Missouri Trout Fishing

Family trout fishing at Montauk State Park...

(updated Sat. June 18, 2016)

Fishing, from catfish to trout...

1. I first fished with my friend Tim, at their family’s farm in O’Fallon, MO - catfish, crappie, etc, back in high school.

2. When we joined Cub Scouts we first learned of trout fishing, which means we knew you could catch trout in Missouri, including near our house in Ballwin, because the Missouri Conservation Department stocks many lakes across our great state, for urban fishing. Vlassis Park is one of those stocked lakes / parks.

Links:

http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/special-areas/vlasis-park-lake

http://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/ballwin-vlasis-park-lake

3. In December, 2010, a family invited us to join them for a weekend in Branson. It was amazing the fun we had in 36-40 hours, Friday after school until first-thing Sunday morning.

Saturday morning we visited the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, at the base of Table Rock Lake, just under the Table Rock Lake Dam.

There we learned that, while trout are not native to Missouri, the Conservation Department has been raising them in hatcheries since the late 1800s.

Trout like/need cold water, low 50s and cooler, and Missouri’s springs provide that for them... and Table Rock Lake’s depth makes sure the water going through the dam is far enough under water to be cold enough for trout.

4. As we grew from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, the boys picked once- and twice-yearly campouts at Montauk State Park, where they learned how to fish from a great adult leader, and where they (and us adults) had much peaceful outside, trout fishing fun.

Link to the Boy Scout Montauk Campouts page:
http://vanvooren.us/BoyScouts/Montauk_-_2015-03.html

5. That has led to some fun family fishing, too, at:
- Maramec Spring Park (2016)
and
- Montauk State Park (2015)

6. While it wasn’t for trout, we did also have fishing fun on Cadillac Lake on our 2014 Michigan family vacation, and we caught three fish that were just right for dinner.

Thanks to Tim and others, including a great history of so many unknown people in our state over the many years, we plan to continue having family fishing fun for a long long time.

The Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery is the largest of four hatcheries in our state, and there are four MDC-run dedicated trout fishing parks:, all of which are in southern Missouri, near or south of I-44.

-Maramec Spring Park
(10 minutes south of St. James - closest to St. Louis (map))

http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/special-areas/maramec-spring-park
&
http://www.maramecspringpark.com
(not a state park, but a privately owned park wonderfully open to the public)
-Bennett Spring State Park
(Just outside Lebanon (map))

http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/special-areas/bennett-spring-state-park
&
https://mostateparks.com/park/bennett-spring-state-park
-Montauk State Park
(south of Rolla (map))

http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/special-areas/montauk-state-park
&
https://mostateparks.com/park/montauk-state-park
-Roaring River State Park
(southwest of Branson (map))

http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/special-areas/roaring-river-state-park
&
https://mostateparks.com/park/roaring-river-state-park

Missouri’s Fish Hatcheries

http://nature.mdc.mo.gov/conservation-area-classification/fish-hatcheries

Some of MDC’s many Trout fishing pages:

-http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/trout
-Trout Fishing Tips - http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/trout/trout-getting-started/trout-fishing-tips
-Rainbow trout - http://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/rainbow-trout
-Brown trout - http://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/brown-trout