Jthawks

I love using mine in the small wild trout creeks in Missouri. i have a 7'6" 3wt. I notice the smaller fish better

holy smokes! awesome

haha I cast a few ways it just depends...in those small places that's usually how I cast and yeah... lefty

I made a video of various strikes I had on a spin lure. I usually cast upstream and cast far away in the small creek areas. I try not to let trout know I'm anywhere near them by casting far enough. When I walk up to an area that I think has trout I cast with my spin lure first and then use my fly rod. I often find where the trout hang out with my spin reel, I love the combo of using both. I'm just not good enough with my fly rod yet. Cheers and enjoy

I like fishing from the bank near the dam b/c well....I don't have a boat lol and it's easiest. I like to dry fly fish so 1/2 to 1 unit at most makes fishing near the dam perfect.

From Taneycomo to a couple small creeks I had luck catching them on #20 #22 Griffith's knat b/c there are always midges in Missouri and the same size for BWO and adams fly. I remember at the trophy area at Taneycomo (2020) I caught a trout on a mosquito during early January lol it must of thought it was a midge or may fly. A crackleback worked once....but I'm new to this and only winter fished this year and a little last winter. Folks tell me BWO and midge dry fly patterns work best....but probably could fool a hungry fish on anything close to a bug. I'm still learning so I check out One Cast-lilley's Landing, Orvis podcast, mad river outfitters youtube, tightlinevideo youtube, etc which I'm pretty sure you're familiar with Lilley's lol

this sounds fun. have fun on the trip. not sure if i can swing a Wednesday trip...I hope you share pics. Crane Creek is awesome. I caught one little rainbow there on my spinning reel. I hope to catch one there on a fly rod this year. good luck ya'll...I'd like to challenge those that go to try to catch one on a dry fly lol...I love catching fish on dry flies in the winter.

2021 was a great year of fishing for me. I caught my first Blue Ribbon Area trout after a few attempts and then I couldn't stop. Also, in these creeks/rivers I caught many (some good size) creek chubs/shiners. I went to all the trout parks this year and managed to catch a trout on a dry fly at each of them and also caught a 15" trout on a dry fly at Taneycomo's trophy area on Christmas day. I finally caught a wild trout at Crane Creek (on a lure-going to try the fly rod again). Crane makes it 6 area completed...one more for silver and two more for gold. It's been fun even on the days I didn't catch any trout. The biggest wild trout was from Blue Springs Creek at 13". I also was excited to finally make a decent dry fly and catch a trout on one. 52 trout caught from 6 Blue Ribbon Areas (1 was a brown at the Current River) which gets me Bronze for the MO Trout Slam Current River: 1 brown & 3 rainbows (4 hooked and lost) (dry fly challenge completed) Blue Springs Creek: 15 rainbows (a few hooked and lost) (dry fly challenge completed) (wet fly challenge completed) Little Piney Creek: 8 rainbows (a few hooked a lost) (dry fly challenge completed) Mill Creek: 21 rainbows (a couple hooked and lost) (dry fly challenge completed) (homemade dry fly challenged completed) Spring Creek: 3 rainbows Crane Creek: 1 rainbow (two hooked and lost) I also made a quick fast paced video summary of me catching fish. 2 minutes plus in time. As far as fresh water goes I caught my first striped bass, my first cat fish, and my first smallmouth bass. I caught a few 9" bluegills which were fun on a fly rod, and a good size sucker at a trout park. I can't wait to fish the other blue ribbon areas and to catch a trout on a dry fly in all the blue ribbon areas 4 of the 6 completed on dry fly challenge....5 to go). Here's to enjoying the outdoors and to 2022.

Thanks! I did see some big creek chub, and a few good size trout too. The water was low or normal for this time of year I suppose. My family lives an hour away from there. I need to check out parts I haven't been to yet. Still learning the more common fishing spots.

I caught my first from this blue ribbon area....it's suppose to be one of the last McCloud Rainbow pure breeds in the country (that orginally came from California) and I can say this creek in Missouri has them. I've fished this spot a few times before, hooked one and lost it last time about a month ago and this time I landed a little guy. I hooked up on two others and they got off, and had a strike and a miss. Also, I caught a creek chub. So I'd say this has been the most eventful fishing day for this creek that I've ever had. I think I'll continue to do better ever time...regardless if it's winter or low water or high water. My goal is to catch one fish every time I come to this creek. Cheers to completing the blue ribbon trout area slam....3 more areas to go! Eleven Point/North Fork/Barren Fork. I've tried Barren Fork and I hate that place....but it sure is beautiful lol I've caught a shiner there at least.

Thanks for all the advice and support. I'll refrain from giving too much detail and expect some messages/comments for details. I shot some footage of my latest creek adventure that I posted about. Made a quick 2 minute plus video. Soft hackle won, griffith's knat wasn't working for this spot. My spinning lure didn't work either. Just 2 caught and 2 hooked that got off and a couple misses in an hour or two. It was on the way home from the red ribbon spot. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfWJ6R0r8cE

that would troll someone for sure! lol

very cool

Yup, Meramec red ribbon cardiac hill access area. I think it's fine sharing the places I fish, I just don't want to pee anyone off. I was told on another forum that I shouldn't...and I said it's Missouri and I fish creeks mostly....I doubt people from across the world will come to the creeks to catch a few wild trout lol I mean the conservation dept is promoting people to fish it more with the trout slam! It brings money to the state....and every hole in a creek is a honey hole....and the Meramec is stocked....so why would I care if people know about that Mo gov. managed area lol....I just don't care about spot burning. Now if I was promoting my favorite spots to fish in these creeks/rivers I guess that takes away from it all. I'm conflicted and willing to hear people's opinions....that's why I'm now being discreet. But if I post a video on youtube of a creek I fish....I'm including the name of it. I plan on doing a video on all 9 blue ribbon areas some day and I'll definitely share the names. But for a forum...I guess I should be secretive. i don't know. I guess I'm suppose to personal message folks for the spot locations.

I'll post all my wild rainbow trout (Blue Ribbon Trout Area) pics here and other fish pics etc. I recently fished a blue ribbon creek yesterday. Caught two 6" wild rainbows (and hooked a couple that got off the hook). I snapped one pic of a beautiful little trout. All were caught using soft hackle in fast ripples. Cheers. I'll add previous pics here soon. I saw this on my way to the Red Ribbon area at Meramec. Pretty cool. Anyone seen these before? Fly library?