Float Trip Advise

[Murdoc]

I'm going floating for the first time in 25years. It's going to be a three day. I need to beg for info for fly fishing. I want to show them a thing or two the first day and then help everyone the second. Tips Please!! We are starting at Cedar Grove and going to Two Rivers.

[ozark trout fisher]

I'm going floating for the first time in 25years. It's going to be a three day. I need to beg for info for fly fishing. I want to show them a thing or two the first day and then help everyone the second. Tips Please!! We are starting at Cedar Grove and going to Two Rivers.

Cedar Grove to Two Rivers is 40 miles. That's way too far for a 3 day float and fish trip. Round Spring would be a better take out point- that's only about 25 miles down river.

Are you after trout or bass? The best trout float will be from Baptist Camp to Cedar Grove, although there are also trout between Cedar Grove and Akers. For a three day float from Baptist, I'd only go as far as Akers Ferry, but if you want to do a fair bit of paddling you could pretty easily extend the trip down to Pulltite access. Below Akers, trout are a lot harder to find. I haven't spent much time smallmouth fishing on the Current, so someone else will have to help you out with that.

For flies (assuming you're after trout), hopper/droppers, scuds, Hare's Ear Nymphs, and Stonefly Nymphs will get it done. Also bring dries to imitate all the various mayflies around, and maybe a few big streamers. If you're nymph fishing, it's really important to get the flies down right on the bottom, especially in the deep holes.

Good luck!

[Gavin]

Cedar to Two rivers is a long fricking haul...It will be hard to get much fishing in, IMO, but here you go...

Cedar to Akers fishes well for stocked rainbows and its got a few smallmouth in it...Best smallie spots are the slow holes between Cedar & Welch Spring. Trout will be in the faster water. Not many smallmouth between Welck & Akers, but the first mile of that stretch is probably the best trout water. Leaches, nymphs & eggs are all youll need for those trout..Might bring something brown to fish on the bottom for smallies, and something that looks like a minnow. Try to find Medlock Cave, and take a dip at the W...

Akers to Pulltite...the scenery is great, but the fishing usually sucks...enjoy the scenery...

Pulltite to Round...the smallmouth fishing starts to pick up again, and it gets even better below Round Spring. Paddle up Cave Spring, and check out Pulltite Spring, and bring a couple extra flashlights so you can hike back into little gem cave.

Have a wonderful trip.

[3wt]

The problem with floating and fly fishing the current (for trout) is that by the time you get settled paddling, you're way past the good trout water.

If you really want to do a lot of fly fishing, dump the idea of a long float. I'd camp and do minimal floating the first day or two, and focus on wade fishing the baptist-cedar stretch. Just keep a camp on one of the big sand bars. Spend the last day and in a canoe if you want to float.

And Cedar to Akers is like a short day float...not really a 3 day event. You'ld have to float like an hour a day to stretch that out.

http://www.currentrivercanoe.com/crfloats.html

There have been some recent posts on good trout flies for the upper current. Sounds like it has been fishing very well. If you really want to do the kind of fly fishing you are talking about, you should spend some time out of the caonoes.

[Murdoc]

Thanks for the info. I'll have to get out the map and make a game plan. It sounds like I'm going to paddle ahead and fish and wait on the others to make it. I'm looking forward to it!!

[Al Agnew]

Flyfishing for trout and flyfishing for smallies in September are two vastly different things, in my opinion. You CAN fly fish for smallmouth and cover a lot of water if you are able to fish effectively from the canoe while it's moving. I've fished with guys who are good at line control and can just fish poppers or streamers--cast, work the lure 3 to 5 feet, pick it up for the next cast. It's a good way of covering nice looking banks as you drift.

However, I believe that in order to really catch trout--unless they happen to be going wild over streamers or dry flies--you simply have to get out at every good riffle and work it with nymphs.

So when floating and fishing for smallies, you can easily cover ten miles a day, but if fishing for trout, even five miles is probably too much. The times I've floated from Baptist Camp to Cedargrove, I've probably skipped over two thirds of the good water simply because I didn't have enough time to work it.

If I was you, I'd probably opt to concentrate on one or the other. If you concentrate on trout, I'd plan on spending three days between Baptist Camp and Akers, and you'd still probably be passing up some good water. But you could spend the first two days really concentrating on the water between Baptist and Cedargrove, and then work the Cedargrove to Akers stretch the third day and try to catch a few smallmouth (there are probably more smallies between Cedargrove and Welch Spring than there are between Akers and Round Spring).

Or I'd just concentrate on smallmouth and float something like Round Spring to Owls Bend.

But if you are with people who aren't seriously into the fishing, you're pretty much limited to what they want to do. It might not be their idea of a good time to dawdle for two days between Baptist Camp and Cedargrove.

[3wt]

Yeah, Al's suggestion sounds good. I've caught a grand total of fewer than a dozen smallies on flies - the bigest coming when trying to catch trout - so I have almost zero good info on how to catch small mouth.

I think if you want to do a good amount of floating smallmouth might be your best idea. I really think you would be spending about as much time getting in and out of your canoe as you would floating on the baptist to cedar section. There are good trout spots I know of there that don't even have a good place to pull a canoe out, and I wouldn't want to float right by them.

I have spent an entire day on what would have been the first 15 minutes of floating below baptist.

[Murdoc]

Hey! One more question. What size fly rods do most take??

[ColdWaterFshr]

Trout - 3-5 wt

Smallmouth - 5-7 wt.

[Greg]

I've caught both smallmouth and trout on the current. Wading and floating. To me the best rod for both species is about 8.5 to 9 ft long and for a 5 or a 6 wt. I generally use my favorite rod which is an 8.5 ft 5 wt. Green and black mohair leeches (weighted) is one of the flies I've done the best with when fishing for both species.

Greg