OKFlyFisher44

I will have to agree with some of these other guys. I'm not fortunate enough to have fished outwest so my favorite hatches are the caddis and trico hatch on the Current. Hoppers are fantastic though as well. One day I will make it out west and probably never come back to Oklahoma.

I couldn't find the link to the gauge on the USGS web site the other day. I thought they had terminated the gauge. Glad they didn't do it!

The few times I've fished under generation, I've done the best by fishing up by the island. Swing streamers and fish indicator rigs DEEP. Just get the fly down and you should be fine.

I didn't edit those pictures personally. A buddy of mine took them and edited them but he uses the same program I do. Go to www.picnik.com and download their software. You upload your pictures to the website and edit them through the website. Super easy and user friendly. You can really do some awesome things with it. I've edited a lot of pictures with it. Check out my blog...there are several on there as well.

Special thanks to Cole and Joey for the photos and the photo editing....

More pictures!!

On saturday...the hopper bite was probably 3-1. For every 3 fish on the dropper, you'd get 1 on the hopper. It was good enough to leave it on, just tons of fun to fish that way. On sunday, the hopper bite was considerably slower...more like 5-1. As far as droppers...san juan worms, eggs, scuds, and zebra midges worked all weekend. And as far as that big brown goes...heh, I know where he and a few of his friends all live Muuuhahahhaa! LOL... Good luck to you guys...the river is fishing well... More pictures to come later...

The crew and I made another pilgrimmage down to the Current this past weekend. The weather was great minus the storms that rolled through late friday night. They only last a little over an hour luckily so it wasn't too bad in the tent. We fished hard saturday and sunday at Tan Vat and Baptist. Caught a ton of fish both days. We fished the Hopper/Dropper rig almost all weekend minus very early in the morning. HUGE trico and mayfly hatches coming off. You could find small pods of fish rising everywhere. The river was awesome as always. Can't wait to go back!!!

As Phil stated...just spend a little time in the Lower Illinois River forum and you'll find plenty of fishing reports that'll give you solid info on catching trout there. I think I even posted a detailed lists of hot flies on the LIR for an angler, like yourself, who was new to fishing the LIR. DaddyO and myself frequent that river pretty often and there are tons of fishing reports posted by us alone. If you can't find a local fly shop you like...check out Big Y Fly Co. on the web. Great prices and fast shipping on flies. I buy a few odds and ends from them, mostly patterns that I have no desire to mess with trying to tie. Shoot me a message next time you're going and I'll try to meet you down there as well...show you around the different access points.

My crew and I are making our 2nd trip to the Current for the year, this coming weekend. I was just curious if anyone has fished it lately. How low is the river from just below Baptist to back upstream to Tan Vat. The gauge is reading 90 cfs. Are the fish super spooky right now? Anyone having any luck on hoppers, beetles or ants? Also, the extended forecast is showing a good chance of t-storms for the weekends. At the current level, if the rain comes hard and fast...will it blow out and be muddy ?? I've fished it at 185 cfs before but it was still very clear. My only thought is if the rain comes hard and fast...it'll come up so fast that it will just turn off color. What do you locals think?

Good luck to ya Phil! I think the crew and me will be down there sunday possibly. I haven't been fishing in several weeks and I'm about to go nuts.

I'm selling my St. Croix Imperial 13ft 7/8 weight spey rod w/ an Allen Fly Co. 9/10 weight reel. I bought this rod and reel to use for striper fishing on the Arkansas and Lower Illinois rivers but never used it. I bought the rod used but its in great shape. The reel is brand new and hasn't even had fly line put on it. The reel came with the backing already spooled onto the reel so its ready to have a fly line installed. This rod is best suited for a 400-450 grain Skagit line according to St. Croix and then choose whatever head you want to use (floating, sink tip, or intermediate). Please feel free to message me with any questions! Asking $250 for rod/reel combo or $200 for rod and $50 for reel...

The water only looks muddy because my buddy and I had just waded through it trying to land that fish. That little creek is actually VERY clear for being sandy bottomed. You can spot the fish from a distance because they mostly hold in the shallow pools and cruise the sandy flats of the creek. But once you see them, its VERY hard to get close enough to make an accurate cast because its very brushy around the creek. Its a fun creek to fish. LOL, we are always trying to get the "Washita River Grand Slam" which is a carp, drum, channel catfish, and flathead catfish. You can substitute other fish in make the slam though

Just depends on the river level. This time of the year...the rivers are pretty low so it'd be questionable I'd think. There's some stretches where you'd be fine and other stretches where you might have to get out and portage a bit. Another thing is the drift boat might be a little "overkill" for floating some of the smallie rivers. Elk River would be fine for it but some of the smaller creeks/rivers....a canoe would be better. I hate to report this because I'm looking at buying a drift boat next year and I'm starting to wonder if it'd really be worth it on some streams. Maybe be better off buying a canoe or a kayak...

Brilliant!

They are awesome to catch on a fly rod. I got to chase them several times last summer but haven't made time to do it this year. Been too busy chasing trout, stripers, and smallmouth. They are super spooky and tough to catch. Everyone compares them to chasing bonefish on the saltwater flats, which is why lots of guys call them "Golden Bones". They are a blast on a 7wt. They are very fast and strong, almost like a saltwater fish. The only thing that has compared to hooking a big carp is a big striper. To this day, the stripers we find in the Arkansas River system here in Oklahoma are the hardest fighting fish I've encountered...with carp being a close second. I've hooked and landed lots of large trout but they just don't have the brute strength that carp and stripers have, I think. Man...this makes me want to go wet-wade some local warm-water creeks and see what I can stir up... Here is my best carp from last summer

Right on. I've got a couple different patterns that I tie for hoppers. The easiest is the Clod-Hopper pattern, quick and easy tie...I've got a lot of these in the box. Another sweet pattern is the Foamulator...its a big nasty hopper pattern. I tied up a few of these to use in a hopper/dropper setup...kind of a pain in the butt to tie but man, they are sweet... And I just realized that this is my 400th post...lol, I have no life.

Check out Big Y Fly Company too and RiverBum. I tie 75% of my stuff but there's some patterns I refuse to mess with so I order from these guys. Great prices and fast shipping. http://www.riverbum.com/ http://www.bigyflyco.com/

Can't wait to get back down there and fish! I'm either heading up there or to the White this coming weekend to hopefully get in some hopper fishing. It all depends on the generation on the White. The same crew that went with me in April this year is going back up there with me in September though for a weekend trip, can't freaking wait! The current is my favorite trout stream to fish...

D&B Outfitters in Tulsa is the only fly shop in the area. They have a great selection of fly tying material, rods, reels, gear, etc etc. Their fly selection is kinda slim sometimes but its a cool shop. Butch is a good guy too. There used to a guy who worked in the Fly Fishing section at BPS in Broken Arrow that was a good guy to deal with too, can't think of his name to save my life. He used to guide in Colorado, cool dude, but I think BPS eliminated all their fly fishing employees...I havent seen any of the 3 guys that were working there in the past several trips I've taken to BPS. There are also some good fly shops in Missouri and Arkansas. Tim's Fly Shop, Backcountry Outfitters, McClellans Fly Shop...etc, etc. They will have just about anything you'd want, ship it to you, and you'd more than likely have it in 1-2 days. Might save $$$ on gas by just having those guys ship to you. Anyways...that basically sums it all up.

We can get a fishing report out of you but no post to the blog....man, where has our dedication gone?

Holy Crap...I've seen some big fish in there but that one definitely takes the cake! That is massive...I can't even imagine hooking that thing on a 8 weight. Talk about smoking your drag! Bet that fish was caught way below Marvals where the river is pretty big. As much as I love to catch them...doesn't give me enough desire to go back out and chase them. I can't believe they're still in the river. Hopefully next year will be better... That is an AWESOME fish.

Thats a great line at a great price. Best line out there, I think, for the $$$ along with Cortland 333. But thats just my opinion...

I'm not local to Springfield but we have the store in Broken Arrow and I'm usually there at least once a week. Twice a week if I'm not fishing on the weekends. Usually have my daughter with me so we always hit up the fly fishing, waterfowl, and camping section. Along with a stop in the kids section. Plus we usually take at least 3-5 rides up and down the elevator...she loves the dang thing. I usually spend about $50 in there on a random trip...my wife has come to accept it. The same goes for our local fly shop here in Tulsa (D&B Outfitters). Went to Academy tonight to kill some time and had talk myself out of a skeet thrower....TWICE! But I'm probably going to go back and buy it tomorrow after further consideration

Be careful along that little creek. The chupacabras are thick in there...very large and aggressive. I was chased away from the creek last time by a whole pack of them!