Sam Potter

Fishing Report December 3, 05 I have not been able to get down to the river this a week. My basketball season has started and I am pretty deep into that right now. We had a tournament this past week and I spent all of my time watching games, reviewing scouting films, practicing and putting scouting reports together. There have been reports that the fishing was good with streamers, especially when the river was up. That will almost always be the case, so watch the river gauges and plan to fish some big ugly things when it is high. I did have a report that came in today from Ryan McCarty. He and a friend caught some bows throwing small Sculpins. During the winter months, the insect activity really slows to a crawl and the fish are more clued in to minnows or nymphs that have been dislodged from under rocks by fishermen wading, or animals in the stream. I usually do well with the smaller #10-#8 Sculpins in clear water or #10 Mohair leeches in olive or brown, which I believe the fish take for small Sculpins anyway. Be careful fishing in the Winter, hypothermia sets in pretty quick especially if you get wet. I wrote an article last year about winter fishing that may contain some helpful advise. You can find it in the stories section of my website ( TightLine.Biz ) or here in the OzarkAnglers forum. Sam Potter

In very clear water, like the Current River, I prefer olive colored line, so that it blends in with the foliage. I use Cortland 444 Clear Creek because of the extra long thin tip and the olive color. I fish very tiny flies in shallow flats and have found the line to be excellent. I have watched fish spook in shallow water when those bright red lines are cast above them. I suggest to my clients to use natural colored line, and to stay away from the bright colors, especially the red ones. I like the WF line, but if you are thinking more about budget go with the DT and get extra use out of the line.

If you have been reading my fishing and hatch reports (www.Tightline.Biz) they will help you with the bugs that are coming off on the Current River. The tiny Olives are still going good in the morning right now, but the weather is suppose to change Thursday getting colder. Friday forecast is for 30s and sunny. If it is sunny on Friday there may be some Caddis activity, but the cooler temps may limit the amount of activity. The Caddis hatching this time of year are about a size 16 in dark brown to medium brown. Also look for midges, but they are going to be very tiny....30-32. When the weather changes to cold and rain/snow look for the larger Olives to come off. They are about a size 20. Next Thursday's forecast would be perfect for them. The following web site will give you the weather forecast for our area. http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/...ayLink_outdoors Have a great day, and don't forget extra clothing for winter fishing, just in case of an accidental dunking. Also watch for trap lines along the banks. They will be marked with red or green ribbons. I wrote a report on them last winter, you can also find that report on my web site.

December can be tough depending on the weather. Most of the hatches are sporatic, again depending on the weather. If the weather is right there will be a tiny BWO hatch, and possibly two different caddis that may come off. Dark brown to brown in color and about a size 16. There may also be some midge activity, but they are very small compared to the midges on Taneycomo. I do well with a MoHair Leech during the winter months. Sculpins are always a good fly to use, especially if the water is off color. Nymph fishing or scuds below an indicator can produce during the winter.

While we were getting dressed two rifle shots rang out across the river and that was when we decided to stay in the river below the river bank on our walks up and down the river. Deer season is not a good time to be walking the river banks on the fishermen trails with tan colored Simms waders. Not a lot has changed over the past three weeks with the trout fishing on the upper Current River, except that the Tricos have really dropped off over the past week. There are still a few flying around and being eaten, but they are mixed in with the tiny olives when they fall and I think the fish just feed on them opportunistically when they are picking up the olives. There are some good tiny olive hatches going on in the mornings and yesterday they were the primary hatch of all the bugs observed. There are some small midges, (a lot smaller than the ones at Taney) in the air but not in great numbers. There was a good caddis hatch yesterday morning and fish chasing them. It wasn't a major hatch, but enough bugs to get the fish interested. They are about a size 16, with tan wings and a light brown / olive abdomen. A good friend of mine and I fished about a half day yesterday catching approximately 12-15 a piece on a #24 tiny olive spinner dry fly. When the spinner fall was over and the fish stopped feeding on them we changed tactics. Tom switched over to an indicator and a bead head copper john. I switched over to a caddis dry fly for an indicator and an olive and copper nymph for a dropper. I picked up 6 more fish with half of them taking the dropper and the other half the dry fly. The weather was good for fishing with the cloud cover and the light rain we had a mid morning. I was a little disappointed that the larger olive did not come off yesterday. The weather was just about right, except that it wasn't cold enough. They seem to like the cold, windy with rain or snow days. It is a size 20, and the fish go crazy over them. Oh well maybe next time, the weather is suppose to change this week with dropping temps. Now if we can get some rain or snow to go with that I will be headed for the river with my number 20 olives. I look forward to those Baetis type days when I will probably be the only fool on the river. www.Tightline.Biz

I like to throw dry flies to them when they are sucking bugs off the surface. You can find them close to docks that have lights. The bugs get killed by the light and fall into the water. They will spook pretty easy so keep your distance and cast ahead of a feeder. They will suck down bugs like a trout. Then hold on for the ride.

Despite the storm warnings there were a few of us fools fishing Saturday night. I fished all night Saturday below #2. The most productive fishing was between 8 and midnight. I had a good night catching a 23, 22, 20, 20 and an 18. the rest were smaller. All of my fish were browns except a couple of smaller rainbows. There were a few guys out, but not as many as I thought there would be on a Saturday. I did see a 25 female caught, and the guy took her home. She was a pretty fish, no marks and a full body. He said he was going to hang it on the wall. He caught it on an egg pattern. I didn't catch as many fish as others that were drifting with glow in the dark indicators, but I know several of those fish were foul hooked. I had my best luck with a #6 olive/black woolly-bugger. Most of the time I do pretty well with a sculpin pattern, but the olive&black was better Saturday. Can you explain to me why they set their indicators at 4 feet in 18 inches of water?

Tom, I am talking about hatches that occur below Montauk to Cedar Grove. My last trip to the river was about a mile or so below the park.

Fishing Report November , 05 The fishing report is the same this week as it was last week. Despite the rain earlier in the week the river is still very low and clear. Usually after a heavy rain Ashley creek will dump in some good runoff to give the river good color for streamer fishing and get the fish turned on into more aggressive feeding, but with the water tables as low as they currently are, it is going to take several days of heavy rain or a real gully washer. Reports in this week are showing good results with lots of fish to be caught. The early morning pattern is still tricos with tiny olives and some caddis. The midges are still increasing, but not the bug of choice yet. As the tricos tail out here in November, and the days get colder, the midges will continue to hatch and gain more attention from the trout. The caddis hatches are really going strong right now, with tremendous fish activity in the last couple of hours of daylight. 4:00 PM is a very good time to be on the water in the evening to catch it. The browns are not as active with their annual fall responsibilities and some of the males have dropped down into the deeper holes to recover and start replacing all the weight they dropped. Large offerings in the deep pools will draw good attention this time of year. # 10 Mohair leeches can be pretty affective in November, drifted through the deep pools. The deeper water, with the slower currents is a welcomed relief to the male browns from fighting the strong currents of October. The leaves in the Ozarks are at their peak, or just a little past peak this week. So if you enjoy the colors this may be the last weekend of the year to see them.

The river is running very low and clear and there are lots of fish to be caught especially after the last stocking of the year in Montauk park this weekend. The brown trout in the river are spooky so approach the holes slowly and keep your distance. The Tricos are still coming off at dawn and the BWOs are kicking in about 10:00 or 11:00. The evening hatches include midges, caddis and sulfers.