcdonald county. Still are some but lots of groups have immigrated here that dont follow regulations. Using nets and spears and taking fish of every size. A coworker of mine said he ran into a guy spear fishing who told him he had took 75 fish the day before.  My last smallie outing yielded 1 small bass. Where normally i would have got into at least half a dozen.

Even if they caught him he would get a slap on the wrist. If he was here illegally, probably not even a slap

[Browntrout]

Legal US citizens. Truth is on small mouth waters here i never see any game wardens, for such delicate fisheries as a natural smallmouth stream or river there really should be more patrolling

[chub minnow]

It's definitely not just the newly American.  I talked to a guy at the public access right in Pineville that was clearly born and educated in McDonald County based on his grammar.  He had a stringer with about 20 goggleye (he thought they were crappie!) and a dozen or so (mainly short) smallmouth.  "Theyz gunna havum a fish fry tooo-nite".   I've had my license / cooler checked by the warden at that location more than once, but of course they were no where in sight that day.   I've actually been checked probably a half dozen times on Big Sugar, Little Sugar and the Elk in the last couple years.  Never have encountered him on Indian though.  The last couple times he even remembered me well enough to know that my Playmate cooler would be full of trash that I picked up along the way and not illegal fish.  So I do feel that enforcement is on the upswing based on my personal experience, but I agree that the numbers are way down on any fish over 6-8".

[Browntrout]

For my part the last time i got checked was fifteen years ago, and that was in oklahoma. I have never been checked here. But i agree with you definatly the ignorance is not exclusive to the newcomers. A guy showed me a pic of a white bass he caught at shoal creek. It was a spotted bass. Thing was the other ten people he showed it to all assured him it was a white bass.