Should Money Be Spent On A Put-and-take Trout Lake?

[Phil Lilley]

We have sold about $70,000 in fishing licenses and trout stamps in the last 12 months.

I heard years ago, may be 10 or more, that it costs the hatchery right at or alittle over $7 per trout to hatch, raise and release. I'm sure the cost is much higher now.

[laker67]

We have sold about $70,000 in fishing licenses and trout stamps in the last 12 months.

I heard years ago, may be 10 or more, that it costs the hatchery right at or alittle over $7 per trout to hatch, raise and release. I'm sure the cost is much higher now.

For those of you still calling taney the "cash cow" the math is not working here. Let's say you spend your 19 bucks to fish for only one day. Your are allowed to keep 4 fish. That works out to $4.75 per fish for you to harvest, and $7 to hatch, raise, and release. MDC doesn't appear to be getting rich from taney.

[ness]

I didn't restrict the "cash cow" comment to license sales. MDC's revenue is sales tax-based -- there's lotsa stuff being sold in and around Taney.

[laker67]

I didn't restrict the "cash cow" comment to license sales. MDC's revenue is sales tax-based -- there's lotsa stuff being sold in and around Taney.

I would say the only money they get from trout are license sales, and people who come to taney "only" to trout fish. People would still spend money in branson just the same. I think table rock is alot bigger draw than taney.

[eric1978]

I didn't restrict the "cash cow" comment to license sales. MDC's revenue is sales tax-based -- there's lotsa stuff being sold in and around Taney.

That's right. And not just in and around Taney, but all over the state. Since MDC provides trout fishing in MO, people fish for trout in MO, which means they buy trout-related products state wide...everything bought at the fly shops in BPS and Cabelas adds sales tax revenue for the state. All said and done, I'm sure the state makes more than the $7 per trout it costs them to raise and stock.

I still think it's stupid to put fish in a pond they will die in in 6 months.

[Gavin]

The accountant in me says $7 to raise trout seems way too high...The pay to play places like Rockbridge charge around $4 a pound for trout and I'm sure they arent selling trout at a loss.

Not sure how many trout they stock in the urban lakes these days, but I tallied it up when they came out with the trout plan a couple years ago..Think it was around 50,000 trout for the urban program.....Google Missouri Trout Plan and you can tally it up for yourself. Even at the preposterously high cost of $7 a fish, 50,000 trout would cost $350k......I'm sure folks around the state get more than $350k worth of enjoyment out of that program, some might even get a dinner or two. Sounds like a winner to me...guess I'll stop knocking it and go fish my local mud puddle. Cheers.

[eric1978]

The accountant in me says $7 to raise trout seems way too high...

some might even get a dinner or two. Sounds like a winner to me...guess I'll stop knocking it and go fish my local mud puddle. Cheers.

$7 sounds really high to me, too, but what isn't more expensive than you'd expect these days?

I'll ask this question again: Is the point of the trout program to provide angling opportunities for sportsmen, or to feed people? If it's the latter, then it's welfare. If they tightened the regs and reduced the creels, the program would require less stocking and therefore would cost less money, no matter how much it costs per fish.

-OR-

Perhaps I'm totally wrong on that, and the apex of the graph that shows cost per fish for MDC hatcheries is at $7, and if they raised fewer fish the net cost of the program would remain the same, but the price per fish on average would increase. Maybe it's a matter of matching production to hatchery potential, where the cost of raising a thousand fish is relatively close to the cost of raising two thousand fish. Know what I mean?

[Wayne SW/MO]

It's the same with the trout parks, you still are required to have a fishing license to purchase a daily tag.

Not the same, you have to by a yearly trout tag at Taney. My point was, and is, that Taney has a lot of one trip fishermen from many places inand out of Missouri. I was also under the impression that MDC doesn't pay for Taney trout, the Corps does for mitigation.

Now if that's true, then the MDC receives license fees for a resource that cost nothing. I know that the Federal hatchery provides a part of the fish. I have also been under the assumption that a part of the support for Shepherd of The Hills comes from the feds?

[Gavin]

It cant be welfare, because its always cheaper to buy fish at the market.

[laker67]

Not the same, you have to by a yearly trout tag at Taney. My point was, and is, that Taney has a lot of one trip fishermen from many places inand out of Missouri. I was also under the impression that MDC doesn't pay for Taney trout, the Corps does for mitigation.

Now if that's true, then the MDC receives license fees for a resource that cost nothing. I know that the Federal hatchery provides a part of the fish. I have also been under the assumption that a part of the support for Shepherd of The Hills comes from the feds?

I don't know what the corp does or does not do with taney and SOH. And I have always been told that Neosho does provide fish for taney. I was comparing costs. If you fish taney for 2 days, you pay an extra 7 bucks. If you fish the trout park for 2 days, you pay an extra 6 bucks. Each time that you would return to a trout park you will pay again. At taney that 7 dollars lasts all year.