What better way to end 2025 than fly fishing with your friends on a mild winter day?  And so it was.  I set up the trip for 12/31/2025 knowing I wasn’t the only one who wanted to squeeze in more day in the river before 2025 was gone. 

Al Blair, Mike Harvey, Steve Baker, Scott Payne and I (Jim Craig) made it happen.  Al Blair drove in from his new home in Columbia, MO.  The rest of us carpooled from Eureka to Maramec Spring Park.

The day was clear and beautiful.  Best of all, the park was extremely quiet.  We nearly had the place to ourselves.

While we could see fish feeding regularly, they seemed to be extremely picky and on a very light bite.  That translated into a challenging day.  Nevertheless, we figured out a few things before the siren at 4 PM.  The most effective technique was to fish nymphs and midges under an indicator with no weight.  It seemed the flies had to have extremely natural movement with the water.  They didn’t have to go deep because many fish were feeding just under the surface.  Still I don’t think we really cracked the code on exactly what they were eating.  We couldn’t see any insects in the water and the fish certainly showed no preference for any of the many flies we offered. 

We finished the day with a fellowship dinner at El Nopal in Sullivan.  Great food and great service.

The flies that seem to work best were the little white thing, the house of Payne, and tiny Walt’s worms.   

We are really lucky that here in St. Louis not all of our winter days are that cold.  We have been picking some great days to get out on the water.  Plan a trip or watch the FATC emails for one you can join.  This wonderful catch and release season will end in a month.