Ideal River Level Conditions?

[SIUCUB]

I have a trip scheduled for early June. Plan to start and Baptist and float/camp down to Pulltite. Do I have to worry about water levels from Baptist to Cedar Grove? Are there any good sandbars to camp First time float camping. Cant wait!

[SIUCUB]

Any general advice? I've heard good spots are tough to come by from Baptist to Cedar.

[ozark trout fisher]

It's a spring creek, so water levels are as constant as it gets anywhere. I don't know if it's high water or low water you're concerned about, but that stretch is always floatable except in extreme drought conditions...but some dragging certainly be involved. And if the river is too high to be fairly safe to float and fish, the NPS will have probably closed it, so there's no real point in me giving you a CFS range where it's too high... In other words, river levels aren't nearly as big of a concern there as just about any other stream you'll want to float just about anywhere. Still, you've always got to be aware of the possibility of flash floods, especially if there's rain in the forecast.

As for gravel/sandbars to camp on-there is an abundance of places to camp all through that stretch of the upper Current. That shouldn't be an issue.

One final thing, because this is the Current River and I'd be remiss not to mention it...I hope you are planning your trip during the week. Now if you have to go down on the weekend, you can certainly still have a really good time and catch plenty of fish, especially in the mornings and evenings when the crowds aren't so bad. But on a June weekend, it will not be the sort of quiet, tranquil environment you likely want... and that might be the understatement of the year. If you must float on a weekend, at least try to get a nice early start so you'll have some time to yourself in the morning before things get crazy. Luckily by the time you'll want to sit back and relax in camp, (and probably do some evening fishing) things will be pretty well settled down. And as for the fishing, basically you're going to be trout fishing for the first 15 miles from Baptist to Akers (the best water is the Blue Ribbon section above Cedar Grove, but it's all reasonably good above Akers.) You might as well enjoy the scenery the rest of the way down from Akers to Pulltite, because all you're going to catch there is the occasional stray trout or smallmouth.

Good luck, and once you float-camp the first time you'll want to do it again right away. That I can pretty much guarantee!

[Gavin]

It's always floatable...but you will do some dragging above Welch Spring if the Akers guage is below 1.5'..Plenty of nice spots to camp between Baptist and Cedargrove...but its hard to find a secluded spot between Cedargrove and Akers.The stretch between the Flying W and Medlock Cave is particularly bad for drive in traffic and river doofusses. Akers to Pulltite is a pretty stretch but the fishing stinks. Cave Spring is the highlight of the Akers to Pulltite stretch and make sure you walk up the creek to Pulltite Spring at the end of your float. Its across the river from Group Site 2 near the end of the Pulltite Campground. Have fun!

[3wt]

Remember to focus your fishing on the Baptist to Cedar stretch. And there are lots of gravel bars there. I would also say that the real crowds don't happen until you get to Cedar, and even then very few are campers, just day floaters, so you should be able to have some serenity in the evenings.

Be aware that when it gets lots of rain and the ground is saturated you can get a quick blowout, so pay attention to weather.com and the usgs guages before you head off. Most would say if it stays below 2' at the montauk guage it's fishable and quite floatable.

[SIUCUB]

thanks for the great tips