First time fishing the current

[Johnsfolly]

I just love catching brown trout. So visited the upper Current often. I now go all over catching natives.

[bkbying89]

13 hours ago, Jacob McIntosh said:

I'm kinda opposite I do trout fish and enjoy it but I always find it wierd people fish these rivers for trout as they aren't native 

Trout especially the Rainbow and Browns aren't native to a lot of areas around the US. They were introduced in a lot of Missouri streams way back when Like on Crane Creek and have done well and reproduce so for many of us they are just as good as native but for the amount of pressure they receive. What I find strange is that for all the years I fished Montauk I never thought to fish below the park. I fished the Current for Smallmouth below Akers Ferry down to Big Springs. And then around Two Rivers. Caught My first Walleye below Two Rivers. Now I fish for trout almost exclusively but want to get back into Smallies on a more regular basis.

 

Bill

[Born to Fish]

The large influence of relatively cold water from springs, especially on the upper Current, reduces the numbers of native, sport species.  The relatively constant 58 degree water temperature, makes it hard for our native, sport species to successfully spawn and survive in these spring reaches.

[Johnsfolly]

2 hours ago, bkbying89 said:

What I find strange is that for all the years I fished Montauk I never thought to fish below the park.

Bill

Bill - I was the opposite. I went for years fishing in what is now the blue ribbon trophy section and did not ever fish the trout park. I can count on my one hand how many times I have actually fished upstream from Tan Vat. Most of that was due to being cheap. No reason to buy a day permit when I had the annual trout stamp. The other was due to targeting the brown trout. I wanted to be away from people and fish big aggressive baits. I wasn't looking to catch rainbows drifting down from the park. Based upon my records, I would fish the Current four to six times per year and I have caught 320 trout in the blue ribbon section of the Current in 14 years (not a great percentage). Only 32 of those trout were rainbows and 288 were brown trout.

[ozark trout fisher]

20 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

I have always thought of the Current as a trout stream. I fished it for well over a decade before I ever fished below Cedar grove. Still hard to wrap my head around thinking of the Current as a big river with more traditional river species. 

I was basically the same until last summer, and I can confirm it's a little weird after you're used to fishing it at Baptist Camp or Parker Hollow. Might as well be a totally different body of water. It's still clear, cool, and really pretty though. And while the jet boat traffic can be occasionally annoying, the number of canoes are pretty low once you get a ways below Big Spring, so you can sometimes have a surprising amount of water to yourself.

I had an obscure little access at the end of a  gravel road on a long, deep bluff-hole that I would usually use. Generally not having a shuttle, I'd paddle up to the top of the pool, fish my way down, and repeat. There was enough good water just in that one hole that I could do the drift 3-4 times (a couple hours of fishing) before I'd get bored/I'd notice a downtick in the amount of action I was getting.

 

[bkbying89]

On 7/31/2018 at 1:08 PM, Johnsfolly said:

Bill - I was the opposite. I went for years fishing in what is now the blue ribbon trophy section and did not ever fish the trout park. I can count on my one hand how many times I have actually fished upstream from Tan Vat. Most of that was due to being cheap. No reason to buy a day permit when I had the annual trout stamp. The other was due to targeting the brown trout. I wanted to be away from people and fish big aggressive baits. I wasn't looking to catch rainbows drifting down from the park. Based upon my records, I would fish the Current four to six times per year and I have caught 320 trout in the blue ribbon section of the Current in 14 years (not a great percentage). Only 32 of those trout were rainbows and 288 were brown trout.

I think part of the reason I stayed in the park was it was easy pickings and I was usually with someone I wanted to catch fish. I was more of a warm water small pond fisherman and streams were a  different world. Later on, I bought a canoe and got hooked on Smallmouth but had stopped fishing for trout. I now belong to a group and we often fish the trout streams in and out of the parks. I like the small wild trout streams but don't fish them as often as I would like.

 

Bill

[Johnsfolly]

41 minutes ago, bkbying89 said:

I like the small wild trout streams but don't fish them as often as I would like.

Bill

You know that I do as well !

[Jacob McIntosh]

Thanks for the help you guys talking to people on here and some other people that I know we decided to put in it Doniphan and run down river thanks for everything