Trout park tackle restrictions--any rhyme or reason?

[ruthead]

On 3/18/2020 at 2:47 PM, Flyfisher for men said:

 

Thanks for the link. A message sent to them.

Any reply on the message sent to them??

[Flyfisher for men]

On April 13, 2020 at 4:54 PM, ruthead said:

Any reply on the message sent to them??

I got this in an email text from an official in the Missouri Department of Conservation

"These types of fishing zones have been in place for many years and were set up as a way to separate anglers with varied fishing techniques.  The zone restrictions are a simple way to provide varied fishing opportunities to as many anglers as possible.  Typically lure restrictions are used to aid population dynamics but in the case of trout parks there is a hatchery which stocks the stream nightly from March 1 to October 31."

 

I didn't press for any more details, so that's all I have. Since he mentions separating types of anglers, I presume that means things like giving the flyfishermen more room.  

[tjm]

Quote

These types of fishing zones have been in place for many years

He got this much right. I think maybe no one is still in MDC who remembers the details of why, and the why may vary with park.  There is absolutely no reason a guy with a 5' spinning rod needs more room to fish "flies" than to fish artificial lures or live baits.  Under Mo. regulations fly fishing does not require the use of fly rod or fly line, so the more room argument is not applicable.  A long time ago many fly rod users nationwide felt they could not compete with spin fishers, felt they had to work more than the spin fisher to catch a fish, felt there was more tradition in fly fishing and that it was a disappearing art form that needed protection and lobbied for a safe place where they could practice their art.  It happened in lots of places and it wasn't for population dynamics either; trout in most of the US have been regularly stocked from hatcheries for over a hundred years. As non-native fish they rarely   become established enough to warrant population protection, and that is done by setting seasons and limits, not by methods. With no limits a couple of top fly anglers could clean out a stream quicker than the average lure angler.  The protection was meant to be for the fly anglers egos, a no competition zone. (some of us were against FFO zones back in the '70s, but numbers rule) What stymied the "safe space" in Mo. was/is our definition of "fly fishing", some states require the use of fly rod, fly line, etc. rather than simply the use of any material permanently fastened to a single point hook.  Any kid with a zebco is a "fly fisherman" in Mo. The bait only zone in Bennett must have been a whiplash from the FFO and designed to give the spin fishers a "safe space" of their own, unlike RR where I can and do fly fish all zones.  Under the "Fly Fishing" definition of the state where i started with flies it was "fly rod and single action reel" so this left trolling a lake with lead core open as FF and I could legally fish live bait on my fly rod in FFO waters, kinda the opposite of Mo. but again shows the difficulty of designating FFO water and coming up with definitions that work. Recently MDC had an opinion  that rubber legs on a fly made it a soft plastic bait, I think that was eventually changed back to anything goes in FFO  as long as the hook is single point.

[Flyfisher for men]

On April 18, 2020 at 11:40 AM, tjm said:

He got this much right. I think maybe no one is still in MDC who remembers the details of why, and the why may vary with park.  

You're probably hitting on at least a part of the truth here.

 

While I'm perfectly ok with things, it does make me wonder if it might be worth another look.