BORDER BASS; CULTURE, HISTORY PAIRED WITH FISHING IN THE HEARTLAND.Byline: BRETT PAULY Angling ``There oughta be bass in here, fellers.'' They were designed to be comforting words under less than ideal conditions, when the fish weren't biting and the sun was warming the humid air to 90 degrees and the boundary waters
Area angler Ron Livingston repeated the phrase several times as he maneuvered his boat through the cattails along this wide spot in the Missouri River Missouri River River, central U.S. The longest tributary of the Mississippi River, it rises in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana. It flows east to central North Dakota and south across South Dakota, forming sections of the South Dakota–Nebraska boundary, the that separates South Dakota South Dakota (dəkō`tə), state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). and Nebraska. The words did provide some solace in the long stretches between the four bass I hooked on the day using Texas-rigged plastic salamanders and hand-painted lime-green spinnerbaits that Livingston sells as a hobby for $1.50 apiece. And they were prophetic when I landed my first-ever smallmouth bass - a bronze 2-pound beauty that somersaulted through the air and didn't know when to stop fighting, even when I lipped it into the boat for release. But highs and lows aside, this was more than a fishing trip. It was a learning experience about one of the nation's largest waterways and the folks who call its banks home. Livingston and the Missouri River he fishes almost daily are gentle giants. Carrying 300 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame, with coveralls, a rolled-up, beat-up, sweated-up work shirt, chapped hide and a red neck, the 43-year-old bass angler is an imposing sight. ``Around here they seem to grow big fellows,'' said the third in our party, Ocean, N.J., attorney Bill Feinberg, after getting a good look at our navigator. ``Yeah, and we all got little boats,'' answered Livingston, a strong-armed road-grader for Bonhomme County. But his mild demeanor and friendly manner befit be·fit tr.v. be·fit·ted, be·fit·ting, be·fits To be suitable to or appropriate for: formal attire that befits the occasion. the good-natured country attitude that prevails in the nation's interior. The river also is large and tame. Dammed for flood control and hydroelectricity, the mighty Missouri is lined with reservoirs, including Lewis and Clark Lake, along which is found Livingston's home town of Springfield here in Southeast South Dakota. Its upper stretches hardly resemble a lake or a river, however. A marshy marsh·y adj. marsh·i·er, marsh·i·est 1. Of, resembling, or characterized by a marsh or marshes; boggy. 2. Growing in marshes. delta has formed from the deposition of upstream sediments, causing a hodgepodge of islands, flats and sandbars cut by channels, shoots and backwater that are continually rearranged by the Missouri's varying current. Livingston said he zigzags to his fishing holes ``just like a mouse running through a maze.'' No need to worry about keeping a secret spot secret; even maps wouldn't help decipher this mess. First you would have to safely navigate the shallows that often are strewn strew tr.v. strewed, strewn or strewed, strew·ing, strews 1. To spread here and there; scatter: strewing flowers down the aisle. 2. with submerged stumps and other deadheads in a foot of water. Only foolish anglers make this venture without spare propellers for their outboard engine and trolling motor. ``It's really getting to be a problem,'' Livingston said of the silt that is working its way down the lake. ``It's hell on motors around here.'' Oak-, elm- and ash-lined Lewis and Clark Lake is a creation of Gavins Point Dam Gavins Point Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota, impounding Lewis and Clark Lake. The dam is located on the Nebraska-South Dakota border, west of Yankton, South Dakota. , which was hailed as a ``100-year dam'' when completed in 1956. ``I don't think they gave much thought about what would happen after that,'' Livingston said. ``Once you start fiddling around with nature, it's never-ending,'' Feinberg observed. Indeed, there are several theories and prospects drifting around South Dakota to extend the life of the reservoir, including routing sediments around it via pipelines. Yet the wide-ranging recommendations are expensive and have few time lines. ``It's a really difficult situation to solve,'' said Herb Bollig, manager of Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery hatchery a commercial establishment dedicated to the hatching of bird eggs to provide day old chicks and poults to the poultry industry. hatchery liquid the contents of unfertilized eggs. Used in petfood manufacture. in nearby Yankton, S.D. Because it has characteristics of a river and a lake, the Lewis and Clark impoundment An action taken by the president in which he or she proposes not to spend all or part of a sum of money appropriated by Congress. The current rules and procedures for impoundment were created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.A. attracts a diversity of fish - from smallmouth bass, catfish, sturgeon sturgeon, primitive fish of the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Unlike evolutionarily advanced fishes, it has a fine-grained hide, with very reduced scalation, a mostly cartilaginous skeleton, upturned tail fins, and a mouth set well back on the , sauger sauger Species (Stizostedion canadense) of pikeperch (family Percidae), carnivorous food and game fishes found in lakes and silty rivers of eastern North America. Saugers are slender and darkly mottled. They have two dorsal fins and rarely exceed a length of 12 in. and the prehistoric-looking paddlefish paddlefish, large freshwater fish, Polyodon spathula, of the Mississippi valley, also called spoonbill or duckbill and named for its flattened, paddle-shaped snout. The largest specimens weigh well over 150 lb (67.5 kg) and reach 6 ft (183 cm) in length. that prefer running water to largemouth bass largemouth bass see micropterus salmoides. , walleye walleye, in medicine walleye: see strabismus. walleye, in zoology walleye or walleyed pike: see perch. , Northern pike and a variety of panfish n. 1. Any of numerous small food fishes; especially those not available on the market. 2. Any of numerous small food fishes taken with hook and line. Noun 1. that love standing water. ``It's a real, real diverse type of situation and it has a lot to do with water yield,'' said Gerald Wickstrom, a fishery biologist with the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department in Chamberlain. ``Like a fish aquarium almost, ain't it?'' Livingston said. To target its bass, one must be prolific at fishing fast water for smallmouths and slower flows for largemouths. Even then, there are no guarantees. ``There is so much habitat that it's often tough to find them,'' Wickstrom said. Such was the case on this day, when only eight bass were boated by three fishermen. Other days it can be explosive. ``All these here reeds and stuff hold a lot of bass,'' Springfield's Richard Leasure said as we motored past his boat. ``Usually we get a lot of luck, 40-, 50-, 60-bass days, you betcha.'' ``It does happen, believe me, boys,'' echoed Livingston, who got the bug to craft his own tackle while helping his granddad catch Missouri River catfish for commercial table fare using handmade willow hoop nets. Last winter Livingston made 22,000 leadhead walleye jigs and painted 44,000 eyes in his 12-by-18 garage. Dotted with several impressive mounts, including an 18-1/4-pound Northern, the building is detached from the house on a half-block of property he purchased 15 years ago for $3,800. Now the place is worth a whopping $38,000 with the improvements he's made. He's seen the river change dramatically from the days when his great-grandfather raised corn where waters now flow. ``The fishing's better than ever, now,'' Livingston said, offering as evidence the 7-1/4-pound largemouth he hooked a few weeks back. But his comment came with more than a little trepidation over the future of his cherished Lewis and Clark Lake. So, yeah, I did believe there was better fishing. But on this fine day in the heartland, there were more important matters - and simple manners - than catching bass. For more information about the Missouri River boundary waters or his fishing tackle, call Ron Livingston at (605) 369-5475 or write to: Ron's Rigs and Jigs, 1012 Seventh St., Springfield, SD 57062. CAPTION(S): Photo, Map PHOTO (Color) Lewis and Clark Lake on the Missouri River doesn't look much like a lake or a river for all its sandbars and cattails, but largemouth and smallmouth bass and other game fish bite just the same. Brett Pauly/Daily News MAP: (Color) South Dakota Daily News |
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