Current River

[jah]

I wanted to fish one last time before the bitter cold sets in tonight, so I left St. Louis at 4:30 a.m. this morning and got to Tan Vat at 6:45. There was some cool lightning and it was sprinkling. I had the place to myself all day pretty much, which is getting increasingly rare at Tan Vat. But I started at the swimming hole with an egg and a primrose and pearl midge. Immediately got a stocker rainbow on the egg, and then nothing for about 15 minutes. Then this brown in the picture destroyed the P&P like I have never had a fish destroy a fly before. Before I realized anything he was stripping line and doing backflips. Glad I got him in. Immediately got another rainbow on the P&P and started moving upstream. My normal fun hole about 100 yards up from the swimming hole produced nothing. I was shocked. Kept moving up t the rock garden and saw my only other person all day. I clumsily spooked a monster as I tripped over a log...he was right under it at the bend. I had no luck at these holes, but it was likely because of my technique. I went back to big flies like stones and woolies, and they just were not interested.

Went back downstream and saw a massive hatch of small white mayflies, so I tied on an Adams with a soft hackle dropper. First cast I was concentrating on the adams, noticed a fish just below it, thought to myself "I hope he takes the adams". Little did I realize he had my soft hackle in his mouth. By the time I figured it out and set the hook, he was gone. Worked back down to the swimming home with that same rig and got nothing. 3 hours of nothing after a red hot start.

After a comedy of errors below the "waterfall" at Tan Vat (trees, rocks, hooking my waders, birdsnesting my last furled leader from Troy and Emma) I moved downstream and had to tie 4x directly to my flyline. Found a nice small pool below a riffle. I tied on a Y2K and a lightning bug dropper. I caught 7 in a row...in literally 7 casts. I couldn't believe it. 6 on the lightening bug. I have to say, that fly is now my new favorite down there. It always seems to work.

I fished down to the hole below the first island and I realized that it is MUCH shallower now. Anyone know what I am talking about? Grass bank on one side and a log to your back as you cast towards the bank. It used to be deep behind you by the log and deep in front of you to the bank and you'd have to negotiate the middle. Now it was super shallow. Maybe just low water...anyway, it was a great day.

The rainbow was the smallest I have ever caught there, so you can decide if it was streamborn or not. And I saw a bald eagle flying right above me and then saw this bird in a tree (not sure if it is a eagle or not, and the picture sucks, but thought I'd include it.

[laker67]

Enjoyed the report and the pics. That brown looks as if it could have come taney. That golden yellow is a taney trademark.

[ozark trout fisher]

Nice... The 'bow does look streamborn to me (smaller than stocker size, white fin tips, typical wild trout markings) but I guess you can never be sure. The mayflies were probably Blue-winged olives (aka Baetis)-they often hatch very heavy on rainy, nasty winter days like today. A #20 or #22 Parachute Adams will often produce a lot of fish during that hatch, but mostly smaller 'bows.

And the brown is sure a pretty one-it looks like it could have come right out of the Madison. Thanks for the report.

[jah]

Nice... The 'bow does look streamborn to me (smaller than stocker size, white fin tips, typical wild trout markings) but I guess you can never be sure. The mayflies were probably Blue-winged olives (aka Baetis)-they often hatch very heavy on rainy, nasty winter days like today. A #20 or #22 Parachute Adams will often produce a lot of fish during that hatch, but mostly smaller 'bows.

And the brown is sure a pretty one-it looks like it could have come right out of the Madison. Thanks for the report.

The Adams didnt produce for me, but I think a lot of it is technique . The problem is that i mostly fish by myself and I should spend time fishing with those who know more than me. So here is an open invite to anyone who wishes to teach me their tactics on the Current.

[Njardar]

Great report and it sounds like a wonderful time.

[ozark trout fisher]

The Adams didnt produce for me, but I think a lot of it is technique . The problem is that i mostly fish by myself and I should spend time fishing with those who know more than me. So here is an open invite to anyone who wishes to teach me their tactics on the Current.

There isn't that much to fishing that hatch to be honest. Just fish a #20 or #22 dry fly on a 12 foot leader tapering to 6x or 7x, and try to get the float as drag free as possible. Also, when you're dry fly fishing on that river, it's pretty much a must to target a specific rising trout. Even during the best hatches, I find that at the least, three or four fish will be taking nymphs or emergers for every one that is taking dries, so it's pretty important to find a specific fish that is looking up. I just fish the parachute adams because I can't see a normal adams well enough in the small sizes needed for that hatch-a regular adams or a more accurate olive pattern would probably be more productive if you can see it.

That's all I really know about it, although others more experienced with the Current River and dry fly fishing in general will know far more I'm sure. Honestly, based on your reports you seem to catch more trout on that river than I do, so frankly I feel a little weird telling you about my tactics.

[jah]

There isn't that much to fishing that hatch to be honest. Just fish a #20 or #22 dry fly on a 12 foot leader tapering to 6x or 7x, and try to get the float as drag free as possible. Also, when you're dry fly fishing on that river, it's pretty much a must to target a specific rising trout. Even during the best hatches, I find that at the least, three or four fish will be taking nymphs or emergers for every one that is taking dries, so it's pretty important to find a specific fish that is looking up. I just fish the parachute adams because I can't see a normal adams well enough in the small sizes needed for that hatch-a regular adams or a more accurate olive pattern would probably be more productive if you can see it.

That's all I really know about it, although others more experienced with the Current River and dry fly fishing in general will know far more I'm sure. Honestly, based on your reports you seem to catch more trout on that river than I do, so frankly I feel a little weird telling you about my tactics.

Thanks for the tip with the leader. That's something I was doing wrong for sure, as I only had about 3 feet of 5x coming off my furled leader. Thus, I had a lot of flyline on the water as I was trying to reach the far bank, so mabye that was the problem.

As far as numbers of fish I catch, it is in large part thanks to egg patterns. My logic is that I drive over 2 hours to fish, so I am looking for quantity first, because to me it is fun to catch a bunch. If I have success early, then I go to more traditional flies. But yesterday they had no interest in the egg, so I went to nymphs.

Not to mention that, if it wasn't for this forum, I would not have nearly the success that I have had.

[wackaloo13]

for all the blind folks out there trying to fish tiny dries.... tie on a # 14-16 (whatever you can see) para adams or something like that and then tie the #22 bwo off the hook bend. if something pokes its head up within 2 feet of your para adams set the hook or if you see the para adams go under set the hook.

[ozark trout fisher]

for all the blind folks out there trying to fish tiny dries.... tie on a # 14-16 (whatever you can see) para adams or something like that and then tie the #22 bwo off the hook bend. if something pokes its head up within 2 feet of your para adams set the hook or if you see the para adams go under set the hook.

That's a good trick, and I've used it before. Often during the summer trico hatches, I'll use something like a #14 Ausable Wulff with a #24 trico behind it-and the funny thing is, I often as not catch as many or more fish on the Wulff as the trico. It's kinda like when I'm nymph fishing, and I get more hits at my stick-on indicator than my nymph (which has also been known to happen to me on the Upper Current)

But for the olives, I find that a Parachute Adams of the appropriate size will do the trick at least about 80% of the time. Once you get a quarter mile or so from the popular accesses, I don't find the trout on the Current to be all that selective.