Spring Fed · Limestone · Missouri, US

Bennett Spring State Park

A calm spring-fed pool with anglers wading near a wooden hatchery lodge, surrounded by dense green trees

Bennett Spring is one of Missouri's four classic trout parks: accessible, busy, stocked, rule-heavy and absolutely part of the Ozarks trout map.

Today · About as good as it gets
Pink Shrimp
Forecast · Today
About as good as it gets
On the feed top to bottom — start on the rises with a dry, drop a nymph if they stay down.
75% projected
Today's fly
Pink Shrimp
Pink Shrimp
Conditions on the water · Today
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.50 m
Water temp15.8°C
ClarityClear
Weather15°C
WindN 4 km/h
Pressure1024 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.0 mm

The nearest gauge doesn't record temperatures, so we've estimated it — defer to the river keeper's advice.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Ideal
16°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Excellent — water temperature is working for you, but time of day is the limiting factor today.
Likely species
Mayflies
Chironomids
Gammarids
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 7am

12pm(now) — Eastern Blue-Winged Olive

Stage: On emergersApproach: Emerger or dryActivity: 23%

Peak activity at 7am — Trico (Eastern) (Trico (Eastern))

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 2 guilds as a supporter.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 2 as a supporter.

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Evidence
Records-basedModerate confidence

Based on species-occurrence records, not local invertebrate surveys.

Through the year
0–3 scale · October highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
SulphurHatch
2
3
2
Trico (Eastern)Hatch
2
3
3
2
Eastern Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Eastern Summer BWO (Drunella)Hatch
2
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Missouri trout park
  • Zone 1 is fly-only; Zone 2 is flies/artificial lures; Zone 3 is bait water
  • Daily trout tag and fishing permit requirements apply in season
  • Daily/possession limits and brown-trout length rules must be verified against current MDC/MO State Parks rules.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Gallery · 2
  1. A calm spring-fed pool with anglers wading near a wooden hatchery lodge, surrounded by dense green trees
    Anglers wading below the historic hatchery lodge at Bennett Spring State Park, Missouri
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Bennett Spring is one of Missouri's four classic trout parks: accessible, busy, stocked, rule-heavy and absolutely part of the Ozarks trout map. It is not wilderness; it is a spring-branch trout park with whistle culture, daily tags, three fishing zones and enough anglers on opening day to make solitude a winter catch-and-release thing. Zone 1 is fly-only water up by the spring and hatchery dam, Zone 2 allows flies and artificial lures down to Whistle Bridge, and Zone 3 is bait water down to the Niangua. The value here is precision: know your tags, dates, zones and fly-only boundaries before you go.

  • Limestone
Water quality · US Clean Water Act
  • Aquatic life: Supporting
What this classification means

EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'Bennett Springs Cr.' (MO_1185.00), 2022 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Fully Supporting. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.

Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.

EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · MO_1185.00

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 75%
How the 80 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature100 × 28%28.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time40 × 13%5.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity53 × 12%6.4
Conditions total= 80
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitymodelled from regional profilemodelled
What would change the calculation
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 1 March → 31 October
Related guides
Chalkstream Playbooklimestone spring creek — same tacticsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts