It wasn't Branson... It Was Better

So I didn't make it down to Branson, MO last weekend.  One brother had to work late on Friday and we decided that the other brother coming from Indiana shouldn't have to endure sixteen hours in a car with a bad case of Poison Ivy.  Eight hours would be enough.  But we still wanted to go fishing Saturday morning.  So where could we go that would keep us close to St Louis?  The answer was Westover Farms outside of Steeleville, MO.

I had enjoyed two previous trips and knew I wasn't going to be disappointed with this trip either.  They have multiple types of fishing areas available, a quiet stream, a meandering creek, babbling brooks, even a small pond.  You will find the type of fishing you enjoy as well as getting to spend some time in rural nature's splendor.



Westover Farms is a commercial trout hatchery on 475 acres about 90 miles Southwest of Steeleville, MO.  But as well as selling their trout to restaurants and stocking lakes and waterways, they'll let you come in and do a little fishing, catch and release or catch and keep if you want to mount a monster.  On top of the fishing they offer shooting, horseback riding, hiking or biking trails.  From a conference center for groups to multiple vintage 100 year old cabins on site, they have anything you need for a nice weekend getaway or a few hours of fishing.


It even has a little bit of history.  James Westover built a water mill on Dry Creek over 150 years ago.  A small town grew up around the mill.  At one time Westover, MO had it's own post office and even a grade school.  James sold the water mill just before he died and it continued operation on into the 1920s.  Since that time the land has passed through several owners who have run the gamut from raising goldfish to the trout hatchery it is today.


I've been fishing at Westover Farms three times in the past year and have enjoyed every trip.  The scenery is beautiful, the fishing is great and Tom and Lisa Schlueter are wonderful hosts.  Here is a link to their online photo gallery as well as some of my own shots.

My first trip to Westover Farms was a couple of months after my debacle at Maremac Springs.  It was in the early fall and my brother, Guy, took my dad and me to Westover so that we could actually catch some fish.  Knowing that this would be my dad's only experience other than the high-sticking in Gatlinburg, TN and that I had not had any success at Maremac Sprigs he stuck pretty close to us for the majority of the time.  As much as he wanted to catch some fish himself, he also wanted to make sure we were having some success.  


Guy took us to an area on Spring Creek he calls "The Garden," a long meandering stream that snakes through some trees and reeds, ending in a small waterfall under a bridge.  Right off the bat we found out that we didn't have to worry about whether we were going to catch fish.  Guy landed a nice trout off of a lure he called an egg-sucking leech.  Guy had Dad and me put a stimulator at the end of our leader and then drop a brown fly off of it.  He gave me a grasshopper to use as my stimulator and a couple of flies to drop off in case I lost some to the fish.  


The Garden was a nice mix of short casting and high sticking.  The longest you'll need to cast is about 20 feet.  Then you let your fly drift down with the current.  As your line drifts you'll have to keep your rod high to make sure you're in a position to set the hook.  As it turned out I didn't even need the flies.  Grasshoppers were flying with nearly every step we took in the grass and the fish knew it.  Every fish I caught ignored the fly on the dropper, rose up and took the grasshopper.  In the shallow clear water in the garden it was thrilling to see a trout turn toward your fly and rush up to grab it.  I'm not sure how many Guy caught, but Dad and I each landed three or four fish in half a day of fishing.  It was a great day of camaraderie and fishing.


My second trip was in the early spring of this year.  Guy had a friend in town and the three of us went back to Westover.  It was just as enjoyable as the first trip, and a lot more satisfying.  On this trip I wanted to stretch myself and rely less on Guy.  As we put our rods together I didn't ask Guy for any advice. I put on a small brown fly and an indicator and headed to the pond.  Casting from the edge of the pond I ended up catching a couple of small trout and a couple of small bass.  Then I switched the grasshopper and small brown fly on a dropper and headed to The Garden.  This time I was catching them on the fly rather than the grasshopper.  After a couple of hours my luck was changing so I wandered around to a couple of different areas without having much success.  All told, I think I caught eight fish that day.  And since I didn't rely on my brother for advice it was a very satisfying trip.


This trip was for my dad.  He turned 70 a couple of weeks ago and my brothers and I spent the weekend hanging out with him.   The fishing was in the midst of a great weekend.  If you count your fishing success by the number of fish that you catch you wouldn't think of this as a successful trip for me.  I landed two fish, hooked a third but lost him, at the cost of several grasshoppers, a couple of flies and a leader.  I felt like I spent almost as much time unraveling my line from the reeds as I spent with my flies in the water.  But the enjoyment of fly fishing comes not just from catching fish.  It's not just from being out in the woods and the water.  It's the entire experience.  In spite of the scorching heat and battling the plant life for my line and lures, four hours of fishing passed before I realized it.  And to me that's a successful trip.


If you're ever in the area of Steeleville, MO don't hesitate to head over to Westover Farms.  Whether you're looking for a weekend in a cabin in the woods or a half day of fishing you can't go wrong.