Current River backpacking

[Orey10m]

Hello,

My two roommates and I are planning a backpacking trip and wanted to be near some water for fishing and what not. I found the "Current River section 1" of the Ozark Trail, miles 0 - 8 and thought it looked perfect, so we're going to go with that. 

This is the area from Powder Mill/Owls Bend down to basically the Rocky Creek area. The OT departs the Current river at Indian Creek and continues on. 

We were thinking we'd park at Powder mill, check out that area and fish on day 1 , then hike down stream and find a gravel bar or a campsite, hopefully around 4-5 miles of hiking. And a few hours of fishing. 

Then on day 2 we'd hike another couple miles down stream to Indian Creek (collect some drinking water), and fish our way back up to where we had made camp the night before. 

Any thoughts on this plan?

It will be primarily smallmouth fishing right? Since we're backpacking it may be easier to bring my fly rod as opposed to a full length spinning rod, but not sure. My roommate also has a fly rod and is more of a beginner   

(I'd love to just bring some poppers and streamers and catch smallies all day with that, but not sure that's realistic for this time of year etc.) So what tackle do you guys suggest we bring for a trip like this?

Should we suck it up and bring spinning rods? I don't have any that break into two pieces, so that's why I see it as a little more of a pain

Thanks for any thoughts!

[Terrierman]

When you say collect drinking water I trust you mean with a sani straw or other appropriate treatment.  Sounds like a neat trip.  Just me here but I'd forego the spinning gear and carry what was comfortable.  Good luck and have fun.

[Orey10m]

Yep that is what I mean..filter the water. Apparently you can collect some at Indian Creek along the trail, then filter it. 

Thanks for the input!

[Gavin]

Sounds like a fun trip...but I'd bring a 2 pc Medium Action Spin Rod. It't pretty big water. A hike up to Rocky Falls would be a good side trip if the fishing is slow.

[jdmidwest]

Fishing pretty slow there from a boat, was there this weekend.  Ran Sunday from Powder Mill to 2 Rivers.  Nice water, lots of runs.  But no bites.

If you have a boat on a trailer, I would not advise the tour of Blue Spring.  The steep grade is pretty rough boarded out, and the steep v at the bottom challenges a 16 foot jet boat on a trailer.

Boat over rode the front going down, settled back down in the right position coming back up.  4x4 on for max control.

[Al Agnew]

Current River in that section is fairly big water, which means you're going to be rather limited in what you can fish by walking the bank or wading.  Doable, but plan to probably be a little frustrated with the fishing...plenty of good looking spots that you just can't wade out close enough to cast to.

[slosh]

 From Stegall mountain to the Current river is probably my favorite section of the OT. Great views on Stegall, rocky falls, klepzig mill, some cool shut ins on rocky creek. Have done the entire trail from the Western Terminus to Onondaga (not all at once). I actually have a section of the OT I maintain. Anyway, on to the fishing and backpacking. This time of year can be really overgrown. I prefer to just wade In  the river and fish and camp on a gravel bar. There’s also a new section of trail from Round Spring thru Echo Bluff State Park and finishes at Current River State Park (about 5ish river miles). Would make a good hike up and float back down. Not  sure if there’s maps yet. I’ve done Echo bluff to Current. That might be better wade fishing. Eleven Point is an option too. There’s also other unmarked trails on the upper Current. Have heard they finished a section connecting the OT to Round Spring but not sure if it’s maintained yet (heard there were issues with logging destroying it).  Be glad to answer any other questions. 

[Orey10m]

Thanks everyone for the info and help. 

Hmm, slosh, your comments are particularly interesting. I'm not much for any sort of bushwhacking or high grass/brush kinda stuff. I guess I'm just used to/spoiled by the AT down in Georgia where I am from...I never felt like I was on unmaintained or "off trail" areas down there. Also I've likely hiked more in the fall, when the trail is well-worn from the summer and/or covered in leaves. 

 

Upper current would be sweet, especially if the fishing would be better, colder water, etc. If you have any more details on that or how I could best look into it I'd like to do so. 

Also what about the Jack's fork?

[slosh]

The Upper Current trails are horse trails. I'm not sure if they're legal.  They are REALLY overgrown this time of year. You can go from Baptist all the way to Akers. I've done it. Google maps should help. Parker to Akers is a lot of old road which you can see from google maps. There are also trails along parts of the river but overgrown now. This is mainly trout water although you can catch an occasional smallie. Fall, Winter and Spring are great times to be on the trail and on a river. Summer....not so much (in my humble opinion). Recommend Cedar Grove to Welch Spring. You can explore the Welch and Medlock Cave (cool spring coming out the side of the hill but you can't go in the cave anymore). The water is wadeable although it's really moving below Welch (doubles the size of the river).  Get out there and explore. That's part of the fun! It's tough to get lost as long as you know where the river is.

I've only floated the upper Jacks and haven't done much exploring. I did camp on a gravel bar and there was a trail that I followed for a couple miles. Ended up going to a cabin so I turned around.

[Orey10m]

Ok cool.  Hmm. Well what if we focused more on Rocky Creek falls and that area... Like hiking from Rocky Creek falls to the Current river and back over the course of two nights.

Would it be worth bringing the fishing rods?

Would there be any smallies in Rocky Creek itself perhaps? Or just panfish/sunfish