Columbia Trout

Trout fishing may conjure images of a fly rods and picturesque spring-fed streams, but yesterday an opportunity opened up to go for trout just down the road from my house a couple of miles, using traditional pond fishing techniques.

Actually, the opportunity to catch these trout has been there all winter, but yesterday was the first day you could keep them. There are several trout recipes remaining in Cooking Wild in Missouri, so we had to give it a shot.

The lake at Cosmo Bethel is stocked with trout in the fall, and on February 1 you can start taking them home, limit four, if you can hook them. I took Henry and Oliver there right after school, and we were joined by about 60 other anglers. It was about 60 and sunny, so we didn’t expect anything different. Due to vegetation, you can only approach the water on about half of the lake, so it was pretty crowded in spots, but there was still room to get your line in the water.

We stayed until dark, and left empty handed. We had some light bites, but failed to hook anything. Henry was dedicated, with his motivation primarily driven not by glory, but by his taste for trout. Oliver was too tempted by the playground nearby.

I would say about 80 percent of the people out there didn’t catch anything, but on the other hand I saw four guys catch their limit in the two hours that I was there, so I know that it’s possible. We’re going to have to give it another go while this weather is holding out. This is the same lake that people were ice-fishing on at this time of year a couple of years ago.