|
|
||
|
Home |
|
Bennett Spring State Park Daily trout tag required. Regulations vary by zone. All brown
trout less than 15" long must be immediately released unharmed. Daily
limit is 4 trout, only one of which may be a brown trout. Don't
take our word for it. Click here to read the code for yourself. Bennett
Spring is what you might call the flagship of the Missouri Trout Parks. It
draws the largest crowds, by far, and it boasts the largest spring of the
four parks. It has a very nice restaurant, a nature center, a swimming pool,
and tons of lodging and camping spaces. Once the park fills up, the rest of
the visitors simply spill into the lodges and campgrounds that surround the
park. The park boasts a nice tackle shop, and there are also some
honest-to-God fly shops nearby. Missouri fly fishermen have been known to
travel great distances to visit these fly shops without even stopping to fish
at the park. The
downside of fishing in any of the trout
parks is the restrictive nature of the fishing
regulations, the crowds, and... well... okay, it's mainly the crowds.
This, of course, effects the fish and the fishing. Trout park fish don't usually
act like normal trout. At the morning siren, you can almost cast anything and
catch a fish or two. Later in the day, however, even the finest and most
experienced trout fisherman can get skunked. The best method seems to be to
fish small baits and lures, and sight fish. This means, drift your lure or
bait in such a way that you can watch it, and cast directly to a specific fish.
Pick your fish, and try to drift the bait right to its nose. Trout can be
lazy, and they'll often eat something rather than move out of the way. LET'S BE
CLEAR! If you drift the bait to the fish's nose and then jerk the hook into
his face, YOU ARE A POACHER. Paying the daily fee
does not entitle you to harvest fish by any means necessary. You have to at least give
them a chance to outsmart you. Don't mean to be sound insulting, but this behavior is
easily observed every day at the parks. It's not only unsporting, it's illegal.
A view from the bridge below the dam. Crowds of fish like
this bring crowds of fishermen. You can
also download a better quality map from the Department of Conservation
website. The direct-to-map link is available on our Maps
page. To schedule a campsite or room, and to check for fishing regulations, check out
the Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Bennett Spring page. Click here to see a recent Bennett Spring
fishing report. After you visit, we hope you come back to post a
fishing report of your own. |
