The fen is the location of Westover Springs, which is actually a cluster of small springs bubbling up through the sand. A fen is a rare type of coldwater wetland -- especially rare in Missouri -- and this one lends itself well to dry fly fishing. The spring water feeds both the spring branch and the brook, which was opened to fishing in early 2011. The spring branch gives fishermen their first real opportunity to fish subsurface flies and nymphs. It's fairly open and a good option for novice fly fisherman. The brook is a different story. It's small and skinny and tightly canopied with drooping tree branches. But every spot that looks like it might hold a fish usually does. The brook will challenge the technical skills of any fly fisherman, not to mention your ability to swear!
Further downstream, the spring branch and the brook rejoin at a series of plunge pools before dropping into the creek, scouring out a nice deep pool supporting some very large fish. The plunge pools also support a thriving trout population, but the fishing here is fairly close quartered and can be quite challenging.
The remainder of the spring branch's flow is diverted through Westover's hatchery raceways before discharging into the beautiful meandering meadow section. This section of the park was modeled after an English meadow trout stream the original designers had once fished. This section can also be challenging, because the current is complicated to fish, there are plenty of snags, and the trout can usually see you coming a mile away if you're not careful on your approach. The meadow stream then also tumbles through a few more plunge pools and into the creek, digging out another nice deep pool holding more of the property's trophy-sized fish.
The creek itself has been allowed to remain unchanged from its natural state, and it provides some fantastic wild-style trout fishing, with overhanging trees, overgrown banks, and the like, and a natural stream environment with riffles, plunges, pools,and channels all existing as nature intended. The fish here are wiley, but they can be taken using a number of different flies and techniques. And with all the surrounding vegetation, this stretch can be loads of fun in the summer using flies that represent ants, grasshoppers and beetles.
The fish in Westover's trout streams often grow to enormous sizes due to sound management of the resource, and also due to the strong aquatic insect and crustacean population available in the stream to support a growing trout's diet.