Report From Friday 26 August

[Nortrad]

Wasn't as good as hoped for, but fun to be on the river w. my son Andrew. He and his girl Katie are visiting us here in Springfield. Got a fairly early start and no one in the lot at Tan Vat until a guy pulled in already rigged up. He was cool, retired teacher who knew what he was talking about. He'd fish a lot in AR. He related a story of how a lot of big browns ran up into the park during the 2 week heat spell we had. He saw pics of 40 'lunkers' on the board at Reed's. He said the guy at Reed's called the MDC and tried to get them to do a temporary reg's change to make the section the same as the Blue Ribbon stretch. They said they 'had no data to support a reg's change', so those beautiful browns got harvested. I guess there's nothing you can do if they run into that section. He asked us which way we were fishing and we chose downstream to work back to the lot.

Walked down the brushy trail, losing it in some places and started in the dead fall just off the high bank. Worked it thoroughly, trying to teach A. how to throw, water-haul his rig. Both of us drew nada there, not a positive start. A. was having a tough time. Moved into the nice riffle above the dead fall and 4 casts/drifts later a nice hard take, beautiful rainbow, my best ever there. He only topped out at 16" but was beautiful, fat and fought me, almost going into the brush, but I got him in the shallow gravel and netted him. He went for my new RL Copper John on a curved shank.

Moved up to the wall, and, you guessed it, no love. I switched to small nymph/midge, nothing. Moved upstream to the next riffle and got another 'bow. Ended up catching 3 more 'bows as we worked up, no browns and skipped the deep hole because a guy was stuck there.

Had some wheat brews and sandwiches then drove down to Parker, hoping to replicate catching some big fish. Tried the riffle right at the camp with foam dries w. dropper, nothing, not one check or follow or any sign. Moved up the trail to a spot below that deep hole, there's a pretty good riffle that I had never fished. I tried 4 different dry/dropper rigs, nothing. I noticed another deep hole with a tree/undercut below that I'd also skipped. A. had spotted a pod of fish in there. Some guys were coming thru, not really fishing, so we let them thru and I tried the deep hole w. my usual RL w. attractor nymph. Hard strike first cast, brown, decent, not huge, but strong. He turned me a bunch of times and I lost him, (expletive). I then had another knot failure on one or the bottom, not sure. Re-rigged, but no more love. Moved up to the usual deep hole, not one hit, after numerous drifts w. different set ups. We moved up the the high rock wall and fished above it, nothing. It was 4PM so we just hung out and had a couple of beers then headed home.

Every fish caught/hooked was on a different fly, one of those days. In hind site right after, should have tried Baptist. It seems that water's better this year, especially in the heat, lots more riffles and oxygen-rich water with structure. The river was warmer and slower thru Parker. It was great to be out with Andrew and we have caught many fish together back in WA. Will try again somewhere here in MO before he continues on the summer road trip. Here's some shots and one of A.'s close shots. He has a great eye in his father's humble opinion.

[stlfisher]

Nice report...glad you got out with your son! Sorry the fishing wasn't as hot as normal...I experienced the same results the weekend before....slow and only managed a few rainbows and 3-4 small browns from this years stock. Hate to see those huge brown harvested from the bait area. Hope the MDC does something to prevent that.

[ozark trout fisher]

Thanks for the report. I am somewhat disappointed to hear that the Parker section isn't doing that great. I like that part of the river a lot, but it is definitely more of an on/off proposition than further upstream. Sometimes you can't keep the fish off the end of your line, other times it's all you can do to pound up a few.

Oh well. A few cool rains and the river should be back to its normal self again. I may make it down to the Current for an evening over this coming weekend, depending on how the other streams I'm gonna be hitting fish. If I do go down there I'll definitely be fishing the Parker section to get away from the crowds a little. Did you try any hoppers/terrestrials? Sometimes those can be real good this time of year down there.

[Nortrad]

Thanks for the report. I am somewhat disappointed to hear that the Parker section isn't doing that great. I like that part of the river a lot, but it is definitely more of an on/off proposition than further upstream. Sometimes you can't keep the fish off the end of your line, other times it's all you can do to pound up a few.

Oh well. A few cool rains and the river should be back to its normal self again. I may make it down to the Current for an evening over this coming weekend, depending on how the other streams I'm gonna be hitting fish. If I do go down there I'll definitely be fishing the Parker section to get away from the crowds a little. Did you try any hoppers/terrestrials? Sometimes those can be real good this time of year down there.

I tried 4 different hopper variations, with/without deer hair wing, and a light orange Chubby Chernobyl, all w. droppers, no love. Hooked/lost the browns w. a RL w. attractor nymph trailing. Still like to try the big surface flies. Fished some Foamulators before that right at the camp at Parker.

[ozark trout fisher]

I tried 4 different hopper variations, with/without deer hair wing, and a light orange Chubby Chernobyl, all w. droppers, no love. Hooked/lost the browns w. a RL w. attractor nymph trailing. Still like to try the big surface flies. Fished some Foamulators before that right at the camp at Parker.

Bummer.I was kind of looking forward to the possibility of some good hopper fishing...Oh well. Maybe with the warmer water temps they just aren't looking up, who knows.Sounds like I'll need to bring the stream thermometer if I go down there.

[Nortrad]

Yeah, we have to adjust. I'm sure the surface flies will pick up. Chance from OK, Gavin and others swear by them. Got a little taste when the 13 yr. cicadas were on last month, a big brown came up and swirled under then checked my foam immitation, then left. Landed 3 decent 'bows on top that trip. That was enough to get me wanting more. Ah this addiction...

[MikeH]

There's definitely plenty of hoppers on the banks, we just need more of them to go swimming. I caught only two in around five hours of dry/dropper last week on a stimulator and both of them were within six inches of the bank in very shallow water. It's pretty rare (at least for me) that the hopper fishing is really good, but when it is this is where I usually catch them. I figure the closer to the bank the more likely they are to see real terrestrials and in the shallow water they don't have to come up very far.

-Mike

[ozark trout fisher]

There's definitely plenty of hoppers on the banks, we just need more of them to go swimming. I caught only two in around five hours of dry/dropper last week on a stimulator and both of them were within six inches of the bank in very shallow water. It's pretty rare (at least for me) that the hopper fishing is really good, but when it is this is where I usually catch them. I figure the closer to the bank the more likely they are to see real terrestrials and in the shallow water they don't have to come up very far.

-Mike

There have been times when I have had crazy terrestrial fishing on the Current. But you're right, if the fly isn't within just a few inches of the bank you're pretty much wasting your time...Last fall with during the drought I had really great hopper fishing every time I went down, they were all over the place and the fish were really keyed in. The hopper fishing stayed good late last year, when I was down there late October they were still eating hopper imitations. It was to the point where I wasn't even using a dropper. Why would you when you can catch as many fish as you want on big dries? I wish it were like that again this year, but that would be hoping for too much.

[MikeH]

There have been times when I have had crazy terrestrial fishing on the Current. But you're right, if the fly isn't within just a few inches of the bank you're pretty much wasting your time...Last fall with during the drought I had really great hopper fishing every time I went down, they were all over the place and the fish were really keyed in. The hopper fishing stayed good late last year, when I was down there late October they were still eating hopper imitations. It was to the point where I wasn't even using a dropper. Why would you when you can catch as many fish as you want on big dries? I wish it were like that again this year, but that would be hoping for too much.

You never know, things can change in a heartbeat on the river. Even if the hopper fishing doesn't heat up there should be some decent hatches pretty soon. At least the drakes will be hatching on the Piney before long so we can get our big dry fix.

-Mike

[OKFlyFisher44]

I have been at this hopper thing for a while and you have to do a little homework to figure when and where to fish the hoppers. There is 1 section of the Current that I believe is the only PRIMO hopper water. I am surprised it hasn't been better this year with how dry it's been. We should be up there this month for our annual fall trip, I will be chuckin' big foam nasties for sure! Maybe they will work...maybe they won't. I'm gonna find out either way.

I wish it woulda fished better for ya man. That dang river can be so fickle sometimes.