Anytime you can fish is a good time to fish; in my case, after a broken leg back in October, followed by a wet winter…well, fly fishing for trout at Bennet Spring State Park is just what the doctor ordered! Vickie and I left Indiana early on Friday morning, March 13th for Missouri, Lebanon to be exact. Bennet Spring is just 11 miles west of Lebanon on Hwy. 64.
(NOTE: Back in 2014, I shot a video review of Bennet Spring State Park. Check it out.)
The weather on our way out was good and would prove to be the driest weather we would have for the next few days as rain would dominate the area for almost a week. A quick set up of the camper would allow me about an hour to fish prior to closing hour (hours in March, after time change, are from 7:30am to 7pm). I stopped by BSSP store and purchased a $4 dollar daily trout tag and in minutes was casting my way down the middle of zone 1 in some pretty stained water.
The next morning I was up early and on the stream just minutes after the opening bell (yes, there is actually a horn that pronounces the beginning of fishing each day). I have fished at Bennet in about any type of weather and water color over the years and decided to go with a crème colored trout candy and 3X tippet on top of a Rio sink-tip 1 fly line. In about 90 minutes I had landed several nice rainbow trout (rainbows make up about 95% of the trout population with the remaining 5% being brown’s). It was a cold and wet morning and I decided to make my way back to our camper to warm up and dry out.
Later that afternoon I once again wondered out to zone 1 and spent another couple of hours in pursuit of trout on the upper end of the spring. The wildlife on Bennet is nothing short of amazing with birds of all types…my favorite being the belted kingfishers who also spend their time buzzing up and down the spring in search of fish.
The next couple of days was more the same and to be quite frank, between the cold temps and high water…it was a tough go. The morning of my last day at Bennet found be switching to a sink tip 3 fly line and a heavier trout candy…which proved to be the ticket as the fish were further down in the water column. All in all over the four days I fished I had landed about 35 trout…while fishing about 2-3 hours per day.
If you haven’t yet been to Bennet…then by all means give this beautiful state park a try; I know you will enjoy the fishing and the awesome beauty and wildlife that abounds in all directions. Remember that Lebanon is just 11 miles up the road and provides anything that one would happen to want or need.
If you want more videos about my previous adventures at Bennet, use the search box at the top of this page.
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