Fresh Tracks S8E17: Paddlefish

[Wapiti1]

Do they have a roe processing set up down there for the eggs from the females? I know they do for the North Dakota and Montana season at Intake.

No. I processed my own fish this time. There are commercial fishers in MO, but from what I can tell from the regulations, they cannot touch sport caught fish.

ND, MT and OK have commercial operations that will clean the fish in exchange for the roe. That was nice at both Slippery Ann or Intake.

Jeremy

 

[netman]

I've been lucky enough to do some work with paddlefish and sturgeon with state, federal and commercial fisherman. Paddlefish are amazing fish. They can't travel 1000s of miles over a lifetime to reach spawning grounds.


One in particular sticks out...we tagged this fish near St Louis, Missouri and it decided to hang out in near New Orleans at river mile 2...that's 2 miles upstream from the designated mouth of the Mississippi.
Picture is of a week-ish old paddlefish and strugeon

I have hundreds of paddlefish tags that I caught while commercial fishing on the Ohio river.

 

[MT257]

No. I processed my own fish this time. There are commercial fishers in MO, but from what I can tell from the regulations, they cannot touch sport caught fish.

ND, MT and OK have commercial operations that will clean the fish in exchange for the roe. That was nice at both Slippery Ann or Intake.

Jeremy

Yea interesting how each place does it a bit different. For a few years I had processed the roe at intake and at the confluence. Interesting process to learn. Really makes a guy appreciate those big ol females.

 

[FatCampzWife]

It's very fun & a LOT of work!

 

[cgasner1]

We bow fish for them have a awesome set up with a platform it’s a big family trip every year my wife got one last year she was super excited


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[ClearCreek]

It's very fun & a LOT of work!View attachment 281639

Looks like that is below Gavin's Point Dam. Not a lot of people there.

ClearCreek

 

[FatCampzWife]

Looks like that is below Gavin's Point Dam. Not a lot of people there.

ClearCreek

You are correct. Some days there are lots of folks there, & some days not. Last year seemed like there were more people on shore while we tried to bowfish. This pic was from a couple years ago.

 

[Wapiti1]

We bow fish for them have a awesome set up with a platform it’s a big family trip every year my wife got one last year she was super excited


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Bowfishing them would be a lot of fun. I've never thought about do it that way. In the places that I've fished for them, that doesn't seem like it would work well. Too muddy and deep.

Jeremy

 

[cgasner1]

We do it at night with lights it’s like anything else a lot of fun when it works


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[netman]

Bowfishing them would be a lot of fun. I've never thought about do it that way. In the places that I've fished for them, that doesn't seem like it would work well. Too muddy and deep.

Jeremy

Bowfishing paddlefish is really big on my section of the Ohio river. Best time to bowfishing for them on the Ohio is in July and August when the river is at pool stage and the flow is very slow. They will be up near the surface feeding. They are usually in proximity to Asian carp

 

[Sturgies]

Bowfishing paddlefish is really big on my section of the Ohio river. Best time to bowfishing for them on the Ohio is in July and August when the river is at pool stage and the flow is very slow. They will be up near the surface feeding. They are usually in proximity to Asian carp

Guessing this within KY waters? I'm trying to remember the various regs for ohio river states.
Neat you've seen a bunch of tagged fish. Tagging fish was always fun, recaptures where always awesome and learning about where it came from

 

[Fordguy]

Plenty of guys think they need a 12' surf rod with 6 oz of lead behind their treble hook to catch them. I watch those guys wear themselves out casting. My girlfriend calls it doing the "snaggy dance". Personally, I use an old 6' shakespeare sturdy stik and 2 or 3 oz at most behind my treble. I've landed fish as long as the rod, and I'm not sore the next day. There's more than one way to skin a cat, or snag a spoonbill.

 

[netman]

Guessing this within KY waters? I'm trying to remember the various regs for ohio river states.
Neat you've seen a bunch of tagged fish. Tagging fish was always fun, recaptures where always awesome and learning about where it came from

I live close to the Ohio river. I’m about 15-20 minutes from Kentucky.