Montauk Report September 16Th-18Th

[stlfisher]

Spent 3 days at Montauk with a group of ten from College on our annual guy trip. Despite the cool and showery weather for all three days the fishing was quite good.

My buddy and I left St. Louis at 5am on Friday and arrived at Montauk at 7:30. We checked in and purchased our tags and decided to hit the stream and await the arrival of the rest of our crew. It was quite chilly in the morning, but we were comfortable for the most part. We started off in the fly fishing only area and began nymphing during the rain showers. Nymphing was slow and to be honest was not the best technique to use this weekend. With the cloud cover and showery conditions I changed to a #22 Blue Wing Olive and it was donwright silly. I had 10 hits on the my first 10 casts and hooked up with 6 fish. We decided to begin working upstream and I kept picking them off as we slowly waded up the stream toward the spring. This continued until 11am when the next shower started and the fishing slowed down. Total count for the morning was around 25 fish and probably 50 hits. Those small flies can make it tough to hook up at times.

At 11 we broke for lunch to unpack at the cabin and meet a few other guys. After a quick lunch we hit the stream and started off in the bait are for something different, but not many fish behind the lodge and we changed plans and headed up to the C/R area. My buddy finally decided to tie on a BWO and caught his first few fish on a dry fly. He was hooked on dry fly fishing and we were having a blast drinking a few beers and messing around in the C/R area. The BWO was again the choice, but the fish were getting a little jumpy so I tied on #18 Caddis and dumped it in. A really nice brown took it and then proceeded to run straight upstream and below the pipe where the rearing pools dump in at the head of the C/R area. I had heard of this happening to other anglers. My fly line was all the way up into the area below the pipe...I guess the fish wanted to go back to the hatchery. It was an amusing, but rather impressive escape.

Afterwards we headed up to the spring and worked our way back down to the dam. I continued with the BWO and continued to catch fish...not as fast as earlier, but steady and caught another 15 or so on the way back down. My buddy hooked into a nice rainbow probably 4-5 lb's that ran him into some vegation on the other side of the stream. Took his fly line all the way in as well. We spent a half hour digging his fly line out. By the time we were done the horn had long since sounded and it was pretty much dark. Wading back in the dark, drizzly, and foggy night was a bit eerie. Bat's were everywhere...I hate those things.

Saturday:

The morning started off pretty good again. The BWO continued to shine along with a midge dry and a few PMD's. Small was the key #22 or smaller. I picked off a few on the Caddis, but they didn't want that much this weekend. A few looks at Trico's and a small Adams, but they were not the perferred flies. We took a break at 10:30 to get some breakfast at the lodge and the skies opened up. It rained hard for about 4 hours and finally stopped at 3:30. We geared up and went back to the stream. It was again BWO time and I caught fish after fish. I did land my biggest fish of the weekend on the way back in a shallow little riffle betweens some moss beds. A gorgous 3lb rainbow with amazing colors that gave me all I could handled and jumped about 5 times. Just after catching the fish my other buddy walked up as I neared another feeding lane and watched me catch 4 fish on 4 casts. He called me something that rhymes with trucker and we all just laughed as we traded jabs on the way back to the car.

Sunday:

We woke up on Sunday, had some breakfast and packed up and hit the stream by 7:30. the forecast was calling for rain and a alot of it,but it must have fizzled over night. It was much the same as Friday with showers and sprinkles and a few minute downpour mixed in. The BWO was hot the first couple hours and then that was it. The dry fly fishing turned off and the fishing was tough by 10am. I tried nymphing for a bit, but the fish were just sulking. I was spoiled all weekend so it was tough to just watch the indicator. I was getting short on time and was getting anxious. I decided to put on a natural colored slumpbuster and it got crazy in hurry. I caught fish on the first cast and must have had 6 all swarming it and swiping at it. I guess they thought it was a sculpin or something, but I was getting hits on every cast. They tore up all three I had of that color and that was it. The black or Olive didn't not produce much at all. Right before we left I tied on a white and grizzly hackled streamer that took the big fish in the hole. He came unbottoned and it stared pouring. Time to call it weekend and start the long depressing ride back home and reality.

Highlights:

I went through a dozen BWO's this weekend.

I still have a fully stuffed bly box from all the flies that I "had" to have before the trip

The fishing was silly, but they were very selective, I got a bit lucky in that regard.

I am not an expert on dry fishing, but the smaller the fly the better this weekend.

I forgot how much fun streamer fishing is...that tug is the drug as they say

All in all we had a great time and this was by far the best dry fishing I have ever had. We had alot more fisherman this year and 2 guys trying out fly rod's for the first time. They did really well for first timers and everyone had a great time fishing. The stream was pretty deserted and we all could fish together wilth plenty of room. We drank lot's of beer in the evenings, had some great steaks, and had a great time with some old buddies. So much fun that I never did make it down to the Blue Ribbon stretch. If only dry fishing was this good all the time....

[Jack Hollister]

Man that was a great post!! Thanks for sharing your weekend with us. Dry fly fishing is by far the most rewarding experience in my opinion. I could do that all day..if the fish would let me..lol!!!

[stlfisher]

Thanks Jack. I agree there is nothing better than dry fly fishing.

[Jack Hollister]

I should have asked you this in my first post.....just what color is a natural colored slumpbuster? Can you buy these at the lodge or at Reeds? I would like to give these a try sometime.

Thanks!!

[stlfisher]

I actually bought the color at Hargrove's in St. Louis I believe. The best I can describe it is a cross between a light tan color and a grey color. I tied my own so it wasn't something I bought in bin, but the color should be widely available and they are pretty easy to tie.

[Nortrad]

I should have asked you this in my first post.....just what color is a natural colored slumpbuster? Can you buy these at the lodge or at Reeds? I would like to give these a try sometime.

Thanks!!

It's tied in natural pine squirrel zonker strip. You can vary the color of the sparkle braid and conehead. Google John Barr's Slumpbuster. Interesting they went for the natural, have only had luck with black and olive.

[ozark trout fisher]

Nothing like getting them on dries! Awesome report.