JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and Trout Unlimited encourage anglers to test their fishing skills and pursue a “Blue-Ribbon Trout Slam” from Missouri’s nine blue-ribbon trout streams.

“Missouri’s blue-ribbon trout streams are areas in the state where trout reproduce naturally,” explained MDC Fisheries Programs Specialist Andrew Branson. “The fish are wary of predators, which makes for an authentic and challenging experience for anglers.”

WHERE TO FISH

The Blue-Ribbon Trout Slam honors anglers who catch a trout in at least 5 of MDC’s 9 blue-ribbon trout streams:

• Barren Fork Creek in Shannon County
• Blue Springs Creek in Crawford County
• Crane Creek in Lawrence County
• Current River in Dent County
• Eleven Point River in Oregon County
• Little Piney Creek in Phelps County
• Mill Creek in Phelps County
• North Fork of the White River in Ozark County
• Spring Creek in Phelps County

HOW TO ENTER

The Blue-Ribbon Trout Slam is divided into three levels:

• Bronze: Catch a trout from 5 of the 9 blue-ribbon trout areas and receive a certificate and bronze pin.
• Silver: Catch a trout from 7 of the 9 blue-ribbon trout areas and receive a certificate and silver pin.
• Gold: Catch a trout from all 9 blue-ribbon trout areas and received a certificate, gold pin, and medallion.

All pins and medallions awarded to participants have been provided by Trout Unlimited.

Anglers need to possess a trout permit if they want to keep their trout. Trout of any size will qualify for the Blue-Ribbon Trout Slam, but trout under 18 inches must be released.

Anglers can complete a Blue-Ribbon Trout Slam entry form each time they catch a trout. They may also submit a picture of their trout if they wish, but it is not required.

Once participants accomplish one of the three Trout-Slam levels, MDC will verify their submissions and mail them their award. Additionally, anglers can have their successes listed on the MDC website.

“This Trout Slam is a great new program that will encourage anglers to get outside and discover nature throughout the year,” said Branson.

I have already done this and probably won't be back in MO enough to repeat this slam. I hope that some folks on here get the itch to visit and catch trout from these waters. There is a big difference in how they fish. Here's a few photos of fish from my trips in the past.

Barren Fork Creek rainbow - gold ribbed hare's ear nymph under a indicator. Toughest thing about this trip was getting to and from the spots that I wanted to fish. Lots of hiking down and back up from the creek.

Blue springs - no photo this was the hardest creek to fish due to its size, many blow down trees in the best looking holes, and spooky trout. Landed only one trout on a 1/64 oz white marabou jig.

Crane Creek - Had to fish this one twice before landing my first trout. Have since caught trout most times that I fish the creek. I have always fished the upper wire road section. I have also caught grass pickerel on two occasions during Feb trips but didn't get any photos. Photo is my PB a 15 inch male caught on a weighted glo ball.

Current River - My favorite trout river in the state. Usually target brown trout with big streamers and jerkbaits. My PB brown ( 23.75" - 5 lbs 4 oz) and rainbow (22" - 4 lbs 5 oz) trout both came from this river.

Eleven Point - Caught my first rainbow below the bridge at the Greer access. Tough to fish from foot due to limited access and thick weed growth along river edges. Have fished it a few times from a boat and has a lot of variety of fish like chain pickerel and shadow bass as well as trout.

Little Piney - no Photo - I caught my first confirmed stream bred fish (about 4 to 5" in length) in the upper section of the creek with a #14 tan scud.

Mill Creek -  I have only fished this creek a few times. Photo is one of the first rainbows that I caught there. The largest trout that I ever encountered there was 20+" and I rolled it with on a cicada fly during the 13 and 17 yr periodical hatch. That fish haunts me.

North Fork of the White river - Caught my first rainbows while fishing with my wife and youngest daughter and using a canoe from Sunburst. Sorry about the extended mouth on this guy. Caught him on black and olive 1/16 oz marabou jig. Also caught my first knobfin sculpin on that trip as well . The next day I caught my first brown trout from that river in the red ribbons section below the Patrick bridge.

Spring Creek - Fished in Oct and caught feisty rainbows with 1/32 oz white marabou jigs.

It's also almost never true. 

It is definitely accurate that you can generally tell if you've hit the stocking lottery or the inverse pretty quickly. A couple summers back, I was floating the 11 Point, and got nearly blanked in the Blue Ribbon section. I crossed into White Ribbon water at Turner Mill, and started hauling them in like I was at the Bass Pro aquarium. It's not hard to do the math there. 

Conversely, I had almost the exact inverse happen the time I was there before that. Caught fish until my arms got sore until Turner Mill, then caught less than a dozen over the next two days in the White Ribbon water. Not exactly dead, but so much as hooking a fish was an absolute event. 

What I can honestly say is that I don't believe I've ever been to a put and take water in the Ozarks (outside of urban ponds) that I came away believing was actually fished out. I have had lots of times when all the good looking, easy to access pools seemed to be empty of trout, but there is almost always a way. Maybe there is a pool with steep banks and so much dead fall that it's almost impossible to fish, but if you slide down precariously on your backside and make the perfect cast, you can just make it work.

Sometimes, you find yourself doing what I call reading water in reverse. This means you are less trying to piece together where the trout want to be, and more trying to find the small, but real crossover between where trout can survive, but most fishermen wouldn't bother taking a cast. Maybe 98% of the riffle is way too shallow, but there are two little pockets that are just deep enough. It takes some looking, and some false starts, but it works more often than you think. 

Now, I could easily ask myself if any of this is worth it. After all, the blue ribbon, wild trout streams exist, and generally provide much more consistent fishing, along with prettier, wilder fish. And that's all true. But I have some sort of personality flaw, where I always think to myself "okay, that's the popular stretch, but what about all that water down there no one has much of anything to say about?" I often find that these so called put and take streams provide a sort of challenge that is generally not available on most Missouri trout streams, where, wild or stocked, you generally know where the fish will be or in roughly what numbers.

On these stream stretches, it might be hilariously easy or the most frustrating day of the year that you only pull out of the fire with one 11 inch trout right before sunset. You just never know which it'll be, and that's the fun part.

I have spots already but they are done up with minimal research. Goal is of course a "trout" in each state but would also like Brookies if I can force it reasonably. 

GA has a trout slam so I will have to catch each there as well. 

Will do swing through MS/AL going/coming. MS has not stocked yet but I am hopeful. 

So, Rockbridge was pretty neat, and nice little place. Kinda expensive to be honest, that's the real down side, but otherwise really nice. I'd say if it was 20% cheaper it would be right about what I think it's worth, but as a splurge while I'm learning, not too bad.

So, I was out there fly fishing for maybe 2 hours, and didn't get any fish on. I tried floating flies on the surface, tried nymphs under a bobber at the right depth to practically roll off their faces, nothing. There were plenty of other fishermen out, and I saw a few flyfishermen land fish, but really not very many.

So finally I put the fly rod up and switched to a rooster tail, and immediately first cast, a big one. And not just a first cast fluke, every time I pulled a roostertail through them, they swarmed it aggressively.

Since you have to pay by the fish there, I put the rooster tail away and thought I had cracked the code, they are in the mood for reactive strikes at moving targets, ok so I'll fly fish streamers then, to try and get that same kind of bite. Another hour, nothing. I tried a couple different colorations, I tried letting the streamer just float past them, tried stripping it in quickly, tried stripping it in in short little hops, tried basically every retrieve I could think of, and they'd kinda chase it a little, but never bite it.

So eventually I switched back to a roostertail and they immediately started hammering it against, and I very quickly caught honestly more fish than I wanted to pay for and had to stop myself. 

I fished for about 4 hours total, but caught all my fish on the roostertail in about 10 minutes, my final weigh out was 13ish pounds of fish with an average of 3.1 pounds per fish. It was expensive, but I've got trout for the next 3 months in my freezer.

So, in my very limited experience so far, Trout lose their minds for a rooster tail and don't seem to care much about anything else. 

After that I drove over to Northfork, where I have heard there is good Trout fishing in the blue ribbon section. I waded out into some of the riffles and went back to flyfishing, using nymphs and streamers with enough weight to keep them down a bit in the heavy current, and I did land one Smallmouth, that was fun, but no trout.

Anyway, that's the result of my trout trip last weekend. 

Will I ever go back to Rockbridge? Maybe as a treat for a friend or something where they definitely want to catch fish, but for my own self, probably not. Don't get me wrong, if you want to 100% catch as many big trout as you want, it's the place. But it was actually too easy (once I switched to rooster tail that is) it almost felt like cheating. It wasn't as rewarding as I'd like.

I will say, I had a burger in their restaurant before leaving, and I dunno if I was just really hungry, but that was one of the best burgers I've ever had.

Got on the water at the crack of dawn, so I have about 3 hours of alone time on the river before it fills up with party floaters. 
 

Used 2 set ups the whole time- set up 1: small hook with 2-3 powerbait artificial eggs on it, about a foot up from what a small split shot weight. I fished this by tossing it into currents and letting it float put logs/cover or swing out and settle into eddies for a minute before reeling in. Sometimes I’d toss it into a deeper hole and let it sink to the bottom and sit there for a minute. Set up 2 was a small rooster tail that I fished more or less the same way you would for smallies. 
 

So! A few questions please-

Is this a good spot? I know trout aren’t native to our waters and only exist in places they are stocked, or are descended from stocked populations. I know there is a hatchery at Bennet, so in theory you’d barely be able to get a hook in the water without catching a fish, but maybe it’s overfished? I honestly have no idea. I just know I caught only 3 for 10 or so hours of fishing and probably passed 100 other fishermen and never saw anyone else landing a trout. That seems awfully meager pickings for having a hatchery right there. 
 

Is trout fishing just a really slow kind of fishing? I have no frame of reference. I know it feels really slow compared to like bass fishing, but fishing all morning for 1 or 2 might be par for the course for all I know.

It’s my understanding. That like 99% of the fish you catch at or just below a hatchery are relatively small, and you have to go to waters where they have time to grow and breed naturally to get bigger trout. Are there “good” trout streams of that kind in Missouri? Or are those fish exceedingly rare?

I had not done the amount of research I normally do but knew we had plenty of time to pivot if we would need it with few targets and all being reasonably close together. Little Kern Goldens, Kern River Rainbows, and California Golden Trout. 

Landed in Vegas about 1 am Saturday 8/26. Caught a few hours of sleep then burning a trail across the desert to the mountains. Original plan was straight for the California Golden Trout but we decided at last minute to pivot and work West to East. Up into the mountains we went higher and higher along the mainstem of the Kern river. 

Dropped in right away at first trailhead to good fishing for Little Kern Goldens. What they lack in size, they make up for in color. A very short hike to find fish.

That fish turned out to be my big fish of the trip.

We all 3 caught more fish than we cared to count in just a couple hours of fishing. Also got our first wet muddy boots in the meadows. Fishing mostly in a burn scar and many, many trees we thought could fall anytime in the wind. We decided not to sleep here and head down a curvy road to town. 

The usual suspects gathered yet again for another fest (feast).   Myself,  Cody @gotmuddy, DJ, Brandon @fmcbrandon, Ryan @Ryan Miloshewski, Ray, Asian Brandon,  Rob, Kevin and a couple GreenHorns Mike and Dustin,  made our way down to Flippin,AR to fish the White River during the Juneteenth weekend.    Some great rainbows were caught by @fmcbrandon and @Ryan Miloshewski while on a guided trip Thursday. 

 We all met at the Airbnb house on Thursday. 

 The host warned us of the need for 4wd, but we are men..  we don't need no stinking 4wd....  famous last words.  There may have been a need for a wrecker,  and additional need for tow straps.  

Cody and Brandon brought boats, and we took turns within the boats. 

We had an opportunity to tie the boats off in front of the house, so Cody motored his up to the house.  Greenhorn decided to take out Cody's boat Saturday evening, with Asian Brandon but neither had any clue how to operate the trolling motor.  That was quite a funny event to watch.  They may have even ran the boat out of fuel.  

We all fished Friday,  it was brutally hot, the fish were not really active. Not many were caught.  The ones in boats seemed to have the advantage to get lures into the deeper water where the fish were hidden. 

Friday evening Ryan needed internet signal to take care of a work situation, and had to drive to the top of the hill in the subdivision we were stying in.  The road is a very narrow, one way gravel road, and did I mention 4wd needed?  We found out why.

Due to the heat, I stayed in the house Saturday Rob did as well. Rob went to town to get a cord to fix the wifi that we didn't have working in the cabin.  No cell coverage either.  Thankfully he got it working,  we were able to watch movies as well as have wifi.  We watched a few movies while talking and hanging out Saturday after dinner.  Not many fishnwere caught,  Asian Brandon still had not caught anything all weekend,  and this was a gathering to celebrate his return home from Kuwait.   

Saturday evening while taking Cody's Boat back to the launch, Asian Brandon went to give it one last try.   He caught one fish, the only person of 3 to catch that evening. He caught a nice Brown, I believe the only one of the trip.  

Sunday as we were leaving I tried to successfully navigate the gravel road out with my van, and I was not successful.   Luckily Cody had a heavy tow strap, and Ray was still there with his 4wd truck.   He pulled me up the hill, and we got out.  

On the highway on the way out of town, Cody's trailer hub started smoking, and he pulled over with a trashed bearing.  Ray was able to take Cody to the parts store and they got it fixed.  

Oh, yeah, we had food.   Lots of food.   Smoked boneless, skinless chicken thighs, homeade deer kolaches,  some extremely hot salsa, smoked brisket, smoked deviled eggs, amazing baked beans made with apple pie filling, huge breakfasts including scrambled eggs, bacon, deer bacon,  biscuits and gravy.  Amazing wild turkey and dumplings,  smoked chicken wings,  shrimp and pasta, deer brats, smoked trout dip, huge homeade cinnamon rolls with homeade chocolate eclair cake and cheese cake for desert.   I'm certainly missing other foods.   GreenHorn Dustin brought a bunch of homeade wine,   it was so good.  

Spring River hatchery drying out one month after flood  • Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

oneshot 

Nice Old Mill,Restaurant and Store.

Ok what about the Trout? Nice big fish average 3 pounds. What about price?

Over $15 a pound. If you release a fish in the fish and keep area you would be charged the cost of fish and release area which is over $260.

HMM little steap for me. I'll continue on the Niangua. 

oneshot 

This page from the MDC doesn't mention rubber cement as ok: https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/porous-soled-waders-ban

However, this MDC page has a video about treating porous soles with rubber cement, implying that it's acceptable:https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/protect-missouri-fishing/dont-spread-didymo

Can anyone clarify? 

Hatchery team praised for successful trout stocking across Arkansas, boosting fishing ops

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I headed downstream and found a nice hole to fish. 

After my initial attempts at getting a strike were spurned, I had to make a shift in plans. The snow had now turned to feezing rain and my fishing window was closing. I just knew that this hole was the best spot for a holdover stocker in the limited time provided by the weather. (purists cover your ears/eyes 😉😂) Since I was planning on keeping a fish or two, I tied on a #20 treble hook with a split shot about 6 inches from the hook. I put on a couple of bubblegum colored Gulp eggs and cast out into the current seam on the edge of the deep water. I have used this setup to harvest stockers for years from stocked ponds like the Urban trout program in MO. It didn't take long and I hooked and landed a decent 13" stocker rainbow. 

I would love to say that I caught a few more, but no more bites even from casts to spots that should have had fish. The weather was getting worse and I had a bit of drive home and decided to leave after 20 or so mins after catching that trout. I can't complain since I did end up catching a trout in a new location. I plan on coming back to this area and hope to find some decent fallfish or maybe some interesting micros.

I plan on making this trout with a hot chili/sesame oil with lemongrass. Maybe that will end up on the What's cooking thread.

Does anyone know, or have any archived information on this topic?

Original plan was to land Friday mid morning, drive to Eagle Lake, Ca and fish at the latest until Saturday morning. About this time last year, I was at Eagle Lake and had to settle for a stocked Eagle Lake Rainbow within the native drainage. This would make my 4th trip to Eagle Lake so nothing is guaranteed. 

Landed Friday to blowing snow and high winds. Temps in Reno were hovering in the mid-30's. Eagle lake sits at 5100 elevation and you have to traverse a pass to get there on marginal roads. We made a game time decisions to head toward Pyramid and fish the conditions. 

Got to Blockhouse. Big wind blowing right across the drop out in front of the point. Big 1/2oz black HD zig zigs. Big waves crashing into shore spitting sleet and snow. 

Disclaimer, I had a college roommate fish with me. Has fished before but not a fisherman...beginners luck was strong. First 30 minutes he catches this. Really a short fight for this size fish.

My net weighs 2lb on the dot and I brought the biggest net that fits in my checked bag....and it really isn't big enough. 

It wasn't long and I was catching. I had a yearly goal for a 10lber and this would be the closest I would get. 

Fish was between 8 and 9 lbs. Did not get exact weight never let the scale settle out perfect-knew it wasn't 10lb and moved on. Caught 2 this size back to back...this one is by far prettier. 

Friday was the pick day for catching.....Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were much nicer weather and better for fishing. Most fish around this size.....not a numbers game. Quality > Quantity

We did fish Eagle Lake.....I will save you all the drama and headache but finally caught an Eagle Lake Rainbow. Its a beautiful lake and area but I think I'll be fine never seeing it again.

On one day we went up in the mountains to go see the St Elmo ghost town. The boys and the wifey fed the chipmunks, and we had a great time. Its super beautiful up there. There’s a little mountain stream called Chalk Creek that goes along the road up to St Elmo that holds trout. I caught this baby brown on a fly there, which was super cool.

After Salida, we went to go visit my Aunt in Evergreen. My cousin took me down to Deckers on the South Platte river. This was my favorite place to fish in Colorado. I caught this super pretty brown on a marabou jig. Using my cousin’s fly rod, i caught this rainbow on leach pattern. Beautiful, beautiful place.

And then one day, we all went to Silverthorne. While the everyone hit the outlet mall, i fished the Blue river and caught some pretty rainbows on marabou jigs there. Here are a few of them. The biggest rainbow i’ve ever seen followed one of my fish in. Never could get him to bite though. 

Is there any place/stream/location that is a must hit or things we absolutely shouldn't miss?

Obviously going to do the Utah/Wyoming cutt-slams and jumping across into Montana to fish one or 2 spots. We should have plenty of time vs. previous trips. 

One spot that consistently comes up for trout is Garrison Dam tailrace but there is not a lot of details. Is this a reasonable spot for Trout? ND says they stock but all the details show catfish, walleye not trout. Is this even a place one could bank fish and stand a chance? I am certain its water level dependent.

Just trying to get some general information.