Mourning The Passing Of The High Bank Hole

[stlfisher]

Currently, the MDC has been purchasing trout from private vendors to stock in St. Louis. In the long run it is likely cheaper to grow trout than buy them. This will free up funds for the MDC in the long term. St. Louis is not the only one benefiting from this as the article mentioned other rivers around the state. They didn't do this for the sole benefit of St. Louis anglers, who by the way, pay license fees to the MDC just like anyone else. It is a funding issue as well.

The Urban Trout Program has been a big hit for many in the STL area. Why should we not benefit from having trout close to home when we pay the same fees as everyone else and probably a bigger portion of those fees due to the size of the city? How about those white ribbon areas that are very similiar to "Urban" trout areas, but they are in "rural" areas? I pay for them, but don't fish them.

It is good to have STL and KC anglers to be interested in trout. More interest, more money, equals more resources regardless of the location of the anlger. It works both ways.

I am all for hatchery improvements and more fish and I am certainly in favor of natural looking streams and hope the changes at Bennett don't make the stream more channelized than it already is.

[Indiana Trout]

Even though I haven't fished Bennett in a long time, this kind of pisses me off, too. Couldn't have found anyplace else for the outflow?

[Justin Spencer]

I am all for hatchery improvements and more fish and I am certainly in favor of natural looking streams and hope the changes at Bennett don't make the stream more channelized than it already is.

No matter what kind of water you like to fish we are lucky to have it all in this state. Some like the winter trout program and that's fine hopefully it will always be an option. Some people like the trout parks, they are great for having a fun day catching fish but regardless of pipes or not it is not natural to see lots of fish swimming around in a stream. If natural is really what you are after go down below the parks or try some of the other trout waters in the state that have been less disturbed by man, if catching tons of fish is the main goal then you are going to lose the natural feel as the state "improves" the hatcheries and parks.

[Newbie Fly]

It is a trout park next to a hatchery so how much of " natural setting can you expect there to be" Everytime we go to Bennett we always go and start the day on the Niangua so we can get a natural setting feeling, either go down to Barclay or just out of the park and fish those rifflles you can see to the right when going over the bridge. Catching a few fish there will usually make my day no matter what happens in the park

The Urban Trout program is great thing and should continue as it assists in sustaining/ growing the sport which in turn brings people to the trout parks.

In Columbia, same thing the MDC purchased the fish for the program this year. Hear approx 1.40 for a fish with the transportation done by them . Total cost of progam was like 5200( half by them and half by the community) for about 2200 to 2500 fish from what were are told. So that amount really doesn't take away from the hatcheries or the parks for a one time deal. During the trout park season they probably release 2 to 3 times that amount each week in to the parks. Plus it offers fishing for 4 months for folks who other wise wouldn't.

Seems when I 'm over there people come up and ask about fly fishing and how its done, that how I started fly fishing. If more people fly fished, the premium rods wouldn't cost 600 -700 . Maybe then we could save money for a trip to the Battenkill, the Fryingpan/ Roaring Fork / Crystal, or the McCloud and truely get a natural setting

[rcguy]

There are certainly better places to fish in a natural setting. I fished the Niangua a couple of times this summer and enjoyed the solitude but I still like fishing the park. I hate shoulder to shoulder but I usually avoid that by going during the week and trying to avoid the really crowded holes...like the hatchery outlet hole. I really hope they just don't stick blue pipes out of the ground.

[stlfisher]

No matter what kind of water you like to fish we are lucky to have it all in this state. Some like the winter trout program and that's fine hopefully it will always be an option. Some people like the trout parks, they are great for having a fun day catching fish but regardless of pipes or not it is not natural to see lots of fish swimming around in a stream. If natural is really what you are after go down below the parks or try some of the other trout waters in the state that have been less disturbed by man, if catching tons of fish is the main goal then you are going to lose the natural feel as the state "improves" the hatcheries and parks.

I spend most of my time at the Current. I like fishing the trout parks and the urban areas as well. My expectations are different when fishing the different areas. Kinda depends who I am fishing with. Sometimes it is with less enthused anglers and more about just hanging out and sometimes it is more serious. You are right a trout park will never be a natural setting. I don't get the reason for the long channelized stretches though...I guess it is about access. I like a variety of water, such as the Montauk/Current area. We do have it pretty good in MO.

[Outside Bend]

I'm sure it's an eyesore, but I really don't need blue pipes pumping hatchery effluent in the water to remind me I'm not fishing a pristine trout stream when fishing at Bennett. If I want to experience an authentic Ozark trout stream, Bennett's not even a blip on the radar.

And I'm not sure why it matters where the fish go after being raised at Bennett- we all pay for them, and whether they're stocked and creeled in Laclede Co. or stocked and creeled in St. Charles Co., the end result is the same. Stocked Blue Ribbon segments can only hold a certain biomass of trout, dumping more fish in ensures their survival about as equally as dumping them in an urban mudhole.

Look at it as a chance to get out and do some exploring...

[Wayne SW/MO]

Whether they're stocked and creeled in Laclede Co. or stocked and creeled in St. Charles Co., the end result is the same

Not unless they start growing them with legs.

The thing that puzzles me is that the trout program is, or was, suppose to support itself. The last accounting I saw it had not, yet they can truck fish to the urban ponds? I'm not against any program to enhance urban fishing if its economically feasible, but I would think there are better fish, Channel's and hybrid gills come to mind.

For all of those who don't realize what Bennett was, I feel for you. You should have had an opportunity to fish it before it graveled in and the DNR smelled money.

[Outside Bend]

Not unless they start growing them with legs.

The thing that puzzles me is that the trout program is, or was, suppose to support itself. The last accounting I saw it had not, yet they can truck fish to the urban ponds? I'm not against any program to enhance urban fishing if its economically feasible, but I would think there are better fish, Channel's and hybrid gills come to mind.

For all of those who don't realize what Bennett was, I feel for you. You should have had an opportunity to fish it before it graveled in and the DNR smelled money.

Should MDC quit stocking browns in Bennett/Niangua too then?

They do augment those ponds with stockings of channel catfish and bluegill, but when water temperatures are in the 40's or lower they're tougher to catch than trout, which is why the trout are stocked.

I don't fish the urban lakes, nor do I fish the trout parks during catch & keep. But to me it seems the urban program has to be at least as valuable to the anglers who do it as the trout park system is to that angling demographic.

[troutfiend1985]

Not unless they start growing them with legs.

The thing that puzzles me is that the trout program is, or was, suppose to support itself. The last accounting I saw it had not, yet they can truck fish to the urban ponds? I'm not against any program to enhance urban fishing if its economically feasible, but I would think there are better fish, Channel's and hybrid gills come to mind.

For all of those who don't realize what Bennett was, I feel for you. You should have had an opportunity to fish it before it graveled in and the DNR smelled money.

Well the Urban program has some benefits. I know that when I was at KCKCC we took some kids from 3rd and long to fish for trout at Wyandotte County Lake(yes, not MO but the conclusion is the same). These kids would have never known what a trout was(or for some what fishing was) if we didn't take them out there that day. These ponds do provide some benefits to the urban dwellers who would otherwise not be exposed to trout fishing, either because they never really knew it existed or that they lack the money to travel.

And anways, how long does the average fish last in Bennett? Sure there are some that make it a long time, but most don't. And there is nothing normal/natural about Trout Parks. This does not mean there is anything is wrong with Bennett, its just that you have to go to these parks expecting something different than a pristine wild trout stream.