I've talked to this fisheries specialist before, by phone and by email, and we've discussed pickerel, among other things. He's been very pleasant and helpful. It's just that when I saw this statement on their website extolling the great variety of fish, “almost any species,” that can be caught in MO ponds, it got my goat a bit. He answered as if we were discussing natural conditions, but the website referred to farm ponds, i.e., stocked ponds.
I've already learned that pickerel are not on MO's list of approved species. The list was prepared in the '50s, and it's a waste of time trying to get anything added to it, or so I've been told. But I thought I might send him some “testimonials” by people who have or have had pickerel in their ponds and are pleased with the fish. I would show that under the right conditions they do thrive in ponds and explain that it's in the context of private stocking that I contacted him. The problem would be, as canyoncreek said, to appear congenial and not argumentative.
Maybe if pickerel become more popular in parts of the county where they are legal, pressure will be put on MO to add them to their list and they will find a way to do that.
