But Sometimes It Is

[joeD]

I believe the quality of trout fishing on the Current River between the park and Cedar Grove is declining at an accelerating, and quite alarming, rate. I think this is due to the constant, and increasing, fishing pressure, coupled with the historic low water conditions.

What's funny, and ironic in the extreme, is that we have created this situation ourselves, at least the human part. I mean, we, as fishermen, have been exhorting the public with our battle cries of bringing awareness to our great sport ("take a kid fishing" for god's sake, pat yourself on the back and perpetuate our beloved sport!).

Guess what? People are fishing. They are fishing where "we" fish. And the results aren't pretty. Bless our governmental agencies. They are doing a great and thankless job. But they can only do so much.

Look at this forum. How many anglers (and their friends) have been turned on to the miracle miles of the Current between ...you know. And therefore see how many of your (our) angling days have turned out, ah, less than expected. Mediocre. Or worse.

Yes, I get it. It's great to get out. Nature and everything. Not work. But seriously, don't you want to catch fish? Look at all the money you have spent on rods and reels and lines and lures and flies and vises and nippers and hemos and jerkbaits and vests and waders and sunglasses and gas. Let's not forget gas. Nor should we forget the contortions we go through to get the TIME to go fishing. With work. With wives. Girlfriends. Boyfriends. Whatever.

And then we get to the Current. Low water. Generally, quite a few people where you want to fish. Limited success. If that. (Yes, I know the occasional big fish is caught. But that is the exception, not the rule).

You happy with that?

The Current River in the "main" trout areas is being loved to death.

(Again and again and again: "Joe I'm happy just to get out and fish. Catching one is icing on the cake. You don't get it. Settle down and enjoy life!)

Nah. I wanna catch fish. Lots. And big.

Is the Current done for awhile?

[fishinwrench]

I gotta say that I'm with ya, both in attitude and in theory.

A couple buddies and I spent a long day on the "best stretch" after not being on the Current for 2 years and alot has changed. Lots of sand/silt, and water so slow that leaves covered the bottom even near the riffles.

The few fish holding spots that remain are well known and apparently pounded daily.

Probably nothing that a good flood/flush wouldn't fix, bit still I'm in no hurry to get back until after it gets one.

I'm not talking smack on the Current but there's no denying that it's fishing rather paltry right now.

I can "experience nature" minus fish just about anywhere....and ride a bike to get there.

[Gavin]

I've been fishing there for over 30 years....and often since I moved back to Missouri in 1992. The fishing has always been cyclical. We've had two low water years in a row and the fishing has gone downhill, IMO. Its still better than it was back in the 3 fish over 15" limit minnows legal days, but I think were gonna have to lower our expectations until we get a couple years of good flow in that creek. I'd like to see what the biologist have to say, but the numbers and size structure seems to be down from what it was two years ago.

[Smalliebigs]

I agree with what Joe said100%........my wife and I floated every year four 4 days on our aniversary 09/27 since 1999 and the last two we actually saw people and we didn't catch any fish bigger than 20 inches. I also am constantly looking for fish the whole time I float and always see several pretty big browns.....this year didn't see one big trout.....kinda weird

I agree with Joe!!!!! as we left the ramp at Baptist this year one day, there were 6 other canoes each carrying a man and woman couple who looked like they had just been told what to order from the Orvis catalog and they listened . It seemed like only one of them could actually do anything other than a roll cast and all twelve stood in the river just down from the ramp like it was the park and looked confused as my wife and I paddled thru them???? very peculiar

they caught up to us at Schaeffer Spring and were wanting to know if we had any food as they were very hungry and how much further it was to Cedargrove.....I couldn't let a group like that get in front of me as I knew the fishing would be fucked by their paddles slapping the water and canoes hitting every rock.....it was just something I had never experienced on the Current but, I only fish it from September to March.

[Justin Spencer]

From a habitat standpoint these frequent floods have weakened the shoreline even where there was good cover, the big swings in the weather we have been having will do nothing but hurt the river fishing and destroy habitat when we have the 100 year floods every 5 years. Floods followed by drought only make things tougher, but like Gavin said the most river fishing is cyclical (much like turkey and pheasant numbers).

Hit the tailwaters and parks if you really want to catch big numbers of fish. Get farther from the major metropolitan areas if you want solitude. The days of catching lots of big fish in total solitude are few and far between, decide what you want out of a trip before you plan it, but it seems pretty hypocritical to complain about the people that are doing the exact same thing you are doing.

Nah. I wanna catch fish. Lots. And big.

Me too, but the only way to ensure that is to go to someplace like Rockbridge.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Drought hurts that river bad. And flood? . . .I haven't checked, but probably have to go back 2 years or more since the gauge on it has been over 2.5, a very minor flush, IMO.

And was is it on here somewhere recently that I read they were cleaning out a septic at Montauk and flushing the crap right into the river?

[Gavin]

Think April of 2011 was the last big flood....one before that was in 2008.

[Al Agnew]

We were complaining about all the big browns moving up into the cooler water in the park during all the hot weather, and being cleaned out by the meat fishermen up there. Low water hurts, clear water hurts, warm water kills. Fishing pressure kills, too.

I didn't talk about it much at the time, but two or three years ago when we had a lot of high water, especially in the autumn, the big brown fishing in the Current was phenomenal. LOTS of big fish taking big streamers. It was amazing to me that there were that many huge fish in there. Well, those fish are mostly gone now.

Sometimes it takes several years of relatively poor fishing to make all the nimrods go somewhere easier, and then a couple years of recovery when the conditions are a lot better and the nimrods are gone.

[ozark trout fisher]

I don't know. The fishing is tough this year on the Current for sure (especially after the terrible conditions over the summer), but honestly it had been very good the past couple of years in my opinion. I don't think it's time to worry too much yet because the fishing has let up. I think it might be mostly due to weather (lack of rain, low water.) But who knows for sure.

It's still plenty of fun to fish, though I'll admit I haven't been on it near as much as usual to get a great feel for things. Just more of a challenge. By all accounts, there seems to still be some good ones too...not that I've had much luck actually catching them, but we'll not blame that on the river.

[stlfisher]

I saw some nice browns last weekend...they were not were you would excpect them to be. The fish were spooky as well..taking off like wild fish would when you got to close. One thing to remember if you are looking for Rainbows this time of year...those numbers are always down in the winter....Montauk is not stocking much.

We do need rain and bad....the last flood really filled in some of the nice holes and there aren't many great hiding spot's left on the upper stretch in the low water. Pressure is definately a problem...it has been crowded everytime I have been down this year.

They have to change the Brown Trout regulations to prevent them from being harvested in the bait water during the summer...it is mind boggling they don't do anything about it...what a waste. A 15 inch brown is a baby...