Blue Ribbon Streams for Wild Trout

Typical Wild trout from one of Missouri's Blue Ribbon Streams

It wasn’t too long ago that Missouri went through a pretty bad drought. As a result some of the smaller wild streams lost a considerable number fish. Slowly but surely their numbers have been increasing and with that come size as well. A couple years ago catching a couple 6 to 9 inch rainbow trout was a good day. Here are some photos from yesterday. Looks like the fish population has recovered a bit from the drought. That is good news indeed.
 

Nice 12-inch Rainbow Trout from Blue Ribbon Stream

Nice 12-inch Rainbow Trout from Blue Ribbon Stream. Just to prove that the previous photo was not taken with a miniature fly rod. LOL