Go with the flow: Day on the River popular

The Mississippi River flowed robustly for Day on the River.

The fifth annual event, hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation, was a celebration Saturday of National Hunting and Fishing Day.

"Missouri is a great place to go hunting and fishing," Missouri Department of Conservation spokeswoman Angela Pierce said. "We want to let people know that the Mississippi has a wealth of resources for people to utilize for hunting, fishing and other recreational activities as well."

As residents explored tents and informational booths set up on the riverfront, they could see pelts and live animals from the Mississippi River and the surrounding wetlands. Children and adults watched an excitable snapping turtle and a somewhat demure yellow-bellied water snake in tanks. Attendees were able to use a net to catch and release catfish, sturgeon, carp and other common river-dwelling fish at another booth.

Tanks of enormous mussels and a field station from Southeast Illinois University displayed dragonfly larvae and other types of swamp-spawned insects.

But one of the most popular stands was Kyle Bales'. As part of an ongoing campaign to control the Asian carp population, Bales gave tutorials on how to fillet the notoriously invasive species. He also gave out recipes for grilling the fish.

"Yeah, it's a good white meat," he said, as he filleted the 2-foot-long fish, gathering about 3.5 pounds of boneless meat. "It takes a lot of crappie to get that much meat."

Fried Asian carp also was available for people to sample, and judging by the traffic the stand saw, it was a crowd-pleaser.

"I had never had it before today," Sherry Davey said of the fish. "It's very good. Sure, I'd get some at the market."

Attendees also were able to take rides in resource scientists' research boats, entertained while they waited by a Missouri Department of Conservation representative's presentation with a grumpy alligator snapping turtle.

Last year's event drew a crowd of about 3,000 people. Over the course of the day, this year's event looked on track to match it.

tgraef@semissourian.com