Kids Fishing Day

Montauk State Park: Dent County Missouri

May 20, 2006

This morning started early. We were up and out of bed, hoping to make the 70 minute trek to Montauk (often misspelled Mauntauk) State Park and be there by 6:30am. We nearly made it, entering the park at 6:40am.

Today was Kids Free Fishing day there. What a blast. All day they were restocking the areas the kids were fishing in so they had non-stop action. Our two girls were pumped and giving it all they had. One after another fish were caught. Since the limit was four fish per child we did a lot of catch and release. One hint for you... A little old lady told me about these tiny orange hook removers. What a blessing. They were fabulous, saving us a lot of hooks and the fish a lot of trouble.

At lunch time they had grilled burgers, hotdogs and sodas for the kids and families. Everyone was having a wonderful time.

It was a good thing there were four adults with the two children. They were catching fish so fast that my brother in-law and I were tying hooks, granny was baiting, and my wife was helping our 3 year old cast and reel. Our oldest daughter was doing pretty good fishing, we only had to take the fish off for her. Some nice couples from the city were also there, so we helped them by cleaning their fish and giving advice when needed. All around, the people were friendly and having a great time.

As the day was winding up for us, the girls were getting tired and so was my wife. I sat down for a few minutes with the youngest to help her fish while my wife went off to get a couple free dogwood trees for the kids. Needless to say, the youngest was rather tired and wouldn't pay attention to her rod, so after 4 casts, I finally decided it wasn't worth trying anymore so I put the rod down and started cleaning up. Everyone was in agreement so we packed it up and decided to leave for the day. We had eight good looking fish and a faint sunburn to show for the glory.

I loaded all my stuff up on my shoulders and walked over to the car. When I got there I was greeted by a curious fellow. He asked me if we had fun today. "Of course" I said, "the girls caught a lot of fish!" I then opened up the trunk to put our gear up. We had put the fish in the mother-in-laws cooler with the tags because we really were not interested in cooking them up ourselves. This was the second time the girls had been trout fishing and we had not cooked up the ones from their first adventure. Once I got the gear in the fellow asked me, "So did you do any fishing?" To which I replied, "No, the girls did quite a bit though. All I got to do today was bait and tie hooks". He then pulled out a badge and said, "You don't have to lie to me, I'm a conservation agent and watched you fishing for the last two hours". I figured he was just pressing to see if people were fishing and I honestly replied, "No, I haven't been. The only time I had was rod in my hand was while I was helping my youngest fishing a little bit ago". That time period was at the most thirty minutes. He continued pressing and made a few more accusations. The plain clothes officer searched my trunk, then dispatched another to check my in-laws cooler. After verifying their fish, they told them they were free to leave. My brother-in-law said he felt a little nosey, so he came over to see why they were still talking to me. The officer then said we had fished after we caught our limit so we needed to wait on another conservation officer. The wait ended up being over an hour before the officer in uniform showed up. He searched me for drugs, after finding nothing he walked over to his truck, requested my wife come over, and asked her where our fish were. She told him they were in her mothers car, which was still parked behind him. He then returned her and called me over, stating that someone told him I caught over 100 fish. Wow, what a day that would have been, fishing for a farm raised fish for my own pleasure. I told him I was not and told him once again about helping our youngest daughter. All day I had been laughing about people that fish "canned hunt" fishes like was going on that day but stated how it was great for the kids and they sure were having fun. I wouldn't fish for farm raised trout in Montauk if they offered me money! I'm a bass fisher and like the challenge of a wild fish. It is great for some, but as a bass fisher, I could not find fun in fishing there. He then returned me to my family, got in his truck, with not only my fishing license and drivers license, but also my brother-in-laws who was already cleared to go. When he returned he gave us a warning ticket for "Fishing in an unauthorized area, Trout Park". I know, most people would shrug off a warning ticket, but since we were NOT fishing, I found that highly offensive. Then I noticed what I believed to be what was really going on. Throughout the day they had been searching and cuffing people for drugs. Several were arrested for possession and they were hoping I would be their next mark. I hate drugs and of course didn't have any, nor would I. Since they detained us they had to do something, so they gave us a bogus ticket for something we didn't do and something my brother-in-law had already been clear of.

So, why just a fuss about a warning?

Its not about the warning, though I am very offended by it! It was the fact that they decided to use a family get together to try to do a sting and see how many people they could catch up. It was the fact that my children and wife had to sit in the sun, on the back of the car, for over an hour so they could play this game. It was the fact that many families had to be subjected to seeing this reoccurring thing or be subjected to the action of it. If this is what you call a Kid's Fishing Day, I will never have a part again. For the Missouri Department of Conservation to use such an event in such a misappropriate manner is not only offensive to all exposed, but also Totally Disrespectful to the children and the idea of family outings. If they are looking for family tourism, they are now scaring it away and will never see many of us again. My family, in-laws, and several friends will NEVER be a part of ANY Missouri Conservation event again, nor will we camp, fish, hunt, or visit another Missouri stat park again! The disrespect is unforgivable. From this day forward we will only visit national parks, parks of other states, and private owned properties.

Since when does conservation have undercover officers running around a river looking for a mark? That's exactly what they were doing and have probably done in the past.

Good Bye Missouri Conservation. You are not welcome here!