By PAUL DAVIS
Outdoors Editor
It's time to get after it while the getting is good. What I'm talking about is the crappie fishing at Wappapello Lake, which really has turned on since the thaw and drawdown.
"People are catching fish and doing good," said Charlie Brotherton at Sundowner Marine.
The best fishing for bigger crappies, he said, has been occurring upriver and along the channel.
"The big ones are fairly deep, in about 12 to 16 feet of water," he said.
As is normally the case, jigs have been the go-to bait for success.
"A lot of guys are limiting out," Brotherton noted, with some even tossing back the smaller keeper-size fish.
Indeed, an angler launching at Chaonia Landing Wednesday morning reported good success and good numbers of fish in the previous days, and another said he'd caught some real dandies this week.
Walleye Option
If you'd rather fish the rivers, the time is near for walleye fishing to really pick up.
Bouncing a large jig, working a deep crankbait or drifting a big shiner minnow through the bottom of a riffle and into a downstream hole after dark could be especially productive as the smaller males begin staging in those areas for the upcoming spawn.
The Black, Current, St. Francis and Eleven Point rivers all have walleyes, and some of the females can get quite large. The males don't get nearly as large, and many don't meet the minimum length requirements on those waters.
Time for Snow
(Geese, that is)
The regular season for Canada, snow and white-fronted geese closed in Arkansas a couple days back and will do so on Missouri on Tuesday, leaving hunters waiting on the states' light goose conservation orders to kick in.
Up first is Arkansas, which actually has a split conservation order and already has had two segments of it. The Natural State's third and final segment opens Sunday (Saturday is a statewide youth duck season) and will continue through April 25.
Missouri's conservation order will open Wednesday (Feb. 7) and continue through April 30.
During the conservation order, hunting regulations are relaxed in order to allow hunters to be more effective in killing large numbers of geese. Electronic calls can be used during the special season, as can unplugged shotguns. Hunting hours also are one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset.
There's no daily or possession limit on light geese during the conservation order.
Permit requirements are different in each state. In Missouri, you'll need to purchase a conservation order permit, which will set you back $5 ($40 for nonresidents). In Arkansas, all you need is any kind of hunting permit from any state to be legal. That means your Missouri small game, archery deer, fall turkey or other permits are good for hunting snow geese in Arkansas. The only catch is you need to call 1-800-364-4263 or go online to www.agfc.com to get a free snow goose registration permit.
For anyone who hasn't done it before, snow goose hunting during the conservation order is basically done in two ways, either by decoying or stalking.
Decoying geese is the traditional method, but you'll need several hundred decoys (and deep pockets to buy them) to attract the birds' attention. You'll also need to spend a lot of time scouting to determine which fields the birds currently are feeding in. It's a very labor-intensive way to hunt, but it can be spectacular.
Stalking geese is the method most folks use because it's cheaper, easier and you can get on multiple flocks in a day of cruising.
Basically, you drive around until you find a flock feeding in a field, and if there's a deep ditch or thick treeline close to the birds, you use it for cover as you sneak within range.
A potential problem is white-fronted geese tend to feed on the outer edges of snow-goose flocks, and the season on them is closed.
Another issue seen with snow goose hunters is trespassing, and it's a common problem. While most farmers despise the geese, they also don't want roaming bands of hunters trespassing on their lands. The only solution is to ask first before you plan a stalk.
Last Seasons
If snow goose hunting doesn't spark much interest for you, the seasons for squirrels and rabbits are still open in Missouri, though time is running out. Both seasons close on Feb. 15.
It seems squirrels are fairly abundant locally, and they've been moving well in the early mornings and late evenings.
I've seen very few rabbits this fall and winter, but there are some around - it may just take some work to find them.