bkbying89

Last year after the flooding in the spring at Maramec Springs I watched a YUGE brown swimming by with half of a good size trout jutting out of his mouth. Don't take my comments as doom and gloom for the Current River trout fishery. In fact, I hope to see a rise in the number of larger trout caught (hopefully by me}. I have been fortunate to have returned to fly fishing for trout at a time when the misfortune of the state benefits my pastime. I am heading back to the Current to access the damage to the insect population tomorrow. I will inform you if the trout are leaving the water searching for terrestrials and small children to eat.

The Current, all rivers are resilient and yes there were no trout, to begin with, and has adapted quite well but this is a huge inundation of a carnivore to have dumped into it all at once. I believe the reason fishing is so good right now is the fact that competition for food is very high right now and that any resource has its limits.I am not predicting doom for the Current's fishery just another hiccup. Who knows, if the trout make it thru the fall maybe they will spread down to some of the spring branches further down the river. I know a few are making it downstream now. I don't know how many Browns in that river are large enough to make a meal out of some of the trout I have caught since the flood but I wouldn't mind bumping into one on a personal basis.

No doubt they already know. I just worry that by the time the small trout have been thinned the insect hatches will be decimated to the point that it may damage the stream ecosystem. The trout have to eat something.

I had just watched a video on another site where a Box Crab cracked the shell of a mussel and then demolished the mussel. I will not be letting a crab get ahold of me.

Nice day on the ocean. I always enjoyed my saltwater fishing trips. Always have good memories of those trips. Watched My Mother land a huge, (40#) Mahi Mahi. Complete with a giant backlash in the reel.

Nice fish Matt, Good to hear from you.The report was great and the fish pictures show you had a g99d time. What river were you fishing?

I have fished Tan Vat and Baptist camp and the fish seem to be everywhere. I read somewhere on this forum that the biologist don't believe that three of four of the small trout will survive the winter. Like you, I think the trout are eating everything that attempts to hatch. As the water cools into the fall and winter the trout may move downstream looking for food. I wonder what the possibilities are that the limit could be increased to allow more of the trout under 10 inches to be kept. May as well thin them out now rather than let them starve.

I read in the MDC weekly report that they had resumed stocking in ALL areas of the parks. Addressing a large amount of small trout in the stream I think it would be plausible to implement some temporary bag limits to encourage the removal of some of those small fish. If they expect many of them to die anyway they may as well allow some to be removed. Say a six fish limit with two that must be under 9 inches. Just for the remainder of the season. Bill

I was back to Tan Vat and I have to modify my previous post. I believe the ^ foot high gravel bar was immediately in front of the parking lot but I still didn't think it was six foot high at this time. The river has changed but is in great shape. I don't know hoe many trout escaped from the hatchery but there are a very large amount of smallish fish in the river. we caught browns and rainbows at Tam Vat and Baptist Camp. There was quite a few fisherman out enjoying the weather.

I have been down to Islamorada a few times. Did you take a flyrod with you? If you did and the capt. allows it throw a streamer at the Mahi Mahi. When you get one up to the boat there will be followers. Did that once with some soft baits and freshwater tackle. WOW. May be some trout around as well. Good luck.

I understand your point and believe me when I say I don't think the fishing is ruined in the park it does mean some areas may be off limits during high water periods but I already see the positive. One area in particular will, I believe will make for some really good holding water. Most of the mess I was referring to is access points. And as I said in my earlier post they seem to be working on this. The fishing was good. Lots of smaller fish, that suits me fine I am there for the experience and a mental reset. I never keep any fish and so smash or tie barbless. One fisherman said he thought they weren't stocking as they normally would have because of all the hatchery escapees. I saw a lot of smaller fish and they did not seem to be easier to catch than normal. If they wise up we may see some truly large fish in a few years.

I guess the mess is in the eye of the beholder. I saw the fly fishing only area and a lot of it was un-wadeable ate the time and the bank erosion was extensive. Holes were filled in. I also talked to other fisherman and they agreed. Right now the spring is running high and some areas may be fishable later when it comes down. Like I said the park crews were working on one access site that had been washed away. We will see how things look after the spring settles down.

I don't know how many of you fish the fly fishing only section at Montauk. It is a mess, The rest of the park looked good. Fish were running small but eager to bite.

I was at Montauk and Tan Vat this morning. There were very big changes in the fly fishing section. Like fishable water was scarce for the average angler. Some stretches were definitely scoured and deeper. With the water levels 2.50 some of the favorite stretches were just unfishable the access points even as bad as they were have been washed away. I mean gone like some giant just cut them away. Stream levels will have to drop considerably before these areas are going to be wadeable. I believe the park workers are working on improving access. At Tan Vat, I did not see the gravel bar mentioned above but It may have been moved by the park service. If it had been washed away there was no sign of it. I went upstream from the Vat and the fish were active. Mostly small with a few stocker size and I had one Break me off when I pressured it too much. In fact, the fishing was easy. All those small fish were eager to bite almost anything. Bill