Jthawks

Yeah I know lol

I added Spring Creek to my trout slam and caught three fish on a lure, all pretty good size too which is always great in these creeks. I'll have to go back and land a fish on my fly rod. I know lures work, and I like to catch fish while I learn the stream for the first time. The first fish caught was 12" and at the time it was the biggest I caught so far (during early October). Caught it near the parking lot access. Then caught two more in deep pockets/runs along the banks. This Spring Creek is the fifth successful stream for the trout slam. Mill Creek was the fourth (posted pics and vid of it on another topic on here). After I fished Mill Creek for the 2nd time and had success, I decided to stop at Blue Springs Creek around 6:16p-6:30p. I fished with a lure there right off the bridge before the conservation parking lots where there is a very deep pool with lots of water flow. Two fish were hooked and got off...it was pretty dark by the time I had bites. These fish have plenty of oxygen to jump out of the water and fight. I almost thought about giving up around 7pm and decided to keep trying for a big one (for a creek). I finally landed a 13" trout in this creek...I was stoked. If I caught this in a trout park it would be a keeper size. So cool to see these fish in creeks around Missouri. After getting 5 Blue Ribbon Areas accomplished I decided to try Barren Fork Creek again....and man is that place hard to fish. I started near the downstream access and didn't see one trout. I only caught shiners and a creek chub. I tried my flies and lures...nothing. I did my best to be stealthy. I then went upstream to where the springs are and when I first showed up to the upper access...I drove over a dried creek which doesn't make you feel good about fishing it. Here's my dog looking worried while studying the dried creek bed on the way to the deeper water. I then saw beautiful pools/runs, but still no trout spotted...the whole time not one trout. Please give advice on how to catch fish here and where to go what to do use, and when to fish it. I don't plan on getting the gold trout slam if I have to fish this creek again. Here are so cool photos that I at least got out of it. After I fished Barren Fork Creek with no success...I decided to hurry over to Current River Blue Ribbon Tan Vat Access....to remind myself what it's like catching trout. I landed one wild rainbow trout. And went home after trying an hour or so. So far I have 5 Blue Ribbon Areas...plan on going to Crane Creek and soon after Eleven Point or North Fork. Barren Fork can stick it where the sun don't shine. Cheers.

Mill Creek is a fun place to fish, I'll have to fish the streams in the spring when there is plenty of rain.

I fished Mill Creek and caught a few trout (the area is blue ribbon trout fishing). The weather was great, fishing wasn't bad. I was using a lure this time. I spotted a trout's flashy body moving toward my lure and it retreated back under a fallen tree over the creek. So my mind was made up that I was going to catch it even if it meant casting 20ft-30ft away and trying to land the lure right underneath a fallen tree. The short video shows my reaction.... I did curse a few times which I don't normally do in videos...but here ya go.....cheers! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nyxihNrLEPs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

where did you fish this monster?

I decided to try to fish all the blue ribbon areas of Missouri in baby steps. I think Blue Springs Creek was the hardest out of the 4 areas I've been to so far. The first success in Blue Ribbon area was outside of Montauk Park at Tan Vat access where I caught a 10" brown on a griffiths knat. That was my first brown and first blue ribbon success. On to the next Blue Ribbon area.....After many attempts at Blue Springs Creek I finally caught my Blue Ribbon Area wild rainbow trout. I was about to quit fishing and on my way back I was casting down stream with a dry fly mosquito. It was 7pm or later in mid September. I caught two little wild trout. I'm more confident in fishing this creek now. The next day I went to Little Piney Creek at Lane Spring Blue Ribbon Area access. I hooked a trout on a crackle back and it jumped out of the air and got away. The lures failed me as well and the trout were very good at getting off the hook this day it seemed. I had my dog with me so I called it a day and decided to try again another day. The next trip there I caught 3 wild rainbow (all on a small spinning lure), and others got off the hook as well. I was determined to catch a trout on my fly rod using a dry fly so I went back the next day and fished it again in the same area, and caught a wild trout on a soft hackle in a riffle near a big log, and as well as 4 other trout on a spinning lure. Some fish managed to get off the hook...it's always the big ones. This creek was action packed compared to my previous visits/attempts. Way more pleasing than trout parks! I made a two minute video summary of this trip and got a few pics. Now it's off to the 4th Blue Ribbon Area attempt...then the 5th...so I can get the Bronze Blue Ribbon Area Trout Slam pin, and to enjoy what Missouri has to offer. Cheers! Catch ya in the stream.

thanks, it took a couple trips to get a fish in the net, but worth it!

Little Piney Creek or Meramac Spring Park is close to Saint Louis and has decent trout fishing, Meramac Spring Park is stocked, little piney is stocked in parts and has a wild trout population in the blue ribbon area. The VERY closest place to fish for trout near STL is Blue Springs Creek, it's tough to fish at times, but fun and rewarding when it works out.

Here's a video of my successful trip to Little Piney Creek Blue Ribbon Area at Lane Spring access. It took me a couple tries to figure out what works for me and the fish, but I got 3 the first day along with a few misses/loses and 5 the second day along with a couple loses off the hook. So to say the least, it was eventful for me. The trout I caught on the fly rod was with soft hackle on 7x tippet and a 9' rod 5/6wt. The rest were caught on a spinning lure. Cheers to wild trout in Missouri. Enjoy the short 2 minute video set to 'Water of Love' by Dire Straights.

I fished there a month or so ago, and it was nice. I'll probably check out roaring river again this year.

I fished Montauk recently. I used a super duper lure and caught 8 trout on it (a few others as well that got off the hook), and caught 2 trout on a dry fly (almost 3 but one also got off the hook!!). First time catching a trout on a fly rod at Montauk, was pretty stoked. Now I need to try Bennet again and have better success. I made a video of the trip that shows some of the catches. I think I can finally say I'll have no problem catching fish at a trout park. Cheers! and here's the video link.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub8FsPKr5Ow

I was bored dreaming of fishing so I eased my mind with something I don't do very much...painting. Anyone else get creative with fish theme projects to relax the mind until better weather comes?

I have a 5/6 wt, never understood why my rod says 5/6...I guess it's inbetween both 5 and 6 lol...makes sense.

The line I have came with the rod, it was cheap, I know I should invest in good line, but until I can it's what I have. I'll get 3x and see how it goes. I thought maybe I need a 9' to cast streamers better. I like to fish creeks and current river and trout parks and stocked lakes. Most fish I catch are 1 pound b/c I dry fly fish in stocked areas more than anything.

I have a 5/6wt 8' fly rig. I like to dry fly fish and have trouble using streamers, but do pretty good dry fly casting with this rod/reel. I buy 7.5'--6X tippets for dry fly fishing. If I want to fish with streamers and other flys other than dry fly what's the best set up? Any other info on the limitations and advantages with 5/6wt 8' rod would be appreciated. cheers to spring fishing

The water was great, only 1/2 unit running that day, but it was kind of cold. I only caught 3 fish but I'll take it. The super duper lure gold worked great around 10am or so near the dam. Looking forward to spring fishing. Here's a one minute video I made set to Ozark Mountain Daredevil music.

Indeed, fooling a fish on a preferred fly is fun.

My tippet was 2.4Lb I believe. I'm sure there was too much drag at times. I knew I would be doing something wrong, but I seem to catch trout on other things other than scuds and such. I'll definitely learn to fish with scuds and anything that needs indicators. Baby steps haha

I fished Taneycomo in the trophy area near the dam on Dec. 27th. It was around 60 degrees that day and there was strong wind on and off. The water looked great and very little water was being generated so I was able to wade. I was lucky enough to be fishing next to one of the trout guides that owns a fly fishing shop near Taneycomo. The trout guide had a client with him and they were fishing scuds with an egg pattern. They were catching fish after fish while I was switching flies out trying to see what works. I don't think I saw anyone else catching fish as much as the man with the trout guide. They were fishing in a good spot with the right flies. The only reason why I know what they were fishing with is b/c the guide saw me tying another fly on and probably knew I wasn't having any luck, so he told me to try scuds with the egg pattern (I already tried a scud earlier but it must of been a wrong color or size or maybe I was in a bad spot b/c I didn't have any luck...plus I had no indicator nor have I ever fished with one...I like dry fly fishing more than anything). I put on an egg pattern and still no luck b/c surely I wasn't doing something right. I tried a leech and a jig with no luck. I tried a small crayfish pattern and lost it in the rocks. I was about to give up. Then I decided to fish with what I like to fish with...dry flies! I saw a bunch of small insects flying around. I didn't see anyone dry fly fishing around me that I could tell. I put on a crackleback and within a couple of minutes I had my first rainbow trout. It was only about 13" but I was happy to catch anything at that point! The guide looked over at me while helping his client and gave me a thumbs up and I smiled and said it was on a crackleback. I stopped having luck with it and switched to a different dry fly....#18 mosquito fly. And within a couple minutes I had another rainbow trout that was slightly smaller than my first catch. There were trout jumping out of the water occasionally and some scooping the top of the water occasionally. I think I would of caught bigger fish if I used scuds, it seems the little guys were coming for the top. My luck ran out in that spot with my dry fly action so I decided to go home. I'll learn to fish scuds the right way another day. Either way I enjoy dry fly fishing the most, and it feels good catching trout fishing the way I want, even if it means I catch less! cheers

I fished Bush Wildlife today. I didn't have any luck on the rooster tail. If I tried with it for a little longer maybe I'd get lucky, but I got a "super duper" lure from another person and had some luck. I caught 4 trout in about 30 to 45 minutes (I only kept 3...I also almost lost one when putting it on the stringer!). The first trout was only 10" or so and two others were 12" and one was 13". I know one guy that had luck on salmon eggs today, but he was catching them at a slower rate than those using lures. From what I've noticed, freshly stocked trout chase jigs/lures more than junk bait when first stocked, but I'm sure it all depends. In the all bait lakes it seems plastic worms don't work well. I was in an all bait lake 22 and the trout there seem to chase lures and enjoy junk bait more than plastic worms. So far at Busch Wildlife red and orange uv unscented worms, orange-white worms unscented, and a crackleback fly have worked great for trout at lake 28. Also, lake 22 I caught trout on a salmon egg, leech fly, rooster tail, and a super duper lure. BTW it helps when you show up the day they stock them at these lakes! haha

Thanks everyone! Meddle is my favorite Pink Floyd song. I really wanted to catch fish at Blue Creek Springs, but the water was low and I heard it's a little easier to catch trout there during the spring. There weren't many fish spotted which kind of shocked me. I'd like to go to the spring next year (got to get permission from the salvation army I guess.

This is my first post on here (i was accepted in the forum today...woohoo!). I finished editing a video of my trips to Blue Springs Creek, and thought I'd share it. The footage was captured during late summer and during fall this year. There weren't a lot of trout there that I could easily spot, probably spooked most of them into hiding. I was mostly wanting to get familiar with the spots that I might fish. I did see a couple good size 12'' wild trout, but the other handful I saw were small. I think this creek had some flooding that may have hurt the wild trout population?? Has any fished for trout where Blue Springs Creek and Meramec meet? Anyway, hope you enjoy it...here's the link.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASEzbuoIklM cheers! Josh