Little Piney-Missouri
January 3, 2009

Fishing Little Piney Creek in the middle of January turned out to be a tough, and extremely rewarding experience. We headed to the Vida Slab access, and arrived late morning. I set out upstream, combing every promising riffle I came too. In one particularly appealing scour hole, I cast my small spinner. After a few turns of the reel, I felt a massive tug on the end of my line. When the creature on the other end  doubled my pole over, I was thinking I must have hooked a big smallmouth. Not so. Soon, within a foot of my wading boots I saw the largest rainbow trout that has ever graced my eyes. After one good look at me, my adversary shook it's head violently, shedding the hook, and giving me one last torturous look at him before he swam away.  The fish looked to be about three pounds, and a solid twenty inches, and would surely be one of the largest trout caught from the Little Piney.  I nearly cried.