Up Front With Sara Parker Pauley

Oh, the complexity of March! Not yet sure if she is winter or spring, one day warm and sunny, the next day cold and gray, we’re left wondering how best to navigate Mother Nature in order to get outdoors and shake the wintery chill from our bones. But with spring, comes the much-anticipated event for anglers — the March 1 trout opener. I love each of the four trout parks with their uniqueness of character and the passionate anglers so loyal to each one. I’m fortunate to see the season opener from Roaring River State Park this year, and as a serious coffee drinker, I’m always grateful to the Cassville Chamber of Commerce volunteers who deliver hot java to chilled anglers lining the stream banks. The closing of schools for this annual pilgrimage, including the busing of young anglers to the park for opening day, pulls at my Ozark-heritage heartstrings.

I also love the stretches of Missouri streams hosting wild trout. Last year, my husband and I, along with some friends, headed to Newburg, south of Rolla, to fish a stretch of Mill Creek for a remnant strain of the famed McCloud River Redband Trout. In the crystal-clear water, we found the trout to be elusive and shy, but we finally managed to catch a few that day.
While I’ve traveled far and wide, exploring wild Missouri remains at the top of my list. There is nothing better than an outdoor adventure close to home, especially to unwind from busy lives and hectic schedules (see the nature staycation ideas) Missouri proves to me over and over again that close-to-home adventures are far from ordinary!

Sara Parker Pauley, Director