Preserving the quality of Missouri fishing

Using the proper gear can help bring in lunkers like this bass caught by Earle Hammond from Pomme de Terre Lake.

Ken White | Special to the Daily Mail

Missouri is filled with an abundance of places for great fishing expeditions. Nearly one-fourth of the state’s population — which encompasses all ages, fishes. Missouri spends millions of dollars on fishing tackle and even more on goods and services annually. This is good for the state’s economy and helps fulfill the need for recreation.

If you ask Missourians why they go fishing the preponderant answer could be: to catch fish and have fun. Yet, as an old saying goes, “that of 10 anglers, one will catch most of the fish.”

Why should this be? Some call it luck, and at times it is, but day-after-day, knowing how to fish is the answer. Successful fishing is made up of a lot of tremendous trifles.

Take note of the following tips in order to sharpen your skills. To forget one of them at a crucial moment can mean losing the largest catch of a lifetime.

• Keep your hooks sharp: Old-timers kept a hone handy to stroke their hooks to a fine point. A dull hook will lose fish because it won’t penetrate through tissue.

• Make sure you set the hook. Remember, that when using a monofilament line that it stretches about one-third, or roughly 13 feet with 40 feet of line out, so it is virtually impossible to set the hook on a fish after a long cast.

• Match line, rod and lure. If these three aren’t properly blended, even an expert will have difficulty casting.

• Short casts beat long ones. Your casts should be just long enough to reach the fish, and that’s a lot shorter than most anglers realize. The trouble with long casts is that it uses too much time covering fishless water.

• Keep your line fresh; old line can penalize you. It not only will break and lose fish, it also gets stiff, resulting in snags that will foul up your casts.

• When you hook a big fish, keep cool and don’t let anyone reach for the landing net until the fish is whipped down and turns belly up. Too many prize fish have been lost by prematurely swiping at a fish with the net, only to hook the lure and have the fish tear loose.

• Don’t waste good fish flavor: How good your fish will taste depends on how you care for them after catching. The best procedure is to put them in a plastic bag and lay them on ice in the cooler. Clean them as soon as possible. Keep them refrigerated no longer than two days. If you freeze the fish, do so in freezer-approved containers filled with water.

• Finally, take care of your tackle. A skilled craftsman takes care of his tools because he needs them to do his best job. Ditto with fishermen.

• Though, a lot of us prefer the solitude of fishing alone, find a fishing buddy who shares in fishing experiences. It can be a friend, neighbor, wife, son or daughter; or someone in need of companionship. A fishing buddy is something special, like a loving wife, a devoted dog or a grateful child. Lucky is the man who knows one of each in his lifetime.

We are indeed blessed and privileged to fish in a free country. But it didn’t just happen that way nor will it continue unless each of us accepts the responsibility of stewardship. Fish need clean water to survive and multiply, in sufficient quality to satisfy the needs of upward of five million Missourians.

Each of us must be a “watchdog committee of one” as we get around the outdoors and see environmental abuses taking place. We can and must band together to ascertain that local, county and state attention is focused on the maintenance of water quality.

One thing is certain; when water quality is allowed to degrade to the point where fish can’t exist and be fit to eat, then we, ourselves are endangered. Together, we can preserve it for our youngsters. Missourians, let’s all preserve it, enjoy and cherish it. It belongs to some of the world’s finest people — fishermen and women.