4/19-20 Report

[Project Healing Waters]

Fished all day Saturday and Sunday morning on the upper Current from about 1/2 mile below Baptist to about 1/4 mile below the edge of Montauk SP. The Montauk gage was at 175 cfs and about 2 feet when we left Springfield Friday morning...before the rain.

Friday afternoon I brought to hand 2 dozen trout on red SJ worms in the park...from the Spring down about 1/3 mile.

Saturday and Sunday we fished the river. Saturday was the day of the Pine Squirrel Sculpin. I brought to hand 15 Rainbows between 12 and 17". The longer fish were extremely FAT! 17" fish would have weighed close to 3 lbs. That's a pig. But huge trout were few and far between. My partner bumped one out of a hole while retrieving a snagged fly that was a monster on Saturday above Tan Vat. And he had another one jump nearby just before sunset below Baptist that he swore was the biggest Rainbow he had ever seen in the wild. But I didn't see anything bigger than about 18" the whole trip...and NO Browns. Reports from other anglers suggested the Browns were concentrated just above Akers. Brought another 10 Rainbows to hand on Sunday morning on pink egg patterns below Tan Vat. Mohair leeches were not productive.

The water is still off color and there is quite a bit of debris floating along, but far less than I was prepared to have to contend with.

Montauk is still a mess.

[hfdhoosier]

PHW: Thanks for the report. The wife and and I are headed down to fish this weekend. Sounds like I need to tie up some red San Juan worms. How bad is the park? The wife likes to fish the park, probably wont get out outside the park much. Might fish right at Tan Vat a little since we are staying at Eagles Park.

[Gavin]

Fished it Saturday as well. Nothing big for me, but a bud landed a 21" brown on a rapala, another fellow got an 18 brown on a fly...Big Strainer river right at the island just below Tan Vat, but easilly avoided by walking your boat down the left channel.. Huge Sycamore down at the S-Bend about a click above Ashley Creek but plenty of head room to float under...River was in pretty good shape with decent flow and great color......Kind of like it used to be....A bit of soft gravel to contend with..but no bit deal..Very crowded...Anglers in every hole down to about 200 yards below Ashley on Saturday. Sounds like you had a great trip.

[Project Healing Waters]

Fished it Saturday as well. Nothing big for me, but a bud landed a 21" brown on a rapala, another fellow got an 18 brown on a fly...Big Strainer river right at the island just below Tan Vat, but easilly avoided by walking your boat down the left channel.. Huge Sycamore down at the S-Bend about a click above Ashley Creek but plenty of head room to float under...River was in pretty good shape with decent flow and great color......Kind of like it used to be....A bit of soft gravel to contend with..but no bit deal..Very crowded...Anglers in every hole down to about 200 yards below Ashley on Saturday. Sounds like you had a great trip.

It was definitely the most crowded I've ever seen it on the river. And the campground in the park was full. The Current seems to recover faster than most of the other rivers after heavy rains. And I suspect a lot of people headed there due to frustration at not being able to get out much this Spring due to all of the flooding in the Ozarks. Almost everyone we talked to was from STL...a few from KC. I'm sure that as soon as the gauge went below 200 cfs, everybody packed their gear and headed for Montauk. Add the outrageous cost of gas and groceries to the mix and I suspect we're going to see more "close to home" fishing this year than usual. Most working folks' family vacations this year will probably be close to home and fried bologna sandwiches type of ordeals.

That's precisely why I am heading to the Rockies after runoff! LOL

[Project Healing Waters]

PHW: Thanks for the report. The wife and and I are headed down to fish this weekend. Sounds like I need to tie up some red San Juan worms. How bad is the park? The wife likes to fish the park, probably wont get out outside the park much. Might fish right at Tan Vat a little since we are staying at Eagles Park.

The stream inside the park is fine. A few things have changed and there is TONS of sandy bottom vs. gravel bottom now. But it's a trout park. So that doesn't really matter. They toss a bunch of fish in at 11pm and they're mostly all caught by the following afternoon. Habitat doesn't really matter. The park is a mess because everything ELSE is also covered in sand. Eagles Park is a good choice. Camping inside Montauk was like camping on a sandbar with 1,000 other people, electricity, ice, a store, and a restaurant.

But if you wade upstream from Tan Vat the wading isn't tough and the fishing is excellent without having to go very far. There's a lot of "dead" water in that stretch and the fish are congregated along bank structure. Wade the light colored stuff and cast to the dark colored stuff and you should do fine.

[jmerriman]

Dennis,

We'll, wife kid, and I, be heading down this weekend too.

And, I won't get to fish the river either.

John

[hfdhoosier]

John

Maybe we/ll run into each other. I will be trying out my new Chota breathable waders and new Chota wading boots. I will have an Ozark Anglers hat on, say Hi if you see me. I drive a silver Dodge 2500 truck. Are you staying at the park? We probably will fish the fly area but might hit the dam area a couple times. Hope to meet you.

[Gavin]

Yeah, the Current gets way to crowded on Saturdays. Might make one more trip next month, then I'll probably avoid it until October...Time switch my attention to smallmouth anyway.

[brownieman]

Guess I'll throw my 2 cents worth in...my last trip to the current was about 2 months ago, went to parkers ford.

Caught very few fish but did land 2 nice browns...26 and 22 incher, caught both of them in what we call the schafer spring hole...the 26 incher was a hard fighter, got a good heart thump off that one.

good luck on the water to all

bm