Maramec Spring Park - Opening Day of Trout Season 2021
My family has never been big on traditions. We don’t make a big deal out of holidays, we don’t take an annual vacation to Florida and we don’t do anything on an annual basis that I’d consider special. Four years ago, when I met Sara and her family, that all changed. Her dad Doug invited us on a camping trip to one of our states local trout parks, and everything…and I do mean everything in my life changed.
That weekend really cemented my love for Sara’s family. It established some traditions that four years later, we still practice today. The trout parks of Missouri will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason.
The James Foundation, who owns and operates Maramec Spring Park, invited Outdoors Podcast to attend Opening Day of trout season, on March 1, 2021. The park sees around one-thousand anglers each year on the festive occasion with some participants lining up as early as 2:00pm the previous day.
The gates officially opened at 5:30am on Monday morning and over 600 tags were sold before the opening siren and cannon fire.
The first fish were landed in mere seconds and fun was had across the park for the next several hours. The main activity died down by around 10:00am with most of the crowd heading home by early afternoon.
Maramec Spring Park, located in St. James Missouri, just an hour and forty-five minutes drive down highway 44 from St. Louis is a throwback to simpler times. The 1800 acre park, owned and operated by the James Foundation was established in 1938 with the establishment of the foundation. Lucy Wortham James, the last living James family member wrote to her executors…”As this is considered to be the most beautiful spot in Missouri, it is my great hope that you will arrange that it may ever be in private, considerate control, and ever open to the enjoyment of the people.” The core tenant of the foundation is to maintain the park and surrounding lands in as close to original condition as possible. The iron forges that ran in the late 1800’s can still be seen near the spring to today.
We had a great time attending opening day and speaking with families that had been coming to Maramec Spring Park for over 50 years. I truly hope you get to find yourself waking up at 4:45am in the nearby campground, it’s a trip you won’t regret.
