The Ozarks – The season for catching paddlefish is underway starting on March 15th and ending on April 30, 2024. This season is open for all the major paddlefish waters, like the Lake of the Ozarks, Harry S. Truman Reservoir, and Table Rock Lake. If you are fishing in the Mississippi River the season is March 15th through May 15th and a fall season from September 15th through December 15th.
A fishing permit is required for snagging and any of the other allowed methods of fishing for paddlefish. The daily limit, per law, is 2 paddlefish per day and the possession limit is 4 fish per permit. There is a statewide minimum length while fishing of 32 inches, measured from the eye to the fork of the tail, and the minimum length for the Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, and Harry S. Truman Reservoir, is 34 inches, anything under minimum requirement must be immediately returned to the water. Cleaning your caught paddlefish while on the water, dumping the dead paddlefish back into the water, and returning to shore with fillets or eggs is illegal.
For those who don’t know, the paddlefish is Missouri’s official state aquatic animal and is very highly valued. They are an old species that can grow to 7 feet long and weigh more than 100 pounds. They were named after their large paddle-shaped snouts that function as electrosensory organs to sense plankton as it swims through the water.
For more information on paddlefish, you can visit https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/paddlefish, or for more information on the permits visit, https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/paddlefish/paddlefish-permits.
