Ten things that ran through my mind on the Current

(Ashley Creek flowing into the Current)

    I fished the Current on Tuesday.  Much to my surprise, it also turned out to be the day of the spring stocking.  The fishing was fairly steady then the stocking boats floated by and I could hardly keep the little trout off my line.  It was enough to make me feel a little dirty.  Needless to say there's no need for much of a detailed report.  Over the course of a day spent casually whacking stockers hand over fist a couple of things occurred to  me.

1.  Freshly stocked fish aren't too bright.  This is part of the reason I almost never fish the parks.  They pretty much just cruised around a couple feet down eating everything in sight.  Oddly, nymphs right off the bottom were all the stockers didn't hammer.  However, nymphs right on the bottom is what the other more "quality" fish wanted.  

(~10" brown , I think I actually caught this one before they stocked)

2.  Fishing dries is fun.  No explanation needed here.  If they're eating everything of course I'll fish a dry

3.  Catching tons of freshly stocked fish gets old.  After a couple of holes I got sick of them.  I was nearly to Ashley Creek when the stocking boats showed up so heading back and fishing somewhere else wasn't in the cards.  The newbie fish were by the surface so I nymphed deep.  I still caught them but had occasional rainbows and hold-over browns to break up the monotony. 

(Sadly, the best fish of the day)

4.  Always be ready.  I half-assedly set the hook into what I assumed was a 10" brown.  I immediately realized I was wrong.  A brown in the high teens threw the poorly set hook around the time I got a decent look at it which brings me to my next point.

(NOT a big brown trout)

5.  There are some big fish in the Current.  Even though I don't catch one every time I fish it seems like I at least see one.  I lost that one, and saw two others.  One in the 20's flashed a rainbow I had on.  Poor wading scared off the other.  Again this brings me to my next point.

(One of many spots that needs a streamer stripped through it)

6.  Wading past Ashley Creek is a good idea.  The water down there just screams big brown trout.  Plus, you're almost guaranteed to have the area to yourself.  Throwing big streamers then camping on a sandbar has been bouncing around my head for a while.  I need to actually do it this year.  There is one down side to wading that far.  Wading back sucks.  It doesn't seem that bad when you're fishing your way down but that return trip is a killer.  I waded farther down than I ever have on Tuesday and I can still feel it.

7. The river could use some rain.  Low and clear; that's how I'd describe the river right now.  I enjoy the challenge but the problem is that's how the river's been since last summer.  Hopefully the April showers will come early.

8. Keep the river clean.  I always pack my trash out and make a point to pick up other litter when I can and it payed off Tuesday.  I more or less never use indicators anymore which works fine on most of the river.  There are a few holes under Ashley that are nearly impossible to nymph without a indicator.  Luckily I've found plenty in the bushes and tucked them away in random vest pockets.  Unluckily, it's been like two years since I've used one so my indy skills were incredibly rusty.

9.  Having a river to yourself is awesome.  I didn't see a single fisherman on the river.  In fact the people stocking trout were the only people at all.  I noticed a single car at Tan Vat so I guess someone else got the same experience.  There were plenty of people at Montauk but that goes without saying.

(Slightly too much fly for my 4WT)

10. Big flies might catch big fish, but small ones take them too.  After getting back to the parking area I decided I'd bust out my 8WT and this double articulated monster I tied the other night.  The plan was to fish until I lost it or caught something nice.  Neither happened.  I stood up on the concrete overlooking the parking lot hole planning on working the far banks.   Instead I watched as a handful of little brownies attacked a fly nearly their own length.  Time after time four or five would charge the fly from up to 15 feet off.  It was disturbingly fun but I guess catching 8 inch trout on a 8 inch streamer is as good a way as any to end such a goofy day fishing.

Cased Caddis SBS

Here's a cased caddis pattern I've had lots of success with over the last year.  Caddis are an important food source for our trout and they key in on them below the surface just as much as on.  The cased caddis is often overlooked but shouldn't be.  Considering how much time trout spend on the stream bed it should come as no surprise they gladly eat these bottom dwellers. It's tied to be use as an anchor in a euro set up but would no doubt work well under an indicator also.  It has a lot going for it.  Between the tungsten bead and the lead wraps it gets down in a hurry.  The pearl braid adds just enough flash and the partridge gives it life suggesting movement.  The real key to this patterns is the hook though.  The jig hook makes the pattern ride upside down.  This dramatically helps the fly not snag.  Another option would be to use a ball-head jig hook like used on the micro marabou jigs.  A straight hook would look fine but snag more although there are ways to make them ride upside down also.   

 What you'll need

Hook:  Dohiku Jig (or similar hook)  sizes 8-12 are the most useful

Weight:  Tungsten bead (the slotted ones work best with jig hooks) black or copper

also lead or lead-free wire(optional)

Body/tail:  Pearl core braid chartreuse or color to match naturals

Legs:  Partridge

Case:  Hare's ear dubbing

Rib:  Webby hackle, brown

Extra:  You will need a dubbing brush or velcro  

 Step one
Slide on the bead and run a layer of thread.  If you are adding the lead wire for extra weight do so now.  If you're paranoid about things moving around go ahead and use super-glue.  I find that it's unneeded as long as you use nice tight thread wraps.  Only wind the lead back to the point.  This keeps it front heavy so as to not mess up the balance of the jig.

 Step two
Using a lighter melt the tip of your braid.  This melts everything together making sure the braid doesn't unravel and in the process makes a dark little caddis head like the naturals.

 Step three
Tie in the braid.  It should be about half a shank long.  Clip the waste before you get to the lead.  By tying everything in before the lead it will help even out the body.and avoid unnecessary bulk.

 Step four
Tie in the partridge by the tip.  The barbs should extend a little longer than the braid.  This is also a good time to cover up the lead with a layer of thread.

 Step five
Wind on the partridge.  Depending on the quality of the hackle one turn is usually plenty.

 Step six
Tie in a brown hackle so it cups towards you.  This way the barbs will slant away from the partridge making it less likely you'll trim you're legs off at the end.  I'm using a webby rooster feather (neck hackle I'm guessing) out of a Whiting variety pack but a hen saddle or some cheap strung rooster saddles would work great.  Keep in mind you're going to trim this so just use something cheap.  If you want to add some extra durability you can add mono or wire to use as a cross rib.  I don't find it necessary at all.  In fact the more beat up this fly gets the better it usually works.

 Step seven
Dub the case.  Don't worry much about taper.  Good old natural hare's ear works great.  The case on a natural will be more or less the same color as the stream bed so use that as a judge on dubbing color.  If you're stream has a lot of vegetation a little green mixed in couldn't hurt as caddis use what's readily available for their case.

 Step eight
Wind the hackle up in even turns.  Five is usually about right.

Step nine

Clip the waste end if you haven't already then whip finish and head cement .  This fly spends a lot of time bouncing along the bottom so a double whip finish couldn't hurt.  Using a dubbing brush or a piece of velcro absolutely go to town on the fly.  Really brush everything out good.

Finishing touches

Taking care not to cut off the partridge legs trim the fly.  A straight cut on each side leaves you a little box which is what you want.  Taper towards the front if possible but the fish don't care either way.  My poor photography skills don't do it justice but the hackle rib is what really makes the case.  

Current River Report 12/29/2011

Access:  Baptist (big surprise)

Weather:  Sunny and close to 60, surprisingly cold in the morning

Time Fished:  6:30 to 3:00

Water:  Clear until the jet boat came

Flow:  112 cfs

Hatch:  Caddis , A Jet Boat

I was looking at the blog the other day and noticed I hadn't posted in a while.  I then noticed something far more sinister.  I haven't been to the Current since September!!  I've been doing a little warmwater fishing and messing with those goofy trout they stock in the lakes around town but I haven't been to my "home waters" in way too long.  So bright, make that dark, and early Thursday I headed down.   

  I actually beat the sun.  Since it was still dark I decided streamers would be a wise choice.  I knew it was cold out but I quickly realized it was really cold.  My guides were freezing up.  Considering it would get up to 60 I found this surprising.  Stripping streamers through frozen guides is no fun so I went and switched to the nymph rod.

Once the sun arrived it warmed up quickly and people started showing up.  It was by no means "trout park crowded"  but you'd never guess it was a weekday at the end of December.  I worked most of the run below the parking lot until deciding it was going to get crowded.  I was going to work upstream but saw a few guys heading that way so I took the shortcut downstream.  Once down there I had lots more elbow room.  I've noticed that no matter how many cars are in the lot there still won't be many people down around the S-bend.  If you're really hell-bent on solitude just keep going, there's almost never anyone even close to Ashley with the obvious exception of floaters.

I wouldn't say I was doing good but I was catching fish.  I got one in all the likely spots but never pulled more than one out of a hole with only one exception.  I did get two out of spot I usually just glance over....not anymore.  I caught far more browns than I did bows which is a little odd.  My best fish of the day was a rainbow with great color.  It was only around sixteen inches but put up a great fight, really using some fast water to it's advantage. No matter what I was catching they all had one thing in common.  The fish were glued to the bottom.  The fish didn't seem to care what the fly was as long as it was right on the bottom.  Getting my flies deep fast and keeping them there was definitely the way to go but I lost a ton to the stream bed.  I was already low on nymphs but my box is just about empty.  My anchor side actually has three # 10 Czechs and nothing else left. 

I was down around the big bluff when I started to hear an engine getting closer.  I turn downstream and see a flippin' jet boat barreling up the stream.  I don't think I've ever seen a jet boat that far up.  From what I hear the guy went all the way to Tan Vat.  The little stream didn't care too much for the boat either.  It really seemed to churn everything up.  The water got pretty foggy and took it's sweet time clearing up.  The fishing dropped right off the shelf too.  It was an easy decision to finally head back to the car and eat lunch.

There were a few caddis coming off in the late afternoon.  At first I wasn't really sure what they were, they were way too big to be the usual winter bugs.  Apparently the fish didn't expect caddis in December either because they sure didn't want to rise.  I half-assedly  tossed a few dries around the parking lot pool trying to get one up but couldn't find any takers. A bunch more people started showing up so I decided to call it a day at Baptist.  I headed up to Tan Vat to find a bunch of cars so I kept going.  There were a few cars parked at the end of Montauk's campground so I decided against that access too.  I really need to get a vehicle that sits more than two inches off the ground and start heading to the more "rustic" accesses.  I did sit and watch some fish rise at the park.  I somehow knew there'd be trout rising the one place we're not allowed to fish. 

It was time to hit the road and do my patented done fishing routine which consists of stopping in Rolla to eat dinner with my brother who goes to UMR (I refuse to say MST so don't bother correcting me), followed by fighting the urge to go 100 down highway 44, followed by fighting the urge to go 80 down highway 30.  There's only one exception to this routine and that's when I make the long drive down to Taneycomo.  This variation means dinner with my sister at MO State and not fighting the urge to speed.

Blog Note:  Instead of being a deadbeat blogger I plan on putting up more fly tying posts and maybe some gear reviews between my trip reports.  Considering the shape my nymph box is in I'd be expecting some nymphs first but I should slowly but surely get step by steps of my tried and trues.  In addition if I mention any flies or you see one in my pics just ask and I'll definitely be able to get a picture and recipe if not a whole SBS.