Sirens will sound at Missouri’s four trout parks at 6:30 a.m. today to signal the start of the state’s catch-and-keep trout fishing season.
Tom Whelan oversees trout hatcheries for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“What I call the trout parks — you have Bennett Spring State Park, you have Montauk State Park, you have Roaring River State Park, and then you have Maramec Springs Park, which is a private park owned by the James Foundation,” Whelan said. “At those four parks, the regular trout season, where you catch and keep, is March 1 through October 31st and we stock those parks every night.”
Meanwhile, trout season on designated winter lakes in Missouri has been underway since February 1st.
“What started February 1st, there are some winter lakes and some of the CAP lakes – Community Assistant Program lakes – that are delayed harvest lakes, and February 1st, those lakes, the catch and keep season starts on those lakes,” he explained.
Whelan said having a trout season in 2025 is a great accomplishment, considering that the hatcheries at Montauk and Meramec Springs were deluged by historic flooding last fall.
“Both of those hatcheries went totally underwater,” he said. “So, we did lose some fish. Now, what we lost, 80% of those are alive and well and in the streams.”
Whelan said the fish that escaped will range widely in size.
Trout season runs through October 31st.
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