Montauk State Park
Between March 1 and October 31
The daily limit is 4 trout, with a minimum size restriction of 15 inches to keep brown trout. A daily fishing tag is required. Regulations vary by zone. There are three fishing areas: (1) Montauk lake and the raceways upstream of the bridge near the hatchery offices are catch-and-release fly fishing only; (2) From the northern boundary of the park downstream to the dam is restricted to flies only; and (3) the remaining water within the park boundaries are open to all flies, lures and baits.
Between mid-November and mid-February
Catch-and-release fly fishing is permitted from 8:00am to 4:00pm Friday through Monday. A winter season tag is required.
Many believe Montauk State Park is the finest of the four Missouri trout parks, and this is an opinion with merit. While the most popular trout park, Bennett Spring, has 1-1/2 miles of stream available, Montauk boasts twice that much. And with significantly fewer visitors than Bennett, there are many areas where a fisherman can fish in a truly wild setting with a some decent elbow room. And if you just can't seem to get enough privacy to suit you, the Current River Blue Ribbon area is just downstream from the park.
A portion of the river within the park has been manipulated by human hands, but the majority of the waters appear in a natural state. There are some boulders placed here and there to enhance the structure and shelter for the fish, but there is minimal channelization and bank access is not uniformly wide open. While bait fishermen tend to focus their efforts on the big pools with easy bank access, there's a couple of miles of textbook trout stream that sees only moderate pressure even in the heart of the tourist season.
The most popular fishing baits for Montauk are traditional dough baits, mini-crankbaits, marabou jigs, rubber worms, the Kruse mohair leech, zug bugs, wooly buggers, and glo-bugs, but more natural Western-style flies work as well. As is the case with most of the trout parks, sight fishing tends to be the secret weapon. Sight fishing (casting small lures or flies to specific fish in an attempt to drift the bait to the fish's nose) will often produce more fish than all other methods, regardless of bait used.
The park offers the opportunity to relax and unwind to even those who do not fish. There are picnic pavilions, playgrounds, hiking trails, a great floating river downstream of the park, and of course the trout hatchery is fun to visit. The park store also has a nice restaurant and an ice cream shop.
Montauk is located southwest of Salem on Hwy 119.
A portion of the river within the park has been manipulated by human hands, but the majority of the waters appear in a natural state. There are some boulders placed here and there to enhance the structure and shelter for the fish, but there is minimal channelization and bank access is not uniformly wide open. While bait fishermen tend to focus their efforts on the big pools with easy bank access, there's a couple of miles of textbook trout stream that sees only moderate pressure even in the heart of the tourist season.
The most popular fishing baits for Montauk are traditional dough baits, mini-crankbaits, marabou jigs, rubber worms, the Kruse mohair leech, zug bugs, wooly buggers, and glo-bugs, but more natural Western-style flies work as well. As is the case with most of the trout parks, sight fishing tends to be the secret weapon. Sight fishing (casting small lures or flies to specific fish in an attempt to drift the bait to the fish's nose) will often produce more fish than all other methods, regardless of bait used.
The park offers the opportunity to relax and unwind to even those who do not fish. There are picnic pavilions, playgrounds, hiking trails, a great floating river downstream of the park, and of course the trout hatchery is fun to visit. The park store also has a nice restaurant and an ice cream shop.
Montauk is located southwest of Salem on Hwy 119.
| montauk_state_park_map.pdf |