Clear water

[Flysmallie]

30 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

Actually we have very good Largemouth bass fishing, LOZ proves that. Walleye fishing is very good, trout fishing is very good (maybe not Steelhead). Catfishing is excellent.  But river smallmouth fishing is on a different level, just not up to par. 

 

LOZ doesn't compare to lakes in the south. 

Walleye fishing does not compare to walleye fishing in the north. Hell it doesn't even compare to Walleye fishing in Oklahoma.

Same for catfishing, there are way better places to do it. Again Oklahoma is one of those and they ALLOW noodling.

 

[Chief Grey Bear]

 Now I'm not as hip as up-to-date as you other fellows are but the last I knew nobody was gigging Table Rock, Stockton or any other lake. 

 Yet  there still has not been one caught anywhere near equal in size to the ones in the states you are dreaming about. 

 So I am of the mind that gigging is not the problem .

[Smalliebigs]

2 hours ago, ness said:

Seems the winter pissies have arrived early this year. Might make for a long winter. 

yeah well reading about what some dude cooked after watching the FoodNetwork on a fishing forum makes for a long Winter as well.....many threads on here to make for some laughter, including this one.

I'm not the one insinuating alleged men have an itchy vagina on here.  

[tjm]

Average joes buy more  licenses than trophy joes do, y"all need to stop and thank them for paying most of the management cost so that you can play. Trophy management just might cost that support if the regulations are too slanted against them.

Personally I have no real desire to catch just large fish, rather catch many fish; big ones count the same as tiny ones when you are there for the act of fishing in a beautiful place. No lake in the world has good fishing, none. And if you have to have to measure it in inches or in pounds, you have missed to point.

 

[Mitch f]

36 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

LOZ doesn't compare to lakes in the south. 

Walleye fishing does not compare to walleye fishing in the north. Hell it doesn't even compare to Walleye fishing in Oklahoma.

Same for catfishing, there are way better places to do it. Again Oklahoma is one of those and they ALLOW noodling.

 

I’ll give you the Walleye, even though there are some large ones caught in the Ozarks.

catfish- see below

but I’m working and can’t respond all the way yet

 

[Seth]

20 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

LOZ doesn't compare to lakes in the south. 

Walleye fishing does not compare to walleye fishing in the north. Hell it doesn't even compare to Walleye fishing in Oklahoma.

Same for catfishing, there are way better places to do it. Again Oklahoma is one of those and they ALLOW noodling.

 

I'm sure those same states fall behind MO when it comes to other species as well. I think you would be hard pressed to find a state that is as well rounded as Missouri when it comes to outdoor activities. It's kind of the jack of all trades, master at none type of thing. Sure, if you only fish for smallmouth on Ozark streams then that doesn't mean much to you. However, if you're like me and fish for a variety of different species, then it's wonderful.

• LoZ and TRL offer some great bass fishing for numbers and good sized fish, but you won't catch a 10 pounder like you would downs outh
• The MO River and Mississippi River are loaded with monster catfish, but you probably stand a better chance at catching one on Wheeler in Alabama
• LoZ and Truman have fantastic crappie fishing, but you aren't going to catch as many 3+ pounders there as you would in MIssissippi
• Trout fishing on Taneycomo is fantastic and you have the chance at hooking up with a possible 20+ pound fish.
• MO is arguably the best paddlefish state in the country. Oklahoma has great numbers, but your chances of catching a giant are better in MO on Truman or Tablerock
• Our deer hunting is really good, but Iowa, Kansas and Illinois produce more really big deer. MO still sees a lot of boone and crockett class deer each year. MO also has a ton of public land for people to utlize as well. I've spoken to many hunters from other states that don't offer the quality of public grounds that our state does.
• MO is always ranked towards the top when it comes to turkey hunting.
• Smallmouth fishing isn't on par with the northern states when it comes to size, but it's just one more thing that MO has to offer. If you want to go catch a bunch of fish, the Ozark streams are full of them

I'm sure there are other things. My point is that while one state may be the best at one thing in general, they are terrible at others. Missouri is great at a few things and still offers decent opportunities at nearly anything you can think of. Try opening your eyes and look at the bigger picture. We have it pretty good in my opinion.

[Flysmallie]

17 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

I’ll give you the Walleye, even though there are some large ones caught in the Ozarks.

catfish- see below

but I’m working and can’t respond all the way yet

 

Save your time. Our goals are obviously different. I don’t need a big fish to prove myself. 

[Flysmallie]

12 minutes ago, Seth said:

 We have it pretty good in my opinion.

That’s what I’m saying!

[Mitch f]

2 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

Save your time. Our goals are obviously different. I don’t need a big fish to prove myself. 

That’s not actually the discussion 

[Chief Grey Bear]

 Well the discussion started out that it was OK to miss identify smallmouth while gigging. 

 Then it turned into we need to ban all giggling because that is why there are no big smallmouth. 

 Then it was Missouri does not know how to manage for Smallmouth just look at all the other states around us. 

 And then you threw in pictures of large catfish. 

 So I think Ronnie is right in that the discussion has turned into  you can't catch a big fish you are not a real fisherman.