Fishing Advice For Scouts

[TJM1455]

I'm leading a group of Boy Scouts down the Current River in early June. Baptist Camp or Cedar Grove to Two Rivers or Owls Bend doing primitive gravel bar camping along the way.

I helped with this last year and we had little fishing luck. We had one trout jump into a canoe which we released. We could not

call it catch and release because we were not actively trying to catch anything at that time.

I've read some posts here stating that as you get downstream of Cedar Grove the fishing transitions from trout to small mouth.

These kids are not fly fishing. Some might bring a spining or casting rod. Any suggestions on lure advice here? Spinners or crank baits?

They'd probably be fishing from shore so advice on dealing with the current flow would also help.

Better time of day?

thanks

[stlfisher]

I think spinning reels with little cleo spoons, rooster tails, and cranks could do well (especially for the browns). Maribou jigs are always a great option. Usually, early in the morning and late in the afternoon are the best times. I usually cast across the current and work the bait back as it drifts downstream or work it back directly upstream.

You will get into more brown trout below baptist until you hit the white ribbon section. Browns are tougher to catch than rainbows, but there are some big fish in the river.

[Gavin]

Depends...if you want to let the boys fish...with no worries about how they rig up and possible bait & tackle restritions...I'd start at Cedargrove...its all legal below there and you have some pretty good put & take trout water down to Akers Ferry...Good stretch for a fish fry if you hit it right...

For lures...Inline spinners, 1/8oz-1/4oz Kastmasters & Little Cleo spoons in silver or gold. Marabou jigs 1/16-1/4oz.....drift fishing with or w/o bobbers and bait. cast up, let it drift..avoid drag, manage slack line.....prepared cheese baits, minnows, small crawdads, and an assortment of split shot..

Akers to Pulltite...paddle on but hit the scenic spots... the fishing is poor so make time......fishing picks up a bit below Pulltite, but its better downstream of Roundspring. A 3" Curly tail grub on a 1/8 or 1/4oz jig head will catch just about anything that swims down there. Swim it, Troll it behind the boat, Drag it on the bottom, Jig it...there is no wrong way..Green Pumpkin is always money....but bring at least one bait fish color too...smoke, pearl with black or silver fleck... throw those inlines, spoons, marabou's too. Cheers.

[3wt]

Just keep in mind no bait above cedar grove. And you can't keep anything <18" which probably means you can't keep anything. If you do float and fish from baptist make sure you learn and teach the kids how to catch, land, handle and release trout quickly and safely. It's alot different than handling most fish.

The scouts should create a catch and release badge...unless that already exists.

[Gavin]

Debarb your hooks as well...easier to unhook fish and humans...

[Al Agnew]

Great points. I've always looked a little askance at Boy Scout groups on the river, because I've seen a lot of poorly supervised Boy Scout groups over the years. I once came upon a troop busy whacking down a whole huge stand of cane on the Eleven Point, for no other reason than that it was fun, with the one adult sitting in a lawn chair reading. I've seen some of them keeping or just killing out of season bass, too. I know that lots of troop supervisors are conscientious, but even then the supervisors don't always know much more than the Scouts. So I'm glad you asked the questions, and I'm really glad the regulations have been pointed out to you and the suggestion made to teach the kids proper handling and release techniques.

As for bait or lures, you can also teach them that the guy in the back handles the canoe while the guy in the front fishes, if they fish at all while floating. If any of them do so, I'd use only lures that you can just cast out and reel in, like the inline spinners in the trout water and the curly tail grubs on jigheads downstream. Keep it very simple. And if they want to fish while on shore, like in the evening at the campsite, pick out a spot to camp with a nice deep pool, have some worms along, and just have them fish with a small hook, enough split shot above the hook to be able to cast out into the deeper water, and the worms. They could catch anything from sunfish to suckers to catfish (though probably mostly sunfish). Don't bother doing that until you get below Pulltite, though, and of course, don't do it at all above Cedargrove where it's illegal.

[ness]

I think he said they'd be fishing from shore, which is the best idea. They're probably inexperienced at both paddling and fishing, and there will likely be a lot more boys than leaders as always. Swinging lures around from the front of the boat and only one paddler sounds like trouble.

[ColdWaterFshr]

As a former Boy Scout, I have many fond memories of wanton destruction, harming the wildlife, and reckless behavior in general. It was fun even when someone got hurt. As for fishing, we were never that good at it. But I do remember not wanting to clean some fish at summer camp (Camp Arrowhead) and so I wandered off into the woods and launched that nice stringer of bass high up into a pine tree where it wrapped around a branch and we returned to the scene several times over the next few days and marveled at the swarm of flies, the stench, and the speed of decomposition. Stuff like that. Throwing rocks at turtles and snakes were all standard procedure when the Scoutmaster wasn't watching. In the end though, I figure that Mother Nature exacted her fitting revenge on me 10-fold with heaping dollops of suffering in the form of ticks, chiggers, and poison ivy.

Have 'em spool up with 4 lb line, and Rooster tail spinners, small and medium sized rapalas. I would discourage fishing from the canoes as much as possible (injuries, snagged/lost lures). They start to misbehave, send them into the brush to go snipe hunting.

[TJM1455]

Thanks much for all the replies! First, trust me when I say that this group has a high level of respect for the river. The troop has been doing this trip for a number of years and the first guy to lead it realy instilled a high level of "leave no trace" philosophy. We also make a point to have the scouts clean up each camp and landing site to where it is better than when we arrived. I also don't tollerate any of conduct you might have seen from others although some boys seem to have a tendency to catch the occasional frog, snake, or lizzard. One accident or injury from something like that completely ruins the experience. I'm not a 'fun dad' or 'fun leader'. But at the end of the trip, fun will be had. We told the boys a trip to the hospital begins in a canoe. I really apprecaite the lure suggestions espcially pinching down barbs or going barbless. Hook accidents are no fun and it makes catch and release much more doable. I plan to discourage fishing from the canoe early on as the river requires a bit more attention early. Further down stream I think I can let them fish while on the water.

Last year was my first trip on this river. I've done numerous canoe trips over the years but mostly in Wisconsin and Canada Boundary Waters. I had an inaccurate image of Missouri Rivers as slow, warm, amnd muddy. I had no idea there streams like this in Missouri. You have a great resource!

Check out our info from last year on our troop web site

http://dgtroop57.org/activities.htm

look at the video under Summer High Adventure 2010

thanks again for the help.

[ness]

Sounds like you run a tight ship there, TJM1455. Good for you! I was a Cub and Boy Scout leader for several years, and we ran things a lot like you are describing. Or at least tried to. If we woulda had a kid like Paul Dallas (A/K/A Coldwaterfshr) he'd have found another pastime, pronto.