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| Sam Yarnall |
I
have written a lot about trout fishing over the years, some of it I have done
on a limited basis in the west, lots of it I have enjoyed in the White River of
Arkansas where you can catch big post-spawn brown trout now. And I have written about trout
fishing in Lake Taneycomo when I was just a kid going to School of the Ozarks College,
which sits on a bluff above it.
But
the opening day of trout season over the years, when thousands mass together on
March 1 to stand shoulder to shoulder with a fishing permit pinned to their
hat, waiting for a whistle to tell them when to start fishing… that does not
appeal to me in the least. Not
that I don’t approve, I do. I am
happy to see such a social event for that sub-species of fishermen. But you couldn’t catch me doing that
for anything in the world…
I
suppose I ought to give a reason.
Well, several years ago fishing all by myself up a tributary to Truman
Lake, I caught a seven-pound walleye on March first and there wasn’t anything
within ten miles but me and the river and its creatures. Only a few years back, a friend
and I fished a river on March 1 and caught and released 86 smallmouth bass, a
third of which were between 2 and 3 pounds, and a couple of them almost 4
pounds. There were 8 largemouth
caught that same day, 2 walleye, and so many little 12-inch male white bass we
began to make inflammatory aspersions against their species. I have the photos to back that up, and
my fishing partner that day, not being an outdoor writer himself, is honest,
truthful, and a witness to the event.
Then there was that March trip when I was floating a river and got into
some spring spawning run hybrids.
I hooked a dozen of those half white bass-half stripers that day that
would have weighed between 5 and 10 pounds. That day, I landed only three of them and four swam off with
my lures and several feet of broken line.
A good species of hybrid angler uses better gear than I had that day. So there are some good reasons. I know where fishing is even better on
March 1st.
There
are many species of fishermen, and trout park fishermen are one of those species. Dyed in the wool paddlefish-grabbers
are another, and I guess those who set trotlines for catfish are another. Tournament
bass fishermen are a separate species, affected by genetic mutations, like
those creating two- headed frogs. But it does puzzle me why anyone would want to fish in a
crowd for fish that, on the average, are about 12-or 13-inches in length. I have met a lot of those fishermen and
over the years, guided many of them on river fishing trips here and there at times,
well after the opening of trout fishing parks. They seem normal!
One
old friend, Sam Yarnall, of Houston Mo, loves to fish at Montauk. In all other ways he seems to be a regular
river rat, having spent so many hours on the Big Piney River where I was
raised, you would never suspect him of ever fishing with other fishermen at
each elbow, strung so far each direction it looked like a line going to a Trump
rally. Sam has always been a great
fisherman, and a fishing guide since he was a kid. He could do any kind of fishing he wants to do and do it
well. Therefore he fits into a
really rare and unusual species of angler himself. But on March 1, you can bet you will find him at
Montauk. I don’t know how many big
trout they will turn loose there on opening day, but I’ll bet he’ll get one of
them.
The
reason I like the species of fishermen you find on March 1 at a trout park is
because there won’t be any of them where I am going to be this week. What they keep on opening day, as a
rule is too small for me to eat. And
trout raised on that fish food they feed them in the concrete pens in the days
before they are freed for a short life in a shallow creek makes them taste
strange when you have eaten brook trout in the Rocky Mountains. I’ll eat a walleye or two this week if I
can catch one.
I
have received letters from angry landowners recently who have been able to hunt
their land for deer and turkey on landowner tags for many years. They are upset because the Missouri
Department of Conservation wants all of us to register our land with them now before
we can get those landowner tags.
The MDC has pulled some dumb stunt in recent years, but I think this
move tops them all. In next week’s
column, I may use some of those letters, and tell you why my source inside the
department of conservation believes this is being done, and why no landowner
should do it. You do not want to
register your land with the MDC until you read what I have learned!
I
still have plenty of room for more tables at our big outdoorsman’s free swap
meet on March 21, and I am publishing the spring issue of my magazine next
week… The Lightnin’ Ridge Outdoor Journal… a 96 page color outdoor
magazine. If you want a copy, it
should be on the newsstands this spring distributed by a new company for us out
of Atlanta Georgia. I hope it works. If you want to get an earlier copy in the
mail, call our office, 417 777 5227.
Write to me at Box 22, Bolivar, Mo. 65613, or email lightninridge47@gmail.com
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