OUTDOOR

brought their turkeys to a check station. And fishermen stood in line at the bait tanks to fill their minnow buckets.

A guy in bib overalls asked me if I had found any morels lately and he laughed at my confused look.

“I guess you’re new to these parts,” he said.

Below The Dam

Below Truman Dam, I found an opening in a chain of fishermen stretching along the riprap and tried to act like I knew what I was doing. I cast my newly purchased hair jig into the swirling water and immediately felt the tap of a big white bass.

Ten casts later, I had four fish on my stringer. I was feeling pretty good about myself until I glanced to the left and saw a fellow angler almost get a hernia lifting his stringer.

May-June 2023