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At 12:01 a.m. Saturday, look for portions of a few Missouri reservoirs to be crowded with fishermen.
Why? That’s the opening of the state’s paddlefish snagging season.
Each year thousands of fishermen show up at Truman, Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock reservoirs and their tributaries to begin the painstaking search for Missouri’s biggest fish. They sweep big hooks and heavy weights through deep holes in hopes of hooking into one of the fish migrating upstream for its spawning run.
Sore backs, shoulders and arms are the norm here. This type of fishing can bring the chiropractor business.
But there are big rewards. Each year, a few lucky fishermen land paddlefish in the 100-pound range. The Missouri state record is 139 pounds, 4 ounces.
Kansas, too, offers opportunities. Paddlefish are found on the Neosho River, below the Chetopa and Burlington city dams, and on the Marais des Cygnes River, below Osawatomie Dam. The Kansas season also opens Saturday.
Mark your calendar
•Now open: Conservation Order hunting season for snow geese in Missouri and Kansas.
•Now open: Trout season at Missouri’s trout parks, Wyandotte Lake and Shawnee Mission and Heritage Park lakes in Johnson County.
•Saturday: Opening day of the paddlefish snagging season in Missouri and Kansas.
Maps to fishing hot spots
Looking for help finding the fish in Kansas City area lakes? Check this out.
The Missouri Department of Conservation put dozens of cedar brush piles in Blue Springs, Longview, Prairie Lee and Jacomo lakes last fall. Now those areas have been pinpointed on maps, complete with global positioning coordinates, and the maps are being distributed to the public free of charge.
Twenty-nine locations are listed at Blue Springs, 10 at Prairie Lee, six at Jacomo and five big-brush fields at Longview.
To get the maps, call the Department of Conservation’s regional office at 816-655-6250 or stop by the office at 3424 NW Duncan Road, Blue Springs.
Catfish limits reduced
Fishermen at Kansas City neighborhood lakes will be going home with fewer catfish this year.
Effective March 1, daily limits were reduced from 10 to four at 10 lakes in the metro area stocked by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The new limits apply to Blue Valley, Chaumiere, Englewood, Lake of the Woods, Lakewood, Penn Valley, Jerry Smith Farms, Troost, North Terrace and Migliazzo lakes.
The Department of Conservation will stock the lakes nine times this year, starting in April.
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