Baptist To Pulltite First Time Float

[Hookem trout]

Hi all! Some buddies and I do a weekday float every year (last year was 32 miles on the 11 point which was a blast) and we have decided to try the current from Baptist to Pulltite. We are floating over the course of 3-4 days to go slow and get as much fishing in as possible. We are heading out in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if any of you have any good advise on good spots to camp (while on the water and away from the designated camping spots) and fishing or anything to just look out for? We all are new to this part of the river and all love to fish for trout and small mouth (we all use spinning reels btw). I have talked to MDC, Montauk, Scenic riverways, and the rangers, which were all really nice down there in the area, to make sure that we are all good on the rules and regulations for camping and fishing.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew

[TroutRinger]

If quality of fishing is important, I believe you'd be better off floating Pulltite to Two Rivers. Not that you won't catch fish up river.

[Guest]

There will be lots of great places to camp along that stretch, you shouldn't have trouble picking a spot. I would focus most of my fishing attention on the water in between Baptist camp and akers. Below there the water is a little too warm for trout and still a little bit to cold to grow lots of smallmouth. Sounds like a great time!

[Gavin]

I agree with Troutringer....The scenery is fantastuc and there is plentiful camping between Baptist & Pulltite, but the fishing runs from great to downright lousy depending upon which section your on..

Montauk State Park to Cedargrove has some great trout fishing....worth two or three days on its own....

Cedargrove to Akers, rarely fishes well in the Summer time. There are a few smallmouth to be had, and its pretty decent for stocked rainbows if you hit it right (Usually Spring & Fall when hordes of floaters arent there)

Akers to Pulltite.... the fishing is horrible...not many trout and its too cold for smallmouth. Might as well leave the rod at home, site see and fish in the cooler.

Pulltite to Round Spring....Smallie fishing starts to pick up a again.

Round Spring to Two Rivers..Smallie fishing is good. But you'll have to share the water with some jetboats.

If fishing is the main objective..I'd hit the best water...Baptist to Cedar for trout...then head down to Round Spring for some smallies. Have a great trip.

[3wt]

Lots of gravel bars for camping.

There are a few good spots just below baptist, and then at Ashley creek a few miles down. That might be a good first night stay and let you take your time wade fishing the trout water. I think you'll find the current to have a lot more gravel bars that the 11 pt (from what I recall.) So it's not usually a big issue to find a spot to crash.

The blue ribbon is best for trout. I'd make sure I spent a lot of time fishing the first day and a half. Once you get close to cedar grove it slows down. I don't know much about the white ribbon area, but some really do well down past cedar grove, probably closer to welch spring.

I've never used a spin setup for trout outside of montauk, but I'm sure black/gold, olive, olive/brown, white etc. maribou jigs 1/32, small rooster tails, wooly worm spinners (aka montauk specials, bennett specials) all work well. That pretty much exhaust my old spin fishing arsenal, but I haven't really tried spin fishing for ~15 years, so I'm probably not the best expert here.

[3wt]

And to my knowledge the smallmouth fishing will essentially suck in that stretch. So you're kind of after trout or nothing.

[Hookem trout]

Thanks a lot fellow anglers i appreciate the advice and tips. I have heard that the trophy area from Baptist down is awesome. I have never caught a brown trout before and am very excited to get the chance to. Is there a different setup that is used for browns usually? I fish with 4 to 6 lb line and i am not sure that will be enough. Any suggestions there?

Thanks again!

[TroutRinger]

Thanks a lot fellow anglers i appreciate the advice and tips. I have heard that the trophy area from Baptist down is awesome. I have never caught a brown trout before and am very excited to get the chance to. Is there a different setup that is used for browns usually? I fish with 4 to 6 lb line and i am not sure that will be enough. Any suggestions there?

Thanks again!

I would say probably use 4lb line simply to enable you to cast smaller lures farther. For specific brands, I love P-Line CX Premium in green from BP and probably Cabelas. Maxima (available at Walmart) is good too.

On the Niangua this weekend, I used 4lb line for the first couple miles from Bennett until the river was mostly smallies. I then got my spare spool filled with 6lb P-line and used that.

[ozark trout fisher]

I'd use 4 pound line, and I'd toss small spinners for the most part. While mostly I've fly fished it, I have done some spin fishing in the trophy area and I can tell you that Panther Martin and Mepp's Spinners can be pretty good. 1/32 ounce and 1/24 ounce on the panther martins (preferably the dressed variety), and #0 Mepps. You'll probably do quite well trout fishing Baptist to Cedar, it probably has the most consistent fishing of any stretch of trout river in the state. For the most part the Blue Ribbon water will be plenty cold for decent trout fishing even in this heat. Cedar to Welch, likely to be poor due to crowds and high water temps, maybe a few smallmouth and the chance for trout in a few certain areas. The area around the mouth of Welch should be good for trout, with the possibility of decent trout fishing for another three miles or so down to Akers. That is where my knowledge ends, as I have spent no time fishing the Current between Akers and Pulltite. Mid-day fishing is likely to tough, not to say you can't catch trout then but it is very likely to be slow. I'd make sure to set up camp that first night in the Blue Ribbon stretch and fish hard that evening and again early the next morning so you can get a chance to fish some of the prime water during the time of day when they'll be feeding.

I'm sure small marabou jigs would work, and that seems to be what all the spin fishing trout anglers around here use, but to be honest I've never been a fan of them.

[3wt]

Some around here say they catch mostly browns and a few rainbows. I catch probably 90+% rainbows down there. The bigger browns are down there, just getting their attentin can be the trick.

Your best bet is probably at sundown and at night. On the plus, a lot of the nice gravel bars in the upper stretch are great locations for fishign too, so scoping out the water and waiting for nightfall wouldn't be too tough. I think the spinners and the like would be good options for predatory browns - in fact it might be the trick to get them moving in the daytime too.

good luck.