Registration for clinic begins on March 5

Warsaw, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will offer a free paddlefish snagging clinic on Saturday, April 13, at the Warsaw Community Building, 181 W. Harrison St. The clinic is offered in two sessions, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration is required and opens on March 5. Workshops have a limit of 24 persons per session. They are open only to first-time participants.

Paddlefish are also called spoonbill because of their long, flat, paddle-line rostrum. They feed on tiny zooplankton they filter from the water. But they grow into one of Missouri’s largest fish. It’s not uncommon for anglers to catch paddlefish weighing 50 to 80 pounds, and they can weigh up to 140 pounds or more.

Participants will learn about paddlefish conservation programs, techniques for snagging paddlefish, and methods for preparing the meat for cooking. A highlight, clinic participants will also get to go paddlefish snagging for two hours on Lake of the Ozarks.

Missouri’s paddlefish snagging season opens March 15 and closes April 30. Prime places for paddlefish snagging in Missouri are upper reaches of Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake and Table Rock Lake. Paddlefish are also found in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and some of their tributaries.

To register for the clinic, call 660-530-5500 beginning at 8 a.m. on March 5. For more information about paddlefish snagging in Missouri, visit https://short.mdc.mo.gov/ZqT.