Current River Advice

[Adam Snodgrass]

I'm new to fly fishing but really enjoy it. I went to Montauk a couple weeks ago and fished near the Tan Vat access and just downstream from there. Caught one small rainbow on a black caddis.

I'm looking forward to going back and venturing further downstream on the Current. Just curious, how's the fishing as you get further downstream from Montauk? Still plenty of rainbows/browns? Any favorite access points or should I just start with Baptist Camp and work from there? Fly selection advice welcome as well! Again, I'm a newbie at this.

Thanks!

[wackaloo13]

Fishing is good downstream from Montauk. Plenty of fish (at least in the bits i fish). I like Baptist but i know people that like welsch spring access.

Fly selection:

eggs - pink or orange - i rarely fish them but they work for most people

16 copper john

18-22 zebra midge

16 elk hair caddis

10 mohair leach

14-20 scud, orange, tan or gray

hoppers

ants

beetles

I rarely fish dries. I have seen clouds of tricos coming off and the fish refuse to rise. They will come up for some terrestrials on warm afternoons. I like the Japanese beetle from Cabelas. I usually start with the copper john and a midge or a orange scud and a midge. I fish 6x and 7x flouro tippet. Make sure your flies are on the bottom. If you arent getting hung up on the bottom every once in a while you are not getting deep enough. My usual rig is a 7.5' leader tapered to 5x or 6x + 2' of 6x tippet. I usually add another 12" of tippet to that with a blood knot and leave one of the tag ends long and use that to tie on an additional fly. Weight and indicator placement really depend on the water you are fishing. Use the smallest indicator that you can easily see. One thing to remember when casting a double nymph rig.... dont false cast. If you rush your forward cast you end up with a gigantic tangle of line. I generally use a water haul. At the end of your drift, let the line straighten out downstream of you and do a forward cast at your desired target. The surface tension will load the flyrod for you.

Everyone has their own preferences on what and how they fish. This is what works for me.

[stlfisher]

The only real trick I think is to make sure your flies are on the bottom if nymphing. If you want to fish dries I would go really small. Streamers would work well for the bigger brown's this time of year, but you will sacrifice overall numbers. The whole stretch from the end of the park to below Baptist is great. Look for areas outside of the obvious hole's...there are a lot fish in spots that you don't think would hold them...and some really nice ones at that. Keep an eye out for paths along the stream if you don't want to wade up and down the stream all day. Eggs are always my backup pattern if nothing else is working. My favorite stretch is from the end of the park down to the "wall" below Tan Vat.

[jah]

The sucker snagging is EXCELLENT downstream of Montauk.

[FishinCricket]

The sucker snagging is EXCELLENT downstream of Montauk.

It's gettin' pretty easy here on the forums too, jah.... Prolly cause (as PT Barnum would say) "there's one born every minute!"

Oh, uh, the topic:

Try a crawdad pattern, I hear them trout like crawdads... That or an olive Woolie bugger slipped along the bottom?

[Adam Snodgrass]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'm going to stock up on a variety of flies before my next trip.