Tough Fishing

[ozark trout fisher]

Came down to Montauk this weekend. Got there on Saturday afternoon, caught only two on Powerbait, both in the campground stretch. At that point, I kinda figured, oh well, I will probably do all right at the buzzer tommorrow. It was not to be. I had a nice place picked out, and I saw quite a few trout, but someone waded right through two minutes before legal fishing, so I had to move. I ended up fishing up above the campground in a stretch that wasn't producing many fish. I was still fishless at 9:00 A.M when I headed down to a deep hole in the campground, and finally managed a 10" rainbow on a nightcrawler. After lunch, I headed up to the fly only area, where I caught one 12" trout on a jig. That was it. Very slow fishing.

[kenjenmo]

I was there this weekend as well and did not do as well as I normally do, although others in my party did catch lots of fish. White seemed to be the color that was working well for most. It almost seemed to me that there were not as many fish stocked but who knows. Also noticed that not many lunkers have been caught recently. Still a fun weekend once the multitudes left Sunday morning. Even had the kids out with us fishing the whistle Monday morning for the first time.

[brittsnbirds]

Check out NoLuck's post on the BSSP site. He and I have noticed a marked decrease in numbers. There is also a reference to an article about the decline in the number of fish being stocked in the state parks. Info that I obtained at BSSP merchants was that Bennett and Montauk would be ok but the other parks will suffer. However, they were planning on releasing smaller fish.

Sweet part about Montauk is the Current River System.

Pat

[bikehikefish]

I fished Montauk above the dam on Saturday and there seemed to be plenty of fish, and the size was generally good. My stringer included a 15" and a 14". The fish were picky and at times they would stop hitting entirely. Cracklebacks, large stonefly nymphs, and woolly buggers worked.

[ozark trout fisher]

I fished Montauk above the dam on Saturday and there seemed to be plenty of fish, and the size was generally good. My stringer included a 15" and a 14". The fish were picky and at times they would stop hitting entirely. Cracklebacks, large stonefly nymphs, and woolly buggers worked.

Sound like you did well. I just really couldn't get them to respond to my jigs at all. I tried everything, jigging up and down, jigging side to side, just reeling them in, but the only way I had any luck whatsoever was to just let it sit dead on the bottom right in front of a fish.

[trizkid]

i fished at montauk from monday and i just got back a couple hours ago.....i thought that the fishing was pretty good .....i fished the campsite area most of the time and headed up to the catch and release area for awhile everyday.....ended up catching 9 out of the c&r four of which were browns.....and two bows over 20inches thanks to the help of a few others on this site ....y2k's caught the majority of my fish in the camp site area....... also caught a few on orange scuds and suan juans......besides the rain on tuesday the weather was great....this was my first time to the park and i can say that it is 10 times better than meramec springs...........thought id post about my trip....and thanks to those who told me about the y2k for making my trip better

[ozark trout fisher]

i fished at montauk from monday and i just got back a couple hours ago.....i thought that the fishing was pretty good .....i fished the campsite area most of the time and headed up to the catch and release area for awhile everyday.....ended up catching 9 out of the c&r four of which were browns.....and two bows over 20inches thanks to the help of a few others on this site ....y2k's caught the majority of my fish in the camp site area....... also caught a few on orange scuds and suan juans......besides the rain on tuesday the weather was great....this was my first time to the park and i can say that it is 10 times better than meramec springs...........thought id post about my trip....and thanks to those who told me about the y2k for making my trip better

When I was there on Sunday it wasn't just me that was having trouble. One fly fisherman who said he had fished the park for ten years said he had never seen so few fish caught. But it might have been better on Monday.