Anybody Tell Me About Cotter Creek Or Blue Springs?

[jshipman23]

I am looking for a creek to go bass and trout fishing. I am going to fly fish as well for the most part but any good locations on those two creeks that have good fishing and easy acess without needing waders? I would appreciate the most detailed information! thank you guys!

[LarrySTL]

Hmm. Good fishing for bass and trout. Easy access and don't need waders. And the most detailed information.

I never heard of either of those creeks til I read your post 5 minutes ago. Since then I put both of them in Google, and then in Google Earth. Doing that gave me potential answers to some of your questions. The problem is that 132 other folks are checking those same two sources for information, and 500 more will when they get back later today from the places they are wading, floating, and jetboating around.

If somebody had the answers to your questions and posted those answers here, the concession rights to those accesses, both the official and unofficial accesses, might become valuable because from tomorrow through next weekend a lot of people might have been to every conceivable access. That means the fish could be able to recite the inventory control number of every lure in the BassProShop and Cabelas's catalogs.

There are generally a couple ways to handle the learning curve.

First is basically self-help. If you don't have google, and google maps, and google earth on your computer, download and install them. Fiddle with google maps til you can maneuver around a bit in it. It will do lots of things, and 5 minutes practice will let you see quite a bit of useful stuff. St Louis County library system has a few copies of 200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures. If you live or work in StL Co ( StL City too I think) you are eligible for a library card and can reserve a copy of it. At the same time join Missouri Smallmouth Alliance in the way that gets you a copy of that book. When you get it from MSA, take the library back its copy.

Go buy a copy of the Delorme Atlas for Missouri. Online, at some Wally World's , and at the reference desk of the City and County library branches ( you cant check it out). Learn a little about the map software, and download a GPS app and a compass, on your phone. Put a state highway map in your vehicle. I suggest a $ 3 compass, a small flashlite from WW too. Add a water thermometer from BPS or Cabelas too ( $ 10)

If you have an older vehicle without a locking gas cap, go to an autoparts store and get and install that too. It's cheaper than the first siphoned tank of gas ( yes, this is the sad voice of experience on this point).

Scroll back through the archives of this board particularly in the General Discussions and the Rivers-Streams-Creeks sections. Read everything you can find about the kind of fishing, and the broad general area, you are interested in. Learn to use the Search function. As one example, if you can find Al Agnew's excellent post and thread on "ferrying" a canoe and find it way fast, you're good on the Search function. Read pretty much everything by the guys who have made hundreds and hundreds of posts. They know their stuff and you can trust the information they give even tho they won't tell you their best places.

Learn to go to the USGS river gauge site(s) and how to find information there and to apply it. You can start at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/MO/nwis/current/?type=flow

Another approach is if you have specific questions that are not "where is a really good place I should go fish?" ask here and you will get pretty helpful answers. Example "what is a good pair of waders for no more than $ 175 and what features should I look for and do I need to try them on or just get em mail-order?" You'll get legit specific answers.

There are quite a few people here who have been fishing the types of places you ( and I ) would love to fish, and have been fishing them for 25 years or more ( in some cases lots more) but find that their streams get beaten to death by the crowds if they give out specific locations on the larger streams, or even just the names of their favorite small streams.

You can generally get answers to "what general part of the Meramec is best in the winter" and similar questions; "what kind of topwater lures work for smallies and how early in the year should I try them?" More specific than that and you may get silence.

Post here. Give your results even if they arent good "I went to a small stream, the water temp was 55 and I didn't catch a bass all day. I mostly threw Tiny Torpedo's and 1/2 ounce Rattle Traps". You may get some general tips and you will start making a few contacts who are willing to help.

Attend the Mo Smallmouth Alliance stuff in StL County if you are local and if the presentation is of any even semi- interest to you. You will learn from the presentations. Talk to at least a few people before and after and you will slowly make more contacts and learn even more.

There are guys here who will, if you ask nicely, take you fishing with them a time or two. Understand they will not take you to their best places, but probably will take you to a place they want to explore, or to a well known decent place. More contacts, more friends.

Beyond that, look at those two places in Google Earth, look for accesses, and for possible accesses. Buy the Delorme Atlas right away and the 200 Mo Adventures as soon as you can get it. Then fill your gas tank ( and lock it) and start exploring. After a while you will have lots more information, you will know several people from here, and you will have done a lot of fishing. Unfortunately the streams and creeks are not like Table Rock Lake where you can ask in that group "Is the James River part of the lake any good in early spring ?" and actually get answers.

The small streams are too fragile to take much pressure and too many of the veteran folks have had that happen to their best locations. Sad but true.

This is not intended as "F. U." and hopefully doesnt come across that way but all of us went ( and are still going) through the learning curve. Mine started a couple years ago and the first few tries had me feeling like "geeez...can I catch ANYTHING in moving water?" It gets better.

[Greasy B]

Great response, rock solid advice. If it were as easy as standing on the bank of a creek and throwing whatever bait someone said to use, fishing wouldn't be fun.

[Al Agnew]

Yep, excellent advice above. I will tell you, though, that Blue Springs Creek is kind of a graduate course in stealth fishing for small trout on small water. Unless you are very, very lucky, you won't catch a fish on Blue Springs Creek until you get really good at handling a fly rod in tight quarters and sneaking up on very wary trout.

As for "Cotter Creek", do you mean Courtois Creek?

Understand...no matter which Ozark type stream you want to fish, if you are limited to the banks close to accesses, you will NOT find very good fishing. As I think I mentioned in your question about Big River, if you want to fish for catfish and rough fish, you might be able to catch a fish or two around any access that's on a deep pool, but everybody else that's too lazy or too inexperienced to do anything else will be fishing those same spots. If you want to catch a few fish around the accesses, might as well fish with worms and a bobber and catch some sunfish. I suspect, however, that you'll get bored with that pretty quick.

If you want to catch fish from Ozark streams, you need to have some mobility, whether it be from a rental canoe, or by being willing and able to walk and wade a good distance from the accesses. That's just reality. If you want to just drive up to the water and start catching fish, fishing some of the smaller public lakes for carp and catfish might be better choices.

[grizzly]

Only thing is Blue Springs Creek is not a "secret" trout stream. While I agree with some of what you are saying Larry(research) you are also coming off as a bit harsh. Look, it is probably too cold to wet wade Blue Springs Creek as far as this time of the year goes. But if you go, I would use your standard arsenal of trout flies(think top 20 Orvis flies selection that you can buy for 10 dollars).

I didn't expect to see this type of secretive behavior on here. I hate to tell you, but I can tell you where I fished, what I used, but there is more to fishing than that. I never tell about my rigs I use for nymph fishing (amount of weight, weight placement, depth etc.) and there is a lot of skill (approaching fish, reading water, drag free drifts) that you cannot understand unless you get out. Last time I checked this was a fishing forum, not solely a gear review forum and a spot to throw out Walmarts cheapest prices. If you didn't like his question you could have ignored it, or pm'd him. What you did was backhanded in my opinion.

Shipman, I don't know much about Blue Springs Creek. I know Mic posted some reports on it under the other trout waters thread. Let me know if you head over to Crane, Capps or Roaring River's White Ribbon Section.

Sam

[steve l]

Ok, I can't resist. What it sounds like here is that LarryStl didn't give Jshipman a fish, but taught him to fish...