By Bill Cooper
I’ll never forget taking my nine-year-old grandson, Ronnie Cooper Austin, on a recent fishing trip to the Gasconade River near Vienna. I suspect Ronnie will long remember the trip as well. He caught a trophy size smallmouth bass that would make any veteran smallmouth bass fisherman envious.
Outdoors
You should always carry Finland’s finest lure
By Larry Dablemont
If I had to pick a half-dozen lures to take with me all the time no matter where I intended to fish, one of them would no doubt be the celebrated floating Rapala. While we were in Canada a few summers ago, my wife lost one of my Rapalas to a hungry smallmouth, which came up from deep water to engulf it only a few feet from the boat. The drag was set properly, but when there’s only a few feet of line out, the drag doesn’t always keep a four-pound fish from breaking a four-pound line.
Bears on the move in Missouri, MDC encourages Be Bear Aware
The black bear is one of the largest and heaviest wild mammals in Missouri with some reaching up to 500 pounds. It is also a long-distance roamer constantly in search of food. While black bears are usually very secretive and avoid encounters with people, a growing number of bears in the state is resulting in more encounters with and more interest in the big bruins.
Gascosage BassMasters Tournament Held at Bell Chute
By Bill Cooper
July 11, 2020 turned out to be a busy day for Jeff Feeler, tournament director for the local Gascosage Buddy BassMasters Club. “Thirty-one teams showed up to compete for $3,000 in prize money,” Feeler said.
Woods Valley Farm - a unique history of land stewardship
By Bill Cooper
The 1,900-acre Woods Valley Farm, located in the ancient hills of the Missouri Ozarks near the quaint Meramec River town of Steelville, is a piece of outdoor heaven. Outdoorsmen and land managers far and wide recognize Woods Valley as one of the most well managed hunting and fishing properties in the entire Midwest.