Bennett Spring

[stonum]

Just a video I made today (3/1/2014) of opening day at that crazy Bennett Spring trout park in Missouri.....It looks like a mess, but things settle down eventually and you can have some fun fly-fishing..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZPVioMZupI&feature=youtu.be

 

[comeonavs]

Wow that looks like a nightmare, true combat fishing.

I hate seeing nice fish harvested, I guess I'm turning in to a old softy. Either that or I'm really selfish and want to catch fish like that.

 

[williamhj]

If I found the right park, it looks like it is set up to be a put and take fishery. According to this they stock it every night. Fished a put and take spot in Detroit area, they'd stock it, let the fish sit, do catch and release for a bit then let folks take them, though they'd take them before allowed. It was packed as well. Wasn't really much fun but after a cold Michigan winter it was something. Don't know that I'd do it now.

 

[Mnflyfish]

wow! i think id go back home, 5 ppl are too many for me.

 

[jr2525]

We have our camper seasonally parked at Bennett Springs and fish it 75-100 days a year. Opening day (March 1) and most weekends the stream is extremely crowded, but I am usually off Tuesday and Wednesday, and quite often share the entire stream with 20 or less anglers.
Anytime that anyone in the group is going to be in the Lebanon, MO area through the week, let me know. I'd love to meet some of you and cast a line or 2.

Jr

 

[Brewmaster]

You cannot compare opening day of trout season in a Missouri Trout Park to real trout fishing...the only thing they have in common is they both involve fish and water. Opening day is just an over-crowded event barely related to trout fishing other than in name only. On one popular Missouri fishing forum multiple people recently posted that the first and most important thing to pack for opening day of trout season was jagermeister!

You could not get me to fish there opening day if you paid me!

FYI - that being said, Bennett Spring is the third largest spring in Missouri (over 100 million gallons per day) and there is another section of the stream (about a mile long starting where the spring originates) that does not allow any bait or soft/hard artificial lures; only single hook flies. The fly only area was not shown on the video. Many of the people who fish the fly only area practice C&R.

I have fished a couple of the Missouri trout parks over the years, and if you stay away from opening days, weekends and holidays...then it is not crowded and you can have a lot of fun with micro-nymphs and drys. The parks also provide access for disabled individuals to fly fish, and they are a great place to teach kids and adult beginners how to fish with a fly rod (there is nothing like catching something to guarantee a desire to return and do it again).

 

[mridenour]

I have LOTS of Bennett Spring stories. I've fished all the trout parks in Missouri and timing is everything. Those big opening day fish are stocked from the hatchery as part of the experience of the opening day frenzy. You won't see me there on opening day...EVER! But the parks are different animals on the weekdays. I learned a lot as a kid fishing them.

 

[Flyfisher for men]

If I found the right park, it looks like it is set up to be a put and take fishery. According to this they stock it every night.

Correct.

Bennett is really a family park. There's a pool and playground, a good rustic lodge-style restaurant, visitors center/museum, hatchery open for tours/feed the trout, etc.

There's also the Niangua River right there and you can access that at the park boundary or at several nearby points. It's also floatable. Worth doing, especially if you want to get away from the people.


The classic trout water (runs, riffles, etc.) is actually designated for bait fishing. A lot of the stream is accessbile from the bank and that's good for kids with worms. Again, I think that's the family emphasis. The other parts of the stream have to be waded, and the flyfishers can mange that easily enough.

If you do an opener, what I gather is people do it for the same reasons you might attend a family reunion or a class reunion. Fishing's only part of the experience. The time to fish it for that "solitude" and "A River Runs Through It" experience is the winter catch and release. Very few people.

I love Bennett Springs myself. Normally, it's nothing like that, even on summer weekends (though there are numbers of people).

The last several times I've been down there, I've said the Mass for the Catholics. The local church has a shelter house they use as a chapel during summer weekends. It's actually kind of a fun Mass to do as a priest. It's easy to preach when you have all that natural beauty and opportunity to rest in creation. I'll get up super early and sit in my chair around the campfire drinking coffee and looking over the scriptures by lantern light, drink coffee, and then go fish. Quite literally, come Mass time, it's get out of the water, case the rod, slip the waders off, and head for Mass. Inevitably, the congregation is retirees, boy scout troops who are fishing and canoing, and other obvious tourists.

As far as I'm concerned Bennett Spring is a hint of our final destiny.

---------- Post added at 09:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 AM ----------

Anytime that anyone in the group is going to be in the Lebanon, MO area through the week, let me know. I'd love to meet some of you and cast a line or 2.

Jr

I'll keep you in mind. I typically hit the park in late July/ Early August. Not sure if I can this year as yet, but very possible.

 

[eddie789]

Wow that's something! I am planning a trip down there for the first time this year. I hear from a friend that its not always like that. He said the same thing flyfisher said. I think I might try to go during the week sometime!

 

[Flyfisher for men]

Wow that's something! I am planning a trip down there for the first time this year.

One thing else to look for is the moss cutting schedule. Try weaver's tackle for the days and times. Some people love it and some hate it.

Why you might hate it: When they're doing it, it will make parts of the stream tough to fish with all the vegetation floating around till it goes downstream. (you can always go upstream).

Why you might love it: It makes scuds and nymphs absolutely deadly. They get dislodged and its chow time.

Personally, I like it.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------

[Trout parks] are a great place to teach kids and adult beginners how to fish with a fly rod (there is nothing like catching something to guarantee a desire to return and do it again).

Absolutely. As a newbie, I went down there after doing a summer of bluegills and a few winter stockers. It was the first time I got to see other flyfisherman in action. Just seeing a decent backcast was helpful. I learned to roll cast just by watching and talking to a guy next to me. He even gave me a few flies.

That family was typical of Bennett Springs--there with his wife, several grandkids who had spin tackle, and his son and daughter-in-law for a week's summer vacation. The women were not that serious about fishing, and could find stuff to do in the antique and art stores and the amish craftshops in the area while everybody else went after trout.

 

[Brewmaster]

If you do an opener, what I gather is people do it for the same reasons you might attend a family reunion or a class reunion. Fishing's only part of the experience.

Based on what I have seen over the years including talking to many people who actually do attend the opening day; I would say it is less like a family reunion (at least the ones I have attended) and more like a Super Bowl - the event is simply being there, drinking and partying, while the game (fishing) is a very small part of the action.

 

[pm287]

I will take zero fish and a view a bit less crowded......

 

[stl_geoff]

I hear from a friend that its not always like that. He said the same thing flyfisher said. I think I might try to go during the week sometime!

Go to ANY of the trout parks during the week days or in the off season and you will have the entire park to yourself. Best time I ever had in a trout park was in May, we came down on a sunday and left Friday morning. There was 2 other campers in the whole park......out of like 300 camp sites. I cant tell you how many fish we caught, probably 100+ each.

 

[colin272]

It is what you make of it and what you are use to. unfortunately I do not live in an area of pristine wild trout water like some people, so trout parks are about as close as I can come. I guess because I go on opening day almost every year now for the last 7 years it doesn't seem that crazy. I agree with everyone else that it is empty during the week. It is a family park its were I learned to fish for trout, so its always special to me. That's why me and my brothers drove three hours down to the park to fish all day and then drove back the same day.

 

[markfrid]

I know "put-and-take" and "stockers", etc are an anathema to many trout fisherman. I can kind of see where those guys are coming from. I don't agree, but sort of see where they might feel that way. Here's the 2-cents from somebody who grew up in Missouri and started fly fishing for trout there.

Don't get me wrong, I love fishing for trout where nobody's around and you can see mountains in all directions. Some of those places demand the perfect approach, the perfect cast and the right fly. On the other hand, I've fished a number of beautiful, secluded wild trout streams where the fish run for the nearest logjam or undercut if they catch the slightest glimpse of you. But, if you stayed out of sight you could catch them on almost anything. At Bennett or any heavily fished tailwater the fish don't care if they see you - they see people all the time. But Lord, they can be so fickle sometimes a stick of dynamite would be the only thing that worked. Every trout fishing situation has it's challenges - its all good. I can get as far away from the Real World at Bennett as I can on the North Platte. Trout fishing is magic.

I caught my first trout on a fly rod at Montauk State Park, a sister park to Bennett. I haven't got over it yet. Many people have mentioned the family-oriented nature of parks like Bennett. So true. I've seen a lot of kids catch their first trout on a fly rod there and I'm positive many of them, like me, never get over it. A lot of those kids will travel all over the country fishing for trout in more "Real Trout Fishing"-type trout fishing locations, far from anyone. But when they come back to Bennett, they'll have a ball and not care if somebody is close to them. Probably strike up a conversation.

Three cheers for Bennett!

Mark

 

[Flyfisher for men]

Every trout fishing situation has it's challenges - its all good. I can get as far away from the Real World at Bennett as I can on the North Platte. Trout fishing is magic. I caught my first trout on a fly rod at Montauk State Park, a sister park to Bennett. I haven't got over it yet. Many people have mentioned the family-oriented nature of parks like Bennett. So true. I've seen a lot of kids catch their first trout on a fly rod there and I'm positive many of them, like me, never get over it. A lot of those kids will travel all over the country fishing for trout in more "Real Trout Fishing"-type trout fishing locations, far from anyone. But when they come back to Bennett, they'll have a ball and not care if somebody is close to them. Probably strike up a conversation. Three cheers for Bennett!

Absolutely, Markfrid!

You can meet a lot of neat people there, and I certainly have. I love solitude when fishing, but I get a lot of it in camp since I'm normally camping alone. A person to strike up a conversation with is a nice thing on the water.

 

[stonum]

---------- Post added at 10:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 PM ----------

[/COLOR]

One thing else to look for is the moss cutting schedule. Try weaver's tackle for the days and times. Some people love it and some hate it.

Why you might hate it: When they're doing it, it will make parts of the stream tough to fish with all the vegetation floating around till it goes downstream. (you can always go upstream).

Why you might love it: It makes scuds and nymphs absolutely deadly. They get dislodged and its chow time.

Personally, I like it.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------

Yep, I avoid the park when they plan on weed-cutting.... You can sometimes click on the "calender" link or look at the little "events" window on the right on their website ...bennettspringstatepark.com.... to see which days weed-cutting is planned.(thats if Eddie who works in the store remembers to mark the weed-cutting dates on the website calender, I notice as of right now, he hasn't marked the days on the calender).....Best to call them really, cause last year a couple of the dates that were marked were wrong, because the weed-cutter broke down. The park can be very un-crowded on weekdays. I had one weekday last year when it was drizzling rain, I just put my raincoat on....absolutely nobody else in site. Found a good place with no trees behind me to interfer with my back-cast and had a good time. Nobody else there.....But when others are there, they are usually nice people and fun to talk to. Here's a video I made last year that shows the dreaded weed-cutter in action..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKj3j4piFP0

 

[rickf]

Wow! I guess heavy line and Trout Dough PowerBait?

Just use that long handled net and scoop the trout?

I guess there is no reason to "match the hatch"? ..... and you probably don't have to use a furled leader?

 

[stenacron]

Man that reminds me of opening days from year's past on Bushkill Creek back in PA. Everyone is lining the banks by 6:30a, many have camped out... about 7:45a people start moving into position and lining up across all of the lowhead dams... everyone looking at each other waiting for someone to make the first cast. Then at 8:00a sharp the mayhem begins!

It was an annual event, but I don't really miss it.

 

[stl_geoff]

Wow! I guess heavy line and Trout Dough PowerBait?

Just use that long handled net and scoop the trout?

I guess there is no reason to "match the hatch"? ..... and you probably don't have to use a furled leader?

Generally 2lb or lighter line, they are extremely leader shy.

they run from the nets still

you can match the hatch when you move outside of the parks and the stock trout flow into the rivers where they learn to eat whats hatching.

Trout fishing at the trout parks here IS NOT a real representation of trout fishing. For most people its a put and take fishery.