Need some help (again)

[tangledup]

So last night while I was having my adventure I made a couple observations that I would like to get some feedback on. The fish I caught were in relatively deeper swift runs of 2-5’. Since the water was deeper and moving swiftly I could not see the fish and I’m guessing they had difficulty seeing me as well. Which is probably why I caught them. 
 

In slower or at least clearer runs I could see much larger fish feeding and all of the fish I saw appeared to be sitting on or very close to the bottom. I’m usually pretty hasty to start making casts so last night I made it a point to slowly ease up to the tail of a pool and wait at least 5-10 minutes before making my first cast. During this observation period I noticed the bigger trout did not move hardly at all. In fact, I mistook a couple for logs or rocks until they finally swept sideways a few inches. Occasionally they would slowly swing to one side or the other and take something that was drifting by, but I could not tell what it was.
 

I was using a dry dropper dished as deep as possible as the trout seemed to be feeding on the bottom and not rising much. I threw pretty much every nymph in my box and it wasn’t until I started using a chamois worm that I got strikes. 
 

So my question is two fold:

1) In a small Missouri spring creek, what type of nymphs are trout eating this time of year?

2) What were the big trout doing? The smaller trout were actively moving back and forth feeding but the big fish just kind of laid in one spot.

[fishinwrench]

Something tells me that your "spring creek" is a trout park full of recent stockers.   Am I wrong?

[tangledup]

13 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Something tells me that your "spring creek" is a trout park full of recent stockers.   Am I wrong?

You are. Sorry but they were 100% wild stream bred trout. 

[fishinwrench]

3 minutes ago, tangledup said:

You are. Sorry but they were 100% wild stream bred trout. 

Don't be sorry!   If you've found a spring creek with lots of big wild fish that you can see.....

You are the freakin' MAN!

Swing a leech in their face.

[tangledup]

Just now, fishinwrench said:

Don't be sorry!   If you've found a spring creek with lots of big wild fish that you can see.....

You are the freakin' MAN!

Swing a leech in their face.

Haha, to be fair, "big" is a relative term. Big for this spot is anything above 15". Which look like absolute monster compared to the 8-12" fish I'm used to catching out of there. 

[fishinwrench]

15" wild rainbows impress ME.   

Tell me where and I'll show you how to catch 'em.  😊

[Devan S.]

If you strike out with the small stuff drifted right at them, I don't spend a lot of time changing 1 or 2 sizes or colors of styles. I got straight to the big stuff. 

Big fish are opportunistic and if they have a chance at a good meal right in front of them and they pass it up then its not meant to be for me. 

I want it to be big enough and aggressive enough they either run and hide or feel like they have to have it. 

Jigs, streamers, leeches, mega worms, big wooly, ect.

[tangledup]

18 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

15" wild rainbows impress ME.   

Tell me where and I'll show you how to catch 'em.  😊

Sold! I'm not stingy. I don't mind doing the walking and scouting and am quick to admit that I don't know jacks*** when it comes to fly fishing. If you make it to SWMO lmk and we will go chase them. 

[tjm]

2 hours ago, tangledup said:

) What were the big trout doing?

They were waiting for you ditch two fly thing and feed them 3" of marabou.

[tangledup]

Hmmmm.....guess I’ll have to try that next time.