Current River Report

Date:  6/14 & 6/18-19

Time:  All day

Access:  Baptist and Parker

Water:  Still low, still clear

First a quick report from last Thursday.  I had the day off and hit up Baptist.  Not to sound like a broken record but it was low n' clear, we need rain and you know the rest.  On the trip downstream I used my usual mix of Euro-nymphing styles and the newest incarnation of my long leader.  Trout were caught, nothing too big nor in any amazing numbers but plenty to make a good day.  After wading way too far downstream I wasn't feeling too energetic for the return trip so I switched leaders and went the dry/dropper route.  I didn't fish too hard as I was mostly thinking about the cooler in my trunk but I did manage a handful heading upstream.  Most came on the biot nymph but a few did come up to take the klinkhammer.  Oddly all of the dry caught fish were browns.  Once back home I went and got my paycheck and to see the schedule.  Amazingly I had Monday and Tuesday off.  Back to back days off are disturbingly rare for me so I quickly decided I'd take advantage and head back to the river.

I decided to camp on a sandbar by Parker.  After setting up camp and cleaning up after whatever d-bags left the area covered in cans it was time to wet a line.  The first thing I noticed was how warm the water was.  It was still cool but not the usual trout stream cold.  Bad sign number one.  A few hundred yards upstream from camp I catch my first fish.  Unfortunately it's a little sunfish.  Bad sign number two.  It wasn't looking too good for trout.  I kept working upstream and did eventually catch a couple little browns, not to mention a dozen assorted pan-fish.  

Heading back to camp until the sun started to drop seemed like the thing to do.  A good chunk of the trout probably migrated upstream to cooler waters and those still around were sulking, waiting out the sun and heat.  After some camp chores, a little reading and some exploring downstream the sun finally started to set.  I rigged up the 6wt with my sink tip and a big nasty streamer and hit the area right downstream from camp.  The stretch was real deep and littered with huge boulders.  In other words it looked like a good place for a hog brown to hide.  No such luck.  

(I hope whoever tried to light this tree on fire wasn't sober)

I beat the sun up on day two and returned to the deep stretch below camp.  It went marginally better than the previous night as I did have a brown flash my fly.  I also caught a little smallmouth.  I decided it was time to catch some trout so upstream to Baptist I went.  

My streamer rod was rigged and ready but I wasn't in much of a zero or hero mood so I rigged up my trusty 10ft. 4wt and long nymph leader version 4.0.  I finally have this leader more or less dialed in.  The fish were pretty willing takers.  I imagine the glo-bug crowd would have done well on Tuesday as they seemed to prefer my more gaudy patterns.  In the deeper/faster water the a big #4 Vladi-worm was slaying them.  In the shallow water a jiggy pheasant tail with a florescent orange tag did the trick on point.  As usual lately my secret weapon was on dropper.  The rusty brown biot nymph with the fire orange hot spot.  This fly has been performing extremely well all year.

Fishing mirrored my trip from last Thursday.  I nymphed downstream then switched to dry/dropper on my way back up.  I even used the same klink/biot nymph combo.  The fish seemed more eager to rise than the week before so long as my fly landed really close to the bank and in the shade.  Most of the rises were the violent kind you often see with hoppers.  Action slowed down for a while when me and a spin fisherman got bunched up.  We were the only two people on the river so it wasn't too hard to put some good distance between the two of us which, no doubt, helped both of our fishing.  

It was a good trip.  If Monday would of been like Tuesday it would have been amazing.  It's no surprise that Parker is a little rough right now but once Fall comes around I'm going to have to head back to this access.  I'm not too familiar with the water but it looks like great streamer fishing.  One down side of the trip was the severe lack of insect activity.  There were trico's in the morning but no risers that I saw.  The little dry fishing I did get in has me ready for hopper season.  I could actually see the dry weather being a plus for terrestrial fishing.  

Current River 4/23/2012

Time: Dawn to Dusk

Flow:  95 cfs

Water:  Low and clear

Weather:  Partly cloudy

Hatch:  Caddis and Cahills 

Instead of heading to work Monday morning I headed to the gin clear waters of the Current.  The river is as low and clear as I've ever seen it.  Hopefully we get some spring showers to raise the rivers a little going into summer.  I was hoping for a morning hatch but no such luck.  I had anticipated the low, clear water and had a new french leader of around 20 foot all tied up.  I've generally used a coiled sighter in the past but tied this one with a drop sighter at the end.  This would allow me to easily just reel in line and switch over to the Czech/Polish method as the water dictated.  

It was pretty chilly in the morning so I decided to stick close to my car until it warmed up.  That way I wouldn't be a mile downstream stuck with my jacket when it got warm.  I got down to the split hole before turning around.  Around that time either the fishing totally turned on or I finally got a feel for the new leader/sighter combo.  I think it was mostly the second because instead of thinking, "oops, missed a strike" it was "fish on, fish on, fish on"  all the way back to the car.   

 With water and lunch in tow it was time to cover some water.  Shortly after getting getting back in I heard some swearing downstream.  Upon further inspection I found out a big brown had flashed the guy's lure.  Thinking back I'm sure the fish was totally spooked but when you're standing there looking at two feet of brown trout holding on bottom you completely think you can catch it.  We figured since it never actually felt the hook it might still be willing.  Both of us tried our best.  I drifted everything by it, even the couple realistic flies I carry.  I even busted out an indicator (gasp) thinking it might be a drift issue.  I did hook around a half dozen fish all around it including a rainbow that had us both fooled but neither of us got the big guy.  Eventually I had to cross my fingers that it would be there on the return trip.  It wasn't.  

I kept working downstream picking off fish.  It was a numbers day but I did get a few in the middle teens, the biggest being a 17-18 inch rainbow.  I would find them stacked up in the deeper spots but found plenty in shallow water also.  It's pretty neat catching them out of ankle deep water and the french set up worked great for this.  Another thing about fishing the shallow clear water is it makes you appreciate how well the trout blend in on the stream bed when they appear out of nowhere to take your fly.  It stayed steady all day.  My go to biot nymph in a #18 stayed on dropper most of the day and amounted for most of my fish.  My point fly switched as the water, and snags, called for.  The most successful of which was a pheasant tail jig nymph. 

 The only disappointing part had been the lack of dry fly action.  Luckily, just before I was going to leave, the bugs showed up.  I spied a number of rising fish upstream from the parking lot.  I switched out the nymph rig for a CDC and Elk and headed upstream.  No dice.  I switched to a size smaller.  No luck.  Switched again, I guess they're not taking caddis.  There were a handful of cahills around so I switched to a para-dun.  Nope.  CDC dun.  Missed strike, then total refusal.  Spinner, no.  Emerger, FINALLY YES!!!  There weren't many of the cahills on the water but I'm guessing there were plenty right under the surface because the cahill colored CDC emerger did the trick.  It must of took an hour to figure out what they'd take but I probably got in just as much time catching them until I couldn't see my fly anymore.

As far as numbers go it was one of the best days in a while not counting my trip on stocking-day.  I should be back down pretty soon so hopefully they say hungry.  

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. 

Current River 9/27/2011

Access:  Baptist

Time:  9:00 AM-5:00 PM

Water:  Low and CLEAR

Weather:  70s, partly cloudy

Third time's a charm.  After trying to go twice last week I finally made it to the Current.  I guess they got tired of calling me in to work.  I pulled into Tan Vat to find a few too many cars so I headed to Baptist.  Only one other car at Baptist so I was good to go.  I ended up having the river more or less to myself.  

First fish of the day (size isn't everything)

The water was in classic Autumn shape, low and clear, actually ridiculously clear.  It was one of those days where you need your A-game.  For the most part, I've Euro-nymphed all year.  A more delicate approach seemed to be in order so I went the wet fly route. I caught one little rainbow right as my flies turned to start  to swing, but the rest took them dead drift.  I'm far from an expert on this but this is how I do it.  I basically break down the water into sections.  First I'll go straight upstream and raise my rod as they come back to keep decent contact with the flies but not so much that it messes the drift.  Then I'll cast up and across, then up and a little more across and so on until I'm more or less casting right across.  Once I'm casting more across than up I'll track the flies with my rod and let them drift past me.  Then I'll either swing out the drift or hand twist the flies back in, or both.  A long rod helps a lot.  I use a 10 foot 4WT.  Strike detection can be tricky when the flies are drifting.  I have a foot of hot orange mono built into my leader that helps.  I keep one eye on it and one eye on where the flies should be and set the hook at the slightest hint of anything.  Some days you're lucky and they strike hard,  Tuesday wasn't one of these days.  

Anyone know what this mayfly is?

There was all kinds of bug activity going on.  The olives were coming off a little in the morning until the sun scared them off.  There were also a bunch of little (about a #18) caddis around and also some very pale yellow mayflies that were in the #14-#16 range.  My bug Latin is a little lacking so I'm not sure what they were, but I did get a fuzzy picture.  Despite all these tasty morsels around risers were few and far between.  When I did find a rising fish it was generally taking the pale mayflies.  It's hard to pass up dry fly fishing so when I found a riser I'd switch out the wets for a dry.  I used CDC duns and a CDC and elk for the one that looked like it was taking caddis.  

I ended up catching five or six rainbows on dries.  Unfortunately when I'd find a rising fish it was always just that, one rising fish.  So after spooking or catching any risers I'd go back to wets.  Successful wets were split by species.  Every wet-fly caught rainbow took a Peter Ross I had at point.  Every single brown took a soft hackle of some kind.  I used lots of different softies but If memory serves me right a Partridge and Yellow worked best.  However, the big one took an Olive and Dun Spider. 

Working my way downstream I spotted a really nice brown.  It had spotted me too and had a case of lock jaw.  I made a mental note of it's location and kept fishing my way downstream.  On my way back upstream I was ready.  I retied all my knots just to be safe and waded into position as ninja-like as I could.  I couldn't quite see if the fish was still there but I was hopeful.  Getting a better look was out of the question as I would likely spook it again.  The clouds came and went all day, but it seemed like I was only catching fish when the sun was blocked.  So I stood there and waited for the clouds.  After who knows how long it was time to cast.  Miraculously, it landed right where I wanted it.  Even more miraculously I saw a golden flash and even more miraculously than that I didn't screw up the hook set.  It's nice when everything comes together.  I was in a great place to cast but a fairly crappy place to play a nice fish.  I got the fish on the reel then tried to keep it out of the nearby logjam while I waded to friendlier waters.  The fight was down and dirty but after a couple nice runs I got it into the net fairly quickly.  I snapped two quick pictures and let it go.  The fish shot right out of my hands immediately so it's safe to say it's still swimming around Baptist getting bigger.  This fish has definitely had a rough life.  It's jaw was deformed on one side and it had a nasty scar on it's snout.  It should be easy to pick out if/when it's caught again.

I couldn't think of a better way to end the day.  Despite not catching many fish I'd say it was a successful trip.  I was a little rusty on my wet fly skills but I'll probably get plenty more practice this fall.  Next time I head fishing I need to fight the urge to fish Baptist.  I'm in danger of getting stuck in a rut.  I might just go to a different river altogether.  Who knows, maybe I'll really change it up and go night fishing at Taney.