Fly Fish KC: Bennett Trout Opener 3/01/2011

Bill and I had a great trip down to Bennett Spring March 1st for the Missouri Trout season opener, 2011. It was pretty cool in the mornings (in the 20's) but made it up to the 60's in the afternoons. The stream was running high and muddy, making the fishing a little tougher (and no sight fishing). That area had gotten quite a bit of rain recently. Water was coming over the low water bridge by the spring. We watched the flurry of activity when a couple of long-time attendees along with Gov. Nixon sounded the whistle at 6:30 a.m. Bill and I started our fishing around 11:00 a.m. after it thinned out a little and got skunked for a couple of hours. After lunch, we headed back out and had better luck. The next morning wasn't nearly as crowded and we both caught a few at the whistle over by the Island. I decided to keep 3 fish to take home. Most of the flies we used didn't fair too well, and about the only success seemed to be on glo balls and bedspreads. The usual Liberty fly tiers were down there along with Mike Rueck. They added a new boot cleaning station to reduce spread of Didymo (rock snot, see picture). We ate pretty good while down there, including breakfast at the park church and a good meal at Madison Grill in downtown Lebanon. The number of tags sold on Tuesday (the opening day) was lower than usual at 1717. I heard there was around 5,000 fisherman at all of the trout parks combined. They released 6,000 fish for the Bennett opener and 3,000 the next day. We stayed at my usual cabin there in the park. We both enjoyed the trip a lot.

A couple of pictures are included below, or to see all of them, click on:

http://s1189.photobucket.com/albums/z438/flyfishkc/Bennett%20Spring%20Opener%203-01-2011/?albumview=slideshow

Also, check out the amateur video I made at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmzMTWASXE

The Dam at the 6:30 whistle