A front page headline in the June issue of Traveler was about Taum Sauk Lake, which is now full and overflowing. That's a good thing, the story noted, since the dam is designed to overflow when there is a strong flow down the East Fork of Black River. The lake was a popular fishing spot until the collapse of the upper Taum Sauk Reservoir a year and a half ago. That disaster ruined Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park and dumped huge amounts of sediments into the lower lake.

The lake has now been clear of much of the sediment and allowed to fill. But it won't be open for fishing until the upper reservoir is rebuilt. In the meantime, however, restoration of the East Fork of Black River below the lake can get underway.

Dates for deer hunting this fall were announced. And there was a general story about smallmouth bass in the east Ozarks by Bill Cooper. There was a feature story about Cooper, too. He's written for Traveler for many years.

Jim Featherston had a story about Ozark forklore, including the use of chicken guts to treat snake bite.

Charlie Slovensky wrote about the special time we call dawn, and how outdoorsmen probably have the most appreciation of this daily event. Kathleen Brotherton wrote about some of the things Indians watched for when choosing a campsite and Jason Brooks told how a small plastic boat has allowed him and his wife to reach some isolated honey holes for fishign.

There was a story about a two-boat goggle-eye tournament on Current River. Between the two boats, 39 goggle-eye were caught from 6 to 11 that day. It made a fine fish-fry for Dale Kipp's birthday. He was one of the winning team.

Writer Rudi Rudruff can't wait for frog season to open at the end of this month and told about previous frog hunting adventures.

Publisher Emery Styron related some camping experiences as well as some tips for getting your pictures on the Traveler website Photo Gallery, and your opinions on the Traveler blog.

There's a story on a Mother's Day fishing trip on Council Bluff Lake, repeated below. There's also a column about the past, sunrise/moonrise tables, seasons, coming events, news, Ozarks travel maps, and ads from businesses that provide equipment or services that make travel in the Ozarks enjoyable.

Return to Council Bluff Lake. Great, but no fish

By Bob Todd
A little more than a week earlier, I’d fished Council Bluff Lake with Emery Styron in quest of redear sunfish. They grow big, but are hard to catch unless they are spawning.
Emery and I had found the lake windy that day and the water temperature was 56 degrees, too cold for redear to spawn. We didn’t catch any.
But this was Mother’s Day and Pat wanted to give them a try. Perhaps the lake would be warm enough for spawning now.
Ha.
It was 77 degrees. No doubt the major spawning activity had taken place between the two trips. Further, it was a beautiful day. Clear blue skies. Warm but not hot. Little wind. Too nice for fishing.
And further still, the lake was covered with the hulls of insects that had hatched the night before. No doubt fish were laying still today, burping from the feast of insects the night before.
But this was not totally unexpected. We came prepared to enjoy the day with or without fish.
Pat had made potato salad and fried chicken. We anchored in a shady spot and did our own feasting. I guess an otter had been snoozing on the bank, for it coughed at us a couple times, then made its way along the bank, just letting us get a glimpse of it. Maybe it wanted some chicken.
One of the reasons redear are hard to catch is because one of their main foods is snails. In this clear, high quality lake, snails are no doubt abundant.
Worms are more readily accepted when the redear are concentrated around spawning areas. But they spawn deep - I’m told you have to fish 12 to 20 feet deep in this lake to catch them.
A lot of fishermen have never caught a redear. They’re generally larger than bluegill and as the name says, they have a red ear patch. They’re present in most lakes managed by the Conservation Department.
We tried for awhile, unsuccessfully, and then just went for a boat ride.
There’s a 10 horsepower limit on Council Bluff, but you can idle around with a larger motor. We worked our way along with an electric motor, but then fired up the 35 to get back closer to the landing as the sun sank behind the hills.
Right at dusk, we caught three small largemouth bass in sight of the landing. At least we were not skunked.
A beaver came out and swam ahead of us. I tried calling it -- just say “MMMMMMMM” with your mouth closed, as if you are a beaver mother. The beaver turned and looked us over, but decided its mommy wasn’t in our boat calling to it.
As we reached the landing and were readying to take out, a young couple was unloading a lantern and some rods from the trunk of a car.
“This is my Mother’s Day present,” the young woman said.
“Mine too,” Pat said.
We said we thought the fish would be getting active now that is was dark and wished them luck. “A great day!” Pat said.

Two dozen years ago, June 1983

The Little St. Francis River isn’t floatable all the time, but in June, 1983 we reported on a float trip in May. Our daughter Kim was home from college and we tackled it, observing its geology as much as anything.
There’d been a family float a few years before which I loved, but which was also miserable because I had a throbbing headache the whole way. Wished for a Red Cross canoe laden with aspirin that trip. However, the fish could not be beaten away that time.
This time, the fishing was poor but I felt great.
The river meanders slowly through farmland southwest of Fredericktown, running over sandstone for the most part. Then it comes to igneous rock. We climbed a bluff that overlooks the placid upstream section. Downstream is a shut-in, foaming with whitewater this trip.
It had been a bit of a trial the previous time. It is brutally low in summer - carry down. But dangerous if very high. This day it was just right and we shot down for a half-mile or so only scraping a rock now and then. A good trip.
Our historical coverage was about the movement of the Shawnee to this area, led by Louis Lorimer.
Two men, from Chicago and Texas, were setting out on an interesting quest. They were going to follow Lake Wappapello’s shoreline completely around the lake in four days. Every nook and cranny. Seems they’d been college roommates and did something like this every year at this time. Wappapello was a good meeting place.
Charlie Slovensky wrote about a night passed on a Meramec River gravel bar and what a special time it is when dawn breaks.
There was a story about sightings of bears and mountain lions, wolves and otters. Bears were always here, but were beginning to show up more. Mountain lions were here, but you couldn’t say they were established then and may not be yet today. Otters were being stocked and more people were seeing them. The sightings explained what people had been seeing occasionally along the St. Francis River for years.
There were some major floods in May. Clean-up was underway in many areas including Big Spring where massive amounts of gravel were deposited in the campground.
The Missouri Legislature passed a resolution opposing a federal plan to sell off parts of the Mark Twain National Forest. They also passed a law on landowner liability that would clear up some gray areas.

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