Trout Fishing Report for Bennett Spring
Brought to you by
Weaver's Tackle Store
March 29, 2024

by Cory Bennett   

How’s Fishing? We have had a great couple weeks of fishing. A little slower on the lunkers but with that being said I’ve watched several anglers bring some nice fish up to the store to weigh.  My dad got to come down and visit this past week and had a heck of an experience in zone 1 with his fly rod. A little over 20 rainbows in a couple hours with the good old John Deere Mini jig.

So what’s working? As I said earlier, the John Deere Mini jigs worked great for my dad and several anglers this week.  The John Deere Mini has been around a long time. I was speaking with Paul Weaver and he said he was introduced to the John Deere Mini Jig in 1974 by Doctor Lewis Taylor, a dentist from Cole Camp, MO. Doc Taylor would go down to the Spring and was very successful with the jig. He would give them away on the stream for other anglers to try.  At the time it wasn’t actually called the John Deere and was referred to as a light olive chenille jig.  After popular demand, Doc Taylor later started tying them for Paul.  Years later the light olive chenille jig with the yellow eye was branded the name John Deere Mini Jig and the rest is history. It is amazing how many jigs were born here at Bennett Spring and now used all around the world.

My good friends Justin and Sheila Lee from Impulse Fly Fishing stopped into the store. These two are long-time Bennett Spring anglers.  Make sure to check them out on Facebook or impulseflyfishing.com for some great stories, tips and tricks for the stream. A fly they recommended last week was the pink mega worm which several other angers also said was a hot drifting fly for them.

Black marabou, orange and white Marabou, white mega worms and cream and orange mop flies have worked really well the past couple of days. Also, if you run a dry fly, Klink Hammers and the Griffiths Gnat were productive this week. In zone 3, Orange, Salmon Peach, and white Glitter were anglers' choice this week. Pautzke’s Salmon eggs were also working well for several fishermen. Have a great Easter weekend and we will see you on the stream!

BENNETT SPRING gage height 1.88 feet

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06923500/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D

NIANGUA RIVER gage height 1.60 feet https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06923250/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D

Lunkers

Silas Buckler from Harrisburg, MO-3lbs with a chamois fly in zone 2

Myron Kelly from Elkland-2.5lbs with a scud in zone 2

Blake Williams from Kirkwood, MO- 2.5lbs with a wooly spinner

Justin Brown from South Roxana, IL- 2lbs with a orange mop in zone 1

Collier Jeffries from Osage Beach, 2lbs with homemade jig in zone 1

Sherri from Higginsville, MO-2 lbs with a wire worm in zone 1

Tate Culberton from Troy, MO- 2lbs with a red brassie in zone 1

Dean Hoase from Sedalia, Mo 5.25lbs with salmon egg in zone 3

Brian Westrich from Arnold, MO-2lbs with a cream mop in zone 1

Recommendations
Zone 1 and Zone 2- Bennett Blue Crackleback, Griffiths Gnat, Parachute Adams
Marabou- black & yellow, white & red and shell & white Mopfly- Cream, orange and Chartreus

White Mega worm, Pink Mega worm

zebra Midge-black 

Grey Scud

Mini jigs-John Deere mini jig and Bedspread mini jig- Jimi Hendrix, white, and orange

Zone 3-Orange Spark PowerBait and Salmon Peach PowerBait- White PowerBait
Pautzke’s Red label Salmon Eggs 

Bennett Spring Events
Bennett Spring Fly Tying Group- Every Wednesday @ 9 at the Bennett Spring Church

April 13^th  Tri Lakes Fishing Expo at Clinton, MO

April 20^th Veterans Day Fishing

May 4^th Kids Free Fishing

See https://mostateparks.com/events/park/bennett-spring-state-park for more Bennet Spring Events and dates

Have fun, stay safe and tight lines!

Thanks for reading,

Cory

The Guy from Weaver’s

Also see our Facebook page and weaverstackle.com .

Mike Sapp Photo

Mike Sapp Photo