Tan Vat, 4/17 - 4/19

[OKFlyFisher44]

4/17

We arrived at Eagles Park campground on friday around 1:00. Set up camp, had lunch, and then geared up. The area surrounding the Current River is very beautiful. I was really impressed with the area.

We got on the water around 2:00 at the Tan Vat access and started fishing our way upstream. We picked up a few fish here and there in the first section of water on san juan worms. Almost stepped on 2 snakes in the process...scared the crap outta me!

We hiked upstream to the "Rock Garden" area and started fishing our way back downstream. This area has some real quality water. Big huge boulders with deep holes, nice riffles and runs, easy wading, and lots of fish! We caught a few fish here and there on san juan worms, prince nymphs, and glo-balls. Fishing was kinda slow as it was a sunny blue sky day and we were learning new water. They were kinda picky on your drifts though...had to get a good drag free drift and lots of mending. We worked for the fish we caught.

We were working our way downstream at around 5:30 or so, we saw several fish beginning to rise throughout some of the holes...nothing really consistant, just a random rise here n' there. About 6:00, swarms of bugs were coming down the river...it was pretty crazy. I couldn't tell what they were to be honest...I'm not a bug expert. I can tell you what a mayfly and a stonefly is....and thats about it. The fish were really starting to rise at that point. We grabbed a few bugs outta the air and compared them to our dries in the fly box.

The rest of the evening was spent casting dries to specific rising fish...it was quite amazing. You had to get a good drift to get them to eat but they would explode on the fly. It was a good time. We ended up with around 25 fish between the 3 of us for the evening. A good mixed bag of browns and rainbows.

4/18

After breakfest, we headed back to Tan Vat to fish downstream of the access. We started at the 1st run right after the riffle below the access point. I picked up a few fish on glo-balls, prince nymph, and a sow-bug pattern I tied up. Derek and cole caught a few on San Juans.

Around 10:00, the bugs started to swarm again! Fish were rising again...nothing consistant but just every few minutes they'd pick up a bug. We all switched to dries again and never tied on anything else the rest of the day! I caught almost all my fish on an #16 Elk Hair Caddis while Derek and Cole caught their fish on #14 Parachute Adams and Parachute PMDs. The Elk Hair Caddis and PMD looked very similiar to the bugs when they were flying and when they would skate across the top of the water but I really don't know what bug was hatching off. We fished our way down river picking up fish everything. It was amazing and was honestly the best dry fly fishing I've ever had. Even beats the beetle/ant fishing at Roaring River in the summers. 95% of our fish were browns, ranging from 12"-16". Cole had a big brown rolls on his Parachute Adams...had to be atleast 18 inches. It was a toad but Cole missed him.

We kept fishing downstream for the rest of the day. We called it quits at 4:30 but the fish were still rising everywhere as we walked back upstream. We ended up with around 40 fish that day between the 3 of us and I can't even begin to think how many fish we missed. It was a great day.

I snuck back out right before dark to the 1st hole below Tan Vat and picked up 3 more browns in about 20 minutes and missed twice as many. Cole fished just above me in the hole right at the access and picked up 2 while missing several.

4/20

All I got to say about sunday is high murky water and only a few fish. We walked downstream a long ways and fished our back up only bring a few fish to hand. The rain had finally came down enough over the previous day and last night that the river was really coming up. We went back to camp and loaded up.

We had hopes of fishing Little Piney River on sunday and then finish up at Capps and Crane on Monday as we were making our way back to Oklahoma. The weather changed those plans as we figured everything would be flooded out on those smaller streams. So we packed up and headed home.

It was a great weekend with awesome dry fly fishing. I can honestly say that I have a new favorite trout stream. I loved everything about the Current. Besides fishing the San Juan in New Mexico...I've never had so much fun fishing for trout. I've fished the tailwaters in Arkansas and Taneycomo....but the Current just really struck a chord with me. I can see why so many people love to fish it!

I will be back very soon!

[OKFlyFisher44]

Some pictures for you guys!

[Poke 'Em]

Those would be caddisflies. There's been a pretty good caddis hatch going on (on the warm days) for at least about a month and a half now on the Current. Glad you guys had a good trip.

[Greg]

Nice report. Some of the best dry fly fishing I've had has been on the Current. And it's amazing how picky they can be. Particularly regarding the drift.

Greg

[Nortrad]

Nice work boys! My fishing bud usually out fishes me on the caddis flies. I was wondering if the weather would produce another set of hatches. It's a great river.

Nortrad

[flyfishmaster]

great report, keep them coming.

The Current is a great stream and you never know what you might catch.

later,

FFM

[creek wader]

Great report and pics. Glad you Sooners did well. Now quit beating us in football, or your not allowed to come back to the state. ...lol ... I got to agree with you, the Current is a very pretty river. Sorry you guys got rained out. The Little Piney is a pretty little stream, also. I doubt if you would of done as well on it, as you did on the Current, but you never know. Sounds like you had an awesome couple of days.

[OKFlyFisher44]

Glad you Sooners did well.

WOW! SOONERS? Man, those are fighting words!

You're looking at 3 Oklahoma State University graduates in the above pictures! Go Pokes!!

It was a great time and great fishing.

Is the water around Baptist access look as good and fish as good as the waters above and below Tan Vat?? We never even made it down to Baptist this weekend....maybe another trip sometime!

[Ham]

Great trip report. Sounds like a blast. I love a dry fly bite!

[laker67]

OFF44,

Take away the muddy water and the sometimes over abundance of canoes below baptist, and you are left with one of the finest fishing experiences that Missouri has to offer. Your first impression of the current pretty much sums it up. The current still has the capability of producing large fish. Two of missouri's state record brown trout have come from the current, way back before any blue ribbon restrictions. In 1977 a 15 pounder, and in 1991, a 19 pounder. Glad you had a good trip, and thanks for the report.