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Bennett Spring Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Bennett Spring State Park: a spring branch near Lebanon, Missouri, stocked with trout every day from March 1 through October 31.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
98 cfs
Air / High
79 / 80 F
Wind
SSE 5 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06923500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Bennett Spring fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 98 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 5 mph, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 80. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:47 AM-11:47 AM and 10:16 PM-12:16 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Missouri requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $14.00 for residents. What a Missouri licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with MDC before you keep anything. The season dates for Missouri, read off the agency, are on the Missouri seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Bennett Spring at Bennett Springs.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06923500.

10010511098 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 63 years of October 23

At 98 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 06923500 (Bennett Spring at Bennett Springs) is at the 30th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 63 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 109 cfs; the highest was 288 cfs and the lowest 75 cfs.

p10 84median 109p90 209

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 06923500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp79 F
High / Low80 / 51 F
WindSSE 5-7 mph
Pressure1020.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:27 / 18:23
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Bennett Spring this week

The best day on Bennett Spring this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:47 AM-11:47 AM and 10:16 PM-12:16 AM
Minor period
4:10 AM-5:10 AM
Sun
07:27 to 18:23
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Bennett Spring: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Bennett Spring calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bennett Spring today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 4 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 78 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 72 F, wind to 4 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Missouri requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Daily trout tag plus a Missouri fishing permit (the park exempts anglers 15 and younger and Missouri residents 65 and older from the permit). Missouri State Parks lists a daily limit of 4 trout, only one of which may be a brown trout 15 inches or longer, no length limit on rainbows, and a possession limit of 8. One pole or rod only; no gigging, snaring, snagging or chumming.

Access

Bennett Spring State Park, 26250 Highway 64A, Lebanon. Tags are sold at the park store, which also arranges fly-fishing lessons. Zone boundaries are marked in the park and maps are available.

About this water

A spring branch fed by more than 100 million gallons a day that flows into the Niangua River; one of Missouri's first state parks, bought in 1924-1925.

Fishing Bennett Spring: the full guide

The spring and the park

Missouri State Parks says more than 100 million gallons of water flow from Bennett Spring each day, forming a spring branch stocked daily with rainbow trout. The park's history page records 40,000 trout put into the stream by the state fish commissioner in 1900, the state's purchase of the spring in 1924-1925 to create one of the first state parks, and Civilian Conservation Corps work in the 1930s: cabins, roads, trails, the arched bridge over the spring branch and the dining lodge.

How the trout park works

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) runs four trout parks backed by on-site hatcheries, and Bennett Spring is stocked daily from March 1 to October 31. Every angler needs a daily trout tag ($5 for adults, $3 for anglers 15 and younger) and, unless exempt, a fishing permit. The park posts fishing hours by month, from 6:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. in June and July to 7:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. in October.

Three zones

Zone 1 runs from the spring to the dam and allows only flies, with or without spinners. Zone 2, from the hatchery dam to the whistle bridge, allows flies and artificial lures. Zone 3, from the whistle bridge to the Niangua River, allows only unscented soft plastics and natural or scented bait; flies and artificial lures are banned there. Three accessible fishing piers reach into the spring branch.

Winter catch-and-release

From the second Friday in November to the second Monday in February the park opens for catch-and-release fishing on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays only, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. MDC allows only flies in that season, and the park bars possessing any trout in the catch-and-release area.

Common questions

When is the trout season at Bennett Spring?

The regular season runs March 1 to October 31, with trout stocked daily. Winter catch-and-release runs from the second Friday in November to the second Monday in February, Fridays through Mondays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where can I use bait?

Only in Zone 3, from the whistle bridge to the Niangua River. Zone 1 is flies only and Zone 2 allows flies and artificial lures.

How many trout can I keep at Bennett Spring?

Four a day under the park's posted rules, only one of which may be a brown trout of 15 inches or more.

Is fishing good at Bennett Spring right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Niangua River10 miPomme de Terre Lake29 miLake of the Ozarks32 miStockton Lake44 miTruman Lake51 miGasconade River68 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06923500 β€” Bennett Spring at Bennett Springs
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 37.7200, -92.8500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.