Worst fishing spots of yours

[ozark trout fisher]

I see JDMidwest beat me to it, but it has absolutely GOT to be Maramec Spring Park. This is nothing against the MDC, or the folks who run the place....they do a nice job with a very limited resource. The problem is that very limited resource is way too close to too many people. Of course, you have the sheer numbers, which is bad enough. On the rare (okay not so rare, but the catching is mighty poor compared to every other trout park) occasion you actually hook a fish, everyone within sight will suddenly become your best friend, and you'll soon have a choice of either making a scene or getting the hell out.

But that isn't the half of it. You have that darn bridge that people still stand on, every day, with massive, heavily weighted "jigs" that no trout in that stream would willingly ingest, not to mention the 14 pound test that scares away all but the dumbest spring branch trout. They're blatantly poaching, but could still claim they were "just fishing" if you make any attempt to reign it in.

I get called to go there with friends all the time. My response always is, I'll go, but don't expect me to fish with you in the park. I actually don't mind the trips, because I can usually go either down or upriver and squeeze in a nice afternoon of mixed bag fishing for trout and smallmouth. So maybe it's not such a bad spot at all.

[ozark trout fisher]

I had one of my worst days on the Bourbeuse River. I knew the stretch we went on was rarely fished so I had high hopes. It was about 115 degrees with the heat index but the water looked pretty good for the first two miles and after that we had to drag the kayaks about every 300/400 yds because the water was so low. To make matters worse, I had never been there before and started to freak out once it started getting dark that we weren't at our take-out yet. Turns out the slow/non-existent water flow makes an 8 mile float take 14 hours! It is the last time I float a new river with no idea of where I am or how far I have floated.

To top it all off, when we finally got to my Jeep, my buddy realized he forgot his tie-down straps. That meant one on the roof and one hanging out the open hatch of my Jeep.......on dusty gravel roads. I still, 2 years later have a light film of dust covering hard to reach areas in my Jeep.

Total fish: 4 short Largemouth

Bourbeuse will do that to you. I like it, fish it a lot, and there are still those days. Like 50% of the time. Or more.

Honestly, that's part of the reason I like it (other than it's the first smallie stream I dumped obscene amounts of time into.) Not because I'm a good fisherman, but because I have a pulse and can tie on a Rebel Craw, I pretty much know how a summer day on the Big Piney or Jacks Fork is going to go down. Pretty river, clear water, nice float, and a number of smallmouth that is always at least good enough and sometimes great. On the Bourbeuse I can encounter anything from a stagnant mudhole that doesn't appear to have anything other than snakes and frogs, or it can be an awesome, dynamic little river that can produce good fish. You stop trying to predict which will happen after awhile. It frequently frustrates me, but it's absolutely never boring.

In interest of full disclosure: the last time I fished there (a couple weeks ago, in prime water conditions, during what should have been an excellent evening bite) my catch amounted to....one 8" channel catfish I caught by accident. So I'm not just saying that stuff because I want to scare people away from the streams I like.

[Gavin]

Don't go to bad fishing spots! Will give any spot a go our three but if it sucks I'm not coming back.

[ozark trout fisher]

It's a convenience thing, I think. If a stream/lake/creek is within 15 minutes of my house, I'm giving it every opportunity imaginable to prove it has some value. If it's a two hour drive, one bad trip, and well, there are plenty of other good streams 2 hours away.

[Gavin]

Will leave a good stretch of river for another when the fishing sucks. If moving is not an option I'll pound some fish out of whatever presents itself.

[Johnsfolly]

Last year when I was fishing most of the trout waters in Missouri, I was most disappointed in the white ribbon section of the Current river below Cedar grove. The crowds were one issue. There were people in most areas that should have held fish. However, you can put in the work and get beyond the crowds. So what really bothered me was the lack of fish life in the river. I understand that as a white ribbon section this is a everything goes type of fishery for trout, but I wasn't even seeing many suckers or minnows in most of the holes and stretches that I fished. I hardly had any follows from any kind of fish. I did end up catching a stoneroller and one rainbow trout in 5 hours of fishing.

Blue Springs Creek was difficult to fish, but at least there were fish in most places you would expect to see them. Problem for me was they typically saw me first and I saw them as they were swimming away. I still caught a fair number of minnows and one nice rainbow in about the same amount of time I committed to the Current River.

I'm sure that there are times when this section of the Current will fish better, but I really don't think that I would go back to fish that section. I catch plenty of trout and other fish in the blue ribbon section upstream. No need as Ham put it to keep beating my head against the door.

[ozark trout fisher]

Last year when I was fishing most of the trout waters in Missouri, I was most disappointed in the white ribbon section of the Current river below Cedar grove. The crowds were one issue. There were people in most areas that should have held fish. However, you can put in the work and get beyond the crowds. So what really bothered me was the lack of fish life in the river. I understand that as a white ribbon section this is a everything goes type of fishery for trout, but I wasn't even seeing many suckers or minnows in most of the holes and stretches that I fished. I hardly had any follows from any kind of fish. I did end up catching a stoneroller and one rainbow trout in 5 hours of fishing.

Blue Springs Creek was difficult to fish, but at least there were fish in most places you would expect to see them. Problem for me was they typically saw me first and I saw them as they were swimming away. I still caught a fair number of minnows and one nice rainbow in about the same amount of time I committed to the Current River.

I'm sure that there are times when this section of the Current will fish better, but I really don't think that I would go back to fish that section. I catch plenty of trout and other fish in the blue ribbon section upstream. No need as Ham put it to keep beating my head against the door.

The white ribbon stretch is so inconsistent. You get the feeling that most of the good habitat is pretty obvious, and the numbers can get knocked down pretty low between stockings. Bad timing and you are mostly left with the smart fish in the weird, unexpected places, and that doesn't usually mean anything good.

It's a little frustrating, because it looks SO good in places and I know from a habitat perspective, it has a ton of potential to grow big trout. And maybe there are a few of them down there. It's in the category of places I go because it's pretty, and whatever good fishing you stumble into is a nice bonus. Without any context, it's still decent trout water...but it's awfully easy to pass on it with the Blue Ribbon area so close by.

[Haris122]

It's a convenience thing, I think. If a stream/lake/creek is within 15 minutes of my house, I'm giving it every opportunity imaginable to prove it has some value. If it's a two hour drive, one bad trip, and well, there are plenty of other good streams 2 hours away.

+1. Back when I had all the time in the day, I didn't have the kind of money for gas or other road trip related expenses, to go to allegedly good spots but on a rare occasion. I'd either have to take my chances on a few longer distance trips where there was still no guarantee of having a good day of fishing, or more frequent trips to spots close by, that I could almost guarantee, wouldn't be good fishing. Most of the time I opted for the spray and pray approach. Nowadays, the expense of going further isn't as much of a problem, but finding the time is. So the way I see it, there's really no escaping it. I figured eventually the day would come when I'd break through that wall with sheer persistence, that I'd be good enough of a fisherman to catch fish in those tough spots consistently, and then could enjoy any trip. And I still haven't completely given up on that idea. But I've realized there's aspects to fishing that I can't improve. Some spots will never be as good as others.

[mhall02]

Meramec Spring trout park. I have had some of my worst experiences fishing there. Rude people, crowded, and other things. The worst was when I stopped in for an afternoon of fishing, paid entry fee and bought a tag. Go down to stream and there was a jon boat puttering around cutting moss. Went back and asked for refund. I have drove by many times since and never stopped.

I would have to second this one. I've gone there 3 or 4 times, and each time when I left, I would say to myself never again. Last time I went, I agreed with myself. Will drive a littler further to Montauk, Current, or Bennett, no more Meramec Spring for me.

[jdmidwest]

Cold and nasty days during the catch and release season are the best. You have the park yourself and the fish always bite well on those type of days. Catch and keep season isn't always bad either. In fact, I can't think of anytime where it was that bad other than opening day. Even on the opener, there are so many fosh that you can find water that aint crowded and holding plenty of fish. I was down last Sunday between 2-4:30. There was just a few folks in the same area as me and it was loaded with fish. We caught around 20 fish in just a couple of hours.

Why would you want a refund if they were cutting moss in one spot? There are decent holes all throughout the park.

My worst spot is the Gasconade down close to the Missouri. I've never caught much down there. It gets trot lined so hard that I think a lot of the nice catfish get cleaned out. It could just be that I suck at catfishing too.

We drove there 3 hours one time and had the park to ourselves once in catch and release. It started sleeting shortly thereafter. We fished for about another hour without much luck, and bailed. Road was so slick, almost did not make it up the first hill. Decided to go thru St. James and back the Interstate. Lovely little 6 hour back trip.

I asked for a refund because the whole stream was mucked up and covered with floating greens. The idiot at the gate should have warned me. There was actually a sign stating that it was going take place, but a worker was standing in front of it painting the building when I came thru.