Veteran spoonbill snaggers thrilled season is underway

Jon Belcher has everything ready for the spoonbill snagging season. His vehicle is loaded with snagging gear for a day of trying to hook a big spoonbill. (Photo by Ken White/Special to the Daily Mail)

March madness doesn't just apply to basketball or the opening of the trout parks. On March 15, spoonbill snagging season opened.

Many snaggers have had their calendar marked since the end of last season. Veteran snaggers like Jon Belcher, Osceola, had their gear ready. Belcher's been after spoonbills for more than 50 years.

Unlike many snaggers, Belcher fishes from the bank. He said, "When you snag from the bank, your target is larger because you are coming across the stream and have the entire length of the fish to hook."

Through the years, he has snagged many weighing over 30 pounds. Belcher went on to say "Often, while snagging from a boat, you have a much smaller target as the fish head upstream."

The veteran snagger remembered as a child when he and his dad would come down to the Osage River. The dam on the river near Osceola was still there, making Osceola a spoonbill boom town. Snaggers for this unique fish would head there the middle of every March.

Belcher said, "Back then the bank would be crowded with snaggers almost like they are at Bennett Spring on the opening day of the trout season. People would be pulling in fish right and left that weighed 80 pounds or more. Those days are long gone; it amazes me how things have changed."

One reason the fishing was so good at this small dam was because it was in the path of the spoonbill's spawning run and they couldn't go any farther in the river unless it was flooded. There were so many fish swimming around the area that the fish seemed to be stacked up just waiting to be snagged.

It was no surprise there were so many anglers that came to the area, with reports of as many as 400 to 500 snaggers around the dam when the season opened. Old-timers remember when the fish snagged weighed a lot more than they do today and most of the snagging was from the bank.

The dam used to attract visitors that fished or spectators that just watched the action. Though the fishing for spoonbill is still very good at Osceola, when the dam was taken down to make way for progress in forming Truman Lake ----the boom days of snagging came to an end.

Belcher said he got hooked when a friend got him started snagging below the bridge on 65 highway at Warsaw.

"My first spoonbill I hooked weighed 64 pounds. My largest weighed 94 pounds and I released it. I thought it was full of eggs and would help produce more fish for the future. I release most of the fish I catch. Any more, I don't chase the fish. I have a spot a short distance from my home where I snag.

"The fish have to move upstream so they pass this spot sometimes, and I will be right here after them. I use an 80 pound test line. The sinker depends on the flow of the river. I have sinkers that weigh from four to 10 ounces, but I usually throw a six ounce sinker. Throwing that heavy gear can wear you out, but I have all day so I take a break once in a while."

Opening day every year is like a holiday that will find this snagger at the same spot casting his heavy gear into the Osage River trying to hook a fish that may not be a big fighting fish but certainly will make up for it in weight. This year the opening of the spoonbill snagging season looks good, with water conditions about right as the growing number of snaggers look to hook one of the Missouri Monsters.

Last year a record spoonbill was caught in Table Rock. It weighed more than 140 pounds. The current world record spoobill, weighing 142 pounds, was taken from the Missouri River.

Bob Clark, another spoonbill angler said, "I know there are fish that weigh well over 100 pounds swimming in Missouri waters and I will join others after them this weekend."

You cannot mistake a spoonbill from other fish. The paddle-like snout distinguishes it from all other freshwater fish species. The long snout makes up about one-third of it's body length. This long snout has no known purpose, should it be accidently broken off, reportedly, the fish doesn't suffer any ill effects.

Because of their feeding habits spoonbill are not candidates for a baited hook or lure. The method for catching spoonbill is to use a heavy, stiff rod and reel that will drag an unbaited treble hook weighted with a heavy sinker across the bottom of the lake or stream. Giving strong jerks until a fish is snagged.

The spoonbill are also known by other names including paddlefish, duck-billed cat, spadefish and spoonbill cat. The snagging season that started March 15 runs through the month of April with a limit of two fish. Fish caught on Lake of the Ozarks, Truman and Table Rock along with their tributaries are measured from the eye to the fork of the tail 34 inches minimum length.

This article appeared in the March 22nd edition of the Daily Mail