Red Ribbon Trout Fishing on the Meramec River

The Red Ribbon trout section of the Meramec River ranges from the Highway 8 access downstream about eight miles to Scott’s Ford, with numerous access points in between. This stretch of river holds both brown and rainbow trout. I have always wanted to give it a try, so on my winter break I headed down to the Cardiac Hill access point with a few friends.

Late Start

​We planned on spending a full day on the water, but ended up getting there around 8:00, a little later than we had planned. The parking lot was no more than a small gravel pull-off marked by a Department of Conservation sign. It was also in the middle of the woods on a hilltop with no river in sight. We geared up and began to head down the trail to the river.

About ten minutes later, we made it to the stream and began tying up. I have been trying to learn how to fly fish, so I brought my five-weight and a box of flies we had tied mostly by ourselves. My friend was a much more experienced fly angler, and I was hoping that I would learn from him. I decided to try out a Bead Head Prince’s Nymph in size 12, a fly that I had been finding success with recently. I attached an indicator about two feet up the line, and we began to wade upstream.

Fish On!

​I spent the first few minutes sorting out my clumsy cast, trying to avoid tangles more than anything else. Once I felt confident enough in my technique, I began making drifts with my nymph. We were wading on the shallow side, casting into a run with some wooded cover. The spot looked really promising, so we slowed down and fished it thoroughly. I have always heard about the importance of having your nymph tick the bottom, and my nymph certainly wasn’t getting down deep enough to do that, so I adjusted my indicator. It was now over three feet from my nymph. I surprised myself my making a decent cast near some brush. Near the end of my drift my indicator shot down, and soon saw the flash of a trout on my line. Still unskilled in fighting fish on a fly rod, I managed to clumsily bring in my first fish of the day, a feisty little rainbow.

Because I had hooked that fish farther out than I was comfortable casting, I began focusing on my casting technique in order to reach the fish. I got some helpful pointers from my friend, and I began making longer casts. I was rewarded with another strike, and I brought in a Brown Trout this time. We continued fishing upstream and I caught three more Brown Trout in the same manner. All were caught on the nymph I had tied myself. After we finished fishing that stretch, we sat on the gravel bar and ate our packed lunches.

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After lunch, we continued upstream, fishing some good looking riffles and holes, but with no success. The day had warmed up and the sun came out. We weren’t even seeing fish. I waded up almost a mile upstream before turning around and walking back. It had become late in the afternoon, and a hatch of some small bug was occurring. We noticed a few trout rising, so we switched to small dries. I chose a crackleback, and my friend chose an elk hair caddis. On his second cast he brought in a small brown, but that proved to be the last fish of the day.

Can’t wait to go back

​I finished the day with more confidence in my fly fishing skills, and having caught and released some nice trout. Even though we caught some fish, I felt like that stretch of water had more to give. Missouri has a lot to offer in the way of red ribbon trout water, and I have a feeling I will be back again before too long.

For more information, check out these links:

https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/where-fish/trout-areas

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/woods-woodson-k-mem-ca