Catch-and-keep season at Missouri’s four trout parks will begin Thursday, and state officials expect thousands will turn out, regardless of weather.

Missouri has three public trout parks – Bennett Spring near Lebanon, Montauk near Salem and Roaring River near Cassville. The fourth trout park – Maramec south of St. James – is owned and operated by a private agency.

The conservation department operates hatcheries at all four trout parks, and stocks approximately three fish per angler for opening day.

How do hatchery managers know how many anglers to expect?

“We have attendance records going back more than 50 years,” state official George Kromrey said. “With decades of figures to base our predictions on, we have a very good idea how many anglers to expect on a particular day of the week.”

Kromrey said weather was the wild card. However, even extremely cold, snowy or rainy weather does not seem to deter most anglers.

“Opening day is a tradition for lots of people,” he said. “It is a social event and a way of marking the changing of the seasons. Most people are going to come, regardless of the weather.”

Projections for this year are for a turnout of 2,300 anglers at Bennett Spring, as many as 2,200 at Montauk, 2,000 at Roaring River and 1,500 at Maramec Spring.

This year’s opening-day attendance could top 8,000 with favorable weather. The record of 14,947 was set in 1992, when the opener fell on a Sunday.

Missouri’s trout parks remain popular tourist destinations throughout the eight-month catch-and-keep season. Last year the Conservation Department sold 413,800 daily trout fishing permits at the parks.