The old saying “the best things in life are free” is certainly true in Missouri during the weekend of June 7 and 8. Each year the Missouri Department of Conservation designates the first weekend following the first Monday in June as free fishing days. During this period, any person may fish without permit, trout permit and prescribed daily tags.
All other fishing regulations such as methods, length limits and daily limits will remain in effect.
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Free fishing days is a great way to spend time together and to get both family and friends, no matter their age, “hooked” on a wonderful outdoor activity. While you can’t put a price tag on that, free sounds pretty good.
Lake Paho has produced some very nice catches of channel catfish in the past few weeks. Fish in the two- to seven-pound range have been routinely taken. Night crawlers seem to be producing well at this time. There was also a report of a 17-pound channel cat being taken earlier this spring.
The bullhead fishing has been excellent at times. Most if not all the fish are running about 10 inches in length. Night crawlers and liver are producing best.
Bass and crappie fishing have been slow. Not because the fish aren’t there, but because very few anglers are even attempting to catch them. I’m going to let you in on a not so well kept secret. The bass in Lake Paho are an untapped resource. The minimum length limit of 18 inches has made Lake Paho somewhat of a trophy bass lake. While the numbers of bass caught may be lower than some other lakes, the size of the fish caught will more than make up for the effort. I have personally seen two bass that topped the scales at 10 pounds. Both were returned unharmed to the lake.
Unfortunately, the crappie are a different story. They are numerous, but will run on the small side. The daily limit is 30 and catching a limit is not difficult, especially in the spring.
Water moccasins have been a popular topic of conversation during many of my visits with fishermen in the past few days. Misinformation and misidentification often lead many anglers to needlessly worry about getting bitten by a snake that isn’t really poisonous at all. Cottonmouths or water moccasins are indeed poisonous. The bad news is a bite from one is serious business. The good news is that we in north Missouri don’t have to worry about water moccasins. They are a southern Missouri snake that can be found in some Ozark waterways but most generally in the Bootheel region. Our winters are just too rough for the true water moccasins to call the Green Hills region home.
Many anglers see a snake swimming and mistakingly assume it has to be a water moccasin. All snakes are swimmers. More than likely, what most people are observing are harmless northern water snakes. These snakes eat small fish and frogs and generally avoid contact with anything larger than themselves. Of all the things that we have to worry about in our lives, being bitten by a water moccasin while fishing in the Green Hills region shouldn’t be one of them. Repeat after me… they’re harmless.