August 29, 2020
This year, I have been participating in the MO Trout Slam. This program, put on by the Missouri Department of Conservation as well as the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, rewards anglers who successfully catch trout in Missouri’s Blue Ribbon waters. There are different award levels for catching a trout out of five streams, seven streams, and all nine streams.
These streams are scattered all over southern Missouri, ranging from tiny creeks you can jump across in spots to large, deep rivers. As a novice fly fisherman, fishing a variety of streams forced me to explore new places and learn new techniques. In the past seven months, I was able to catch a trout from every blue ribbon stream, earning the gold medal. It is important to note that it was not easy for me, and there was certainly some luck involved. The process taught me a lot about fly fishing for trout. Even more, it showcased the abundance of fishing opportunities we have in the Ozark region of Missouri.
One of the challenges I found when working on completing the MO trout slam was the lack of available information, especially on some of the smaller streams. Finding legal public access was difficult for me several times. Often I was not prepared for what I found when I arrived at the stream. That is often part of the fun when fishing new places, but to help anyone else trying to complete the slam I decided to prepare a brief description of how I found success in each stream. To be clear, I may not have done it in the best way possible, so feel free to fish your own way, it could very well be better.
Blue Springs Creek
I caught my very first wild Rainbow Trout on Blue Springs Creek last fall. In order to qualify for the slam, the fish had to be caught after January 1st, 2020. This pushed me to return and since then I have fished Blue Springs several times. Blue Springscan be a really tricky creek. However there are lots of fish to be caught there, including some pretty decent ones. It is a small, narrow, clear creek. There are lots of overhead obstacles and brush on the banks. A shorter 3 or 4 weight is preferable, but not necessary. There will be fish in the deeper holes and runs all year. In the summer it is worth the effort to target the heads and tails of riffles, even if they are really shallow.
My confidence fly for any of the numerous small Blue Ribbon Creeks is a tungsten bead head Prince Nymph in a 12 or 14. I am sure any weighted nymphs would work though. It is far more important to have a good presentation so as to not spook the fish. The access I use is right off Highway N just past the low water bridge on the left side. Drive slow, as the lot is easy to miss, especially in the summer. Fishing can be good upstream and downstream of the lot. It is important to eliminate unproductive water and focus on the deeper riffles and pools. Be sure not to trespass here. Look for the blue paint on the left side of the creek if wading upstream. I have caught fish every time I’ve fished here, but you have to work for each fish.
Little Piney Creek
The Little Piney is a beautiful, accessible creek with great populations of wild Rainbow Trout. There are several access points on the Blue Ribbon section, but we used Lane Springs Recreation Area. The gate will be closed during the off-season, but you can pull off to the right and walk the last ½ mile to the creek. Fishing is best downstream from the Lane Spring branch confluence. When we were there in February, we caught trout about everywhere. The most productive water seemed to be pools under riffles. We caught trout on various nymphs under indicators, and also on brown cracklebacks fished as dries. I’ve only fished here once, so I don’t have a ton of information. When I go back I will fish in the morning, and focus on moving water.
The Little Piney is a perfect example of one of those great fishing streams I usually drive past on my way to fish somewhere else. The MO Trout Slam helped change the way I look at some of these places.
Mill Creek
Mill Creek is one of my favorites of the small Blue Ribbon Streams. Like Blue Springs, it has tight, tree lined banks and lots of limbs to snag on. It also has lots of character, with bends and turns creating more fishable water. As usual, I found my success here nymphing with a prince nymph under an indicator. Park at Bohigan Conservation area in the lot and fish upstream or downstream. There are miles of good public water here, more than enough for a day of fishing. If you are planning on driving to the Wilkins Spring access, be sure to take a high clearance vehicle and go when it’s dry. Last time I was there the dirt road didn’t look usable. This is a really enjoyable stream, and I hope to be back soon.
Spring Creek
Spring Creek is a unique stream, with a lot more slow pools than the rest of the creeks. Access is not well marked, but if you see a Blue Ribbon Trout Stream sign you know you are at the right place. I am aware of two access points, but there may be more. To find both, take Highway J south from I-44 past Highway M. For the first access, turn left just before the bridge over the creek and follow it to the end. For the second access, make the first left past the bridge onto County Road 6410. There will be a gravel pull off on the left in about a mile next to the creek.
This creek is a little bit of a challenge to fish. First of all, the upper stretches are privately owned, so in the summer the public water gets pretty warm. I suspect many of the fish migrate upstream to private water. Secondly, the majority of the creek is slow, open water without a ton of fish-holding habitat. I’ve been twice, so far, and every fish I’ve caught has been in one of the few stretches of faster moving water. You may have to walk a ways to find these spots. This creek is well worth the effort though, as the average size of fish has been significantly larger in my experience.
Crane Creek
I’ve only fished Crane Creek once, but I intend to be back many times, as it was one of my all-around favorites of the MO Trout Slam. Crane has everything a good trout creek needs. There is great public access, high fish numbers, and an abundance of good cover and shade. This keeps the water cool and the stream narrow and swift.
I’ve heard of people using a variety of flies and techniques successfully here. We caught good numbers of McCloud strain Rainbows nymphing, but it is a good hopper-dropper stream in late-summer. There are supposedly good mayfly hatches and subsequent dry fly fishing. You can catch trout out of practically anything that looks fishy here, I did best in broken water and by undercut banks. One thing to note here is that we would catch fish in relatively shallow water if we fished tight on undercut banks. The access we used was at Wire Road Conservation Area.
Barren Fork
Barren Fork is a tough creek to fish, maybe the most difficult of the MO Trout Slam streams. I was lucky to catch one nice trout on my visit, but a lot of people struggle here. Most of the creek is privately owned, and only about ½ mile is easily accessible. You can walk through the woods to access 2 more plots of public land. Consult a map of Sunklands Conservation Area to find the public water.
To fish the section I fished, put Chrisco Cemetery into Google Maps. Once you turn off Highway A onto the dirt road, park at the Blue Ribbon sign right before the road crosses the creek. You will want to fish downstream, because Twin Springs adds some volume to the creek a little ways downstream. I caught my fish tightlining a hare’s ear nymph in the one deep run I found. From what I’ve heard, the next downstream stretch of public water has the best habitat, but I didn’t fish it. Even though it’s a tricky creek, it is worth the stop. There is a cool little cave right off the water and I saw a lot of wildlife in my visit there.
Current River (Montauk to Cedargrove)
The Blue Ribbon section of the Current River is fun to fish, because there is potential for both rainbow and brown trout, including some exceptionally big ones. I’ve been a couple times this year, and while I’ve been able to catch fish there, I am always getting outfished by someone else. It fishes differently than most of the other Missouri trout streams.
People have a lot of luck using egg patterns and bright attractors there instead of more traditional nymphs and dries. There are a lot of fish to be caught though, and when the water is low it offers good sight fishing opportunities. There is good access at Montauk State Park, Tan Vat, Baptist, and Cedargrove. Don’t be afraid to switch flies until you find something that works here, some people report having great days here on unusual flies. Even if you can’t figure out the trout, it is a great wading river with lots of scenery and wildlife.
North Fork Of White (Rainbow Springs to Patrick Bridge)
The North Fork is a large, wide, freestone river near the Arkansas border with both Rainbow and Brown Trout. We struggled here, only catching one trout in two trips, although both trips were relatively brief. The one fish we caught was my biggest Brown Trout to date, and my largest ever fish on a fly rod. Most of the land surrounding the Blue Ribbon Section is privately owned, so I would recommend using the MDC access at Blair Bridge. It is also worth looking into any of the several private access options. If wade fishing, I would recommend going when the water is less than 1000 CFS, and preferably even lower than that. (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=07057500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060)
We were told that in order to catch the Rainbows, your best bet was to fish the fastest section of the rifles with heavy weighted stonefly imitations, but we were unsuccessful doing this. I would love to go back and give it another shot when the water is a little lower. I caught the Brown trout on a large Beadhead Prince Nymph in a slower moving run. It is a beautiful, wild river, and I would love to do a float trip to see more of the river soon.
Eleven Point River (Greer To Turner Mill)
The Eleven Point River is another large, wild river, but it is notably different from the North Fork. Although it is still a fast flowing river, there are more long slower sections, and these sections are very deep. This is a river in which a float trip is almost a necessity due to the deep water and lack of sandbars.
Fishing here is mainly done with either heavily weighted stonefly nymphs on a fly rod or marabou jigs on a spinning combo. I caught a decent amount of rainbows on prince nymphs and pat’s rubberlegs in sizes #8-#12. We caught fish in shallow riffles as well as the deep slow pools. There are good fish populations in the river, and I don’t think they get a ton of pressure. We were there on a Sunday in August and we only saw a couple of fishermen. In addition to the good fishing, this is the most wild river I have been on in Missouri, and I really want to go back. The Eleven Point was a great river to close out the MO trout slam.
All of these streams can be fished in a variety of ways, so don’t take my word for more than what it is; a novice fly fisherman’s stories on how he lucked into a couple fish. I would really recommend looking into the MO Trout Slam program. It has introduced me to an entirely new method of fishing, as well as some beautiful and challenging fisheries.
For past blogs about the program, check out these links:
