MO Missouri Porch

Ozarks (Rural)

Bennett Spring is a state park built around a trout park

Bennett Spring is one of Missouri's small set of trout parks and a major regional draw, so understanding how the park and the trout fishery work together is the single most useful outdoors fact for the county

Bennett Spring State Park, on the Laclede-Dallas county edge near Lebanon, is one of Missouri’s four trout parks: a large karst spring feeds a cold stream that flows to the Niangua River, and the cold water supports a stocked rainbow-trout fishery. Two agencies run the place. Missouri State Parks operates the park itself, the campgrounds, lodging, trails, and day-use areas, while the Missouri Department of Conservation manages the trout fishing, the hatchery, and the daily stocking. Practically, that means a park visit and a fishing trip follow different rule sets. Plan the park stay through State Parks and check trout-tag, season, and daily-limit rules through the Department of Conservation before you go, because those fishing specifics change and should never be assumed from an old visit.

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Don't assume current trout rules from an old Bennett Spring trip Trout-park fishing has its own tags, seasons, and daily limits that the Department of Conservation sets and adjusts, so visitors who rely on memory or old info can get the rules wrong. Bear Creek Conservation Area is four Laclede County tracts MDC describes Bear Creek Conservation Area northeast of Lebanon as 720 acres split among four separate tracts with oak forest, openings, and old fields. Goose Creek puts public land near the Conway I-44 exit MDC says Goose Creek Conservation Area has five tracts within eight miles of the I-44 Conway exit, adding a public-land layer to western Laclede County. Laclede County's city layer is bigger than Lebanon Laclede County's official page names Lebanon as the largest municipality and lists Conway, Phillipsburg, Stoutland, Richland, and Evergreen as other incorporated places.

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