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?

Again, 13" seems to be the biggest. I wish there was a 18" keeper there. I can't stand eating stocked trout. I'd fish a hundred times for a 18" over fishing to eat a stocked trout. I know many wouldn't keep a 18" but I would if it's not spawning season. No shame in it

Fishing with snow on the ground sounds pretty fun. 13" is huge for this creek it seems. I got lucky and got a 13" at this creek on a lure, but not on a fly rod. I think I'm going to try there again this December, maybe I can check off fishing during a snow storm off the old bucket list.

Question for those that have fished this creek......What's the biggest trout that you've caught at Blue Springs Creek? What time of year and what fly/lure? And where was it roughly in the creek? closer to the meramec river or above the bridge closer to the salvation army camp?

After everyone commented that shiners count as catches too, and the comments about some of the catches possibly being bleeding shiners, I decided to look up what a bleeding shiner was compared to other shiners. I stumbled across a website microfishing and thought it was interesting. I guess it would be just as enjoyable catching the tiny overlooked fish in the water. Also, I looked at the images in the video of the shiners I caught and they did look like they had a dark area around the gills...so I guess they are bleeding shiners. I'll take a picture of one of them next time. I've caught a creek chub or some chub that looks like a shiner from the same spot at blue springs creek as well. At least three fish species there that I've come across so far.

I'm using a go pro hero 6. no mic just the camera on a body harness. And as far as shiners go....sure they are catches but....I don't want to drive 90 plus miles for shiners.

Yes it is.

I caught six wild rainbows at Blue Springs Creek with my 7.5' fly rod 5/6wt (which costs $50 plus tax bucks from walmart lol). I used 7x leader and added a 18" to 2' of 7x tippet to it to extend the leader. I fished with a soft hackle #16. First time landing more than two trout. Caught a couple nice size ones too (for this creek at least). Had a few misses and all of them caught were within an hour of fishing. I saw a few insects flying around, but not a whole lot. It was a nice day with 5mph wind at most over the weekend. Way better than fishing Busch Wildlife for stocked trout in a weedy bank lake. I made a short video and here are a few pics below as well. I'm not sure why but when I view this ozarkangler website from my phone my video links don't show anything, but on my desktop they do. I hope the people that view this on their phones can see the link to the video. I actually talk in this video so that's new for me. Enjoy and catch you in the water. cheers!

That sounds like some great memories!

also I'm not sure if there was any obvious parking spots where the hill access is.

I went to the upper access near the spring and saw nothing, and the lower access, I didn't bother with the part where there is a hill you can climb down...if that's where the fish are....not sure if I care to go there again. You'd think during certain times of the year they'd be more focused on the upper or lower at times. I wish there was a path down the hill...