Wild Trout Creeks

[ozark trout fisher]

I was just curious what all of you guys favorite wild trout streams are. I didn't mention the bigger ones like the North Fork, just the smaller ones. If I missed any public creeks, tell me and I'll fix it. I vote Little Piney, but I have only been to it, Mill, Blue Springs Creek, and Spring Creek. I have a feeling I would like Crane too, but I haven't gotten there yet.

Oh yeah, I forgot Barren Fork.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Tough call. I've been to them all except Barren, which I do want to check out sometime - driven by it many times. Each is its own little gem and beautiful in their own right, but I guess with the North Fork or the Little Piney having the bigger flows, I hate to say I might admire them slightly less than the others just because of their proportional advantage. I'm amazed that we have wild trout living in some of these small places. Go visit Blue Springs in late August and tell me how trout can do that. Don't get me wrong, I love the NF and LP!

[ozark trout fisher]

Tough call. I've been to them all except Barren, which I do want to check out sometime - driven by it many times. Each is its own little gem and beautiful in their own right, but I guess with the North Fork or the Little Piney having the bigger flows, I hate to say I might admire them slightly less than the others just because of their proportional advantage. I'm amazed that we have wild trout living in some of these small places. Go visit Blue Springs in late August and tell me how trout can do that. Don't get me wrong, I love the NF and LP!

Yeah, the one time I ever went to Blue Springs, I can see what you mean. I didn't go in August or anything, but still, I mean there are places you can jump across no problem. I didn't catch a thing, expect a few smallmouth bass and suckers. The amazing the is that according to the MDC it has a trout population of around 290 per mile. That's pretty hard to believe though for that baby sized creek.

You are right that Little Piney does have a bigger flow than the others, but it can get pretty skinny at low flows too, especially in the Highway 63 area above Lane Spring, although it rarely gets too small down in the Vida Slab areas based on my limited experience. But to be fair it also has the advantage though of receiving some small stockings in it's lower reaches. If you want to see an itty bitty creek, try hitting Mill Creek at low flows. It makes you wonder how those trout ever survive.

Seems like Crane Creek is most popular. No surprise there

[Gavin]

Cant really say that I have a favorite...I've never fished Barren Fork, but I've enjoyed fishing all the others...Probably spend most of my time on the NFoW though. Bigger water, challenging fishing, and its not uncommon to catch a wild fish thats bigger than a sardine. Cheers.

[ozark trout fisher]

Cant really say that I have a favorite...I've never fished Barren Fork, but I've enjoyed fishing all the others...Probably spend most of my time on the NFoW though. Bigger water, challenging fishing, and its not uncommon to catch a wild fish thats bigger than a sardine. Cheers.

The North Fork is great I'm sure. I must say I have never been there before, but it seems like it would be an awesome place to try. But you can ocassionally catch some surprisingly large wild trout even in the smaller creeks. I think I mostly just like it cause it reminds me of cutthroat trout fishing back in Colorado. It's really not that much different, expect these Missouri wild trout are generally harder to catch. But you're right that mostly, the trout in the creeks here in Missouri are pretty small, they've averaged about 5" to 9", for me and I'm really happy to catch a 12 incher. But, in my opinion, they are pretty enough to make up for it 100%.