Blue
Springs Creek Trout Area Map
Blue
Springs Creek
Missouri
There
is no
getting around the fact that the wild rainbow trout of Blue Springs
Creek are
hard to catch. They are some of the spookiest trout around, and the
constantly
gin clear water doesn’t help the situation. It is a tiny creek, and is
rarely
more than fifteen feet wide, or four feet deep. However, the trout are
most
certainly there. The stream holds about 290 trout per mile in the
publicly
accessible section of about three miles, which is an incredibly large
number
given the fact that Blue springs Creek is so very tiny. Just as a point
of
reference, the Current River,
which is considered by almost everyone to be a top quality trout stream
held
294 trout per mile the last time it was sampled. The Current is many
times
larger than Blue
Springs.
Also, every single trout in Blue Springs Creek is wild.
For
those
fishing at Blue Springs Creek, the pools are the place to go. For the
most part,
the riffles are just too shallow to hold fish. The pools are gin clear,
and
average about three feet in depth. The pools that contain rocks or root
wads tend
to hold the most rainbow trout. Blue Springs
heavily resembles a small western feeder creek, but if you fish it that
way,
you will rarely catch trout. You need to be ever so careful not to make
extra
noise, or cast your shadow across the stream. If you see a likely pool,
it is
best to stay as far away from it as you can, get on your knees, and
fish the
pool from there. Flies and small spinners are best, as bait of any
kind, or
soft plastics aren’t allowed anywhere on the creek. There is a length
limit for
rainbow throughout the creek. Legal sized trout are rare. Besides
trout, you
can also catch suckers, smallmouth bass, and sunfish anywhere on the
creek. The Meramec River
at the creek’s mouth
is a
world-class
smallmouth bass stream.
The
stream
is south of Bourbon, which is located on Highway 44. Take highway N,
until you
cross the creek at a slab bridge. Soon you will come to the first of
several
pull offs to access the creek at. The entire creek holds trout, but the
upper
half of the public portion usually hold the most, although the lower
section
can hold some very large smallmouth bass from the river below, as well
as a
fair number of trout. Blue
Springs
itself is located on Camp
Mihaska’s
property, which is affiliated with the Salvation Army. You can see this
private section of the creek from
Highway N on
your way to the public access, and even get a fleeting glance at the
spring,
(which puts out around 5 million gallons of water per day), but fishing
in this
short section is by permission only. This shot of steady cold water is
what makes Blue Springs Creek the excellent wild trout stream it is.
