Annual Spring Trip Report, 4/20-4/22

OKFlyFisher44 · April 24, 2012

My favorite trip of the year happened this past weekend as the crew and I descended upon the Current River for the 4th year in a row to camp and fish the Blue Ribbon section of the river in hopes of epic caddis hatches, big browns, and good times. Half of us arrived on Thurs night to get a jump on fishing while the rest of the crew arrived on friday evening.

On friday, we were met with cool temps and rainy weather as we woke up and creeped out of our tents. After a quick breakfast, we took to the river via Tan Vat and went to work. We spent most of the morning throwing streamers in hopes of turning a big brown as well as mixing in a little nymphing in the more technical water. The streamer bite was decent as we caught small browns and rainbows while turning/hooking up on a few bigger browns but couldnt stay hooked up. After lunch, we switched up gear and decided to do chuck a bobber while we waited for an evening dry fly bite. The bugs didnt disappoint us either as around 5:00, small caddis started to push up the river as well as some tiny mayflies began to come off. The fish began to look up and the bite was on. We had an epic evening of throwing dries while having the whole upper section to ourselves as we fished our way back to camp. Micro tan caddis and light cahills did the trick for us. We made our way back to camp and awaited the arrival of the rest of the crew as we ate dinner.

On saturday, we had absolutely beautiful weather with sunny skies and mild temps as we hit the river. We all split up and fished various sections of the blue ribbon water. Fishing was good, nothing lights out but we found enough fish to keep us entertained. Tricos started swarming the river around 11:00 as well as some more tiny mayflies. A few fish were looking up and gave us a few dry fly eats but nothing too consistent. We mostly stuck to the bobber chuckin' with various bugs bringing fish to hand. Eggs and caddis stuff were good under the bobber and small olive streamers stuck a few fish right before lunch. The following evening gave us another HEAVY caddis push which was very cool to see once again. The fish began to look up once again but the bite was pretty tough. They were eating the caddis that would drop/skate on the surface to lay eggs but they were keying in on another bug....one that we couldnt figure out? I watched 3 fish feed for at least 5 minutes and never could actually see the bug they were eating. We were able to catch a few trout on the tan micro caddis once again but it was hit and miss. We packed it in and headed for camp to enjoy a night of great food and adult beverages.

On sunday, we were slow to get around and get geared up as the wind was blowing pretty hard. We all split up and fished different sections till around 1:00 before we decided to pack it in. The wind was a constant pain in the butt and made the temp seem cooler than it really was. We did manage to stick a few fish by chuckin' the bobber with an egg, SJW, or a sowbug underneath it so the day was still a success. We called it good and loaded up the trucks to head home....

Another awesome spring time trip to the Current, next year will be the 5th anniverary of this trip and it just keeps getting better and better....

Love this river....

Iliketoflyfish · April 24, 2012

Thanks for the report. I'm heading there Wednesday for a quick day trip. Looking forward to it.

OKFlyFisher44 · April 24, 2012

A few pics from the trip....

Try to post more later or just check the blog for more pics....

Nortrad · April 24, 2012

A motley crew to be sure... Excellent report and it looks like fairly consistent action. Wonder what stage/bug they were keying on? More research or guidance from another angler on here. Way to go guys.

MikeH · April 24, 2012

Sounds like fun. Were cahills around during that caddis hatch? Because I think I had the same happen during the evening hatch at Baptist yesterday(report soon to come). They ignored everything drifted over them but after switching flies a few hundred times a CDC emerger of mine ended up being the magic fly. So I guess they were taking the cahill emergers just under the surface.

Mike

Gavin · April 24, 2012

Thanks for the reports. Cahills are a definate possible this time of year..the hatch is usually at dusk and it continues into the gloaming. My wife and I are headed down to the Troutbust down at Pinecrest on Friday. Floating Tan Vat or Baptist down to Parker on Saturday if anyone with their own boat wants to help shuttle Saturday AM.

OKFlyFisher44 · April 24, 2012

Yes, the cahills were buzzing around with the caddis on Friday evening. On Saturday evening, I don't really know what they were feeding on. Hoping someone could shed some light on the situation.

stlfisher · April 24, 2012

I have seen that same behavior once up above Tan Vat. Whatever they were eating was so small I could not even see it. I can't shed any light on what exatcly it was. I do know of a few people that fish 30's down there at times...

OKFlyFisher44 · April 24, 2012

Well I threw some #24 griffiths gnat and then some #26 tricos at them, couldn't get an eat. It was tough. I went back to the tan micro caddis and was able to pick up several fish but it was not very consistent.