alaskaguy wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
I've fished seven of the nine Missouri Blue Ribbon streams and
they're better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick but my
advice is, Go North. The driftless area of Wisconsin isn't that
far away and it's well worth the drive for native, but small,
brookies. You do know that trout are not indigenous to Missouri
and that wherever you fish you're fishing for stockers ? Not
that there's anything wrong with that ...

Sure, a drive to the Driftless Area of Wisconsin is worthwhile, but I
take small issue with referring to all the trout in Missouri as
stockers. Many are indeed wild though of course none are native.
Trout were introduced to Missouri in the 1800's. Many of the streams
I mentioned in the earlier post can and do carry very healthy wild
trout populations. You can and likely will find fulfillment on some of
these waters.

A dwindling few of the Missouri trout are wild. When I fished the
Eleven Point I was under the impression that it had never been
stocked after the first dumping from the train trestle in the 1880's.
I was mistaken. Missouri started "supplemental stocking" on the
Eleven Point and most of the other Blue Ribbon streams several years
ago. There are a few, very few, wild trout left in Missouri. But hey,
different strokes for different folks. I grew up in E. St. Louis and
caught my first trout in Missouri. I was the one who got hooked and
I've fished most of the trout streams in the state at one time or
another. I just prefer to fish elsewhere these days. YMMV.

--
Ken Fortenberry