Paddlefish season opens March 15

March Madness doesn't just mean the big college basketball playoffs or the start of the trout season at the trout parks, it also means more to the growing number of paddlefish anglers whose season opens on March 15.

This year, the season kicks off -- just like the trout season -- on a Sunday which means the hot spots for paddlefish snagging will be filled with snaggers after a big spoonbill.

Missouri paddlefish snaggers watch the water conditions closely because the fish start their spawning run when the water temperature nears 55 degrees and the run up the larger streams is associated with periods of high flow. As the length of daylight increases along with the water temperature and high flow are the elements that triggers the fish moving.

Jack Morrison, Warsaw, has been snagging for spoonbills for more than 20 years and said, "I caught my first spoonbill when I was 14 and I got my first taste of that type of fishing by snagging a 54-pound fish. I had always thought it was too much work, but after hooking that big fish, I was hooked on snagging for those monsters."

Since that first big spoonbill, Morrison has taken a lot of big fish including a 78-pounder. Just like the opening day trout anglers, he said, "You never know what the weather will be like on opening day or what the water conditions will be, but I'll be there that first week looking for that record spoonbill."

The hatchery where the young spoonbills are raised is located at the Blind Pony Hatchery near Sweet Springs just north of I-70. When the fish reach 12 to 18 inches long, they are released in various big impoundments in the fall. Around eight years later, they reach more than 30 inches.

The spoonbill is known by many names including spadefish, duck-billed cat, shovel-billed cat, paddlefish and others, but most Missouri snaggers call this gray primitive fish a spoonbill.

The large size and bizarre shape have made the spoonbill interesting to snaggers and biologist alike. The current world record is a 142-pound monster that was caught from the Missouri river back in 1973. Most of the fish over 100 pounds have come from Missouri waters, including one from lake Jacomo in Jackson County.

There are many theories concerning the function of the fishes paddle-like snout, but most biologists think the snout is used to detect food organisms since the fish is not a bottom feeder and the snout possesses and elaborate system of sense organs.

Morrison said, "This season looks good. We need the water to warm up a few degrees to get the fish started, but the water is in good shape in most of the spoonbill spots so I look for the snagging to be good and I know there are fish well over a hundred pounds swimming out there so maybe this will be the year I get one.

"So far my largest was that 78-pounder and I hooked some that weighed more than 50 pounds while snagging around the Table Rock and Truman areas."

Many anglers wouldn't walk across the street to snag a paddlefish thinking it isn't worth the trouble and that its too much work. However, anglers like Morrison love the challenge and so do many others that flock to the Lake of the Ozarks and the Osage River on opening day.

Morrison said, "When I first started snagging for spoonbills, there weren't too many others out, but today if you don't get to the river early you may have to wait an hour to launch your boat because there are so many other fishermen waiting to get after the spoonbills. I wouldn't miss it for all the bass in the state."

Morrison fills his reels with 80-pound test line and uses a one pound sinker with two treble hooks spaced about two feet apart. "It takes a lot of work to snag a spoonbill, but after you hook one, you forget all about that. It gets into your blood just like any other kind of fishing.

"Along with the trout opener, and soon the mushrooms will be popping, the big tom turkeys gobbling and the white bass, crappie and walleye runs will be going, spoonbill snagging is just another reason that we will forget about the long winter," he said.

The spoonbill snagging season that opens Sunday, runs through April.