For those who want to try fishing, or if you simply haven't bought your permit yet, Saturday and Sunday will be the annual Free Fishing Days in Missouri.
During those two days, anyone can fish across the state without needing a fishing permit.
Separate trout permits also will not be required in waters stocked with those species, nor will daily trout tags be needed at the state's four managed trout parks.
Other than permits not being required, all other fishing regulations will remain in effect during Free Fishing Days, including length and daily limits.
Arkansas also will be holding Free Fishing Days this weekend, though that state's event begins at noon on Friday and will continue through midnight Sunday.
Just like in Missouri, no fishing permit or trout permit will be needed to fish across the state.
Even better, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will host several free fishing derbies from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for youngsters age 12 and under at its five hatcheries, two of which are nearby.
At the William Donham State Fish Hatchery in Corning, young anglers will be able to keep three catfish.
At the Jim Hinkle Spring River State Fish Hatchery in Mammoth Spring, three trout may be kept.
Wappapello
Bassmasters
Sixty-two teams fished Saturday's Wappapello Bassmasters tournament, which was hampered by a little fog early on.
"We had a great weigh-in," said Gerry Robinson. "Any time you have five fish that weigh over 21 pounds, you had a great day on the lake."
Winkler and Ladymon were the top anglers with a stringer weight of 21.75 pounds. They also had the day's big bass, weighing in at 5.91 pounds.
Second place went to Toon and Taylor with 20.56 pounds, while third was earned by Boyd and Nicholson with 17.49 pounds. They also had the second-largest fish of the day, weighing in at 5.7 pounds.
Batton and Kearby grabbed the fourth spot with 17.17 pounds, and Stevens and Stevens took fifth with 14.35 pounds.
Longtime fishing partners Holmes and Young took the sixth spot with 13.86 pounds, and the Hutson brothers, Ryan and Adam, got seventh place with 13.65 pounds. The final paying position, eighth, was earned by Manion and Manion with 13.3 pounds.
Smallie Tourney
Despite high and muddy water Saturday, the first Current River Smallmouth Association tournament of the year was a success.
Williams and Kram were the day's winners, hauling in 9.41 pounds to the weigh-in. They were followed by Dougherty and Sisco in second place with 9.35 pounds.
Third place was earned by Hampton and Towner with 8.87 pounds, and fourth went to Carringer and Rutledge with 8.46 pounds.
McCaulley and Rommel took the fifth spot with 8.01 pounds.
Towner had the day's big bass, weighing 3.21 pounds, while Joe Dougherty had a 2.99-pounder.
Angler's Choice
Twenty-nine teams fished Sunday's Angler's Choice event at Wappapello Lake, with Black and Allison coming out on top with 19.46 pounds.
Second place was grabbed by Owens and Buchanan with 18.26 pounds, and third went to Thurston and Thurston with 16.78 pounds.
The fourth-place team was Toon and Taylor with 15.08 pounds, and the top five was rounded out by Goodpasture and Fischer with 14.83 pounds.
The day's big bass, at 5.92 pounds, was caught by Pierce and Carroll.
The Angler's Choice circuit will be fishing again on Sunday in an event which was rescheduled from April 8, when high water and freezing temperatures forced the change.
Give tournament director Ken Owens a call at 573-820-3715 for the details.
USA Bassin'
The USA Bassin' circuit's Southeastern Ozarks Division will hold a tournament on Clearwater Lake Saturday, based out of the Piedmont Park ramp.
A launch time of 6 a.m. has been set, with a weigh-in scheduled for 2 p.m.
The tournament director is Doug Warren (573-924-2215), though this event likely will be run by Joe Dougherty in Warren's temporary absence.
Archery Shoot
The Indian Creek Bowhunters organization will host a 3-D archery shoot Saturday at the Department of Conservation's archery range off County Road 546, northeast of Poplar Bluff.
Registration and shooting is slated to begin at 8 a.m., and you can begin the 20-target course any time before noon.
As always, everyone is welcome, and they can shoot in either the fun class or compete for trophies in other classes.
The cost to shoot will be $10 for fun-class participants and $15 for those in the trophy classes. Children age 12 and under can shoot at no cost.
Food and beverages also will be available for purchase on-site.
For more information, give Tony Harwell a call at 573-718-7135 or Brad Massey at 573-785-0647.
Strong Showing
Poplar Bluff's trap team did well over the weekend at the SCTP Championships at Linn Creek, Mo., with the junior high A Squad (Jaydon Everts, Garret Cooper, Austin Stoner, Trenton Patterson and Jakob Valenzuela) earning a third-place finish in its division.
Stoner also earned second place in the junior high division with a score of 194 out of 200.
The high school's A Squad (TJ Abney, Hunter Seal, Hannah Cash, Andrew Miller and Hunter Turner) shot a perfect round, only the second time it's ever happened for the school team.
On top of all that, Tayler Hillis earned a scholarship to attend this summer's Mizzou Trap Academy.
Timber Thinning
If you utilize the Pool 9 timber unit at the Coon Island Conservation Area (lots of duck hunters and some bowhunters do), you'll likely see some big changes starting this fall.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will be selling off nearly 700,000 board feet of timber from the unit, which is scheduled to be cut over the next two summers.
"It's going to be selective harvest and thinning," said MDC Resource Forester Mark Pelton. "We're trying to improve the habitat and species diversity."
The timber thinning, Pelton said, will result in a better canopy diversity instead of the unit having a single-layer.
"We want gaps to have multiple levels," he said.
The operation, Pelton noted, is similar to another sale on the property four or five years ago.