Day trips pay off on my Blue Ribbon Trout Slam attempts

[Jthawks]

9 hours ago, JestersHK said:

Barren Fork is easy if you don't mind hiking.  There a little sliver of public access between 2 private properties.  You have to climb down a pretty steep grade to get there though.  Don't try it in the snow either...

I hit 7 of 9 creeks this year,  have nfow and 11pt left for the gold slam.

Nice job and it's very rewarding chasing those wild trout. 

also I'm not sure if there was any obvious parking spots where the hill access is.

[Johnsfolly]

4 minutes ago, Jthawks said:

I went to the upper access near the spring and saw nothing, and the lower access, I didn't bother with the part where there is a hill you can climb down...if that's where the fish are....not sure if I care to go there again. You'd think during certain times of the year they'd be more focused on the upper or lower at times. I wish there was a path down the hill...

They may get close to the spring later this fall to breed and remain after breeding is over. I haven't fished that creek during those times to say for certain that occurs. Ethics of catching fish off of a redd might come into play then.

[JestersHK]

On 10/22/2021 at 7:18 AM, Johnsfolly said:

Wonder where you got this info 😉. Someone had to the be the first 😁

Yes John gets all the credit for my Barren Fork fish lol. Also about killed me climbing that hill twice, and once in the snow... that was dumb,

[Bigfishes1]

I grew up about a half mile from crane creek, used to ride horses down to the creek and fish all the time. According to my parents....like daily, that was back in the 90’s those are great memories and the fishing was outstanding. 
I’ll be waiting to read about how you did when you make it down that way. Thanks for the trip to my way back days👍🏻👍🏻

[Jthawks]

On 10/23/2021 at 7:56 PM, Bigfishes1 said:

I grew up about a half mile from crane creek, used to ride horses down to the creek and fish all the time. According to my parents....like daily, that was back in the 90’s those are great memories and the fishing was outstanding. 
I’ll be waiting to read about how you did when you make it down that way. Thanks for the trip to my way back days👍🏻👍🏻

That sounds like some great memories!

[Jthawks]

2021 was a great year of fishing for me. I caught my first Blue Ribbon Area trout after a few attempts and then I couldn't stop. Also, in these creeks/rivers I caught many (some good size) creek chubs/shiners. I went to all the trout parks this year and managed to catch a trout on a dry fly at each of them and also caught a 15" trout on a dry fly at Taneycomo's trophy area on Christmas day. I finally caught a wild trout at Crane Creek (on a lure-going to try the fly rod again). Crane makes it 6 area completed...one more for silver and two more for gold. It's been fun even on the days I didn't catch any trout. The biggest wild trout was from Blue Springs Creek at 13". I also was excited to finally make a decent dry fly and catch a trout on one.

52 trout caught from 6 Blue Ribbon Areas (1 was a brown at the Current River) which gets me Bronze for the MO Trout Slam
Current River: 1 brown & 3 rainbows (4 hooked and lost) (dry fly challenge completed)
Blue Springs Creek: 15 rainbows (a few hooked and lost) (dry fly challenge completed) (wet fly challenge completed)
Little Piney Creek: 8 rainbows (a few hooked a lost) (dry fly challenge completed)
Mill Creek: 21 rainbows (a couple hooked and lost) (dry fly challenge completed) (homemade dry fly challenged completed)
Spring Creek: 3 rainbows
Crane Creek: 1 rainbow (two hooked and lost)

I also made a quick fast paced video summary of me catching fish. 2 minutes plus in time.

 

As far as fresh water goes I caught my first striped bass, my first cat fish, and my first smallmouth bass. I caught a few 9" bluegills which were fun on a fly rod, and a good size sucker at a trout park. I can't wait to fish the other blue ribbon areas and to catch a trout on a dry fly in all the blue ribbon areas 4 of the 6 completed on dry fly challenge....5 to go).

Here's to enjoying the outdoors and to 2022.

[ColdWaterFshr]

I tried to private message a couple of you guys about Barren Fork just a minute ago, but it wasn't allowing the message to go through for some reason.  Plan to hit this creek in a few days and was curious to get some more detail on how to find this sliver of land to bushwhack down a steep hillside to get to the good water.  Is it off CC?  Is it between Twin Springs and Roaring Spring?  Will post a report with pictures.  PM me if you can provide some basic clues for access to the good water if you don't feel like pimping it out here on the public forum.  

Thanks in advance!

[Gavin]

This might help...Hwy 19, & Current River State Park is just to the west. Water was very low on the Current last weekend. I didn't even fish.

Barren Fork.pdf