By Steve Weisman
How quickly time flies, especially at my age-lol! This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, and I think that the word thanksgiving says it all. I hope that you are able to spend meaningful time with family and friends. For generations, Thanksgiving has been a national holiday that celebrates the harvest and other blessings over the course of that year.
As with so many other Americans, my wife and I were thrown for a loop with the pandemic. It truly did shut down much of what we did with family and friends. It put on hold the trips and events we had been hoping to do.
However, after two shots and a booster, we have to get back to our norm. We took our first extended vacation in early November, when we joined friends for a five-day trip to Branson, MO. It was a return to what we had done for 15 consecutive years prior to the pandemic. This has always been a way for us to kick off the month of Thanksgiving
We stayed in a three-bedroom villa at the scenic Lodges at Timber Ridge, a Welk resort. It’s close to the action of 76 Country Music Boulevard that runs right through the heart of Branson, yet away from the hustle and bustle.
One attraction that we return to every time is Mel’s Hard Luck Diner. It’s a 50s designed diner with 50s colors and pictures of that era throughout. Best of all, the waiters and waitresses are professional musicians. As they take orders, they will rotate through singing songs on their own CDs. Talk about nostalgia, great 50s food (gotta love the malts) and awesome music. There’s always a line and reservations are necessary.
Of course, there’s the Strip, where all of the theaters are located. Our choices this time were SIX, the Irish Tenors/Celtic Women and at the theatre of Sight and Sound’s production of Jesus.
Add some sight-seeing at Big Cedar Lodge south of Branson with its 4,600 acres, a golf cart tour of the Top of the Rock Lost Canyon and Nature Trail and a look at Missouri’s history at the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum. It was topped off with a late afternoon barbeque back at the Lodges at Timber Ridge.
(photo submitted) Like father like son! Calvin Grosvenor with his 29.5-inch walleye taken wader fishing in mid-November.
So much to do – so little time to do it all
That’s the feeling I always get this time of year. Here’s what I mean. For the past month, anglers have been wading our area lakes and catching lots and lots of nice sized to trophy sized walleyes. My problem is that at my age, I don’t trust my balance in water up to my waist. However, I watch the photos and hear the stories! Facebook is a great place to see some of the results with the photos taken right there in the water.
One of those that caught my eye was a post by area guide John Grosvenor of his son Calvin. The post was at 8:59 p.m. on November 11. “As the front is blowing in tonight, the Okoboji walleyes were on FIRE. Calvin put the tape to a 29.5-incher and two 28-inchers!” Take a look at the photo of Calvin with the 29.5-incher. It’s definitely cold, but what a memory! Being able to have a night with trophy fish like this is what a diehard wader fisherman lives for. The cool part is so many of these trophy fish are released after a quick photo. Plus, the wader season is far from over. Yes, it’ll get down into the 20s at night, but the daytime temps are going to be bouncing around in the 30s to 40s into the first week of December. So, the opportunity will be there.
At the same time, the recent strong northwest winds have brought a huge push of waterfowl into the area. Although the small sloughs are iced up, bigger waters are holding the ducks and geese, and the fields are wide open with lots of areas to feed. My grandson and his buddies have had several hunts with limits of Canada geese and mallards. However, it’s predominately hunting in the fields that they are feeding in. Definitely takes a lot of scouting. The wild card here is when will the birds feed? They might sit all day and go out at dusk, or they might feed all morning, or they might not even go out, or they might feed twice during the day. Each day is different!
Pheasant hunters continue afield, and a lot of birds have been bagged. However, after nearly a month, the birds have gotten extremely cautious and wise. They are already on the run or even on the fly when the car door shuts at the field approach. Plus, they are using all of their escape tricks when a hunting party enters the field. One of their favorites is to take flight 50-100 yards ahead of the dogs and hunters, well out of shooting range by the time the hunter can take aim. The last few weeks have been incredibly windy, and that really makes the birds spooky. With weather staying mild, the birds have no reason to push into heavy cover. Pheasant diehards are hoping for colder weather and some snow to make the birds more accessible.
Of course, bow hunters have been afield and in their stands waiting for that trophy buck. Lots of time involved in this type of hunting. On December 4, of course, the first of the shotgun deer season will take place. Somewhere between 55,000-60,000 hunters will be heading to the timber for this season. Although some hunter will again use tree stands and hunt alone or with only another person, the shotgun season is one that uses drivers and blockers, so a lot more hunters are involved.
Finally, there are those ice anglers just chomping at the bit. They want ice so badly that they can taste it-lol! For them, highs in the 30s and 40s with lows in the 20s is a total waste of time. They are looking for highs in the teens to 20s and lows around zero and, of course, no wind. That’s not looking promising for the foreseeable future around here, however. You could, of course, use the Dave Genz philosophy. He always says he’ll be ice fishing by Thanksgiving. It just depends on how far north he wants to travel to get safe ice!
