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Thousands of fishermen will head to four trout parks in Missouri tomorrow to be the first to cast their lines on the opening day of trout season. Michele Skalicky has more on this annual tradition.
Tomorrow continues an annual tradition, one that's held dear by many fishermen around the state. It's the opening day of Trout Season, and thousands of anglers are expected to cast their lines at 4 state parks.
Because March 1st falls on a Saturday this year and the weather is going to be nice, between 2500 and 3000 fishermen are expected tomorrow morning at Roaring River State Park near Cassville, which should make for a very crowded river.
"Yeah, it gets a little crowded down here."
Kevin Bolling is park superintendent at Roaring River State Park.
"You know, the thing about opening day, a lot of people think it's all about the fishing, but it's really tradition, and just a lot of people come opening day and see people that they haven't seen for years, and you hear a lot of stories about, you know, their grandfathers brought them the first time, and now they're bringing their grandkids and they've just kept that tradition up for opening day and it's just a great day for everybody."
At 6:30 tomorrow morning, fishermen will have been waiting anxiously for some time for Bill Ash, a retired Roaring River assistant parks superintendent to shoot off a gun, signaling the start of trout season.
"You see all of these people up and down the river, and they're all looking up at the bridge just waiting for that gun to go off, and there's just a lot of smiles, a lot of good people and everybody pretty excited to get that line in the water, and then it's really fun to see when everybody makes that first cast, how many people come out with fish on the first cast. It's really a neat happening to be there for."
If you plan to fish tomorrow and you're 16 or older, you'll need a Missouri fishing license. Everyone, regardless of age, will need a trout tag that you can purchase at the park.
Other locations holding opening day festivities tomorrow are Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon, Montauk State Park near Salem and Meramec Springs.
To find out about a specific park, go to mostateparks.org.
Trout season runs thru October 31st. For KSMU News, I'm Michele Skalicky.
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