trout talk july 2014

TALKTTRROOUUTT

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New cabins underway page 3

Hillbilly Days returns!page 4

Tips from Richardpage 13

40 park adventure page 5

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THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK JULY 2014 PAGE 3

By Julie Turner-CrawfordThe Daily [email protected]

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is in the process of constructing two new duplex-style cabins at Bennett Spring State Park — and the view will be spectacular.

Once completed, the units, which are being constructed near the spring head at the park, will feature two, two-bedroom units, complete with gas fi replaces and Murphy beds.

The units are replacing a unit near the swimming pool that burned in June 2013. The cause of the blaze was ruled electrical by state fi re offi cials.

Bennett Spring State Park Superintendent J.D. Muschany said the units are ex-pected to be completed in early October.

"The contractor is working well and we are on track," he said. "They are going to be really nice. They are going to be, basically, replacing what we had, but they are going to be bigger and have kitchens. When we lost the other units, we had a total of eight beds, and in the new ones there will be those eight beds and the addition of the Murphy beds in each one."

Muschany said the older units near the spring head have always been among the most popular at the park for guests, so the additional of the two new units should help accommodate some of the demand for the location.

"That has been the review," he said. "They are going to look very similar to the old ones, they are the same height as the other ones, so it looks like these will be popular as well. We just want to give customers what they want."

He added that the units near the spring head are the only units that are kept open and available for rental year round.

"We sure hope to keep these open too," Muschany said. "When your customers beg and clamor for more things along the stream, when you get the opportunity to do it, you have to do it."

Muschany hoped that the units would be ready for rental before the end of the 2014 trout season.

"Jim (Rogers, park concessionaire) can't take reservations on them yet, but right now things are ordered and being worked on, so we are hoping to for that early October fi nish date."

He also asked that anglers and other park patrons be patient while construction is under way because the new structures will be an asset to the park.

Trout Talk photo/Kelly Morgan

Two new cabins at Bennett Spring State Park will each feature two, two-bedroom units, complete with gas fi replaces and Murphy beds.

Cabins go up at Bennett SpringUnits replace one that burned last year

FREE!

Also available at many businesses in Lebanon - just minutes away

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•MacCreed’s Art Gallery & Gifts•Readings Fly Shop•Vogel’s Resort•Circle J Café & Campground•Riverwood Resort•Hidden Valley Outfi tters•One Eyed Willy’s Campground•Wild Oak’s Campground & Café•Fort Niangua River Resort

•Sand Springs Resort•Weaver’s Tackle Shop•Glynn’s RV Repair•Fort Bennett Trading Post•Ollie’s BBQ & Steakhouse•Valley View Store & RV Parks•Oak Hill Campground•Lil’ Country Store•Riverfront Campground•NRO Zipline, Canoe & Campground•The Gravel Bar & Grill

Pick up the monthly

publication

at your favorite Bennett Spring businesses at the following locations!

Also online @ www.lebanondailyrecord.com, Home Page & Sports Page

Inside the State Park at: Larry’s Resort, Bennett Springs Nature Center &

near Bennett Spring Hatchery.

TALKTROUT

From Trout Talk StaffHard core hillbillies didn’t mind a

little bit of rain -- at least not judg-ing from the turnout at Hillbil- ly Days, held June 12-15 in downtown Lebanon and at various Bennett Spring-area business.

According to Niangua River Tour-ism Initiative mem-ber Justin Miller, who uses the name Tree, unco-operative weather on Thursday and Sun-day wasn’t enough to keep crowds away from the new incarnation of the event.

The event began last year as the Root-Grass Festival, which was meant to be a music festi-val and a partial revival of Hillbilly Days, However, the event grew much

bigger than they expected it to.“Our original idea was to do some-

thing with the name and kind of aim it as more of a music festival,” he explained.

“We really didn’t fi gure what kind of a response we

were going to get from the crowd. We were kind of testing the waters, and

the response was so big from the local commu-nity and everything that last year we kind

of dove into making it a bigger festival than

we had intended.”Thanks to 2013’s

enthusiastic re-sponse, the event’s

organizers planned a whole new festival.

PAGE 4 THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK JULY 2014

Hillbilly Days returns!Bennett Spring-area business revive festival for 2014

See ‘Hillbilly Days’/ page 5

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While rain hampered many of the 2014 events, organizers were pleased with the turnout.

“Everything went absolutely great,” Tree stated. “We had a phe-nomenal turnout. Starting Thursday, the rain came in and we thought we were going to have to cancel the street fair, but the vendors and the not-for-profits were all excited about doing it anyway despite the rain.”

In the end, Simplicity Cafe of-fered its own stage for the event, allowing musical performances and the Little Miss and Little Mis-ter Hillbilly Contest to continue indoors. However, the Hillbilly Superhero Costume Contest and the Mighty Mic talent competition could not take place. Tree said that they will be rescheduled, but a new date as not yet been chosen.

Tree estimates that, regardless of the damp weather, 200-300 people attended the street fair.

“Thursday went exactly how we needed it to to bring back the street fair, even with the rain,” Tree said.

According to Tree, Saturday’s events were also successful.

“The kids’ fair had a great turn-out, they raised a bunch of money out there for the different charities,” he stated. “Of course, we really hope next year to get more chari-ties involved, but they had a great turnout and raised a lot of money for those charities out there. I know the Bennett Spring Fire Department, they raised somewhere near about $2,000 all together between their bake sale, their raffles and their auctions and the garage sale, and that was all money that goes toward keeping the fire department up and running.”

Tree also said that the Color of the Ozarks Paint Out had an unex-pectedly good turnout.

“They had by far more people come and sign up than they had expected, but everything went just fine. It was just a wonderful sur-prise to see that many artists out wanting to get involved,” Tree said.

Unfortunately, the rain returned on Sunday, forcing the Doc McAl-lister Car Show and the Wounded Warrior Canoe Race to be resched-uled. Tree said that they will take place at some point in the future, but no date has been chosen yet.

Although Tree expressed satis-faction with the event, he also said that he has a “big list” of possible improvements for next year, and

that planning for next year ’s event will begin today.

“This year ’s was probably 10 times as big as last year ’s was,” he stated. “Last year was basically just a trial run, this year was 10 times as big as last year. So if we even grow half as much as we did this year, it’s going to be huge. We’re just going to keep following on the progress we’ve made so far, keep throwing fuel on this fire.”

Hillbilly Days from page 4

Pictured, from left, are Little Mr. Half Pint, Remington Masters, and Little Miss Half Pint, Allie Tipton. The Half Pint competition was for ages 2 to 5 years old.

Pictured, from left, are 2014 Mr. Hillbilly, Silas Massey, and Miss Hillbilly, Rilee Jack-son. The Mr. and Miss Hillbilly competition was for ages 6 to 12 years old.

Trout Talk photosKelly Morgan and Fines Massey

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THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK JULY 2014

From MDCJEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Department

of Conservation (MDC) encourages Missourians to celebrate summer with a favorite outdoor pastime for many -- frogging season. It begins at sunset on June 30 and ends Oct. 31.

Missouri has two frog species that are legal game — bullfrog and green frog. Bullfrogs are larger and therefore more sought-after. The taste and texture of frog meat is similar to that of fresh-water fi sh. For recipes, visit the MDC website at www.mdc.mo.gov/node/15131.

Frogging can be practiced with either a fi shing permit or a hunting permit. Children under the age of 16 and Missouri residents over the age of 65 are not required to have a permit. The Wildlife Code of Missouri allows those with a fi shing permit to take frogs by hand, hand net, atlatl, gig, bow, trotline, throw line, limb line, bank line, jug line, snagging, snaring, grabbing or pole and line. With a hunting permit, frogs may be harvested using a .22-caliber or smaller rifl e or pistol, pellet gun, atlatl, bow, crossbow, or by hand or hand net. The use of an artifi cial light is permitted when frogging.

The daily limit is eight frogs of both species com-bined. The possession limit allows you to store no more than 16 frogs at a time.

Once a frog is speared, it must be harvested. The Wildlife Code of Missouri prohibits the release of a speared frog as “wanton waste” because the animal is not likely to recover. Any frog taken into actual pos-session, unless immediately released unharmed after being caught, is included in the daily limit.

For more information on bullfrog and green frog regulations, visit mdc.mo.gov/node/10834.

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By Kelly MorganTrout Talk

An old building has gotten a new lease on life thanks to a group of sum-mer school students from Lebanon High School.

The students spent the month of June working on a Bennett Spring-themed mural at a disused gas station on Missouri 64 near the city limits. The project is the brainchild of Mayor Lyle Anderson, who has been wanting to beautify Lebanon’s “entrances.”

“The entrance to Lebanon on (Mo.) 64 West is probably the least attractive of any place coming into town because we come across the old Goodwin Hollow bridge, which has been bat-tered and beat up to the point where it doesn’t look real good, and then we come to that old, abandoned fi lling sta-tion that’s being painted on right now with a big tin wall across the street from it, and it’s just not an attractive place to enter our town,” Anderson said.

LHS Summer School has a legacy of mural painting, and Anderson said that an older mural project conducted by Alva Hazell and Shelly Oursbourn partly inspired his idea to use murals as a way to spruce up the town.

“I was an admirer of what Alva Hazell and his class did on Second Street, and I just wanted to see some-body recreate it out on 64 and enhance the looks of one entrance to our city,” he stated.

The Mo. 64 mural project is presided over by LHS teachers Eric Adams and Elizabeth Barker. According to Adams, he and Barker knew that summer school would be the perfect time to execute the mayor’s plan as soon as Anderson suggested it.

“When he approached us, we im-mediately were thinking this would be a great summer school class because during the normal school year, we usually don’t have the freedom to take students off campus because of our schedule.”

According to Barker, the mural proj-ect took its fi rst steps toward realiza-tion when students spent a half-day doing research about Bennett Spring. They began by visiting MacCreed’s Art Gallery, where they viewed profession-al-quality artwork inspired by Bennett Spring State Park. Then, armed with cameras and sketch pads, the students went to the park itself. The students spent an average of 10 to 15 minutes at each of several landmarks at Bennett

Students create tribute to Bennett SpringLebanon High School summer school class transforms old garage into a canvas

See ‘Mural’/ page 8

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Spring, including the Mo. 64 bridge, the Gage House and the spring.

“While they were there, they were just asked to make observations, to sketch, to take pictures,” Adams explained.

Also during the trip, the students vis-ited the Nature Center to learn about the natural and cultural history of the park.

Back at school, the students spent a day sketching any ideas they had about what might make a good mural. A few of the class’s favorite sketches were then transferred to larger pieces of paper so that they could be hung on a wall and discussed by the whole class. In the end, the artwork that planted the seed for the fi nal mural design came from LHS rising junior Kaitlyn Logan. Although the fi nal mural design is not going to be exactly like Logan’s sketch, she was the fi rst person to think of using the curve of the stream to draw the viewer’s eye through the painting toward a variety of different landmarks.

“I wanted to get more than just one thing in the picture, and I wanted the eye to follow through, so I thought of the swirls, and then just thought of the order we saw everything that day,” Logan said. Gesturing toward her sketch, she contin-

ued, “You really see the bridge fi rst when you go to Bennett Spring, then you see the waterfall, then you can go down and see the Gage House. And you always see people fi shing, so we wanted the fi sh to be the main idea, so I thought we’d have that jumping out of the water.”

Another student who might have an element from her sketch in the mural is rising sophomore Kapresha Davis. Like Logan, her sketch featured a leaping trout as its focal point. However, many of her classmates were intrigued by the “expression” on the fi sh’s face. Barker said that the trout’s body will have to be reworked to be more species-specifi c as opposed to looking like a generic fi sh, but the head of Davis’ trout might make it onto the wall.

Another student, rising junior Chey-enne West, has been making animal and plant studies from online photos so that she can help with the detail work of the mural.

“When we get into this, it’s going to be so large that it’s going to allow for great big things that you can obviously see while you are driving, but there will be little things hidden it, and we’re go-ing to have students like (West) making sure that they’ve done their homework, the animal, plant identifi cation, so that

when you look at the mural up close, it’s going to be accurate,” Barker said.

Adams said that the group working on it will consist of a little more than 20 students.

“We have all levels of student experi-ence,” Adams said. “We have fresh-men up to seniors that have different motivations. Some of the motivations are that they love art so much that they want to take part of their summer to be involved in a community project. And other students are in need of a credit. So there’s a lot of different types of stu-dents involved.”

He added that about a third of the students have taken painting classes, about a third of the students have an artistic background but have more expe-rience with ceramics, and a third have no artistic experience.

Because there are such varied skill levels on the project, older and more advanced students had the opportunity to take a leadership role by helping to teach less experienced students, a circumstance that Adams believes is a positive one.

“I think that’s one of our goals, is to develop leaders in the schools,” he stat-ed. “We are very fortunate that Lebanon High School has several medias that we have the ability to focus (on), from drawing, painting, ceramics, photogra-phy and digital media. And so each of those medias actually have a group of students that have shown leadership.”

Apart from the intrinsic benefi ts of the project, Adams says that he has en-joyed the positive community support.

“To actually see people appreciate what the students are doing has been really rewarding,” he stated. “A lot of times people don’t see the positive that students do at our school, so when we’re out here using our summer vacation time to do a positive project — it makes you feel good.”

Mural from page 7

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Hillbillydaysbennettspring.com

Hillbilly Days was a great success!

Thank you all for your support!See you next year

June 18th - 21st(Father’s Day Weekend)

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Here we are at the beginning of sum-mer and we haven’t had any of our tra-ditional spring fl oods. In fact, the stream has been quite low. A recent trip to Ben-nett was plagued by on and off showers and I was only able to get in a few hours of fi shing time. We really needed the rain and it was moderate rain with a very

small rise in the stream.

When I was c o m p l a i n i n g about the rain a few years ago, an old gent told me, “We gotta have rain fer to keep the stream fl owin.”

As I headed home that week, all of the streams east of Bennett were high and muddy.

****A few months

ago, it was time to replace my vehicle and my wife and I discussed what features we wanted in the replacement. My wife said it had to have a handle on the passenger side, in-side the roof to help her get in and I said it had to have a rear lift gate. The lift gate affords you protection from those storms that pop up and a shady spot to sit and have something cold on a sunny day. It was an easy choice, another minivan, my choice for the versatile vehicle for the trout fi sherman, and you can store a

9-foot fl y rod between the seats without breaking it down every time you leave the stream.

****Recently I was drifting my favorite

mini jigs and I only had one strike in an hour. Remembering the rule of “if they aren’t biting, either change lures or move.” I decided it was time to move, only to have the same results. Remembering hose I used to twitch my float to impart a little action to a John Deere jig, I thought I would try it on the Uncle Skip that I had tied on. The Uncle Skip is a No. 14 dry fly hook with a tungsten bead and a medium olive thread body.

The fish began to hit very aggres-sively. Sometimes it’s not what you present to the fish, but how you pres-ent it.

We are now in that cycle when the hatchery is producing some nice, fat and very feisty fish, and it is the time of year where there are many families fishing. Many old timers shy away from the stream this time of year because of the crowds and the heat.

****I always found it to be a great time

to share some of your knowledge with those who only get to Bennett once or twice a year,

I met one family from Florida, who had gone to Quincy, Ill., to visit grandpa and family, where the father was raised. There was mom, dad, oldest son, wife and baby. Also, middle son and fi ancé, and youngest son who had all stopped

at Bennett where dad had fi shed as a young man while on their way back to Florida.

I shared some of my floats and favorite jigs with them and sat on the back of my van and watched them catch a few trout.

Hopefully they will remember their Bennett Spring experience and will stop by again when they are in the area.

****Here is my favorite recipe for fish

batter, if you missed it before. 1 cup flour1/2 tsp. salt1/2 cup milk1/2 cup water1 tbs. baking soda1 tbs. vinegar

Mix all ingredients, except vinegar, until smooth. Mix in vinegar. Drip dry trout fi llet chunks into batter and deep fry. Can be pan fi red but the batter does not get as fl uffy and crisp.

Serve with hot sauce or Sweet Baby Ray’s Hot and Spicy Barbecue Sauce. Bon Appetite!

****An old Amish saying:Make your words sweet and tender

because you may have to eat them. ****

Send tips, questions to comments to:

Richard Rehm3267 Childress Ave.St. Louis, Mo. 63139Or by email to [email protected]

Gotta have a little rain fer the stream

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By Julie Turner-CrawfordTrout Talk Staff

A father and daughter duo reached the halfway point this spring that was been five years in the making — pass-ing the milestone just before reaching Bennett Spring State Park.

Rachel Ruhlen of Columbia and her father, David Ruhlen of Kansas, left Columbia on May 1 on a 1,500 mile bike ride to 40 state parks and historic sites, intending to set up camp in 34 of those sites. They got to Bennett Spring State Park on Day 19 of their journey after biking 70 miles in a single day from Stockton. It was the longest leg of their journey.

After a break at the park, the duo pedaled toward to Ha Ha Tonka and Lake Ozark state parks.

While riding a bike 1,500 miles might not be an ideal vacation for many, the Ruhlens took the opportunity to share their love of biking with others, as well as enjoying the recreational opportuni-ties and picturesque scenery that is the backyards of many Missourians.

The idea of pedaling to the parks and historic sites actually started after Rachel biked from Columbia to Omaha, Neb., in 2009. During her mostly solo trip, she camped at state parks along the way, but she didn't have time to really explore the parks she stayed in. Thus, the idea for the 40 Missouri State Parks ride began.

"I really didn't know what I was doing, and I scheduled way too many miles in a day," Rachel said. "I was sleeping in state parks and seedy camp-

grounds along the way, and so all I had time to do was set up my tent, go to sleep and get up the next day and start pedaling. I didn't really see any of the state parks, so I decided that I wanted to go back and see the state parks that I only slept in."

After sharing her plans with her father, David joined in.

"I was going to do it by myself, but he took one look at mom and said he said he was going to buy a bicycle," Rachel said.

D a v i d , however, re-members it a little differ-ently. "That's not entirely true," he said. " I s topped and thought about it and g u e s s e d I could get in shape in fi ve years, so it gave me a goal to work for."

The idea for 40 state p a r k s , R a -chel said, was because the 2010 Missouri Department of Transpor-tation highway map has 40 state parks and historic sites with campgrounds. While they won't be camping at all 40 locations, the Ruhlen's plan to explore all 40 parks.

"I'm also turning 40 in a week, so it is kind a neat way to celebrate," she said.

The biking history of the Ruhlen fam-ily started out of necessity and a goal to

lose a little weight.Rachel, who is a research professor,

said she and her husband, Iain Davis, became a one-car family in 2004, so she started riding her bike back and forth to work, which was about a 6 mile round trip.

"It was great, no car payment," she said, adding that she lost about 25 pounds after starting her biking com-mute.

For David, a retired social worker, he said he found himself needing to

l o s e s o m e weight, so he took his bike to work with him and road at a nearby park. He 's now down 70 pounds.

W h i l e David and Rachel have i m p r o v e d their health by b ik ing , they put on a little weight for the trip.

They each carried be-tween 40 and 50 pounds

extra weight on their bikes. Since they were pretty much self-suffi cient during their trip, they carry all their food, camp-ing gear, water and other needs in saddle bags on their bikes.

They averaged about 15 to 20 mph on their bikes, but with full packs, their speed decreases to about 8 mph, depend-ing on the roads.

40 parks adventure brings father-daughter

team to BennettDuo biked through and to Missouri’s state parks

Photo courtesy of Rachel Ruhlen via Facebook

The father-daughter duo of David and Rachel Ruhlen are exploring 40 Missouri state parks and historic sites by bicycle. They spent time at Bennett Spring State Park during their cross-state adventure.

See ‘Bikers’/ page 15

Large Display Booths


Traffi c, terrain and distance between stops sometimes made the duo hitch a ride.

David and Rachel also enjoyed taking time along the road to enjoy some of the sites and other activities in the communi-ties they travel through, be it horseback riding in Lexington or sailing Stockton Lake. Rachel said, if the water is warm enough, she simply likes to get out her infl atable raft and fl oat along the rives and lakes where they camp. David got the chance to golf as well.

The father and daughter admit that there was a time, about sixth or seventh day or their trip, that they thought about throwing in the towel, but they were able to push themselves and are set on completing their journey.

"We were able to get over that wall," Rachel said. "Now we are really having fun."

Along the way, they have invited others to join them. Some stay for a day, others for several days.

"We want people to come out and bike with us, come out and camp with us, just visit us in the park — especially if they bring food," Rachel said with a laugh. "We love it when people bring food. We have met a lot of people along the way and have had a wonderful time. The best part of it all has been biking with other people and those who bring us food."

"I just love spending time with her," David said of his daughter.

Both say there is no other person they would rather undertake such an adven-ture with.

"I'm glad to have a dad who can still do this," Rachel said. "It's great to spend time with him. I know that we are both very, very lucky."

As for their trip to Bennett Spring, Rachel said she has frequented the park prior to the journey with her dad, but for David it was his fi rst trip.

"It's been a few years since I've been here, but I am familiar with the park," Rachel said. "I actually went on the Natural Tunnel trail. It's a long trail and it is supposed to be a rest day, so I didn't want to hike it, so I rode my bike. It's not really a mountain bike trail, so it was an adventure. The Natural Tunnel is pretty cool, but on the way to the tunnel, there are some really crazy rock formations that you pass by that are really incred-ible."

David took things a little easier."It is just a really beautiful park," he

said. "It is very peaceful and calm ... I loved the Nature Center. I really think that place is under utilized. It is really well put together and really shows what the area is all about."

They ended their journey in Columbia on June 15.

Bikers from page 14

Bennett Spring Lunker Gallery

Kevin Gabert, Indepen-dence, Mo., 4 pounds.

Diane Carson, Wildwood, Mo., 2 pounds

See more lunkers on pages 16

& 17

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Keith Ellison, Atchison, Kan.

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One-hundred and twenty high school juniors from Yotsuba High School in Isesaki, Japan recently spent a day at Bennett Spring Park as part of their 10-day visit to the United States.

It was part of Missouri State University’s Language Institute. Paula Moore, special programs coordinator for the English Language

Institute, explained that, in Japan, students take a class trip each year that they are in high school, and for juniors, the Japanese government requires the trip to have a “global citizenship” theme.

Bennett gets international attention

Trout Talk photos/Kelly Morgan

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Greg Stanek has been fishing at Bennett for about 10 years. He was introduced to trout fishing by his wife, Teena, who has been coming to Bennett with her family since she was a young girl.

For the last seven years, Greg, in turn, has been fishing at Bennett with his son, Austin. In the last year, Austin has been learning the art of tying flies and dry fly fishing. Austin shipped out for basic training at Fort Benning on June 9th to be an Army Airborne Ranger.

As we celebrate our independence this month let us remember all those who serve and have served. Their sacrifice gives us the freedom to come to this beautiful place to fish and share time with family and friends making memories that will last a lifetime.

Salute All Those Fighting For Our Freedom

Stocking Foot