MoTroutHunter

I lurk occasionally but don't usually see anything to comment on. If someone asks a question I could answer, 15 people have already answered it 8 different ways and are arguing about it. Ain't nobody got time for that. :-) I should probably throw some fishing reports up from time to time, though.

Two itty bitty creeks on the same day? You know better than that! :-P

Thanks for the shout-out FFM -- Sorry about being 6 months or so late to the party on this post. Unfortunately no legit fly shops anywhere near Rolla. Can't speak for Sam, but I do almost all my supplies shopping online. I'd probably spend a grand a year in a local shop, if one existed. There is a new tackle & archery shop in St. James on Hwy 8 -- just outside the city limits on the way to Maramec Spring Park. Haven't been in to take a look, but I hear they're stocking "some fly fishing supplies". Don't know what that means, though. There's also a Bass Pro outlet on I-44 about 10 miles west of Rolla, but not a great selection re: fly fishing. It's a real shame. Rolla is primed for a fly shop to succeed here. We've got 10 trout fishing destinations within about a 90 minute drive. Can't believe no one has figured that out yet! Anyone wanna lend me a couple hundred grand to open one up? No, really... Walt

Hey Brian, For my money, I'd probably skip Mill for now and spend twice as much time on Little Piney -- especially in the summer. The water levels on Mill are better than they have been the last few years, but the trout numbers are still WAAAAAY down. It will be a few years before the population rebounds, assuming we continue to get decent rains to recharge the spring pool. Little Piney's been fishing pretty well. As the water gets warm and oxygen goes down, the fish are getting pushed downstream. In the blue ribbon section, you'll find good catch rates between Lane Spring and Vida Slab. As the water gets warmer, the Vida Slab area will continue to get better. The white ribbon section (Milldam) has also been fishing well, and it should continue to produce until the hottest part of the year. MDC stocks it every three weeks or so, and there's not a lot of fishing pressure compared to some of our other white ribbon areas. You know how to read water as well as anyone, so I'd just hit it and do your thing. Right now most of the fish are in the pools, but you can still pull some out of the riffles. The basic rule of thumb is smaller sizes on nymphs and larger sizes on dries, but basically traditional patterns -- PT, Hare's Ear, Adams, BWO, EHC, etc. They're not terribly picky about the pattern, but can be touchy about the approach, cast & presentation. Bring a few brown drake patterns as well, just in case. In the white ribbon area, think attractors -- leaches, buggers, glo-bugs, Y2K's. If you want some company, let me know when you're up. We've still never had the opportunity to fish together. Walt Fulps MissouriTroutHunter.com

Leonard, As soon as I get the dates, I'll be sure to post the info on Missouri Trout Hunter, too. Any idea of how many are planning to show?

Drew, There is no real "trophy" area at Maramec Spring Park, or any of the parks for that matter. You may be thinking of the Red Ribbon area, which is the Meramec River outside of the trout park. The parks are all generally managed to allow fishermen to harvest a few trout that are slightly larger than average. Of course, there are trophy fish there, but they were generally stocked that size. For a trout to survive the kind of fishing pressure you see at the parks to grow to trophy size is pretty much impossible. During the first week of November, Maramec Spring stocked a good number of monster fish culled from Montauk's brood stock, simply to make the winter catch & release season more fun. What a sight it was. They're also stocking a small number of normal-sized fish each week throughout the winter. The Red Ribbon area has plenty of big trout to chase, but right now the park is crazy with giant fish. That will probably change sometime in March.