Fishing Report May 19-21

[hfdhoosier]

A buddy and I were lucky enough to get away Friday through monday and fished the park. It was the first time he had ever used a flyrod. I coached him a little and after the first day he had the casting mastered to the point he could get the fly out to where the fish were. The second day he worked on presentation. He had 5 fish on during the day but they either came unhooked or broke him off. Finally in the last hour of fishing he hooked one and got it in, folled by 3 more which limited him out. I caught lots of fish all days but fishing was rough at times. Caught fish on cracklebacks (mainly stripping, not on dry float), zebra midge, pheasant tail nymph, copper john in red, and glow balls in orange, light orange, yellow and red. Unfortunately the glow balls were the most reliable out of them all. I had more luck with Maxima 2 lb tippet than 3 lb. my buddy caught all his fish on a size 18 zebra midge(black with white rib and gold bead head). Traditional flies seemed to work best in the evening while glow balls worked best in the morning and day. I will be back at Montauk Thurs-Sun after Memorial day, if anyone wants to get together. i will be staying at Eagles Park in slip 2.

I have tried to attach a picture of Ty with his first 4 fish on a fly rod, this is my second post. These fish were ate the same night. Delicious!

HFDHOOSIER

[SilverMallard]

Were y'all the 2 guys in the pop-up @ Eagles Park Sun/Mon?

[hfdhoosier]

Yes we were at Eagles Park in the pop-up. I like the seclusion of Eagles Park compared to the state park. I usually fish the trophy waters but it was Ty's first time with a fly rod. Was you there and where at?

[Snow Fly]

hfd:

Did Ty fall in or is he a deep wader?

[hfdhoosier]

Deep wader, also both of us are too short. There was a nice hole up from the huge rock in the fly area that had about 50 fish in it and those trout lured us both into deep water to get a good angle to drift flies to them.

Im just glad that there isn't any holes with trout in them that are over my head because then I would need room for a snorkel in my vest.

Neither one of us floated our hat on this trip, couple close calls. The river is up from last year and some of the holes are a tad bit deeper.

HFDHOOSIER

[SilverMallard]

I was the guy with the Weimaraner in Eagles Park Sun-Mon. Actually, I just left there today. We were the only ones there, so you should be able to figure out which one was me. LOL

I've never been down there before. I didn't fish the park. I fished the blue ribbon water from about 1/4 mi upstream of Tan Vat down to Baptist Access. I was very impressed with the river. We caught enough big trout that my right arm is a bit sore, and that doesn't happen from casting...especially not the short casts on that part of the river. Those trout were down-right ornery! Best fighting trout I've ever caught in MO. The first couple broke me off until I figured out I should try using 3X instead of 5X. It didn't seem to bother the fish. I think I caught 30 trout on Monday alone. The smallest were a couple that went about 14". The biggest was pushing 20". I had a Brown on 5X that was over 20" I know, but he wrapped me around a submerged branch and that was that. That's when I got smart and went to 3X. A lot of the fish were nestled up in the deadfall along the banks. And horsing them out of there was the order of the day. I think that's why my arm is tender.

Like you, I don't care much for state park campgrounds and such unless it is off-season and they're almost empty. And Eagles Park is only $6/night for a tent. And they even had hot water in the bath house! But most importantly, I fell asleep to the sounds of the Whipper Wills and the Hoot Owl and awoke to the sound of that gobbler talking to his girlfriends instead of the sound of screaming kids and vehicles moving around.

Upstream from Tan Vat, I ran into 4 other anglers...2 couples. Between Baptist and Tan Vat, I never saw or heard another soul. That's pretty awesome too! FYI, the 2nd couple I ran into looked to be in their 40s. They were very nice and polite. He had on a panama hat and they appeared to know what they were doing with a fly rod. But they both were toting streamers with illegal fish on them! He had a 24" Brown and 2 Rainbows under 18". She had a Rainbow that was probably 16-17", but certainly not 18". Some folks just think they're entitled to things the rest of us aren't, I guess. I doubt they were both illiterate. There's no cell signal down there, so I couldn't call them in. I said to him, "Wow! That's a nice Brown." He thanked me and I said, "So what are those other two for?" He just laughed and walked away. Then she came around the bend with her fish. She said what a pretty dog my Weim is and I just thanked her and let it pass. I watched them leave about 30 minutes later. They were parked right smack dab in front of the blue ribbon sign in the Tan Vat parking lot.

[hfdhoosier]

SilverMallard:

I could not remember if we were the only ones there Mon. morning or not, I knew when we were packing up it was just us. You have a beautiful dog. I guess by what you wrote, you take your dog fishing with you. Its a big dog too, so if you get tired, saddle it up and ride out HaHa Just kidding. Ive got two horses and sometimes wish I had them along when I get tired of fighting the current walking. sounds like you did real well fishing. If you don't mind can I ask you what flies you had the luck with? I can believe the illegal fish poachers, I have witnessed it also in the trophy waters. I am with you, most of them probably know the rules but dont care. They hopefully will get caught eventually. I like Eagles Park because Debbie and Dave will keep an eye out on your campsite while you are out fishing. They are good people. They also won't tolerate the loud late night partiers. Next time maybe we can hook up and do some fishing, I do alright in the park but sometimes struggle outside the park. I fished 32 days last year at montauk, I am a Paramedic for the Fire Dept. and have a great work schedule with alot of time off.

HFDHOOSIER

[SilverMallard]

I gathered from overheard campfire conversation that one of you at least was a fireman...I heard "at a fire" and "2 on/2 off."

He's a great dog and he rarely interferes. He mostly tags along behind out of casting range and sniff around on the bank. When I land a fish he comes over to check it out. And when I cross the stream he crosses behind me most of the time. Occassionally, he'll get ahead of me. But it's pretty rare. And he's very well-mannered around people and other dogs. He used to be one of my guide dogs. So he's an old pro and comes from very good stock.

Flies? Hmmmm...I caught fish on three things: a beadhead prince nymph, a rainbow glo-ball, and a hot pink 1/100th micro-jig I tie on a bright orange head. I had by far the most luck with the latter micro-jig...drifting it along big logs and boulders near the banks. I pulled over 10 fish off of one big deadfall, hooked that big brown on the prince nymph at a huge deadfall, and pulled another 6 off of 1 other deadfall. Most everyplace else, once I caught 1-2 fish I had to move on because they would stop biting. This is fairly typical of wild trout. Not so much of hatchery raised park fish.

I am retired. I fish almost exclusively on weekdays, and when I go to the Current I will camp for a day or two because it's a 2 hour drive and the freaking gas prices are too high to spend a tank of gas for a few hours of fishing. Much cheaper to pay the $6 tent fee.

And...yes...I liked the security and convenience of that campground. Not to mention it is in a very pretty spot. It's not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't care about that. I want quiet, safe, and preferably almost empty.

[Leitsout]

Hey fellas, where exactly is Eagle Park? It sounds like a place i might want to visit. I probably have driven past it a hundred times.

[SilverMallard]

It is literally right across the county road from the Tan Vat access. There's a blue metal building on your left that used to be the General Store. It's for sale. There's a real estate sign out by the road. You cannot miss it if you're going in/out of Tan Vat.

In case you don't know where Tan Vat is, just drive on the main drag all the way through Montauk SP. The road turns into gravel. Keep going. It's 1.5 mi from the lodge at Montauk. The road is rough in spots. Go slow. It's also quite narrow. Tan Vat and Eagles Park are located on the SW corner of the state park about 1/2 mi downstream from the border of the park.