A Change in Plans

[WestCentralFisher]

For the better part of 20 years, my dad and I have been planning to float and fish a certain famous trout river in southern Missouri, and it just hasn't worked out each time for various reasons. This was going to be the year. We planned a multi-day float trip in minute detail, made the arrangements, and while weather forecasts and water flow weren't perfect, they seemed just good enough that it wasn't totally reckless to proceed. Yesterday, I packed all my gear, got in the car, and started the long drive down. I said to myself, this is finally going to happen.

And then the phone rang. It was my Dad. A doctor's appointment he badly needed for an ongoing knee issue unexpectedly became available on Friday morning, right in the middle of the trip. A small, selfish part of me wanted to be annoyed, but no. It was the sort of thing that can possibly keep him as my fishing buddy a lot longer. You don't pass on that. He was sick about it, though.

I quickly suggested we cancel the float, but not the trip. There is a little campground on a little creek that has some trout in it only an hour and a half away. If we went there instead, we could fish to our heart's content for a couple days, he could go back for his appointment, and then he could rejoin me at camp after he was done for another day of fishing and/or camp sitting. A bit hectic, but he was relieved I didn't want to cancel. For various reasons we both really needed to go fishing.

In truth, it was hard to be upset. This creek is an old friend, and while I didn't know how it would fish in July, I was eager to spend a few days on it. The worst that could happen is a bad skunk in a pretty, familiar place. It would take a lot more than that to upset me more than momentarily.

And the creek greeted me like the old friend it was. My second cast with a little Panther Martin spinner yielded the first trout. About 10 minutes later, I caught the first good one. One thing I quickly remembered is that while smallmouth are probably the hardest fighting fish in the Ozarks, no fish makes all hell break loss faster than any wild rainbow trout over about 5 inches.

A half dozen acrobatic jumps and close calls later, I brought an 11 inch rainbow to hand. I swear, the wild ones might as well just be a different species. A 2 pounder at Montauk wouldn't put up the same fight.

I can say that with some authority, because this morning, after catching a few more pre-breakfast wild rainbows, we made our way to the Current River valley. We caught a few much larger, much paler fish with ease at Montauk, then went down to the blue ribbon area. I always joke that the best way to catch trout on a spinning rod down there is to just pretend they're smallmouth bass. Just cast a Rebel Craw to all the usual haunts and you'll hook fish. Today was no different, though losing the best one right the net did cast a pall. I am pretty sure an errant stroke with the net actually popped the lure out, which didn't help. 

But that's OK, because the universe got me back this evening on the little creek near camp. After a slow evening, I finally hooked a real good one, by which I mean a real, honest to goodness footlong wild rainbow. After a chaotic fight, I netted this one successfully. The hook of the spinner popped out, but this time the fish was inside the net. It feels like a very important distinction, though since both fish would have been released anyway, it's probably fair to ask why.

Now I'm sitting around camp by myself, until my dad returns tomorrow afternoon. In the morning, I may just  fish the creek, or go explore in the national forest. It's hard to say, but I'm absolutely certain I'm glad we didn't cancel the trip.

[WestCentralFisher]

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[ColdWaterFshr]

Good for you.  And way to look after your dad and do what’s right by him.  I’m sure he was disappointed you couldn’t do the bigger trip you had planned.  There will be other times.  

[WestCentralFisher]

2 hours ago, ColdWaterFshr said:

Good for you.  And way to look after your dad and do what’s right by him.  I’m sure he was disappointed you couldn’t do the bigger trip you had planned.  There will be other times.  

Thanks. We had a great time together today. No regrets. 

The trip ended up awesome anyway. Fished three great rivers, caught loads of trout and a few smallmouth bass, and spent a lot of great time together. I don't imagine I will forget it.

Today's highlight was losing my footing  at Akers Ferry while fighting a fat 16 inch rainbow. I ended up full on swimming, but after I regained my footing, I still landed the fish. A kid working for one of the canoe rentals was observing on the bank and laughing hysterically the whole time, which I suppose is pretty fair. 

 

[WestCentralFisher]

Finally got back home. In the final accounting, we ended up fishing two wild trout creeks, the Current River in about 5 different places, and the upper Big Piney. The creeks had the easiest fishing. The most impressive looking stretch of water we fished was the white ribbon section of the Current (and technically a bit below, but the trout do not seem to have any respect at all for such boundaries, the scoundrels).

I wouldn't say this area was loaded with trout by any means, but there were a few in there, and its a big, broad shouldered river that isn't easy to wade. It's much more similar to the Eleven Point than the Current around Baptist Camp. I know it's ironic, because that's the stock truck section, but the trout there just seem to fight harder and there aren't trout absolutely everywhere, so there's some mystery. But not too much mystery. Most of the really fishy looking runs yielded trout.  I did try to fish for smallmouth, but no dice. I did see one good one around Akers. 

Yesterday evening, my Dad wanted to hit the Big Piney. We went to a couple accesses on the upper portion near Houston/Licking thinking it might be small and wadeable. We found it much too high to wade and somewhere between murky and outright muddy.

That said, fishing off the bank, we did well enough. The smallmouth fought so hard. I had an honest break off on 8 pound test. The smallie was maybe 3 pounds at the most, but between its bulldog style of fighting, the strong current, and a minor blunder on my part, it was enough. But the smallmouth and (lone) largemouth we did catch were fun, hard fighting, and pretty. While the water was muddy this time, both places we fished had big, imposing bluffs and were otherwise gorgeous. Floating that stretch in the near future is now a major priority. 

 

 

[WestCentralFisher]

Some photos of the upper Big Piney. 

 

 

[WestCentralFisher]

Last couple photos