8/23-8/24

[MikeH]

After what seems like an eternity I made it back down to the Current this week. I arrived Tuesday morning at Baptist with the plan to throw streamers early in hopes of catching some hogs. I caught a nice brown on a waggy tail sculpin variation almost right off the bat. Unfortunately that was the last fish I'd catch for around 4 hours. I had plenty of fish show interest in my streamers, but no takes. After lunch I decided it was nymphing time and finally caught some more fish. Most of them took a dronestone I was using as an anchor but a couple took my dropper.(an olive quill nymph) When I eventually started my way back to the car I switched to dry/dropper. I used a tan stimulator with the quill nymph from earlier hung off the back. The nymph received most of the attention but I did have two come up and take the dry. I had seen plenty of hoppers on the banks, but none in the water.

I went and set up camp at Montauk and then headed down to Tan Vat. Nothing much to report here. I stuck with the dry/dropper but all of the fish came on the dropper, a hare's ear at this point.

After dinner I headed down out of the park to fish a little before it got dark. There was a hatch coming off just barely strong enough to get a few fish's attentions. They were mayflies, between a #16 or #18 and orange in color with creamy colored wings. They looked like sulphurs to me but I don't think those hatch this time of the year. The stimulator from earlier was the only dry I had on me so matching the hatch with a dry was out of the question. A #16 partridge and orange fished upstream just under the surface did the trick. All of the fish rising turned out to be little park escapees but it was still a lot of fun fishing up by the surface.

Overnight it stormed big time. The river was up a little from the day before but still perfectly clear. The trico's were coming off and there were actually fish rising to them. I never seem to get many on dries during this hatch so I decided to go the wet fly route again. I'm sure I missed a few takes but it seemed to work well. After that I went to nymphing until I had to leave, as I had to be at work at 4:00. The stone was working again but I quickly lost my last one and had to switch. I went with a Vladi worm and continued to do well. After the slow day before it was great to be getting into lots of fish. I thought about calling into work but before I knew it I had to leave. I probably caught as many Wednesday morning as I did all day Tuesday. I got in all the fishing I could as I barely had time to unpack and shower before work.

As usual there's a longer report with pictures at my blog. Link's in my signature.

-Mike

[ozark trout fisher]

After what seems like an eternity I made it back down to the Current this week. I arrived Tuesday morning at Baptist with the plan to throw streamers early in hopes of catching some hogs. I caught a nice brown on a waggy tail sculpin variation almost right off the bat. Unfortunately that was the last fish I'd catch for around 4 hours. I had plenty of fish show interest in my streamers, but no takes. After lunch I decided it was nymphing time and finally caught some more fish. Most of them took a dronestone I was using as an anchor but a couple took my dropper.(an olive quill nymph) When I eventually started my way back to the car I switched to dry/dropper. I used a tan stimulator with the quill nymph from earlier hung off the back. The nymph received most of the attention but I did have two come up and take the dry. I had seen plenty of hoppers on the banks, but none in the water.

I went and set up camp at Montauk and then headed down to Tan Vat. Nothing much to report here. I stuck with the dry/dropper but all of the fish came on the dropper, a hare's ear at this point.

After dinner I headed down out of the park to fish a little before it got dark. There was a hatch coming off just barely strong enough to get a few fish's attentions. They were mayflies, between a #16 or #18 and orange in color with creamy colored wings. They looked like sulphurs to me but I don't think those hatch this time of the year. The stimulator from earlier was the only dry I had on me so matching the hatch with a dry was out of the question. A #16 partridge and orange fished upstream just under the surface did the trick. All of the fish rising turned out to be little park escapees but it was still a lot of fun fishing up by the surface.

Overnight it stormed big time. The river was up a little from the day before but still perfectly clear. The trico's were coming off and there were actually fish rising to them. I never seem to get many on dries during this hatch so I decided to go the wet fly route again. I'm sure I missed a few takes but it seemed to work well. After that I went to nymphing until I had to leave, as I had to be at work at 4:00. The stone was working again but I quickly lost my last one and had to switch. I went with a Vladi worm and continued to do well. After the slow day before it was great to be getting into lots of fish. I thought about calling into work but before I knew it I had to leave. I probably caught as many Wednesday morning as I did all day Tuesday. I got in all the fishing I could as I barely had time to unpack and shower before work.

As usual there's a longer report with pictures at my blog. Link's in my signature.

-Mike

Sounds like a great trip. I'll be heading down next weekend, and it's good to hear that there are plenty of rising fish.

[OKFlyFisher44]

Sounds like the river fished well. We will be down there on the 24-25 of Sept, I cant wait. I love that river, just wish it wasnt 5 hours away.

[ozark trout fisher]

I love that river, just wish it wasnt 5 hours away.

It's a special one for sure...It is the kind of river that you find your self thinking about constantly, that makes you seriously consider finding a way to move closer to it. From September through sometime in May there is no place in the world I would rather be.

[OKFlyFisher44]

Thats no lie! I love that place. Its my favorite wade fishing in the Ozarks, hands down, with Crane coming in at a close second. I wish it was the size of the NFOW so I could take my drift boat down it , I'd probably never fish anywhere else. We havent been down there since our annual spring trip in April so we are all pretty excited to get back down there. I've got lots of hoppers, ants, and beetles tied up for this trip.

[MikeH]

It's downright addictive. I almost have to force myself to fish somewhere else. Twice this year I've planned on fishing the Piney and ended up just staying on 63 and going to the Current.

-Mike

[E Green]

I am very new to all of this and just recently found out about this website/discussion forum. My wife and I moved from Milwaukee, WI to the Elsinore, MO area in spring of 2010. Just a few weeks afer we arrived, our son was born. Life has been quite hectic with so many drastic changes in this past year and half but I have been able to get out to the Current River to fish a handful of times. It has quickly turned into just about my favorite thing to do. Two weeks ago I pulled in a 15 maybe 16 inch smallmouth while wade fishing with an ultralight pole, 8LB test. That was some serious fun and I thought for sure I was going to lose it. Besides that I just caught a couple sunfish (which are so colorful down here..never seen any panfish/bluegill/sunfish like that before). I seem to feel better using original floating rapala's because I have had the most success with those. I purchased a few different styles of plastic worms and I plan on trying those out this weekend as well. My wife's family is coming down from chicago for the holiday and we are going to spend 2 days on the Current while they are here. They are big city people so it will be nice to show them the beauty that exists down here in the Ozarks....

anyways...love this place and esp that river....I need to find some more spots/places to visit and i also need all kinds of fishing tips/advice...life of a rookie..haha take care