Caught Thirty Paddlefish This Season!

[Leg Buster]

I went with seth friday night and caught seven and went down below the dam tonight and caught eight to make my thirty. the fish are all holed up right now and are very easy to catch. i met a kid from msu there tonight and he caught one and hit two others before his reel broke. i am not sure how to put pics up so i will have seth do it for me lol.

[Seth]

Oh whatever you don't even know what a paddlefish is boy!!

Here's some pics from his trip tonight, he just wasn't smart enough to upload them himself. All he knows is fishing and not computers like me.

[Troutfishn]

That would be my reel that broke HAHAHA! Well it was a fine evening out there, just got back caught a few more after buying another reel from bass pro. It was dark so I just let them go, I didn't feel like cleaning in the dark. You really can't go wrong out there and the warm rain coming should get them to gather up even more. (Morels are also going nuts too)

[Seth]

Hey Troutfishn. Phil was telling me about you. He said you asked if he knew me and I was wondering which forum you were from.

Did you catch any bigguns?

I'm gonna bring my girlfriend's dad down there this weekend and give it a try because he has never caught anything over 5 lbs in his life. He should be in for a bit of a suprise hehe. His jaw about hit the ground when we showed him that 85 pounder the other day.

[Cajunangler]

My buddy snagged one of those last year on a crankbait. Got is to the boat and let it go. Do you keep those? If so, are they good to eat? Growing up in Louisiana fish like that didn't usually have a good flavor when cooked. Just curious.

[Troutfishn]

You were one of the only ones I remember from this forum on paddlefishing. When he said he was from evangel it clicked in my head and I figured you two were buddies from previous posts. I was following some adice given to me and exploring when I came across Leg Buster, really nice guy. I didn't catch anything big enough to weigh but there has to be something in the 100lb range roaming. My dad is the same way I think if I put him on with a paddlefish it would be on for a few seconds before *snap.

[hoover25]

I went with seth friday night and caught seven and went down below the dam tonight and caught eight to make my thirty. the fish are all holed up right now and are very easy to catch. i met a kid from msu there tonight and he caught one and hit two others before his reel broke. i am not sure how to put pics up so i will have seth do it for me lol.

Thats great I guess.

However....isn't the limit two paddlefish daily and overall possession limit of four fish for the season. I always thought that one must cease snagging once you have reached your daily limit. I don't think that Missouri has a "snag and release" program.

I caught two paddlefish in 30 minutes this weekend and was then the "designated boat driver" for the rest of the day.

Just my two pesos.

[Leg Buster]

you can realease all the fish you want. because we are men and dont use gaffs. and all the fish are gone if you really need to know. we have many families around the area that just love to eat paddlefish that we give them too. so theres my two cents. maybe you shouldn't kill the fish as soon as you catch them. and non of the fish i put back your gonna die. they were all just as good wheni released them as i caught them. and you say " snag and release" what do you do when you catch a short fish.. i guess you keep it because you dont release....

[hoover25]

you can realease all the fish you want. because we are men and dont use gaffs. and all the fish are gone if you really need to know. we have many families around the area that just love to eat paddlefish that we give them too. so theres my two cents. maybe you shouldn't kill the fish as soon as you catch them. and non of the fish i put back your gonna die. they were all just as good wheni released them as i caught them. and you say " snag and release" what do you do when you catch a short fish.. i guess you keep it because you dont release....

....I am honestly not trying to get your undies in a bunch...and I am certainly not a fish-hugger. Paddlefish are an artificially propagated species and the hatcheries can make all they want. All I was questioning was the legal issue...not anything about ethics. Your post made it sound like you kept 30 fish.

To answer your question: I keep the first two keepers that I catch and stop snagging and try to release any shorts unharmed.

[Seth]

Thats great I guess.

However....isn't the limit two paddlefish daily and overall possession limit of four fish for the season. I always thought that one must cease snagging once you have reached your daily limit. I don't think that Missouri has a "snag and release" program.

I caught two paddlefish in 30 minutes this weekend and was then the "designated boat driver" for the rest of the day.

Just my two pesos.

I'm not reall familiar with the rule on catching and releasing paddlefish. I do know that you can only KEEP two and you have to stop and possession limit is four. We give a lot of our fish to relatives and other people we know that want them so we don't have to worry about the possession limit. With four of us in the house that means we can keep up to 16 paddlefish at once and there's no way we would ever have that many in our freezers at one time.

I know in Oklahoma they catch and release them all day long, but if you keep one then you are done since the limit is one fish. Just guessing, I figured Missouri was the same way. There are several other guys I have asked the specifics about on that rule and have gotten different answers, but most of them catch and release there fish also. Also, I figure if you catch a short fish and have to throw it back and it survives then the big fish shouldn't have any problems.

Leg Buster is correct in that we don't use a gaff unless we are for sure keeping the fish. There's a lot of guys we have seen that gaff everything even if it's clearly a short fish, which realy pee's me off but what can you do.