A Weekend On The River

[ozark trout fisher]

A report from a weekend on the Blue Ribbon section:

Got to the river around noon on Saturday. Set up camp in our usual spot along the Blue ribbon section of the Current and got to work. The fly was, as usual, an egg pattern, tri-colored to start. When we arrived, it was bright sunny, and the water quite clear. Not perfect conditions, but we were able to find a few willing fish nonetheless. We were in the lower part of the Blue Ribbon section, and the catch tends to alternate between mostly brown and mostly rainbow depending on the time of year or some other factors that I fail to have an understanding of. This trip, it was mostly browns, with the odd stocking sized rainbow mixed in. Either way, it was a beautiful early spring afternoon and the (relatively) few fish we caught were enough.

Evening brought a nice mayfly hatch. Don't ask me what the heck the insect was, because I don't know (and don't really care.) An Ausable Wulff (#14) was plenty good enough, even though the bugs were tiny. Trout are not inherently smart creatures, and I avoid "matching the hatch" at pretty much all costs. It isn't necessary 95% of the time.

That mini-rant aside, the fishing was a bit slow this morning. Egg patterns did a decent job, though. When the fishing is slow on the Current, I have a couple of trusty riffles that almost always have a couple of willing trout waiting for me. I visited one of those and picked off a few rainbows to make myself feel satisfied about the morning's fishing. Then it was off to home and infinitely less enjoyable things.

No pictures, I apologize. I fish the same general area and catch the same type of fish over and over again, so the urge to document that every single time gets pretty minimal.

One final note: people that drive ATVs across the river in the middle of the night can begin to get a bit annoying. even beyond the obvious and serious damage they are causing. Also applies to some genius in a big pickup truck who took it upon himself to shine a spotlight on our camp in the middle of the night, and give us a good rebel yell for no apparent reason.

There are some people who are just bad at life, but hey, they keep fishing trips from becoming boring.

[Don]

Good report. Yeah, the lights at night and all that... never ceases to amaze me. LOL Question is...How come the vehicle that always arrives the latest, approx. 130 AM, is always a loud diesel pickup truck? never fails. LOL

We are staying at Jadwin for 4 nights in early May. We will float one day and probably fish Montauk one day just to gather enough for a fish fry. Love that Current River.

[ozark trout fisher]

Yeah, it's awfully funny how that works. ATVS were literally crossing the river until 2AM (maybe later, but I was sound enough asleep by that point I didn't hear them or care.) The obvious question is what the heck someone is doing on an ATV that time of night, one can only suppose it ain't anything good. I somehow doubt they are searching for a good spot to night-fish for browns.

Still a good weekend. There will be annoying people wherever you go, I find. Met several nice folks on the river fishing too, so I guess it kinda evens out in the end.

Turns out the guy I was there with got some pictures after all, so I'll post a few whenever I get recieve them.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Ozark TF - where was all this late night ATV river crossing happening? At Parker? Or up near Derry Berry hole? Did you report it to the park rangers?

Spotlighting your tent goes a little above and beyond the usual midnight ATV jackasses. It almost sounds like some locals giving retribution for the whole ONSR bickering thats been going on.

[ozark trout fisher]

Ozark TF - where was all this late night ATV river crossing happening? At Parker? Or up near Derry Berry hole? Did you report it to the park rangers?

Spotlighting your tent goes a little above and beyond the usual midnight ATV jackasses. It almost sounds like some locals giving retribution for the whole ONSR bickering thats been going on.

It was at Parker. The truth of the matter is, I did not report it to the NPS, though I should have. Why? Well, it literally happens everytime I camp there. I guess I've become so used to it that it feels like simply a matter of course. And quite frankly, I assumed it was illegal, but wasn't 100% sure. But all of that was not an excuse for not doing anything to stop it, and I'll own that.

Your second point: yeah, that thought crossed my mind, and it's something hard not to think a lot about every trip to the Current. Never quite had that happen before, though I cannot say it was terribly surprising. I can't say I felt at all threatened, but perhaps I should have.

[ColdWaterFshr]

That ford at Parker is probably deemed a legal crossing point, along with several others. My problem with stream crossings is when it becomes a joyriding activity, but the yocals scream and holler defending that it is for agricultural or functional transportation purposes. But there is no functional or logistical reason to cross at Parker that I can determine, other than for pure 4-wheeling redneck satisfaction. And I'm sure its great fun, but were I to witness a serious injury or the sinking destruction of a prized motorized possession by some yahoo at 2 a.m. . . . don't pass me any tissues, I would shed no tear. Hoosiers behaving badly? I actually have much deeper regard for the watercress.