Trout Talk July 2015

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Bait dump-Bait dump-ing hurts fi shing hurts fi sh

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Shadow of Shadow of the Nerd the Nerd page 8page 8

JULYJULY20152015

DDAILYAILY RRECORDECORDThe LebanonThe Lebanon

Trout Fest takes Trout Fest takes place at Bennett place at Bennett

Spring State ParkSpring State Parkpage 3page 3

the tradition grows...

ROOM FEATURES:• Fully Equipped Kitchens• Separate Bedrooms • King/Queen Beds• Telephones and Color Televisions• Non-smoking rooms with two person whirlpools are also available

Nestled among the beautiful landscapes of the Ozarks, Bennett Spring Inn is an ideal home away-from-home. Next door to Bennett Spring State Park, the inn offers comfortable accommodations, whether you’re just stopping in for the night or staying several days to enjoy all the area has to offer.

There’s so much to enjoy at Bennett Spring Inn. So come visit us and...Catch the Comfort!

OUTDOOR AMENITIESWe offer a pool and playground for the youngsters, or the young - at - heart

Bennett Spring I•N•N417-588-9110 or 800-IS-TROUT

www.bennettspringinn.com • Adjacent to Bennett Spring State Park

By Delevan OgleTrout Talk staff

Free fi shing, prizes, food and seminars highlighted the Conservation Federa-tion of Missouri’s inaugu-ral Trout Fest held at Ben-net Spring State Park on

June 6 and 7.Conservation Federation of

Missouri (CFM) Executive Direc-tor Brandon Butler said he was pleased with the outcome of the event this year and is looking for-ward to Trout Fest 2016, which as of now will be located at Bennett Spring.

“It has worked really well. We tagged 100 trout per day to put in … (Saturday). Out of the 100 we put in, 35-to-40 came back, so I think it is a pretty good success rate,” Butler said.

There was no cost to partici-pate, so the prizes, such as fi sh-ing equipment one wins during the weekend from catching those special trout, is an added bonus for coming down to Bennett to fi sh on Trout Fest weekend.

“We have some generous spon-sors — Rebel lures, Bass Pro Shops, Plano, and others donating prizes. You add the thrill of catching a fi sh to also getting some cool gear on top of it, and it sweetens the deal,” he said.

Butler also said the conservation workers tagging those fi sh tried to get a range of fi sh sizes.

“This is the fi rst year, so we have started small. There will be (a second year),” he said. “Now that we have documentation of this fi rst-year’s success, it will be easier to bring in other groups in the future.”

The food aspect of the event was successful, according to Butler. The CFM Grill served barbecue from

10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.Looking to the future, Butler is

already thinking of how to make it even more successful as the CFM starts thinking about year two of Trout Fest.

“We have to do better on some things too,” he said. “We have to do a better job of letting people know what is going on, not nec-essarily getting people to come, because the crowd (at Bennett) are already made and built in — peo-

ple are coming no matter what; we need to do a better job letting people who are here know what is going on.”

The Whistle Bridge was where Butler was directed to set up for this inaugural event. Things should change next year.

“We needed to be over in Zone 1 when you are coming down the hill, fi rst coming in to the park,” Butler said. “It will be signifi cantly better next year.”

THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK JULY 2015 PAGE 3

First Trout Fest takes place at Bennett Spring

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PAGE 4 THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK JULY 2015

A father-daughter duo on Sunday took ad-vantage of the fee-less fi shing day in Missouri at this year’s Trout Fest, looking to hook into one of those sought-after tagged fi sh. Their spirits were still up even though they hadn’t caught one yet while fi shing in Zone 2 near the Whistle Bridge.

Randy Eads and his daughter, Maddy (age 7). from Lone Jack, Mo., came down in a party of around 15. Some of the kids from his group caught a few tagged fi sh on Sat-urday, but Maddy was still fi shing for one. Eads also said he took one of his two older kids to the spring earlier Sunday morn-ing, and one of them caught the limit in just one hour.

“I caught just one fi sh,” he said. “There has been so much going on here (at Trout Fest), it has been hard to keep up with all of it,” he said.

The weekend’s event showcased important

people in the fi elds of conservation and an-gling. One of those has been fi shing for trout in Missouri for a long time.

Jim Washabaugh, CFM board of directors member, was on hand for the weekend, giv-ing a seminar on fi shing basics at the park. He is originally from the St. Louis area but now

resides in Jefferson City.

“I have been fi shing here for six decades, and in 60 minutes I have been trying to teach people the basics. When you go from (fi shing) for bass and catfi sh, there are some other things you need to

do (for trout) to be successful.”Washabaugh believes experience can be

the cruelest teacher, and at Trout Fest he was offering some expert tips so others can get on the fast track to enjoying trout fi shing at the spring.

“You must be a little bit successful when you attempt to catch fi sh,” he said.

From page 3

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Trout fi shing basics are all people need to hook into trout, according to Washabaugh. He also emphasizes to people that they don’t need a boat or a big invest-ment to enjoy angling at Bennett and other fi shing parks. He also is impressed with the overall setting of the park.

“I don’t know of any other place that is this family friendly as these parks with trout in them (are),” he said. “These parks offer something for everybody.”

The CFM is the organization that originally started the conser-vation commission and conser-vation department in Missouri, according to Washabaugh.

“A bunch of people came to-gether in the 1930s and said, ‘Hey, look, we don’t have any deer or any turkeys, anything anymore,” he said.

Since then, the CFM and the Missouri Department of Conser-vation have spearheaded many initiatives to promote conserva-

tion making Missouri a model for most other states in the nation concerning stewardship over the natural resources, according to Washabaugh.

Scott Pauly was also in atten-dance as a seminar speaker for the weekend event.

“I did a seminar (Saturday) afternoon with about 20 people in attendance,” he said. With as beau-tiful a day as Saturday presented, Pauly wasn’t offended. “If it were me I would rather be in the stream than sitting in the seminar too.”

Spoken like a true angler, Pauly is a professional bass fi sherman and is a marketing representative for the Missouri Division of Tour-ism.

In his seminar “Trout Fishing Across Missouri,” Pauly informed the visitors on many other places across the state to catch fi sh.

“We have four other trout parks in Missouri and other locations as well as some of the different rivers and stream fi shing opportunities across the state,” Pauly said. ■

From page 4

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From Springfi eld Convention and Visitors Bureau

SPRINGFIELD — It didn’t take much for Don Getz and Jack Looney to get hooked on collecting antique fishing lures.

For Getz, it started about 30 years ago when he found a metal box with a bass on the lid while vacationing in Minnesota. He brought the box home and when a friend who collected fishing lures saw it and explained it was an Al Foss lure, Getz was intrigued. He

now owns at least one of every lure Foss ever made, including some mistakes that were never offered for sale, dating from 1914 to 1930.

“I just thought it would be cool to set up on my fireplace,” Getz said, laughing about the metal box that became a lifelong passion.

For Looney, collecting lures began after he read a magazine article about antique lures and some of his friends began giving him

their old equipment about 40 years ago. At first, it was just a tackle box full of lures. To-day, it’s a collection of 7,000 artifacts that are wall to wall and floor to ceiling in the lower level of his home.

Getz and Looney are just two examples of the people who will be in Springfield July 9-11 for the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club Annual National Meeting.

Event looks to reel in lure lovers

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About 700 members of the organi-zation will swap, sell, talk and show off fi shing lures, rods, reels and as-sociated paraphernalia at a variety of events scheduled at the Expo Center.

The public also can participate in some seminars as well as have

vintage fi shing tackle appraised or placed in the auction without a mem-bership. For those who want to get more involved, a family membership is $35 annually.

For more information, visit www.nfl cc.com or call Getz at 816-415-0007.

From page 6

By Francis SkalickyMissouri Department of Conservation

Fishing tips are common in this part of the state, but one of the best bits of angling advice is a message being heard with increasing frequency across Mis-souri and other states:

Don’t dump your bait.Pitching unused minnows or

the last couple of crawdads over the side of the boat into the wa-ter has long been one of the final acts of a day on the lake. Howev-er, the increasing appearances of unwanted invasive species in our reservoirs and streams indicate

this seemingly inconsequential action does, indeed, have conse-quences that could spell trouble for our native aquatic species.

Missouri’s waterways are home to 200 species of native fish, 65 species of native mus-sels and more than 30 species of crayfish. However, invasive species are showing up in these same waterways with increas-ing frequency. These non-native invaders have the potential to disrupt food chains and harm ecosystems and damage sport-fishing opportunities.

Dumping bait can hurt aquatic species

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There are a number of ways non-native species come to our waters but biologists recognize “bait bucket introductions” as one of the most common ways these species are introduced and spread to other locations. This occurs when anglers dump live bait into a water body from which that bait did not originate. Rusty crayfi sh and several species of Asian carp are among the harmful non-native species that are thought to be being spread throughout the Midwest’s streams and rivers in this fashion.

To illustrate the problems these species can cause, one needs look no further than the rusty crayfi sh. This aggressive aquatic inverte-brate will out-com-pete many native crayfi sh species for food and damage aquatic plant beds. The damage they do to aquatic plant beds results in reduced cover for native fi sh – including popular sportfi sh species.

Ecosystem dis-ruption is not the only problem non-native species can cause. Newcomers can also bring diseases that native species are not equipped to cope with.

Even anglers who seine their own bait from lakes and streams could be spreading unwanted spe-cies if they don’t release the fi sh back into the same body of water from which they were collected. The reason for this is that carp and other non-native fi sh species can resemble native minnows when they’re young and small. As a result, a few unwanted exotic fi sh could be netted along with native species and an angler who dumps these left-over bait fi sh in a new body of water may unknowingly spread an invasive species to a new area.

Disposing of bait on land, once you get out of the water, seems like a good idea, but in the case of crayfi sh, it isn’t. Crayfi sh can live for a period of time out of water and can be quite mobile, even on dry land, so the chances

of them walking to a body of wa-ter are highly possible.

Alternatives for dumping include taking your bait home to use on future fi shing trips or placing it in a sealed container in the trash.

It should be noted that the Wildlife Code of Missouri has established a list of prohibited species that may not be possessed in Missouri. This list includes rusty crayfi sh. For a complete list, see 3 CSR 10-4.117 of the Wildlife Code.

Information about proper bait disposal and other fi shing in-formation can be found at your nearest Missouri Department of Conservation offi ce or at www.missouriconservation.org

Francis Skalicky is the media spe-cialist for the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Southwest Region. For more information about conser-vation issues, call (417) 895-6880.

From page 7

FRANCIS SKALICKY

CONSERVINGTHOUGHTS

A nerd’s paradiseComputer repairs, toys and games are

featured at the new Shadow of the Nerd storeBy Fines MasseyLebanon Daily Record

Local businessman Josh Ray is a self-proclaimed nerd, but he doesn’t want people to think he’s like Comic Shop Guy from “The Simpson’s.” In his store, Shadow of the Nerd, customers can touch, pick up and, in some cases, even play with the merchandise. “I want Shadow of the Nerd to be the kind of place where parents feel comfortable with their kids. I have things that people collect, but I’m not geared toward collec-tors,” Ray said.

Shadow of the Nerd, has moved to a new location at 227 E. Commercial St., tries to foster a relaxed “social” atmosphere. Rather than just have video games and toys on the shelves, there is a corner fi lled with toy bins where kids can hang out while their parents shop. Another area of the shop features a TV hooked up to

multiple game systems. Ray doesn’t just want his customers to rummage through shelves of games, he wants them to get a chance to play them.

“Nothing is behind glass cases here. I don’t want people walking on eggshells in my store,” he said.

Ray’s journey to become a local

businessman had a bit of an un-likely start. The idea of opening his own business actually came to him during one of his tours in Iraq as a sergeant in the Army.

“I spent so much time away from my kids while I was in Iraq that I just wanted a place where my kids could come to my work,” Ray said.

His wife, Sara Ray, jokes that Josh only wanted to open up the shop so he could be around the nerdy things he loves, like collect-ing action fi gures and working on computers.

“Actually I love the store, and I’m really proud of what Josh has accomplished,” Sara Ray said.

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After eight years in the Army and a few years as a military con-tractor, Ray and his family settled down in Lebanon. Ray worked a few jobs upon getting out of the military, but he soon found that one of his hobbies was slowly taking up more and more of his time. Ray, who had taken computer repair courses at the Lebanon Technol-ogy and Career Center when he was in high school, discovered that when family and friends needed tech help, they came to him. As the requests for free help started piling

up, Ray decided to use his hobby to make a little cash on the side.

“When I started to charge people, I noticed a drop in requests coming in and an increase in money,” Ray joked.

After a few months, Ray started to enjoy his side business a lot more than his day job and his garage workspace began to get cramped.

“I got so busy that I was ready to go all in,” he said.

Last year in May, Ray rented a space at the Westmore Plaza on Elm Street and opened up Shadow of the Nerd, a name he “usurped”

from a Batman toy line called Shadow of the Bat. Not long af-ter, he had to rent ad-ditional space, so he could have a separate workshop area from his retail space.

According to Ray, the tech repair is the bulk of his business and the toy sales are just icing on the cake. Outside of peak holiday times, the toy business is a “get your money back at best operation,” but he said it’s good for cash fl ow.

“I’ve learned that it’s good not to put all of your eggs in one basket,” Ray said.

Shadow of the Nerd’s new site on East Commercial Street is six times larger than its previ-

ous location, giving Ray room to expand the action fi gures, video games, comic books and other toys, as well as a larger shop area for repairing customers comput-ers, tablets and other devices.

“The tech repair side of the business was getting so bad (at the Elm Street location), that some projects were getting bur-ied. I just didn’t have the space,” Ray said.

The new store is in the re-cently restored historical Benage Dairy building on the corner of Commercial Street and Washing-ton Avenue.

“The building had fallen into disrepair before the new owners completely renovated it,” Ray said. He said that they’re both happy to be “bringing some more life to” East Commercial Street, which he said seems a little less developed than the other end of the street.

The store is open 10 am. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

From page 8

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3 Ft. Niangua River Resort84 Cat Hollow Trail • 417-532-4377www.fortniangua.com

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5 Family Crossing Mobile Home VillageThe Bennett Room - A Place to Gather17698 Hwy. 64, Lebanon • 417-532-4550

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11 Hillbilly Burgers-Bennett Spring Taxidermy25970 Hwy 64A • 417-588-9001

12 Bennett Spring Inn417-588-9110 800-is-troutwww.BennettSpringInn.com

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Trout Talk July 2015