Some odds and ends, and Happy Halloween!

I still have a ton of things to blog about, let me just throw out a few odds and ends here today and finish with a Halloween twist.

Regional Champs

First of all, a week ago I told you about Adam Diehl and Drew Bailey from Lincoln County who went down to Texas and won the regional high school bass tournament sponsorted by The Bass Federation (TBF), http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/10/regional-champs/ .  I have some video of the weigh-in ceremony, but could not post it on my blog because the file was too large.  Go here and you can see a news report from the North Platte TV station and watch some of that video.

index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3028:bass-bosses&Itemid=105

More Missouri River Surprises

You are tired of my saying it, but after the flooding this summer I have been saying there would be lots of surprises on the Missouri River once the water dropped back and folks were able to get back on the river.  Let me give you a few examples. . . .

The first comes from our neighbors to the north, South Dakota.  Apparently shifts in the river channel below Lake Oahe have uncovered an incredible collection of bison bones, bison skulls.

Now I am not telling you this to suggest that you should run up to S. Dakota and start picking up bison skulls.  I do not know what the legalities of that might be nor if a person can even do such a thing.  All I am saying is the river changed course due to all the high water this year and this is an amazing discovery!

Speaking of Missouri River changes. . . .

Some of you will recognize this view from a scenic overlook at Ponca State Park, but it does not look anything like it used to.

Again the river has changed.  There are new channels, and new sandbars.  If you spend any time on the Missouri River, especially the unchannelized portions, you have to be careful and be alert for those changes and shifts.  That is especially true right now.  That also means you likely will find old hot-spots no longer hold fish, but if you do some exploring you may find new hot-spots that are better than ever.  I continue to hear great reports of fishing on the Missouri River now!  Some of my fellow pointy-headed fish biologists summarized this year’s high water very well by saying “It was a good year to be a fish”.

I have also been saying that there are lots of fish on the move in large rivers when water levels are high.  Yes, some fish are displaced downstream, but there are also a lot of fish that actually migrate UPSTREAM during flood conditions.  There are also a lot of reports of an abundance of “Asian” carp, both silver and bighead carp, showing up in our Missouri River now.  Here is an example of some collected near the sandbar pictured above.

Please feel free to harvest all the “Asian” carp that you wish; if kept fresh they can be excellent table fare.  But please, do not even think of taking live fish of any kind from the Missouri River and releasing them in any other body of water!

Zombies

As long as I am mentioning aquatic nuisance species, take some time on this Halloween to look over this website from the Missouri Department of Conservation, http://mdc.mo.gov/zombies .  Apparently, they have a problem with zombies in Missouri and we sure do not want to see them spread anywhere else.

Seriously, Missouri’s Department of Conservation is being creative in spreading several excellent messages for hunters, anglers and trappers.  Take some time to look over their zombie website, I promise there are some good things there to learn!

Trick or Treat!