FISHING THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI

The finished nets are more than 20 feet long and dipped in tar. Hoops are added to hold the net open in the Mississippi River current.

Harry Allen of Cape Girardeau doesn't have to tell fish stories anymore -- he's caught the mother of all Flathead catfish.

He hauled in the 54-pound, nearly 5-foot long black catfish out of the Mississippi River in 1994 in a hoop net that was nearly as long and round as the fish.

Ever since Allen retired from a 30-year position with Atlas Plastics in 1995 and began to work exclusively as a commercial fisherman, he's had more time to fill, and found more ways to fill it. He spends as much time as he can on the river, one of just a handful of commercial fishermen who work the Mississippi River around Cape Girardeau.

The hoop net is a series of fiberglass hoops spaced about three feet apart that form a tube in which a nylon mesh is secured around and through. The net is usually laid where the current can hold it open and has a narrowing tunnel of mesh inside that allows fish to swim in but not out.

Allen prefers to use the hoop net since it doesn't require a lot of maintenance, is reliable and easy to work with. And on cold rainy days like the ones Cape Girardeau has seen this week, Allen likes to spend a good portion of his time weaving and tying his own hoop nets.

True to form for a man who likes to tinker with engines and create bird sculptures out of screws, garden tools and marbles, he makes the tools that help him weave his nets.

He has carved and smoothed a wooden block that he wraps the nylon around. He ties the line using a type of knitting needle that also spools out the nylon as he needs it.

Taught how by his uncle Ralph Singleton nearly 20 years ago, Allen can sometimes make an entire 12-foot long net in a few hours. But since he doesn't have to rush things, he'll take a couple of rainy days to work his way through a net.

"It takes a long time. It's faster if you stand up to make them but I get lazy and I sit down more," he said. "When I've got nothing else to do, I'll sit around and knit nets."

Making the nets is a fine way to get some work done when the weather is not fit for fishing. But it is fishing that Allen does.

"That's how I do all my fishing with these dang nets," he said. "The only time I use rod and reel is if I want to go out there all night and just goof off."

The fishing industry in the Mississippi River is slightly on the rise while the number of commercial fishermen in the state has remained steady at about 341. The Mississippi has become more popular since the Missouri River was closed in 1994 to the harvesting of catfish, the "money fish," sand Jack Robinson, fish and wildlife researcher with Missouri Department of Conservation.

Even the number of catfish in the Mississippi River is suffering but regulating this waterway is more difficult because of the more relaxed regulations in Illinois.

"If we restricted the harvesting of catfish on the Missouri side, the commercial fishermen would just get licensed in Illinois," Robinson said. He said the amount of fish coming out of the Mississippi River has been declining in recent years.

But the fish that are coming out of the river have less pesticide contamination than sampled fish from the last decade.

Allen doesn't use bait to attract his fish, he relies on instinct and a vast knowledge of the Mississippi River to bring in as much as 600 pounds of catfish on a good outing.

"It depends on the fish," he said. "They're sort of like a rabbit, they don't run the same way all the time. You've got to find out which way they're running.

"Once you get used to the river you can pretty much tell where you're going to catch fish and where you're not."