I got a late start and decided to check out Blue Spring Creek since it was a little closer to home. There was already a couple trucks at the parking area right after the bridge so I headed down to the next access just to check things out. I parked at the second bridge and fished downstream with a number 10 olive wooly. That place is some skinny water. I fished downstream, almost to the Meramec, half- heartedly. I was tempted to do some more exploring but after fishing Little Piney so much I was a little burnt out on small rainbows and wanted to see what shape the Meramec was in.
I was on the water at the Cardiac access by 2pm. The water was still pretty high, ripping and a little off color but I had decided to fish it in earnest. I had the same wooly on and pinched a split shot about an inch above the eye. I hooked up twice right away. I didn't catch on at first but the fish were picking it up just before the bend so the were actually rising for it as it was sinking since I was throwing it in front of them from the bend. I had hooked three fish that came off before I managed to actually catch one. I got it holding the woolie in the current at the end of the swing. It was a decent rainbow, a not so pretty stocker that was fat and about 18" long. I was feeling good already though.
A couple more casts and I decided not to get too locked in to this hole and headed upstream to the next big hole. As I was crossing a nice sized fish came out of the water but I was making quite a racket getting through the stiff current so I didn't waste much time. Up below the house I tied on another split shot and still wasn't getting it down. I hooked up once but that was it. The water was coming through those riffles really hard and concentrated and it was pretty tough to fish. I fished the pool above it but I wasn't able to get a decent drift and it was getting dark and chilly so I hit the dirt road and went back to the first hole.
Since I was coming in from upstream I decided to fish a little further up before the bend and hooked up right away. Another really nice stocker about the same size as the first one but not as fat. A couple casts later and I had another one the same size. Three really nice fish! These fish were all picking it up right at the end of the drift, before i started to lift, just in front of the bend.
Wooly Buggers are getting expensive. Today I figured out that if you put the split shot too far, say 3" above the eye, up the tippett the wooly gets lodged between the rocks and breaks off. If you put it just about 1" above the wooly still wiggles and the whole unit bounces along the bottom.
Today was mid-high forties, chilly and got progressively more cloudy as the day went on. There were some bugs around but not too many.
CFS/477 FT/2.25
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