Paddlefish season is upon us, starting March 15, the time of year when Missouri fishermen stand the greatest chance of landing the largest Missouri fish of their lifetime. They’re not Jaws, but they do have a really big nose, the rostrum that gave the fish its name.
Paddlefish, also commonly called spoonbills or spoonbill catfish, are a plankton-feeding fish that are heading up rivers as they begin their spawning run now. It’s the very best time of the year for fishermen after this large fish.
How large? Well, the Missouri state record is 140-pounds 10-ounce and was caught in Lake of the Ozarks by Jim Dain of Pittsfield, Ill., on March 18, 2022. It beat the previous state record by one ounce. That 140-pound 9-ounce fish was caught in 2019 in Table Rock Lake.
The world record was caught in 2021 in Keystone Lake in Oklahoma. It weighed a whopping 164 pounds.
The paddlefish found in the Mississippi and Missouri river drainages are the last surviving species of this type of fish. They are loosely related to sharks and closer cousins to sturgeon. The only other paddlefish in modern times, the Chinese paddlefish, became extinct around 2010. The American paddlefish has been stocked back in the Yangtze River and elsewhere in Asia and Europe as well as many suitable rivers in the Mississippi drainage.
Named for its snout-like rostrum, the paddlefish has a number of receptors on its paddle that alert it to the presence of plankton, its food of choice.
Catching paddlefish isn’t like fishing for most other fish. They are plankton feeders and don’t “bite”; once they’ve located a concentration of plankton, the paddlefish swim through it with mouth open.
As a result, in order to catch one, fishermen use a snagging technique.
The first step is to locate the fish, looking for schools on a boat’s depthfinder and marking their location as well as depth. While paddlefish are found in a lot of rivers in the Midwest and South, Truman Lake and the river below Truman Dam are logical starting points.
The gear starts with a heavy rod and reel combo rigged with heavy line, most likely superline or GSP, a heavy leader with a weight of an ounce or two or more (depending on water depth) on the end and two or three treble hooks, 10/0 or larger.
Ace guide Cody Vannattan of Warsaw (you can reach him at Cody’s Bait and Tackle off Highway 7 or call 660-723-5115) says that he likes to use the thin braid in 80 to 100-pound test. Unlike many fishermen who use a leader, he ties two 10/0 treble hooks directly onto the braid.
Fishermen who use a leader, generally opt for monofilament in the 120 to 150-pound test, Vannattan says.
The technique is simple: Find the fish, cast a long way, let the sinker hit the bottom and then retrieve in strong, hard sweeps. When you snag a fish, you’ll know it; it’s about like hitting a tree, but the tree hits back. Not only are the fish big and strong swimmers but hooking a fish in the side makes reeling one in a challenge because you’re bringing it in sideways.
The snagging technique is popular, but some fishermen opt for using divers, notably the Dipsy Diver, a device used in trolling to control the depth of the lure, or in this case, the snagging hooks. Because of its shape and weight, it pulls the line and lure down as the boat moves forward through the water.
Dipsy Divers come in four sizes, from the Mini, 2 ¼-inch version that will run to 20 feet deep to the Jumbo, a nearly five-inch diver that will take a lure to 100 feet.
Fishermen then pick a diver that will run to the depth that the paddlefish are holding. It’s also possible to adjust the Dipsy to run to one side or the other, which will adjust the depth the diver will run.
Of course, fishermen can snag paddlefish from the bank, but the challenge is finding the right area. Look below the Truman dam.
“The thing people should know,” says Vannattan, “is that things will be really different at the start of this season; the paddlefish should be early. You can expect fish at Talley Bend up to Osceola. Osceola should be good.”
Despite their appearance, paddlefish, when cleaned properly, have a solid white flesh. Like sturgeon and sharks, they don’t have bony skeletons, so preparing the flesh is different from catfish and crappie or other bony fish. The process starts with removing the notochord, the fish’s version of a spinal cord.
While they can be filleted, a popular technique is to cut the fish into steaks after removing the notochord and fins and then cutting away the skin and outer layer of fatty tissue that lies just below the skin. The result is a firm, white flesh that can be cooked like most other fish.
There are several instructional videos on Youtube showing how to remove the notochord and dress the carcass for eating.
A bonus comes if the fish is a female and hasn’t spawned as the eggs can be made into caviar, a fairly easy process. In fact, paddlefish are raised for just that purpose, and paddlefish roe is sought after.
The season in Missouri runs from March 15th to April 30th. However, in the Mississippi River, the season runs until May 15th with a fall season beginning September 15th running until December 15th.
