Report: Rockbridge Trout Resort flooding, repairs, and its rebound
By Bob Randall on Sunday, June 4th, 2017 in Fishing reports, Nature, No Comments
Rockbridge is open for business after flood. Remarkably, they recovered many of their fish.
Posted for Pat Collins: A month ago Rockbridge was hit with the worst flood in history. The front of the mill actually “blew” out the siding and large barn door and moved on the foundation pilings. 
Water was 8 feet deep in the lower level of the store/restaurant building and 4 feet deep in the 15 units closest to the water. Four of the hatchery vehicles were destroyed when watched downstream. Trees around the stream look like toothpicks; stripped of vegetation and twisted and broken. Fish were washed out of all the tanks.
The good news is that many of the largest fish were found stranded in pools of water in the pastures downstream and recovered as soon as the water receded. Many others have fought their way back upstream to the colder water. Sandy thought the small fish had washed all the way to the Bryant and lost, so she bought several tanks of new small fish last week. However, I was fishing below the highway bridge yesterday and saw large schools of 6-7″. She immediately sent hatchery personnel out with seine to collect as many as possible. Overall there appear to be a normal amount of fish in the stream and fishing was good. Three guys caught at least 30 a piece yesterday. I only caught two in 2 1/2 hours. I think they were much farther down in the Catch & Release area.
Four of the 15 damaged units were ready for rental today. There are construction crews working long hours to redo the remaining 11 units. I was in one of the upper units this time. Every unit and house was full, but losing income from 15 units for a month now is devastating. The restaurant was only shut down a few days but the mill is last in the priority. Refrigeration and large ice machine was washed away as well as tables chairs and much of the bar. They are still cleaning mud from the fish tanks before restocking.
Much of the lower road was washed out as well as all the gravel bars where we could park. The stream has changed considerably. Photos don’t show full extent of destruction of the trees.
Upside for fishermen is most of the fish that had been in tanks are now in the stream. I heard there were 7 pounders being caught. http://rockbridgemo.com/