A horde of black crappie in Lake Wappapello is the subject of one page one story in the February issue of Traveler. It would be good news except black crappie don't tend to live long enough to get very large in Lake Wappapello.

Meanwhile, white crappie, which have a normal growth profile in Lake Wappapello, might benefit from a length limit. A limit that would benefit them would mean, essentially, that virtually no black crappie could be creeled because they tend to die before they get that big. Crappie are managed under a single regulation.

There's also a story about a float trip on the lower Eleven Point River in search of nice smallmouth bass. Roy Halbert and Bob Todd each had on nice fish at one point as they floated into a dangerous stretch. The results were not heroic.

In history, Jim Featherston's series on the travels of Henry Schoolcraft in the Ozarks in the early years is concluded.

News includes a story on the project to fix the sinkhole found in Clearwater Lake dam about a year ago. Other news tells about a National Park Service proposal that would basically require people who use innertubes to float to wear life jackets. Turkey season was announced and there's a University of Missouri study out that finds the value of rural recreational land outpacing agricultural land in value. The Legislature started off with some strange stuff - as usual. Plus some proposals that could triple the fees Missourians pay for boat ownership, and could create the first lake zoning in Missouri.

There's also cold water boating tips, rules for selecting a good outdoor knife, sunrise/moonrise tables and features. They include a float on Meramec River, fishing small streams, bottom feeders, using a GPS, quail hunting in the past, and one about Indian conflicts with the French settlers.

The Wappapello Section of the Ozark Trail is featured this month, covering a trail ride by Royce Armstrong, while enroute with horses to his home in Mississippi.

Much of this issue is about fishing prospects for the coming season. There are reports for Clearwater Lake, Wappapello, Cypress Lake, Big River, Upper Big Lake, Bismarck Lake, Black River and more.

A float last summer on Jacks Fork river is feature. That story is repeated below.

Recharging the batteries on Jacks Fork

By Bob Todd
She calls it recharging her batteries. She’s not unique in that respect.
This time, it worked out my daughter could do a little recharging on Jacks Fork River, from Shawnee Creek down to Two Rivers where Jacks Fork flows into Current River.
She needed to head back to her north Missouri home from our Piedmont home, but it wouldn’t do to have been down here in the summer without getting wet in an Ozark river.
So we went west to Ellington, then west almost to Eminence, turning at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways sign pointing to Shawnee Creek access.
Pat dropped Kim and I, and Kim’s two kids, Sam and Shannon, and she went back toward Ellington, turning south to Two Rivers to wait for us.
We paddled down the Jacks Fork just to the first good swimming hole and Kim laid back in the water. Much as she loves her husband, her job and her home in north Missouri, the spring fed rivers of the Ozarks are part of her too. The kids were complaining at first that the water was cold, but there’s no better way to reconnect than to lay back and float.
This stretch of Jacks Fork has several advantages for me. This day, it was on the way for Kim to go home. Well, not if she was trying to go the shortest possible route, but it was sort of on the way.
It is fairly short. Only about three miles down to Two Rivers. We could play as long as we wanted, then push on down quickly and end the float in time for Kim to get on up the highway at a reasonable hour.
I’ve used this stretch twice before to introduce grandkids to floating with Grampa. Nelson and Holley each took their first float with Grampa here. We could spend as long as we wanted, but could finish the float pretty quick if the kid got bored.
And it is a gentle float. This time, we let Sam and Shannon command their own canoe while Kim and I floated in another. It was only the second time the two of them had run their own canoe on a river and their Mom appreciated the relatively gentle flow of this stretch.
We stopped for snacks and the kids had fun “running the rapids” on boat cushions. For them, a fairly full week was ahead. By its end, Sam would say he’d been on 13 different streams in the week.
We racked up four that day: we paddled into Shawnee Creek, waded up Little Shawnee Creek, the Jacks Fork, and then the bigger Current River.
Pat was waiting for us downstream about a half-mile from the junction. The kids found a rope swing part way and made a few jumps.
And then, with batteries only partly charged, but better than nothing, we shuttled Kim up to her vehicle where we’d left it at Shawnee Creek. She went on to Eminence and then north on Highway 19 to Salem, Rolla, Jefferson City and on to Moberly.
For Sam and Shannon, the coming days would include McKenzie Creek, West Fork, Middle Fork, East Fork and upper Black River. Lower Black River. St. Francis River. Big Creek. Cedar Creek. All this within a hour or so of their grandparents’ house.
Our batteries get run down from time to time also, but in the summer it is apt to be from too much time with grandkids on rivers.
Well, maybe there isn’t such a thing as too much time on the rivers. I guess we just need rest, not recharging.

From the Past, TRAVELER, February, 1979

In 1980, Traveler was still publishing a January and a February issue - both skinny little things. In the January issue a rabbit hunt was covered, along with a winter trip to Welch Spring on Currrent River. And there was a story about building a livewell for an aluminum canoe. It involves building a sheet metal box and mounting it with a nylon drain tube through the bottom of the canoe and the box.

The February issue had two "lost" stories in it. One was a verbal history story about some Osage Indian boys who ventured into the north country and were lost in a blizzard. They survived in a snow cave, by killing and eating a wolf that seemed to have its eye on them as a meal.

The other story was about editor Bob Todd and daughter Kim, who explored the Buford Mountains east of Bellview, but walked off their map to take a different route back to their car. They were on the east side of the mountains, and with the sun low in the west, it became difficult to tell directions. No compass!

They'd about decided to build a fire while it was still light enough find a good spot to spend the night when they found a trail. It led to a bigger trail and a bigger, and finally they were able to hitch a ride. Kim, in college, had a date that night, but didn't get home in time.

There was a feature on fishing below Montauk State Park. And it was reported a bill had been introduced in Congress to designate four wilderness area in Missouri. They were Bell Mountain, Rockpile Mountain, Piney Creek and Devil's Backbone.

Missouri's grouse restoration program was gaining steam. And in the Missouri Legislature, lawmakers were attempting to divert half the conservation sales tax o the Department of Natural Resources.

Al Agnew had a story about using topographic maps to plan a trip, complete with a map showing the fictitious Traveler River and Todd Creek.

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