Bummed out by slow fishing on the Current, I made a run over to Mill Creek southwest of Rolla- the first time I'd ever visited this stream. 

I pulled over at the first yellow MDC trout management sign I saw, onto a grassy two track in an old overgrown field.  I bushwhacked down to the stream, through every type of burr and bramble it seemed, but finally made it to a small pool, dumping into a little run sitting tight against a bluff.  The water seemed high and a bit cloudy, and I was surprised how deep the stream was for its size.  I initially tied on a size 16 chartreuse Copper John, figuring it'd work about as good as anything. The first cast produced a six inch striped shiner, and my heart sank, figuring the stream was a dog.  The next cast produced a gorgeous six-inch, wild, streambred rainbow.

I wound up catching about fifteen of the little guys and worked about two hundred yards of stream for two hours.  They were all gorgeous fish, sparsely spotted with yellowish sides interrupted by a bright red stripe and purplish-blue parr marks.  They came to both dries and wets, copper johns, hare's ears, caddis pupae, parachute Adams, hairwing duns, and yellow humpies.  Unsophisticated fishing for bright, wild little trout- it was a lot of fun.