FINS, FURS, FEATHERS

June 20 Velo Girardeau Kelso to Chaffee Backroad Boneshaker ride, 2 p.m., from Cape Airport.

June 23-24 Missouri Conservation Commission meeting, St. Louis.

June 27 Y-P-G Loop, 2 p.m., from Kent Library.

July 3-4 Waterfest '93, Peoples Creek Beach, Wappapello Lake.

Aug. 28-29 Buck McNeely Outdoorsman Expo and Sporting Clays Tournament, Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau.

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JEFFERSON CITY The Missouri frog season opens June 30.

Frogs can be taken by a variety of methods that blur the line between hunting and fishing. With a fishing permit, you can take green frogs or bullfrogs by hand or hand net, or with a gig, longbow or hook and line.

A hunting permit allows hunters to take frogs with a .22-caliber rim- fire rifle or pistol, pellet gun, longbow, crossbow, handnet or by hand. Artificial lights are legal for frogging. In fact they are indispensable for nocturnal frogging.

The daily and possession limits are the same eight frogs. The season runs from sunset June 30 to midnight Oct. 31.

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The Velo Girardeau Bicycle Club will holds its Kelso to Chaffee Backroad Boneshaker Sunday. Participants to meet at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport at 2 p.m.,for the 27-mile ride.

The Velo ride the final Sunday of the month, June 27, will be the Y-P-G Loop, a 30-mile ride, with riders to meet at Kent Library at 2 p.m.

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More details on the Buck McNeely Outdoorsman Expo and Sporting Clays Tournament will be announced next week.

The two-day event will be held Aug. 28-29 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, with shooting events at Trail of Tears Sportsmen's Club near Reynoldsville, Ill.

Special events include archery contests, petting zoo, shooting gallery, seminars, and other activities.

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JEFFERSON CITY A pond is more than a water hole. It could be part of Missouri's valued fishing resources if it qualifies for fish stocking by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

"Pond stocking is one way we can provide fishing opportunities," said LeRoy Heman, MDC Fisheries Division assistant chief, who is in charge of hatcheries.

To be considered for stocking, pond owners must obtain applications from conservation agents or MDC offices and return them by July 15. Owners must be willing to allow others to fish their ponds, subject to the owners' permission. Ponds must be at least 8 feet deep and may not have existing fish populations, except for forage minnows. If a pond is smaller than 5 acres, its shoreline must be protected from livestock.

Additional information is available from the Missouri Department of Conservation, Fisheries Division, Pond Stocking, Box 180, Jefferson City, Mo., 65102-0180.

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ST. LOUIS The June meeting of the Missouri Conservation Commission will be held June 23-24 at locations in St. Louis.

The first session in the Commission's two-day meeting will begin at 2 p.m. June 23 at The Ritz-Carlton, 100 Carondelet Plaza. The second session will begin at 9 a.m. June 24 at the St. Louis Zoo in Forest Park off U.S. Highway 40.

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HUTCHINSON, Kan. - A Hutchinson fisherman missed out on a state record when his big fish turned out to be too big for the scales.

While fishing the in Ninnescah River at Cheney Lake, Rick Scott hooked a huge fish. After a lengthy battle, he landed the giant fish - a bigmouth buffalo.

Scott knew he had a monster, so he went in search of state-certified scales. However, he found it's not that easy to find scales in Hutchinson capable of weighing such a big fish on a Sunday night.

When Scott finally had the fish weighed early Monday, it weighed 53 pounds.

The state record is 54.25 pounds.

He had been told that large fish can lose from four to five pounds overnight. A four-pound weight loss would have meant that Scott's fish probably tipped the scale at 57 pounds when it was first caught.