In the May 2009 issue of

River Hills Traveler

May is bustin' out all over

This is the month anglers have been waiting for, when the weather breaks and they can get on Missouri's streams and lakes in earnest. Accordingly, May's Traveler has nearly eight pages of fishing stories and information, from Bob Todd's take on spring and summer fishing seasons to Bill Cooper's guides to taking bluegill on flyrods and angling on the Meramec to Tim Huffman's tips on keeping your tackle organized. Todd also accounts for a not-so-fruitful outing on Lake Wappapello with Dale Kipp. They didn't get many fish but Bob turned in a lovely photo of the sunrise on the lake.

Don Rathert weighs in with a story about taking his brother and a friend after trout at Montauk as a payback for the ocean-fishing trips his brother has provided.Howard Helgenberg describes a perfect catfishing outing that includes free worms from the sidewalk and bugless weather. John Meacham interviews Springfield-area fishing expert and radio host Scott Berry on techniques for spawning and post-spawning bass.

But fishing is just the beginning of Traveler's coverage. We're known for our variety of Missouri outdoor coverage. Here's some of the other pieces in May's Traveler:

• Don't mess with a mad, momma beaver, advises Kurt Kirchmer. Kurt tells one one his fishing buddy, Cal, who was chased out of the Castor River last May by an angry female beaver and her two cubs.

•Austin Brewer slamdunks recovery from gun accident. Jo Schaper tells the story of an Eminence basketball star who made a remarkable recovery from a gunshot in the leg in December and was back on the court by season's end.

•The Clearwater Dam project will result in a 4,200-foot cutoff wall running the length of the earthen structure. An amount of grout equivalent to 3,000 dumptruck loads has been injected into the dam and millions are being injected in the the area economy, writes Rick Mansfield.

•The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that $10-$25 million of federal economic stimulus funds will be coming to Madison County to clean up lead-contaminated properties in the Fredericktown area, home to the Old Lead Belt and Mine LaMotte, the oldest commercially viable lead diggings in the state.Similar amounts are allocated to the Tri-State Lead District in Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas.

•A series of public meetings will be held throughout the region June 22-26 for public comment on the Ozark National Scenic Riverways Prelimary Alternatives to its General Management Plan, which will guide management of the Riverways system for the next 10 to 15 years.

•Junior and Terry Combs of Spokane in southwest Missouri enjoy running rabbits with beagles. The joy for them is in the chase and listening to the hounds, not in the catching, writes Josephine Cozean Styron.

•Steve Felgenhauer introduces us to Marty Koch, the Paddlin' Gourmet. Koch, a former St. Louis County park ranger, travels the nation giving outdoor cooking seminars and taking outstanding nature photographs.

•Jo Schaper gives the local history and geological explanation for Mill Rock on the Bourbeuse River, a pinnacle that marks a good crappie spot on this Meramec tributary.

•Rounding out our coverage, Pat Todd pulls recipes from Clearwater High School's new cookbook, Jim and Donna Featheston detail their encounters with voracious squirrels and Kathleen Brotherton reminds us that the French called the Meramec Riviere a la Barbue (Catfish River).

Maps in the issue include Black River, Clearwater Lake, Lake Wappapello, Meramec River with Huzzah and Courtois Creeks, Parkland Region, Lower Current and Eleven Point Rivers and Upper Current and Jacks Fork Rivers.

— Emery Styron, Editor & Publisher