Allen “horntagger” Morris
Even gets some fishing in sometimes.

LOCATION

METHODS

Lot of times I'll anchor right against the bluff/point right in the edge of the swift current. Toss my bait out downstream in the edge of the current then let the current carry it full circle untill it drops it to the bottom. It is VERY SELDOM the bait sits for more then a minute or so before something swallows it!
If the water is up and got a real good current to it don't fish alone and take a BIG landing net! You get a 10 pounder and he hits that current you'll think you've got a 30 pounder on line. I remember once when the lake was up about 2 feet, real swift and nasty. I hung a 10 pound channel and had a beautiful 45 minute battle with him before I ever got a chance to put a net on him. Landed it on a 6 foot cherrywood rod and 15 pound test and had a real blast. Just wished I'd had a little help.
Deep water. Deeper the water no mater how much a lake is up the slower the current. Width plays a smallpart in it but depth plays the biggest part.
I like holes at least 10 feet deep when I've got a serious current, 15-20 is even better. Your current slows and drops a lot of food in these deep holes. The cats hug the bottom and miss most of the current as well. One reason folks do so well on trotlines back up in sloughs during high water is the cats are getting out of the current. Less expenditure of energy means less food they HAVE to hunt down and eat.

Fish deep and try to put the bait right in where the cats likely to be, heavy line and big hooks.
Remember the males are guarding the nest, the females are still out and about after they lay and their hungry.
 
 

JEFFERSON CITY -- Farmers, business owners and emergency management workers breathed a sigh of relief May 15 when the muddy water on Missouri River gauges began to fall. The worrisome but ultimately harmless flood crest on the Missouri River this spring was the second of what some state officials are calling "the great floods that weren't." They say things could have ended much differently this year if not for the legacy of the Great Flood of 1993.

Nine years ago, communities along the Missouri River suffered the worst flood damage in Missouri history. More than 10,000 people were forced from their homes, dozens died in flood-related incidents, and property damage ran into the billions of dollars. The flood crest at Hermann was 36.97 feet, nearly 17 feet above flood stage. Losses of homes, businesses and agricultural crops were devastating.

Following that historic flood, the Federal Emergency Management Agency bought much of the flood-damaged property. This buyout allowed home and business owners to relocate out of the flood plain. Buildings were demolished, and grass was planted in their place, ensuring that future deluges
wouldn't cause so much property damage.

Conservation agencies got involved, too. The Missouri Department of Conservation set aside $10 million to buy land from farmers who wanted to sell acreage that had been washed away or buried beneath several feet of sand. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bought some former cropland for Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge.

One of the most visible buyout areas is Overton Bottoms, 5,399 acres of flood plain north and south of the I-70 bridge in Cooper County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bought the northern portion of this tract. Since it owned the entire river bottom north of the highway, the federal agency didn't rebuild levees breeched by the '93 flood. All 1,700-plus acres remain open to the river.

"When you drive over the I-70 bridge at Rocheport during a flood, you get an unmistakable picture of how Overton Bottoms is affecting people downstream," said Conservation Department District Wildlife Biologist Jeff Pennock. "Assume that the water standing on the area averages four feet deep. That's 6,800 acre-feet of water that's not rushing downriver the way it did before 1993, when the levees were still there. I imagine people in Jefferson City, Hermann and St. Charles are pretty pleased to see that much water spread out on a wildlife refuge instead of in their houses and factories."

Dick Hudson, emergency management director for Gasconade County, certainly was glad to see no more water than he did when the river crested at Hermann on May 15 this year. He said the crest was about 29.6 feet. That's well below the 1993 high-water mark but still too high for comfort. At 32 feet, said Hudson, the river goes over Highway 19 and low-lying businesses in Hermann.

"We watched the river come up, and up, and up," said Hudson. "We were kind of thinking we were going to have another big flood, but then it went back down."

The water held upstream at Overton Bottoms is only part of what spared Hermann and other communities from "the flood of 2002," said Pennock. Since 1993, land purchases by the Conservation Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service have given the Missouri River free access to more than 11,000 acres of the flood plain that formerly were behind levees.  Combined with the nearly 10,000 acres of conservation areas and other public land that were open to the river before 1993, the public holdings in the Missouri River flood plain provide an enormous buffer against floods.

On the other hand, 21,000 acres isn't much in the larger scheme of things. The Missouri River flood plain occupies about 1 million acres in Missouri. Public land open to the river is only about 2 percent of that total.

"We have bought enough land to really make a difference in future flooding," said Pennock, "but not enough to change overall land ownership or land use in the flood plain. It's quite a bargain compared to the cost of a flood."

The Corps of Engineers bought the 3,662-acre portion of Overton Bottoms south of I-70 to compensate for wildlife habitat destroyed by its activities along the river. Because some land adjoining the southern part of Overton Bottoms still is in private ownership and is farmable, some levees there were repaired, and approximately half of the area remains closed to the river. The same is true of several Conservation Department purchases along the river.

Pennock said the flood control benefits of river land purchased by the Conservation Department will increase in future years as the Conservation Department finds people who are willing to sell land adjoining the agency's existing flood plain holdings.

"Eventually we will be able to open more levees and increase the area available for the river to spread out in," he said. "We have the potential to reconnect another 10,000 acres to the river. Every acre-foot of water that goes out on one of our areas instead of rushing downstream in a flood tide creates wildlife habitat, and that means more hunting and fishing opportunities. The fact that it helps people downstream just sweetens the deal."

This year isn't the first time that conservation areas and other public land along the Missouri River have helped avert flooding. On Oct. 5, 1998, following torrential rains, the National Weather Service predicted a Missouri River flood crest of 35.9 feet at Jefferson City. The next day, the Weather Service reduced its crest prediction to 32.5 feet. On Oct. 7, the river crested at 29.55 feet. What might have been the Great Flood of 1998 went down in history as the flood that wasn't.

Why didn't the original crest predictions pan out? Where did all the water go? Gordon Farabee, long-time river management expert for the Conservation Department, thought he knew. To test his hypothesis, he flew over the river from the mouth of the Osage River to Glasgow. He found the water right where he expected it.

Smokey Waters Conservation Area, almost 1,000 acres of low-lying land at the Osage/Missouri river delta, was half covered with a sheet of chocolate brown water. At Overton Bottoms, the Fish and Wildlife Service's 1,700 acres and much of the 3,662 acres owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was under water. Marion Bottoms Conservation Area north of Jefferson City, also is open to the river and all its 3,000 acres hold water when the Missouri River is at flood stage. The picture was similar up and down the river. Thousands of acres of land formerly closed to the river held standing water.

"It's difficult to calculate exactly how many acre-feet of water these areas will hold at a given river stage," said Farabee, now retired. "But it is, unquestionably, a huge amount. Take a moment to remember how close the water came to the tops of levees in October 1998; then imagine that 10,000 or 20,000 acre feet of water had been forced down the river at the same time. If you want to know what that extra flood-holding capacity is worth, ask airport operators, business owners, farmers and homeowners behind the remaining levees."

Another Conservation Department project that will enhance fish and wildlife habitat while providing flood-control benefits is a levee "setback" project at Columbia Bottom Conservation Area in St. Louis County. The original levee was at the river's edge. After buying the 4,318-acre area, the Conservation Department built a new levee farther back from the river's edge. In the near future, the old levee will be removed.
 
 

Catfish Trophies.  Send us your catfish pictures and we will put them up here for all the world to see.

Kingfisher, A.K.A. Brian Oglesby

I think this counts as a truck load of cats

Cooper's Landing makes the Missouri River safer, more convenient for anglers and boaters
The Conservation Department and Fish and Wildlife Service helped provide a place for boaters to gas up and pump out septic waste.
 

EASLEY, Mo. -- Bikers and hikers on the Katy Trail stop at Cooper's Landing for bottled water and trail food. Campers get a deli sandwich and Alka-Seltzer and listen to live music on weekends. Anglers can buy frog gigs and live bait, and now boaters can buy gasoline and pump out their septic tanks without leaving the water. Cooper's Landing, located about a mile north of Easley, at the site of the historic river port of Nashville, combines all these services and more at one of Missouri's fastest-growing recreational crossroads. Katy Trail State Park draws between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors per year, and the Missouri River is increasingly popular with hunters, anglers, campers and pleasure boaters. Yet, Cooper's landing is the only place in Missouri where river recreationists can fuel their boats or pump out septic tanks.

"This place is a luxury for fishermen and pleasure boaters on day trips," said Mike Cooper, whose dream of a river landing goes back 15 years. "For people on long river trips and folks who keep big boats on the river, it's more than just a convenience. Trailering a house boat to gas stations and campgrounds with pump-out facilities isn't an option when you're miles from where you launched. If you couldn't fill up here, you would have to carry gasoline to your boat and carry extra tanks. That can be a safety problem."
Cooper's Landing is equipped to serve transient boaters and those whose craft are too big for easy transportation by trailer. You can pull up to the dock, gas up, load drinkable water, buy supplies and go on your way.

One of the landing's most surprising amenities is Thai cuisine. Chim's Thai Kitchen offers a wide variety of authentic dishes cooked to diners' specifications. More predictable services include a public rest room with shower and laundry, a three-bedroom lodge, 2 campgrounds, a recreational vehicle dump, a convenience store and an indoor recreation room. Live music is available most Friday and Saturday nights.

The Providence Bend Boat Club has priority for launching boats and parking trailers at the private boat ramp, but it's open to the public on a space-available basis. The Missouri Department of Conservation's Providence Access is 1.5 miles upriver from Cooper's Landing and the Hartsburg Access is 10 miles down river.

Developing Cooper's Landing wasn't cheap, and probably would have been beyond the means of owner Mike Cooper if not for a grant he received with the help of the Missouri Department of Conservation. The source was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Boating Infrastructure Grant Program, also known as "Big P." Authorized by Congress in 1998, the program is intended to provide facilities that enhance boating opportunities.

Money for Big P projects comes from the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Fund. The fund receives revenues from federal excise taxes on fishing equipment and marine fuel. Big P money can cover as much as three-quarters of the cost of qualifying projects. Cooper has spent more than $52,000 developing his facility, and has applied for a $39,000 Big P grant.

Missouri used to have another on-water fuel source at New Haven, but that facility is not currently operating. John McPherson, who administers Big P projects for the Conservation Department, said another Missouri River fuel and pump-out facility is on the drawing board for the River Towne Resort in St. Joseph and probably will open by late summer or early fall.

"The Missouri River is a fantastic recreational resource," said McPherson. "However, the river's usability is limited by a lack of essential services. We would like to see more places like Cooper's Landing, where transient boaters can stock up on groceries and ice, fill their gas tanks and maybe dock at temporary slip for a few days. There's matching money for projects like Cooper's, if we can find people who are interested in building them."

For more information about the BIG P program, contact McPherson at 573/751-4115, ext. 3598. For more information about Cooper's Landing, call 573/657-2544 or visit Cooper's Web site, www.cooperslanding.net. To learn more about Chim's Thai Kitchen, visit http://katytrail.net/thaikitchen.

photos by Big Bird , Big Bird's Bait and Tackle, Mozingo Lake
 
 

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