As you peruse the pages of this magazine, chances are that the landscape is covered with snow, and a relentless north wind is driving the mercury right through the bottom of your thermometer. Meanwhile, it’s also driving your electric bill into the stratosphere. It’s enough to make you scream.

The hunting seasons are over, so your only relief lies in the promise of good fishing. In Missouri, good fishing is a promise kept. There are so many places to go to have fun that you could spend the whole year sampling the delights of our far-flung waters. When you get done with your electric bill (or when it gets done with you), take what’s left, buy a new fishing license and check out a few of these great Show Me State opportunities.

JANUARY

Walleyes

Lake Of The Ozarks

Winter walleye fishing is a well-kept secret in Missouri to all but a diehard corps of dedicated anglers. While everybody else is hunkered down in a warm recliner watching the tube, these guys and gals are catching trophy walleyes throughout the state. One of Missouri’s best walleye lakes, this month or any other, is Lake of the Ozarks.

In January, walleyes cruise main-lake points following schools of shad. You can catch them by trolling deep-diving crankbaits, or slow rolling white grubs on a 1/8-ounce jighead. Your reward could be a fish or two weighing more than 10 pounds apiece.

No matter how bitter the weather, you can have a blast this month fishing for brown and rainbow trout in the Current River below Montauk State Park. Wooly buggers for fly fishers or trout-colored stickbaits for rod-and-reel anglers should do the trick.

For a change of pace, try catching a mess of white suckers at Lake Taneycomo this month. String several kernels of canned corn on a hook, and you can catch enough for a tasty meal.

FEBRUARY

Smallmouth Bass

Jacks Fork River

There’s no better medicine for cabin fever than a winter float-fishing trip for smallmouth bass on an Ozark stream. My favorite this month is the Jacks Fork River. Late winter is an ideal time to fish the upper section of the Jacks Fork, above Allie Spring, because water is usually plentiful, but relatively gentle. You can take your time and fish the pools with small medium- or deep-diving crankbaits near big boulders, shallow gravel banks and around any kind of wood cover.

If smallmouths are reluctant to hit crankbaits, drift with the current and drag 3-inch grubs along the bottom of the deep holes on 1/4-ounce or 1/2-ounce standup jigheads. Pay special attention to eddies below riffles. Smallmouths crowd into eddies for an easy meal. These are good places to catch a lot of smallies, with a chance at a good one.

While you’re down in southern Missouri, sneak in another trout fishing trip on the Roaring River below Roaring River State Park. Generous access makes it possible to do a number of short floats through trout-rich water. Nymphs are the ticket for flyfishermen. Small spoons and stickbaits will work for spincasters.

If you get hungry for a mess of crappie, try lakes Jacomo, Blue Springs or Prairie Lee. These Kansas City area lakes are loaded with fat winter slabs, and you can catch them with live minnows or light jigs.

MARCH

Trout

Trout Parks

March 1 is the opening of trout season at Missouri’s four trout parks. If you’ve never experienced it, you’re missing out on a rite of Missouri citizenship. On this day, anglers stand shoulder to shoulder, with scarcely enough room to hold a rod, yet they coexist in good humor and harmony. How anyone ever catches a fish is beyond me, but they do, and in amazing numbers. Depending on where you are in the parks, you can use fly-fishing equipment, ultralight spinning gear and dependable standbys such as marshmallows, corn and Powerbait.

While most of the trout you catch will be stocker size, there are some mighty big fish inhabiting the waters of the parks, and there’s always a chance to catch one.

Big walleyes are spawning at Long Branch Lake near Macon this month; you can catch them with crankbaits, spinner rigs and grubs over the riprap off the dam.

At Table Rock Lake, bass are coming out of their winter torpor. You can catch largemouths, smallmouths and Kentuckies in the James River and Kings River area on crankbaits, grubs and soft plastics on Carolina rigs.