Best one day - Two day floats

[Phil Lilley]

If a person were thinking about a one day float, what stretch would be best in regards to fishing for smallmouth bass?

If a person were thinking about a two day float, what stretch would be best (again for smallmouth bass)? Where you a person camp on this float?

[hank franklin]

Nothing against the Current but if you're looking for a beautiful two-night trip you oughta consider the Jacks Fork. It should be at prime floating level this weekend and fishing should be good too. A good two-night option is Prongs to Bay Creek or Alley Spring.

[Flysmallie]

The Current is a great smallmouth river, but the amount of boats that run up and down it can be annoying. If you stay above Round Spring then there is no problem. We floated Round Spring to Two Rivers a couple of years ago and feared for our life most of the time. There are a lot of fishermen in these boats that are very courteous, then there are others that are out there just to drive up and down the river. It was scary to see a boat running up river slaloming canoes, but after the first couple of times you get used to it.

If you want a great float and a chance at some larger smallmouth I would suggest either Jacks Fork or the Eleven Point. Floated Eleven Point for the first time last year and caught an amazing number of smallmouth. Lots of 15 to 16 inch fish. We also caught several pickerel.

[steve l]

I have to echo Hank, the upper Jacks Fork has much to offer. Another two day float would be Buck Hollow to Alley, all depending on how much you paddle.

That float keeps you in the managed water the entire way.

[Al Agnew]

If you float during the middle of the week, the traffic usually isn't too bad. You'll still run into canoes and jetboats, but usually a manageable number of both. And the fish don't mind, they are used to the traffic.

Best two day if you want to avoid SOME of the jetboats would be Round Spring to Two Rivers. Lots of fish in that stretch. But there are bigger fish downstream, along with more and bigger boats. I used to really love the Powdermill to Van Buren stretch, but I haven't floated it in several years. It's a long two days.

As for one day floats, a nice short one that can produce good fishing is Two Rivers to Powdermill. Jerktail to Two Rivers is nice, too. For a longer one that doesn't get as much canoe traffic (but more boat traffic)...Powdermill to Logyard. And although all the horse traffic has somewhat messed up the lower Jacks Fork, you can still catch smallies from Eminence down, and it's a rather interesting float to go Eminence to Powdermill and fish both the smaller water of the Jacks Fork and the Current...doing that float, after getting accustomed to the Jacks Fork, the Current seems like a HUGE river when you get to it.

By the way, about this time of year the upper Jacks Fork gets a LOT of canoe traffic on weekends as well, though you won't see jetboats on it. Fish on the upper Jacks Fork aren't quite as used to the traffic, since it is mainly on spring weekends, so the fishing sometimes isn't all that great there this time of year.

As for camping...if you want campgrounds you can drive to, Jerktail is about 3/4 of the way through the Round Spring to Two Rivers stretch, and Logyard is a good place on the Powdermill to Van Buren stretch.

But it's a whole lot better to just pick out a gravel bar and set up camp. There is no shortage of gravel bars on the Current.

[slabseeker]

I was lucky enough to go on my first canoe/kayak trip last Wed/Thurs. Something I have always wanted to do. I have been on the river at Van Buren many times in my younger days in tubes, but this was my first time in a kayak.

Went with some friends who have been paddling for years, so their experience was invaluable, I had a great time and learned alot. They said this was the lowest they had seen the river in a long time. We started at Round Springs and went to Two Rivers. A very scenic trip. Made camp on gravel bar about half way down, across from on of the biggest cliffs I have ever seen. We encountered only 3 other people the whole way, they were camped on gravel bar. I have never fished the Current before, and was looking forward to testing some of those Smallies I hear so much about. The bite was pretty tough, post-front bluebird skies, but we still managed to land a few small ones. I was basically using soft plastics, and I think I may have missed some bites not being used to fishing in current. My friend and guide Terry W. who has fished these waters alot said fishing was pretty tough. But even as devoted as I am to fishing, it quickly became secondary for me to the overall experience and scenery. Something I surely look forward to doing again.

[Gavin]

I'f your insisting on the Current and Smallmouth, I'd probably go from Pulltite down to Round Spring on a weekday. Its ten miles, so it can be done as a loooooong one day or easy two day with ample camping opportunities. Plus there are no jet boats in the summer time. Its not as productive as the waters Al mentioned (downstream) but we usually catch enough to keep it interesting. Cheers.