Question?

[jdixon]

fished the current for the first time on saturday and fished my butt off from noon till 7:30 with not a single strike. started at tan vant and fished down to baptist and then back up. on the way down i swung a soft hackle at first, then used a brassie for a while until a nice brown hit my indicater, so switched to a hares ear with no luck. even put on sinking line and stripped a woolly for a while. got down to baptist turned around and about that time the MASSIVE caddis hatch was on along with some big (#12) cahills. fished 3 diffrent caddis patterns and a cahill pattern but no luck. i would see a fish every once in awhile hit the surface but instead of sipping off the surface they were acually jumping out of the water and catching the flying caddis. i found that out at the end of the day when i sat down by the parking lot and watched 3 fish jump and catch caddis out of the air. I was really suprised that they left the light cahills alone with them being so big, but they would just float down the river untill they were ready to fly away. even though no fish i really enjoyed myself, loved the river and all the wildlife along with only seeing 3 fisherman all day and they were at the parking lot when i got there. Just looking for alittle help here, and wondering if that is unusual for the fish not to be rising on the hatches. Will be headed back down this weekend she hasn't beaten me yet, haha. thanks P.s. not much of a indcater fisherman will that really hurt me on this river.

[OKFlyFisher44]

That's crazy that you had no luck with the brassie or the hare's ear? Was the river up at all?

We fished that same area a few weeks ago and killed fish on Elk Hair Caddis. We were targeting rising fish too. Not really sure what to think on what you mighta been doing wrong.

Next trip...go upstream of Tan Vat and fish the "Rock Garden" area. Its a decent hike upstream but nothing like walking all the way to baptist. Lots of good water up there...but it does help if you can fish flies under an indicator.

[jdixon]

it did rain the night before and usgs report when i got home did say that it was rising thru the day but it didn't seem really high to me, was fairly swift moving but never fishing before don't know if that is the norm and water was just a little off color but still pretty good. so the fish were taking flies off the surface when you fished? maybe it was just a weird day. i was thinking when i go back to go below baptist. thanks

[OKFlyFisher44]

The fish were completely jumping out of the water to eat Caddis flies when we were there too...but they'd also eat them as they were skating across the surface of the water.

The rising water probably had the fish off a little bit. The last day we were there, the river finally came up from all the rain and got really off-colored. The bite turned off really quick...plus there were no bugs coming off so no rising fish either.

Try that area upstream from Tan Vat and try the area below Tan Vat again if the water is back down. We caught lots of fish out of those first 2 runs below Tan Vat. Besides dries...caught them on glo-balls, san juan worms, and prince nymphs....

[Randall]

How many other people were there? Heavy canoe and angler traffic can play a role in how well you do. I won't fish a lot of those rivers on the weekends for that reason alone. Judging by your post, you know what you're doing so I'd say just go back and try it again. Don't be afraid to fish streamers either. Last time I was there I ended up fishing with a guy who was nymphing. The water was just a little high but off color so the fishing was pretty slow in that respect but they still were willing to hit a nice meaty streamer.

[Gavin]

Caddis activity can be frustrating at times...Fish rising everywhere and few takers on a dry fly.....Sunk adults like LaFontaine's diving caddis work can work well at those times...a pupa in the film can work really well too...favorites are the LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa, and the Matthew's Iris Caddis behind a more bouyant fly like an EHC or Fluttering Caddis.....Skittering or imparting a slight twitch to your fly can work really well to..If you want to skitter...hard to beat a Crackleback or Hackle spider worked over a tailout full of risers......if you want to dead drift with an occasional small twitch in the flat pools...my favorite is Leonard Wright's Fluttering Caddis..dead drift it, then barely move it when it gets near your target fish.

Otherwise...I wouldnt go to the Current without a box full of brown and olive mohair leaches, sculpins, buggers, and zonkers...Brown trout love to eat attack sculpins and minnows. If the fish arent in the mood to chase, try drifting a good sized mohair, zonker, or wooly bugger under an indi with a small nymph dropper behind the streamer. Big bushy dry flies and terrestrial imitations can work at any time down there...great for a change up when you cant figure out the hatch...Cheers.

[bikehikefish]

I floated Tan Vat to Cedar Grove last Saturday, and had about the same success as you. The river was up close to a foot, off-color, and still rising. No luck on sculpins, caddis, or most everything else.

But it was still a great day - we didn't see a soul between Baptist and Cedar Grove.

[jdixon]

Thanks for all the feedback looks like i will be fishing lots of streamers this weekend (weather permitting). when you guys fish steamers on the current do you usually use full sink line and strip it back? Gavin thanks for the detailed feedback, I have never fished a diving caddis is it the same as swinging a soft hackle, or is it dead drifted? okflyfisher what does "rock garden" look like? I am assuming lots of rocks but will it be evident when i see it? thanks again.

[OKFlyFisher44]

You won't miss it....just walk upstream of tan vat. There's a long section of slack water just above the 1st run at Tan Vat...once that slack section ends upstream, you're at the beginning of the rock garden area. You'll know it...lots of nice riffles, eddys, and seams behind big boulders. Lots of fishy water....trust me, you won't miss it.

I will say I never threw any streamers on our trip. I tossed a big nasty mohair leech when the water came up for a while...fishing it on the swing in the runs or in the tailouts. Didn't have any luck but the river was REALLY up, off-color, and moving at that point!

[joeD]

Sometimes fly-fishing is not the way to go on the Current; especially if it is up and running. What is more important, catching fish, or catching fish with a fly and fly rod? In other words, is the method more important than the goal?