TROUT CATCH, RELEASE TO OPEN ON THURSDAY

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri's 1997-98 no-creel trout season opens Nov. 14. For anglers who can dress for cold weather, it's a great opportunity to catch some fish. Ample numbers of rainbow trout fill park streams, including trophy fish of 3 to 8 pounds. Fishing is for fun -- all trout must be released in good shape.

Three open state parks include Roaring River, Montauk and Bennett Spring. A fourth park, the James Foundation's Maramec Spring, is also open. Fishing is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Fishing is limited to flies. Anglers are required to have a no-creel permit ($5 for the whole winter season) plus a free daily tag. These permits and tags are available only at the trout parks.

Anglers at Roaring River State Park will find an additional nine-tenths of a mile of stream open to fishing. The open area runs from the hatchery outlet to the old dam in the lower campground. Anglers now buy their winter permits and tags at the hatchery building, rather than at the park store as in the past.

The "lunkers" released for the winter catch-and-release season are big fish that have served as brood stock at Conservation Department hatcheries and are no longer needed. In addition, at Maramec Spring and Bennett Spring, large brown trout, driven by the urge to spawn, swim upstream into the parks. A study at one of the parks showed approximately 18,000 trout left in the stream following the regular season, which ends October 31 each year. These fish are supplemented by stocking in areas that don't normally hold many trout.

An important tip for releasing trout in good condition is to minimize contact with the fish. Less contact is less stress. Anglers can use pliers or hemostats to remove hooks without touching the fish. Cut the line if the hook is lodged deep. It will eventually fall out. Barbless hooks or hooks with barbs flattened with pliers are ideal. "We discourage people from holding fish out of the water," says Ron McCullough, hatchery manager at Bennett Spring. "If they want to take a picture of the fish, I suggest they take it with the fish held in the water." When a fish is out of water it is out of oxygen.

Furthermore, the slimy covering that protects its skin can dry out, leaving it susceptible to bacterial infection.

Fishermen should not attempt to weigh fish caught during the winter fishing season at trout parks. Anglers can use nets during the no-creel season; sometimes the net makes it easier to grasp a fish in order to remove the fly. Holding the fish upside down will quiet it and also make it easier to handle.

Fish should be landed in a short time. But if the fish, once landed, appears exhausted, hold it in the water facing upstream until it swims out of your hand. The gills of a trout are designed to work best when water flows in one direction only. Pumping the fish back and forth does not help. Reversing the flow of water across the gills actually reduces the oxygen the trout gets into its system.