Fished 8/5-8/6

[jdmidwest]

Drove up and camped Saturday night with some friends and fished below Baptist access on Sat afternoon. Pretty slow, only fished for a couple of hours. River was low and full of swimmers at the access. They had the stream muddied up somehow.

I awoke before the horn on Sun, drank my coffee, showered, relaxed and started fishing at 8. I started in the C&R for the first hour and caught a few. Not much to it since you can reach across it with your arm, the fish all pile up.

My first encounter with another fisherman was the hole below the spring hole. It was a father/son spinfishing combo standing in the head of the hole drifting down stream. I started well below them and watched for a while. Dad would replenish the bait on the hook from a little jar in his vest. When dad would stick a fish, he would hand the rod to his son to reel it in. Seems like dad already had 4 fish so he was done. He filled his sons stringer and they were done. At least they did not keep too many fish. For those that have not caught on, I was in the Flies only area! Funny thing that really torqued me was when son asked why it was fly fishing only, Joe the flyfisher had only caught one during this time, and he could not understand why I was fly fishing. Dad replyed that he could not figure out why the area was for flyfishers either and they went on their way probably to change clothes and catch another limit somewhere else.

Meanwhile, downstream on the bluff, "guy who forgot his waders" was fishing the bluff side and hollering at his buddy across the stream the whole time. Another group with a dog and 3 kids was wading upstream from the hole below. As the hole cleared out leaving only "guy who forget his waders" on the bank, I worked my way down. He spotted me and tromped up the opposite bank to fish in front of me. As this seemed to turn fish off, I moved further down stream. Here he come and started to cast his plastic jig in front of me. His other nickname was "too stupid to land a fish?, as he broke off a couple while I fished the hole. Me being of higher intellect, I remember that I can fish other holes and I dropped down to the next hole where he would have to get wet. I fished it for a while and was doing well. A teenage kid came to fish there and broke off a fish. He was "guy who forget his waders" kid and he returned with his dad to try to catch the fish that had his lure in its mouth. They decorated another fish before we bumped elbows and I went down stream.

The crowds all left and most of the idiots, leaving a stream full of good sized fish. I had a very good day on Sat landing around 40 fish and 5 in the 16-18 inch range.

Monday was better, the first hole I rolled into was dimpled with rising trout. I spotted some small light colored flies floating in the seam of feeding trout and tied on a CDC Cahill size 18. It worked well and I played around the hole for a while. I worked up to the next hole and was trying to work my way around a guy fishing from the bank when he motioned me in front of him. He was so excited to tell me he had released a 5 lb fish before I got there. He was spinfishing with a purple and red plastic grub. He was the only violater that I run across on Monday, but I did not see too many people. I had the fly area to myself for the most part and had a ball. Most of the fish were on drys, beetles, coachmans, and other flys that had not been out of the box for a while. None of the circus that is a part of the weekends.

Monday afternoon, I had an opportunity to fish a bamboo rod I picked up on Ebay. It is a Horrocks Ibbotson Governor series 8.5 ft 3pc. It was mint when I got it except a broken tip on the spare section. A friend of mine cautioned me that it may fly apart if it was not well taken care of. I started out with a 5wt line in the C&R area with a beetle pattern. I got into the rhythm of the rods and stated laying out a good cast. I released a 16" and 15" rainbow and a 18" brown with it along with a few smaller bows. Not a creak out of the rod and I am in love. Gotta have some more bamboo. Looking for some old Heddon or Herters. I may get a new Orvis.

All in all, sure beat working a Monday stress day. I just wish the MDC would make it harder on the violaters. One generation just passes it along to the next and my kid will have to deal with them later.

[Thom]

Great report JD. what kind of boat was you floating in and where did you take out or were you wading all of the way? I have fished some of that area but not that far down. Sounds like lots of fun.

I was doing real good just out of the park on one trip and a couple came to the hole with a big retreaver and proceded to throw a stick towards where I was fishing and having the dog retrieve it.

Some folks just don't get it.

[jdmidwest]

I waded this trip. I have seen people float thru the park. One time they put in at the handicap access, another time was the lowater bridge. Park officials got pretty excited about it.

[flyfshn]

Sounds like you had a nice time, but too bad there were violators! Not sure if/how this would work, but maybe we could start a violators thread where all of us could post when/where we ran into a violator and notify MDC that we are starting it so they could read and maybe find patterns? Was just thinking outloud....maybe it happens in so many locations it would not help or MDC may just laugh?? Just thought I would throw it out there for discussion.

[jdmidwest]

I used to take descriptions and walk back to the hatchery and wait for an agent to show up. I have a low tolerance to blatant game violations, they are stealing from me and you and they just put me in a bad mood. There are times it is not worth the hassle like Sunday. Most of the time a glare or some extra attention on my part usually gets them to move along or revert to legal methods. Verbal confrontation is usually bad, I will say something if someone appears to not know the area regs and have been thanked for it. I fished the lower part of Bennett Springs with a fly not realizing that there was a bait required area till someone pointed it out. And if you have ever fished the park at the horn, I am sure everyone can remember some newbie walking up and starting to fish while everyone is half cocked waiting for the horn. If there was an agent fishing thru the fly area every Sat or Sunday, they could have a good revenue and stop some of the crap. And we would probably have more trout in the long run. But, they are probably looking for titties and beer violations on the lower Current, Meramec, Niagua, Huzzah, or other NPS rivers. With their powers, they can go anywhere and have better powers of search and seizure than most local law enforcement or Highway Patrolman. They get diverted to other jobs other than game violations. This time of year, they should be concentrating on fishing violations as hunting is still to come barring the spotlighters.

[NoLuck]

Hey guys,

If I reported every single violator I see I wouldn't get much fishin done.I often wonder if the people really know what is right for where they are fishing. Other times its obvious that they know but are going to do what they want without anyone telling them different. Game wardens have a tuff job and one I don't even want. I would rather be a city cop. That being said, I'm glad they are out there trying to protect our resources.

[flyfshn]

I agree with you NoLuck, but I am also concerned that some day our fish population will dwindle.

[brownieman]

FF,

someday is here my friend far as fish populations...the decrease is obvious.

far as what you're talking with the MDC agents and DNR rangers...imo a good laugh is what it would be.

imo the quality of enforcement at montauk is shawdy to say the least...only time they concentrate on the parks is opening day when there are easy pickins...beyond that you see very little presence...the air conditioned trucks/offices take presidence in this kind of weather.

JD,

it is sad but you might as well get used to it...too many just have that type mindset and are passing it on. Seems to be a lack of respect going around these days.

IMO best thing one can do is write letters to the DNR about the lack of enforcement you have seen or the MDC depending on where you have seen what...probably gets filed in the old round file cabinet but there's not much else one can do unless you know or have some yank with some 'big cheese' within these departments.

JMHO...just don't know what else can be done. It's sad to say the least.

[flyfshn]

maybe we should all start carrying our .357's like Thom and scare them off the water!! just kidding