High Water

The little lake in the center of the Ozarks is bigger right now than it has ever been. Pomme de Terre Lake is small in comparison to some Ozark reservoirs like Bull Shoals, Tablerock and Truman, but it is a rocky, fairly clear lake with some very good fishing, one of the few lakes in the Midwest stocked with muskellunge, known as muskies by fishermen.

Last fall, the Corps of Engineers decided that the spillway had some problems, and they shut down the outflow from Pomme De Terre and contracted out some concrete repair projects which seem to be a little behind. The rains which we have received in recent months have filled the lake to capacity, and it has backed up the Pomme de Terre River like I have never seen it.

Thousands upon thousands of live trees are in the water now, budding out and preparing to green-up in a huge backwater mess. This worries me, because if that water stands on those trees until the end of spring, I am afraid thousands of them will die. That happened on Truman Lake about 20 years ago, simply because the development on Lake of the Ozarks prevented releasing floodwaters from Truman. Millions of trees died, and the great duck hunting the lake afforded ended with that, as all the pin-oaks that were being flooded each fall and giving acorns to incoming waterfowl, died out. It seemed to be the beginning of the end for much of Truman’s watershed where cockleburs have now taken over.

I talked to a Corps ranger recently that I fish with, and he said that it looks as if water will begin to be released on April 7, and if so, Pomme de Terre will soon be back to normal, with no loss of trees in the watershed. I am praying he is right. He should know what he is talking about. Ranger Rich Abdoler, one of my closest friends, is a forestry major who has worked on Truman Lake for 38 years, and he is a very knowledgeable outdoorsman.  He doesn’t believe that any trees will be lost because of the floodwaters now seen on the river and other tributaries to Pomme de Terre.

Truman Lake will receive that huge release of water, and it may ruin fishing on the Pomme de Terre arm of Truman Lake, as the river flowing into it will likely be very high for quite some time. Truman Lake has lots of walleye and white bass, and a good population of hybrids (white bass-striper crosses) which grow to 15 pounds or so. The new flush of water might make it harder for most fishermen to fish the river above Truman, but I believe it might draw some large schools of hybrids after April 7, if fishermen know how go after them. But duck hunters on the Pomme de Terre River died a year ago when they tried to navigate the high, swift waters above Truman Lake, and I hope anyone who tackles it this spring will have the boat to handle the size of it.

It has been a late season for spawning walleye, and white bass, which run up those tributaries, because water temperatures this spring have been colder, longer, than normal. But this past week, we found hundreds of white bass males up small tributaries to several lakes, and they were hungry. But females weren’t to be seen, and the whites weren’t taking topwater lures at all. I expect all that will be changing soon.

White bass are fun to catch on light tackle, but if you use light tackle, you might catch a big walleye while fishing for them, and find it hard to handle. I have said this often, but if you don’t like to eat white bass, it probably is because of the layer of red meat found on whites, stripers and hybrids. Filet the white bass you catch, then put those filets in ice water for just a short time, and the filets will become very firm. Then take your filet knife and skim off the red meat found just under the skin. The white meat you are left with is delicious. I wrote recently that I believe white bass filets are tastier than any others except crappie, walleye, bass, catfish, and bluegill! Ands while that is true, when visitors at my place try white bass filets I have deep-fried, no one complains about the flavor, They are very good.

Several readers have asked me about the letters they received from a group known as the “Appalachian Wildlife Fund”.  Thousands of Missouri hunters got a group of tickets in the mail from that mysterious organization, and yes, they got your address from the Missouri Department of Conservation, after donating $50,000 to the MDC. Assistant Director Tim Ripperger says it was all above the table, that sunshine laws mean that anyone can get your name and address and other information which you give to the department when you buy a fishing license. But years ago, when I tried to get such a list, I was told it would cost us thousands of dollars. He says things have changed since then.

At any rate, the Appalachian Wildlife Fund sent all of us tickets which the letter said might win us about 17 different rifles, and four or five hunting trips, including a moose hunt in Canada, and a “Missouri Bull Elk” tag in Kentucky, where, coincidentally, the MDC is acquiring several hundred elk to stock in a selected area of the Ozarks. To win, you had to return the tickets with $25 for each, and then you were eligible for the drawing.

The whole thing sounded very suspicious to me, so I called the man behind it all, David Ledford, head of the Appalachian Wildlife Fund, who lives in Kentucky.  I hoped to find out who won those rifles and hunting trips. He refused to give me names and addresses, and hung up on me. Who is David Ledford, and is he the only one involved in the “Appalachian Wildlife Fund”?  Were all those prizes awarded to some lucky Missourians, or were the winners pre-determined?  Wouldn’t it seem we could all know that, since our license information was used?

Someone needs to investigate this, perhaps our state’s attorney general, or a news agency. But the MDC seems too powerful to be investigated, and none of us may ever know what happened. I know this; when I give information on my hunting and fishing licenses, which gives my social security number as well, I don’t want that information being given to anyone. But make no mistake about this… the MDC received a 50,000 dollar gift, and David Ledford and the “Appalachian Wildlife Fund” made some big money with the information given them. Not one newspaper or TV station in our state will look into it, because no one investigates the MDC, who gives tons of free info to the media each year to prevent that.

We will see if we can get names and address of license holders from the MDC, in order to send out free Lightnin’ Ridge magazines to everyone. Somehow, I doubt it.

My mailing address is Box 22, Bolivar, Mo. The e-mail address is lightninridge@windstream.net  (no g on the end of lightnin).  My website is www.larrydablemontoutdoors.blogspot.com