FYI- In Oklahoma there is a very active paddlefish fishery in a number of rivers. It is especially prolific in Grand Lake in NE Okla. The tributaries of Grand Lake are the Neosho and Grand Rivers. Paddlefish are normally harvested by snagging in the spring when they run up river to spawn. Snagging is prohibited in the Grand
River but permitted in the Neosho. There is a daily limit of 1 paddlefish per day, which is the most generous in the country I believe. I have taken a 40 lb paddlefish myself 2 years ago. It was a female and I made caviar and ate the flesh. Both were superb. The flesh is like other cartilaginous fish I have eaten such as sturgeon and shark insofar as the muscle fibers are interlaced so that the meat does not flake like, say, cod fish or grouper. The federal fisheries guys raise them and have been stocking in several tailwaters including Texoma. Since they are native to the great plains rivers they must like running water but in Grand Lake they reside all year long in the lake itself and only are in the rivers in numbers during the spawning run.
