Asking for Help/Suggestions near StL

[FishnDave]

In 14 years of flyfishing in Iowa before moving to MO, I thought I was doing pretty good...catching 38 species of fish in Iowa on the fly gear.

This coming mid-July, I will have lived in StL for a full year.  I've already caught 37 species in MO!  I'd love to be able to catch at least one, if not 2, new species in MO, to tie or exceed the number of species I caught in Iowa.  I think that would be pretty cool to be able to achieve that in less than a year!  I've done better than I expected I would, and some cool fish have been caught with the help of others. But I have caught about as much as I can without a little more help.

So I'm asking for your help.  You can send me a private message rather than post under this thread, so as not to reveal any favorite places.

Close to StL would be great.  Some species I think I could add, but have yet to land in MO include Longnose Gar, Spotted Gar, Brown Trout, Rock Bass/Goggle-eye, Blue Catfish, Hybrid Striped Bass, and Bowfin (probably a long shot around StL).

I think I may have seen a Longnose last week, but didn't catch it...and had one strike several times last year without catching it.

Anybody willing to share some places where, say, Longnose Gar or Goggle-eye/Rock Bass might be reasonably common...near StL?  Or any of those other species...or even suggest some species I may not have caught yet?  I  haven't caught a paddlefish or bigmouth buffalo on fly in MO yet, for example.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and help!

[Big Keene]

some of the lakes at Busch Wildlife have Hybrids stocked in them. ive caught them in 33, 34, and 35. 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Closest place for a reasonable shot at a brown trout is Maramec springs or the Meramec River below the springs.  Next would be The Current River around Montauk or Niangua and Bennett Spring.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

And if you wanna increase your chances of catching a brown trout by 20 fold fish between October and December and you’ll have much better luck. 
In my opinion.  And I have pictures😂

[Al Agnew]

There are rock bass in every creek flowing into the Mississippi between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.  And they will be northern rock bass.  You should have a decent shot at catching some.  Another spot that I think should produce some rock bass would be the Bootleg Access on Big River headwaters, at the Highway 21 bridge south of Potosi.  And any other access on upper Big River should be wadeable, fly fishable, and have rock bass.  Now if you want to add shadow bass to the list, you gotta go fish upper Black River, or on the Current and Jacks Fork.  But you shouldn't have too much trouble catching a few if you do go to those streams.  You can also catch shadow bass on Big Creek around Sam A. Baker State Park--St. Francis there has some, too.

Gar are tough on fly tackle unless you use the old frayed nylon rope "fly" instead of hooks.  It's just about impossible to sink a hook into the snout of a gar.  But if you want the best chance, you gotta float or boat any of the Ozark streams in midsummer when the water is lower and slower, and watch for them in the larger, deeper pools.  There will be a school of longnose gar in just about every big pool, even on smaller streams like the upper Jacks Fork.

Bowfin...very hit or miss on the lower ends of those creeks running into the Mississippi south of St. Louis...there are few, but not enough to target them specifically.  Best place to catch blue catfish is on the Mississippi.  You MIGHT be able to catch one on a fly rod by walking the bank when the river gets low enough to do so, and fishing around wing dams, mainly on the upstream side.  It might be possible to catch a flathead that way, too.  Gonna be tough on artificial flies, though.

I'd like to see your list of species you've already caught.  Pretty sure I could turn you on to a few more that you may not have caught yet.

 

[Mitch f]

A guy I know caught this on the Meramec a week or so ago.

[JestersHK]

Hey FishnDave,

There were gar, carp, goggle eye all in the creek we discussed a while back with John.  

As for brownies just hop on the turn and burn express, catch some insomnia, possibly turn into a vampire, and come to the dark side with us at Taneycomo.  There's also a great chance of multi species trip as well.  We found this guy last weekend.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

We found this guy last weekend.

Did you wash the net afterwards 😂

[JestersHK]

Sure did lol,  and @Mitch fthats crazy, I never knew those were in the meramec.

[FishnDave]

11 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

I'd like to see your list of species you've already caught.  Pretty sure I could turn you on to a few more that you may not have caught yet.

@Al Agnew:

My Missouri fly rod list so far...

1. Largemouth Bass

2. Kentucky Spotted Bass

3. Smallmouth Bass

4. Meanmouth (hybrid) Bass

5. White Bass

6. Bluegill

7. Green Sunfish

8. Hybrid Sunfish

9. Redear Sunfish

10. Longear Sunfish

11. Warmouth

12. Dollar Sunfish

13. Redspotted Sunfish

14. Bantam Sunfish

15. White Crappie

16. Golden Shiner

17. Common Shiner

18. Striped Shiner

19. Creek Chub

20. Hornyhead Chub

21. Northern Studfish

22. Goldeye

23. Channel Catfish

24. Black Bullhead

25. Shortnose Gar

26. Common Carp

27. Mirror Carp 

28. Koi

29. Goldfish

30. Grass Carp

31. Silver Carp

32. Smallmouth Buffalo

33. Freshwater Drum

34. Walleye

35. Sauger

36. Saugeye

37. Rainbow Trout