Trout Talk March 2014

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THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK MARCH 2014 PAGE 3

Hooked onBennett Spring

efferson City resident Milt Barr is looking forward to be-ing the whistle blower for the Opening Day of trout season at Bennett Spring State Park; he just doesn’t know why it’s

called that.“Over the years, everybody always

says ‘the whistle blower,’ and I always say, ‘I wonder why they say that,’ be-cause it’s actually a siren,” Barr said.

Besides, used in any other context, the term “whistle blower” refers to a person who unmasks scandals.

Barr joked, “Probably what hap-pens, it’s all the lies that all of the fi shermen have told over the decades, someone’s going to whistle blow on them and tell the truth.”

Teasing aside, Barr said that he reacted favorably to learning he had been chosen as the whistle blower.

“I was quite shocked, but obviously pretty excited about it,” he stated. “You know, setting off the opening siren at Bennett Springs is kind of like throwing out the fi rst ball of the season for baseball. So it’s kind of a nice little event to be able to do, plus I get tag number one.”

Barr spent 30 years in the U.S. Army, where he worked with the army logistics and the medical sup-port community. After retiring from the armed forces, he retired in Jef-ferson City and went to work with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Soil and Water program. In 2010 he retired from the Department of Natural Resources. Barr is also a member of the fi shing organizations Trout Unlimited and Capital City Flyfi shers, as well as a frequent visitor to Bennett Spring.

Bennett Spring State Park hatchery manager Mike Mitchel said that every year he receives multiple letters from people requesting that one of their relatives or acquaintances be chosen as the whistle blower. In order to choose the right candidate, Mitchel

said he tries to fi nd a person who has been visiting Bennett Spring for at least 50 years and who has shared his or her love of trout fi shing with his or her family.

Barr defi nitely meets the fi rst re-quirement, since the upcoming trout season will represent his 50th year visiting Bennett Spring.

Barr said that his father fi rst taught him how to fi sh in local farm ponds and lakes in the Marshall, Mo. area. Then some family friends who regu-larly went to Bennett Spring began inviting him to go with them.

“They started inviting me to go down with them, and so that’s where I kind of learned the pleasures of the Bennett Springs area, so I was hooked then,” he said. “The trout hooked me, then.”

For Barr, fi shing is more than just a way to relax: it’s also a metaphor.

“It seems kind of to be a teacher of life,” he stated. “The more you pursue your endeavors, the more you have opportunities for hope that the next time you cast your line you will have excitement, adventure and accomplish-ment.”

Naturally, for a avid fi sherman like Barr, the well-stocked stream is Bennett Spring’s main attraction, but Barr said that he is able to appreciate some of the other aspects of the park. He appreci-ates the fact that it has campgrounds, cabins and picnic areas and fi nds the park store convenient he also says that he likes the outdoor environment and the fact that the stream attracts wildlife like eagles and deer.

“It’s a place where any citizen can go down there and intermingle with nature without having to go too far off in the backwoods or any remote areas,” Barr said of the park.

“Over the years, I enjoyed fi shing so much, as my family kind of grew, I took them down there with me. The kids, I had them kind of fi shing with me when they were old enough to kind of splash around in the shallow end of the stream.”

Honorary whistle blower has fi shed the park’s banks for 50 years

J

See ‘Barr’/ page 11

Story by Kelly Morgan

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PAGE 4 THE LEBANON DAILY RECORD TROUT TALK MARCH 2014

The Opening Day of trout season at Bennett Spring is a big deal, but Bennett Spring State Park hatchery manager Mike Mitchell thinks it will go just fi ne.

“I think it’ll go pretty good,” Mitch-ell stated, “If the weather cooperates, if March 1 is a decent day — it doesn’t

have to be super warm, but at least the roads are travelable — since it’s on a Saturday, we’ll have a pretty big turnout. We’ll probably stock for almost 3,000 people.”

Mitchell explained that Opening Day is better attended when it falls on a

weekend than when it falls on a week-day.

He said, “On the weekend openings, you’ll almost always have more fi sher-men: more people can get off and come down, they make an effort do do that. If it’s during the week, a lot of people can’t get off work or they don’t want to take annual time to come down and open the trout season. But since it’s on a

weekend, I expect we’ll have a big crowd.”

For every fi sherman expected on Opening Day, the park stocks three fi sh, with the average fi sh size be-ing 12.5 inches. That means that this

year 9,000 rainbow trout released across three zones of the park. In addition to these 9,000 average-sized fi sh, the park will also release 100 lunkers.

During the rest of the season, the formula for releasing trout is 2.25 fi sh per tag sold per day.

Mitchell said that in a normal year, Bennett Spring State Park will stock between 300,000 and 350,000 fi sh between March 1 and Oct. 31. Because rainbow trout take about two years to grow, which means at any given time the hatchery has about 700,000 trout on hand.

People who want to catch some of those fi sh, though, had better come with

the proper documentation. Mitchell advised all fi shermen to make sure that their fi shing licenses are valid prior to Opening Day. Fishermen older than 65 should bring a valid form of identifi ca-tion verifying their ages because they are age exempt, meaning that they are old enough to not need a fi shing license. However, the concessionaire cannot sell tags to people who do not have either a fi shing license or some sort of identifi cation that proves their age.

“We run into that problem every year, and I would like people to just be prepared. Make sure that you have a valid fi shing license for the year or

bring some sort of information that proves your age so that if you are age exempt they can still sell you a tag.”

Mitchell said that he was looking forward to Open-

ing Day.“It’s always a good

time,” he said. “I enjoy watching

people have fun taking the produc-tion that we

do throughout the year. They enjoy what we do. They enjoy fi shing. I also like opening day just

to see people make some connec-tions that they don’t have on a day to day basis. A lot of people actually come here on opening day as a way to recon-nect with old friends and family, and it’s kind of like a big reunion type thing, so I think it’s a good time.”

Story by Kelly Morgan

◆

Trout Talk

Large crowd expected for Opening Day Large crowd expected for Opening Day

Trout Talk file photo/Julie Turner-Crawford

Anglers line the dam at Bennett Spring State Park for Opening Day on March 1, 2013. The 2014 Opening Day falls on a Saturday, and hatchery offi cials plan to stock the stream heavily in anticipation of 3,000 fi shermen.

Saturday season start could mean more than 3,000 anglers

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Bennett Spring State Park of-fi cials held their annual pre-trout season meeting on Feb. 10 at a packed Bennett Room. One of the biggest issues brought up by at-tendees was the size of trout, which they say are smaller than pervious years. Park offi cials told those in atten-dance that stock-ing and hatchery procedures have not changed. At left, Bennett Spring State Park Hatch-ery Manager Mike Mitchell speaks to those gathered at the meeting.

Trout Talk photo

Fines Massey

Countdown Countdown to March 1to March 1

Businesses, hatchery staff, anglers discuss fi sh, facilitieshile Bennett Spring State Park offi cials assured vendors and anglers that the park is business as

usual for the upcoming season, a few who attended a pre-trout season meet-ing dominated the discussion with concerns about fi sh sizes.

According to Bennett Spring State Park Hatchery manager Mike Mitch-ell’s calculations, the average size of rainbow trout being released into the spring throughout the season ranges from 12 inches to 12.8 inches. A few in attendance at a pre-trout season meet-ing held Feb. 10, however, disputed Mitchell’s claim, saying the trout in the spring, particularly in the afternoons, are much smaller than 12 inches.

“I see more small fi sh in that stream than I ever have before, and I don’t think anyone in this room would dis-agree with that,” Charlie Reading, who owns Reading’s Fly Shop, said dur-

ing the meeting at The Bennett Room, which was packed with state offi cials, trout fi shing enthusiasts and business owners from the Bennett Spring area. Reading believes a population of small fi sh are building up in the spring.

“That’s the biggest single problem I see. People come into my shop on a daily basis and talk about the size of the fi sh later in the day not those fi sh in the morning...,” Reading said.

Some even went so far as to imply the hatchery staff wasn’t doing its job properly in grading and measuring the fi sh. Mitchell offered to anyone in the audience to come down to the hatchery and help, so they could get a better idea of how the process actually works.

The perceived size change also was blamed on changes in fi shing regula-tions for brown trout. While rainbow trout can be caught at any size, brown

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ere we are, the start of another season at Bennett Spring State Park.

I hope you all had a good winter, even though it was the worst winter I have endured in some

years. We’re still waiting for the January thaw. Now we have to wonder what the coming spring will bring us — weather wise. My immediate concern is to write an article with a “J” because our keyboard is having a malfunction on that letter.

****Years ago, a friend handed me an envelope that said,

“here is our immediate aim, fi nd a fl y we can tie with these feathers.” That was about 10 years ago and those feathers are still laying on my fl y typing bench, unused.

Last fall I ran into an old fi shing friend, Don Hatcher, who showed me a scud fl y that a buddy of his gave him and now I have a use for those feathers — ostrich herl.

The Ray Charles Scud — origin unknown

Hook: Dairiki curved hook size 16

Body: Ostrich herl dyed light yellow

Back: One strand of peacock herlThread : 8/0 blackDon said he used the Scud as a

dropper fl y and caught most of his fi sh on it.

Don is a professor of philosophy at Kansas University, where he also teaches a fl y fi shing course.

He only gets down on school breaks and doesn’t get to fi sh as much as he would like to. On one school break, he and his wife were down with their two dogs, two cute, friendly, fuzzy fl at-nosed little dogs and they tied them to a tree. Don and his wife headed for the stream and the dogs, suffering from separation anxiety, began barking. To tell the truth, the barking was a little an-noying. Don’s wife told Don he had to do something. Being a cool day, Don responded by putting the dogs in the car and cracked the windows. When Don returned to the stream, they started all over again, but it was muffl ed and much easier on the ears.

Then, one of the dogs got in the driver’s seat and stood up with it’s front paws on the steering wheel and discovered

if it bounced up and down, the horn would blow. Of course that noise was really annoying. But when everyone realized what was happening, they had to laugh at the small dogs’ ingenuity.

****We have a large concentration of wildlife in and around

Bennett Spring State Park. Most people just drive in, fi sh and then leave, maybe seeing an occasional deer or turkey along the road.

During the last 20 years, I have had a mobile home on the edge of the park and have observed almost every species that lives in the area.

At my bird feeders, we have had every kind of song bird and humming birds. We have also had turkey, deer and raccoons eating the seed we put out.

In the woods, we have seen a coyote, rabbits, a bobcat, crows, turkey buzzards, hawks, deer, squirrel (gray and fox), ground hogs, tortoise and a few snakes.

Early in the morning, before daybreak, we have spotted owls, skunk, opossum, bats and armadillo.

Along the stream, we have spotted beaver, mink, otters, bull frogs, great blue herons and muskrat. One day, in Zone 2, I was drifting a glow ball when my fl oat went down, I set the hook and reeled in a baby muskrat with my lure in its mouth. Luckily, a few sideways tugs with the rod dislodged the rook, or he would have been wearing it in his lip.

During the winter, you can spot bald eagles, if you get to the steam early. The only animal I have not seen during my hundreds of hours hunting with gun, bow and camera was a fox.

One rare sighting was very early in the morning as I

waited for the turkeys to fl y down from their roost. I noticed movement in the tree above me, I watched the spot for a few minutes and it moved again. Then it soared to a tree about 20 feet away. A few minutes later, the sky had brightened and it soared to another tree. Now that I could see it better, I could tell it was a fl ying squirrel.

In Missouri, we have the southern species, which is about 10 to 12 inches long. They are nocturnal and live in holes in trees. They eat nuts, berries, insects and occasionally small birds and their eggs.

They have been known to soar over 100 feet. This one-in-a-lifetime experience will be hard to forget, but having a large coyote sneaking up on you are you try to sound like a hen turkey sticks in your mind too.

Get out and enjoy the wildlife around the park. Don’t just walk the trails. Get out there and sit quietly and take your camera with you.

****Don Hatcher also left me with a story before we parted

ways last fall.It seems an old gentleman recently learned that he didn’t

have much more time on this Earth. He was talking to an old hunting and fi shing buddy and his old friend said, “I was talking to your wife and she said the fi rst thing that she was going to do when you were gone was sell all of your fi shing rods and guns.”

To which the old gent replied, “Please don’t let her sell them for what I told her I paid for them.”

****Send tips, comments or questions to:Richard Rehm3267 Childress Ave.St. Louis, Mo. 63139Or by email to [email protected]

Fond memories, old friendsH

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trout can be caught at any size, brown trout must be at least 15 inches in length and four can be caught in one day. Reading argued that in the past the regulation was one brown trout at a time and it had to be at least 18 inches.

Missouri Department of Conserva-tion Fisheries Management Biologist Craig Fuller, who is with the Lebanon offi ce, explained that regardless of regulations, the brown trout popula-tion in the Niangua River, can only get so big. After years of sampling the wa-ters, Fuller found that whether 10,000 or 5,000 brown trout were stocked in the river, the same amount survived. He added that the stocking strategy has not changed since 2003.

One attendee also brought up that he believed otters on Niangua River were causing devastating problems to the trout populations. According to Mitchell, MDC has found no evidence of the otters. He said every year, a trapper hunts along the river. Although minks have been caught, there haven’t been any otters found.

Another issue of contention with audience members was that a popula-tion study has not been completed at

the park in 11 years. Studies were com-pleted in 1980 when it was found there were about 9,800 trout per mile, in 1998 when the population jumped to about 13,600 per mile and most recently in 2003 when the population was estimat-ed at about 18,600 per mile.

“We typically just don’t make a practice of sampling the stream be-cause it’s a put-and-take fi shery. We sample the Niangua River way more often because we’re managing that,” Fuller said.

Laclede County Offi ce of Emergency Management Director Randy Rowe, who was attending the meeting in an unoffi cial capacity, asked if it were a possibility to setup a “trophy zone,” where only lunker-sized fi sh could be kept, at the park.

“We could talk about it, of course. I’d be willing to talk about it, but it would be diffi cult at best to get some-thing changed because of zone regula-tions,” Mitchell said.

One of the biggest hurdles facing any changes to the size of fi sh pro-duced at Bennett Spring’s hatchery is cost. Besides the cost of labor, it would take a lot more food to get the fi sh to

the desired lunker size. Mitchell said in his past 10 years at the hatchery, a truckload of fi sh food has gone from $11,000 to $12,000 and now cost about $25,000.

Members of the audience suggested adding onto the cost of a trout tag to cover the extra cost. At that point in the meeting, Fisheries Division Chief Brian Canaday stepped in to address the crowd. He said just to break even with current fi sh production, trout tags would have to be doubled from the current $3 to $6. That doesn’t take into account extra money required to raise the fi sh to a bigger size.

“The cost of feed is killing us. I’m just going to be honest with you. It’s more than doubled. It’s the single larg-est thing under labor in my budget,” Canaday said. He added that use is down at parks across the state.

While larger fi sh and trophy areas are things that could be discussed in the future, the offi cials on hand said one problem is that the idea does not fi t into the state’s Trout Plan, which sets the output for each of the state’s trout hatcheries.

“We try to be consistent with the

products we provide at the four trout parks,” Fuller said.

Fuller added that the geography of Bennett Spring makes the idea diffi cult to implement.

The state does have a lunker pro-gram. A number of brood stock surplus from around the state are released into the wild each year. This season, the Niangua River is expected to receive 66 lunkers, which is about 24.5 percent of the stock.

Mitchell also spoke about the number of rainbow trout that will be released into the spring throughout the season, which runs from March 1 to Oct. 31. In planning for the rapidly approaching season, Mitchell took last year’s trout tag sales (127,474) and projected a 10 percent increase.

The number of projected tags was then multiplied by 2.25 to get the num-ber of fi sh released during the season. On Opening Day, however, the number is bumped up to a multiplier of three fi sh per anticipated angler.

Throughout the year, 315,498 trout will be released into the spring and 9,000 into the Niangua River. The

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Sometimes, Barr says, it seemed like his kids had better luck fi shing than he did.

“Several times when I’d intensely be fi shing, trying to focus on what I needed to do, they’d be behind me playing with their little smaller poles. I might have a rough day where I wasn’t catching very many — I usu-ally catch a lot, but some days it was a little slow —and they’d be back there behind me with their little poles and they’d be catching fi sh,” Barr stated. “It was kind of one of those things where they started learning to beat their dad out there.

Today, Barr’s son lives in North Carolina, and Barr tries to plan a fi sh-ing trip for every time his son comes to visit. Barr’s daughter still likes to fi sh, although currently she is busy starting a family.

Just because his children have grown up doesn’t mean that Barr is fi nished sharing his passion for fi sh-ing. In fact, he is already planning to infect a new generation with the fi sh-ing bug.

“My granddaughter is too young yet, but we’ve taken her down there, and when she gets old enough, I’ll probably try to see if she likes to fi sh,” he stated.

Sometimes Barr’s wife will also come to Bennett Spring.

“While I fi sh, she kind of sews or reads books in the nice weather, but it has to be nice, nice weather for her to do that. She doesn’t like my below-30-degree trips down there.”

Barr, though, is much more dedi-cated than his wife. He tries to visit Bennett Spring once a week in the summer, and in the winter he visits almost as often, weather permitting.

“It’s not a bad trip, especially since they’ve opened the four lanes and the passing lane there from Camdenton to Lebanon,” he stated. “That knocked off a good 30 minutes of driving time I think. But my truck knows the way. I just start it up and head that way, and it gets me there and gets me back. I have the route pretty well memorized by now. I know most of the bumps and the cracks in the roads.”

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The Bennett Spring Nature Center has seen more visitors than one can possibly count in its more than 40-year history. Originally intended to be the trail-head of the park, the center included living quarters, kitchen facilities and bathrooms for the naturalist stationed there. Since then, it has become much more than the original contractors intended.

Before its construction, the area was quite bare. What is now a forest with trails and an amphitheater was once a large hayfield used by the farmers that had inhabited the area since the days of the Brice Township.

In 1969, the original nature center was converted into a feed center for the fish hatchery and the current Nature Center opened its doors. The Center was one of the first centers built in Missouri for the sole purpose of being a nature center.

George Kastler served as the naturalist from 1969 to 1979, followed by Doug Ladd (1980-1985) and is presently served by Diane Tucker (since 1986).

In the late 1970s, the amphi-theater was constructed allow-ing the naturalists to conduct outdoor demonstrations and shows. In 1985, new exhibits were constructed as part of the first major update to the Center.

When the living quarters were removed, the remaining bathrooms were converted for patron use. During this time, the center’s original flat roof was converted to a pitched one.

Originally, the St. John’s Wort planted along the sidewalk was intended to be kept small, but removed soon afterwards because of security issues. Shrubs were planted behind the center in the open field about the time it stopped being mowed. In the early 1990s, several large Viburnum shrubs at the corner of the center were moved to another location in the park and the wooden welcome sign between the flag poles was taken out a few years ago.

In March of 2008, the Center received a major overhaul. Most of the exhib-its installed by Chase Studio in 1985 were ‘refreshed’ with lighting, techno-logical and text updates. Exhibit additions included the interactive exhibit with springs, the mill structures and the current park map.

In its younger days, the park had far less amenities and camping was

done on a greater scale on all sides of the nature center, causing it to be the focus of the park. While many additional features have been added in the years since the center’s construction, campers and tourists shouldn’t be deterred; the Nature Center still offers a great deal of information, fun exhibits, guided nature walks and programs.

The first time visitor to Bennett Spring should make the nature center their first destination within the park. Hiking maps and other information are available there. In addition, various displays exhibit the natural and cultural history of the spring and surrounding area.

The center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Feb. 25 to Oct. 31. It is closed in the “off season.”

For additional information, those interested can call 417-532-3925.

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5 Family Crossing Mobile Home Village Th e Bennett Room 17698 Hwy. 64, Lebanon•417-532-4550

6 Adventures Float Trips & Campground LLC 1667 State Highway 64 3 1/2 miles West of Bennett Spring 15 miles East of Highway 65 417-588-RAFT (7238) www.mo-adventures.org

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hatchery also provides 23,450 fi sh to Kansas City, 6,262 to St. Louis and 150 to Lost Valley over the regular trout and winter seasons for a total of 354,360 fi sh released during the seasons.

Mitchell also announced his staff’s moss cutting schedule, which is an effort to keep the spring clear for anglers. The moss will be cut on Tues-days and Wednesdays the weeks of Feb. 18, March 25, April 22, May 20, June 24, July 29, Aug. 19, Sept. 16 and Oct. 14.

Park Superintendent J.D. Musch-any also gave a presentation during the meeting about recently completed and future projects at the state park.

In 2013, the shake shingle roof was replaced on the dining lodge. The park is currently in the process of replacing glass at the lodge. They are also beautifying the fl ower bed.

A new host camp site has been constructed as well as an overhaul of the wi-fi system.

One of the biggest projects in the works is the construction of two new cabins, each will consist of two rent-able rooms. A fi re last year destroyed

a multi-unit cabin and the new build-ings will replace them.

The park also is continuing work

on fi xing a burst pipe that ran through a bridge at the park.

MDC conservation agents closed

out the night with a brief presenta-tion. Agent Jarrad Jewell told those gathered that there are no new regulations for the upcoming season. He also asked people to be patient as the park, which is in both Dallas and Laclede counties, is overseen by four agents, two from each county.

Those agents cannot be at the park all of the time because they must also perform their duties throughout the county.

Jewell encouraged people to gather as much information about offenders, including description, possible tag or license plate numbers and maybe even taking a picture of the offense, before calling an agent to report the crime. If an agent does not answer the call, Jewell said people should call the MDC’s game thief hotline at 1-800-392-1111.

A few dates, aside from the impor-tant start and fi nish of trout season, to remember at Bennett Spring were announced during the meeting, in-cluding Kid’s Fishing Day on May 3, Free Fishing Weekend on June 7 and 8 and Catch and Release Season from Nov. 14 to Feb. 9, 2015.

Pre-season from page 8

Trout Talk photo/Fines Massey

Bennett Spring State Park Superintendent J.D. Muschany goes over some proj-ects that are currently underway at the park, including the replacement of a busted pipe on a bridge.

about Bennett Spring State Park and the Niangua River.Trout Talk is a monthly publication (March-October) bringing you news

and information on fi shing, hiking, camping, fl oat trips and much more at Bennett Spring State Park.

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Trout Talk March 2014