Current 9-15-9/17

[Gavin]

Fun time on the Current this weekend! I met two of the usual suspects at Tan Vat on Saturday AM. Both reported great fishing early Saturday. They were the first to arrive but the lot had 5-6 vehicles in it when I arrived at 10am. We loaded up gear for five, and pushed off. We were all interested to see how my friend’s new cedar strip canoe was going to perform. He’d been working on it since February and this was its maiden voyage on the Current. We had a rainy float, loaded boats, and super low water to contend with. Not many people out below Tan Vat. There were 2-3 guys out between Tan Vat and Baptist, Two guys fishing on the boat ramp at Baptist, but no anglers on the river below Baptist. One canoe came through with a couple from Chicago but that was it for the weekend. They weren’t well prepared and poor canoeists. They asked if we had an extra poncho because they only had one rain jacket. We didn’t have one. Bet they had a miserable trip. We caught several fish on the float in...And finally found a spot with some firewood. All the usual gravel bar spots were picked over. We set camp with a small tarp by our landing plus a bigger one up the hill in. It was raining buckets at 5:30 pm…so we enjoyed the river view under our tarp, and took turns catching stocker sized trout and the occasional smallmouth. Curry Shrimp pot pies for dinner Second one out of camp on Sunday AM. Fishing was good. I covered about two miles of water with some decent numbers and a couple nice fish before breakfast at 10am. We putzed around camp and stuffed our bellies with brisket & ribs before suiting up for evening fishing. We didn’t get much in fishing in. We saw no risers and fishing just wasn’t on. Plus some friends from Minnesota hiked in earlier than expected. They soaked with sweat and eager for a beverage; so we had and early cocktail hour then steaks, mashed sweet potatoes for dinner followed by pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. I was the first one out of camp on Monday AM. I only fished till 8:30 or so, but very good fishing, good numbers and one worthy of a picture. The male browns are starting to color up. Fried smoked pork loin, egg, cheese, on an English muffin sandwiches for breakfast…then we packed up, loaded and hit the water by 10:30 am. We were dragging a lot more with the weight of two extra bodies. It would have been a lot of work if we were in a hurry, but we took our time and shot the breeze most of the way down to Parker. Fishing was slow…but we managed to get our guests into a few fish before hauling out at Parker around 4:30pm. Made it home in time to unpack all my wet stuff and hit the rack at 9pm.

[Justin Spencer]

Nice looking fish!

Why build it if you ain't gonna use it right? Probably a little painful dragging that beauty through the rocks though.

[Greasy B]

Beautiful boat, the strip canoe wears it's scratches like badges of honor.

[ness]

In that last photo, is that a reflection I see or something worse? Talking about the side of the boat facing up.

[Gavin]

Thanks Gents..That appears to be a reflection Ness because the damage to Jr.'s boat was just cosmetic...It had 5 coats of spar over the glass and epoxy..and spar doesnt like gravel. He's looking into some kind of graphite epoxy coating...and if that doesnt work. He's gonna float it to splinters anyway.

[BruteFish83]

Sounds like some fine riverside dining and a great trip!