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Posted

What I was basically saying was that it's slightly hippocritical to promote stream fishing to the masses for years (and although not seeking notoriety, gaining it) and then go on the same message board where you did all that promoting and complain that people are fishing on your streams.....I mean it's really not a big deal, we All enjoy reading Al's posts, me included, but it did affect me personally as I experienced the same frustrating influx of people on those streams as Al did. I should have been the one complaining. 

The angling advice doesn't as much bother me, especially if it involves throwing a topwater from the 1960's as a crankbait with a rubber skirt on the front treble hook. lol.  That's sweet!

Posted
22 minutes ago, thewhitesnoop said:

C'mon Mitch, just because someone has a viewpoint or says something that you don't particularly care for or agree with you try to discredit them?

 

Yea, like you did to Al Agnew.....I  think you're feeling a little inferior 

"Honor is a man's gift to himself" Rob Roy McGregor

Posted

My goal here is not to discredit Al. I know that would be impossible (not to mention unwarranted) since everyone on here takes his every word for the gospel. Since he posts probably more than anyone on here, I was simply using a couple of his posts to illustrate a point that I felt needed to be addressed and thought about. I like reading his posts and we all know this message board would be boring without his insights. He is obviously very knowledgeable about many things. I give him all props for that.

Am I feeling inferior?  Not really......reading his and your posts from the past years I feel pretty secure about the amount of fish you guys catch and the amount that I do. But thanks for the counseling session.

Honestly though, I get it. You were defending your fishing buddy as you should. I wasn't really trying to tear him down. Although I can see how you could have perceived it that way.

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Posted

Well I might as well confess and let judgement fall upon me.....but first a backstory with anecdotal evidence.

im barely old enough to be annoyed by the flat bill, Luke Bryan, wearing so much bling on the arse of your jeans it looks like you sat on a chandelier crowd but I can remember when Times beach had three legged bluegills and >18" smallmouth in enough abundance that a guy could have hopes of catching one every time he went without feeling delusional.  We all know the story of the change of the lower Meramec so I won't recount it now.  Way back we fished from Allenton down to valley park three nights a week and caught plenty of fish, some occasionally nice sized and (gasp!) we even kept some dioxin be darn.  Back then the river was full of junk, dead bodies (dad found two on separate occasions) agriculture pollution, a much higher percentage of catch and keep anglers and nice smallmouth.  We would see a boat or two most every time we were out on the weekdays and what seemed like a small armada on the weekends.

fast forward 30 some years and that section of river looks a million times cleaner, no more dioxin, and dare I say almost zero fisherman, body count is about the same though.  And that section probably sees the least amount of pressure on the whole River.  And now I struggle to catch a quality fish there except during the spring and fall shad runs.  But Hog Wally, Smalliebigs, Mr. Agnew and others can post up pics of 4lb fish from that stretch and elsewhere and make it look easy.  So what gives?  

Its simple, they fish a lot.  Like way more than most people.  If Al's canoe had an hour meter on it the display would need to be 6" wide.  I fish a lot too.  I work from home and have all the time and gear necessary to decimate any River or creek in the state and yet I struggle to catch quality fish.  Why you ask? Probably because I still don't fish as much as I should to learn the river as well as those guys, that and a life long affliction of bad fishing luck.  Seriously put me in the back of anyone of those guys boat and not only will I catch 1 to their ten but I can mystically make their catch rate drop by 80%.  It's a gift?

Here's the confession, I've lurked this forum for years.  Read every post by the master anglers, studied every photo for details and checked all the back channel gossip I can and can honestly say It's never helped.  Sure I've figured out some of the hotspots but it's not materialized into any real results for me.  For crissakes ive even gps marked the spots where I've seen Hog Wally fishing.  Guess what, I haven't ruined any more fishes days because of it.  So here is a guy that has the time, the resources, inclination and the affliction to do exactly what everyone is afraid of and it has resulted in very little improved results for me, or detrimental effects to the fish or other anglers.  And I've been hard at it for awhile now.  Skill matters and those guys have more than most.

moral of the story?  Very few people have both the time and resources to do any real damage to the overall fishing pressure (excepting catch and keep anglers).  I still see one or two boats when I'm out on the weekdays, the weekend crowd seems a little bigger though.  I still struggle to catch fish although I feel like I'm improving due to logging more time on the water and gaining experience.  Do I like pulling up to my favorite spots and seeing a boat there? Not especially but it doesn't happen all that often, especially during the week.  At the end of the day as long as they are catch and release I could care less.  Case in point, A fellow OAF member passed me on the river last year while I was fishing my favorite spot, later I passed him upstream. We leap frogged each other the whole afternoon and both met and talked at the ramp.  Later that night he post up an 18.5" smallie he caught on the bluff I was fishing Just a few min before.  He was new to the river scene and had just bought his first jet boat, I thought for sure "there goes the neighborhood".  Helluva nice guy and aparantly pretty good fisherman, Haven't seen him since, go figure.   The way I see it the guy fishing "my spot" practicing good ethics and catch and release is probably gonna help care for the resource and vote in local elections just like I do.  Frankly I want that guy to have a good time and realize how precious the river is and what a world class place it can be with just a little bit of care and effort.  

I want to say thanks to everyone that has the courage to post up pics and reports on here as well as all of the technical how to's. Most of them have done more for the resource than I ever could.  You've given me tons of new techniques to try and most importantly Inspiration.  Speaking of inspiration, weather is breaking for the better think I'll get off the internet and go see what the river is up to.

 

"Floaters make it hard to fish but sometimes they improve the scenery..."

Posted
3 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Think we've been trolled.

While I don't mind trolling in a lake I just can't condone it in the river.:D

Posted
54 minutes ago, thewhitesnoop said:

The lesson here is never make a crack about the Midge Oreno.

Heck I think I still have a couple of the red/whites ones around.

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