Post by golferjeff on Jan 7, 2020 11:27:51 GMT -6
Dain, Craig, Aaron, Darrell and I (No Magick this time) hit the Current River in Missouri January 3-5. We finally got to see steady flows, sunshine and some good browns. Well, personally I did not see any browns, but there were rumors of a few good ones at Tan Vat and below. The park waters produced well, the boundary water was OK, and the little hatchery spring creek produced a monster or two. We all mainly euro'd the entire time, but a broken rod tip on my Cortland Sunday morning made me toss a few streamers to some success.
I met Darrell in Tulsa at his office friday afternoon at 330. We drove over to Salem, MO to meet up with Dain, his dad, and Aaron at a Mexican place. Burritos were consumed, beer and whiskey were imbibed, and stories were told. The trip had already been decent for Aaron and Dain - they caught some fish friday while I was driving or riding shotgun. Darrell and I went back to our little motel in Licking, MO and prepped for a day on Montauk SP on Saturday. After a little breakfast, we hit the park for a midge hatch in progress. I caught three in 10 minutes before my phone rang with Dain telling me to meet them somewhere else. Oh well. Not the first time I showed up at the wrong place. We all made a short hike into the park to a spot we had all had success at before. I was dedicating myself to Euro this trip, so I started off with a Ranger1965 egg pattern with a pink frenchie dropper. I got into fish right away. It was pretty cool to learn euro with cooperative fish. The guys all had varying degrees of success, but it sounded like Aaron and I had the numbers. I fished thru lunch while they all went and enjoyed patty melts at the lodge. I caught about 50-60 fish, all rainbows, all 10-18". 80% on the egg, the rest on frenchies, RS2's, and a perdigon. I had several people stop by and ask me what I was fishing. After lunch, we hit the park boundary downstream. The action was much slower than in the park. I caught about 10 more, with a few colored up fish and one so thick with spots he was almost black. The other guys headed downstream to try to find some browns and i fished my way back to the car. It was a great day and I learned a lot. I couldn't buy a brown, but I did catch sculpin, hogsucker, stonerollers and some cool looking chub/minnow along with all the rainbows. Fun stuff. We all called it a day and decided on our pizza place in Rolla, MO for dinner. We got to watch the Patriots lose (YEAH!) and eat some good pizza before heading back.
Sunday dawned cold and clear with river fog. I stopped to take a few pics of the river, which I rarely do. Darrell was kind enough to pose. We hit Tan Vat access to try for a few browns. Action was slow to say the least. I got a good tangle, made worse by frozen rod guides, and broke the tip off my Cortland 11' 3wt. First time I broke a rod due to ice. I went back to get my indicator rig while Darrell continued downstream. I think he caught a fish or two, and I caught exactly one when we hit a small midge hatch. Aaron probably caught 20.... geez. We ventured back into the park and the spots that had produced the day before. I decided to toss some small streamers since I was kinda bored with the indicator. I found some willing rainbows in the slow water, but nothing picture worthy. It got pretty crowded as the day went on, which I hate, so I headed over to the spring creek area below the hatchery. It's fishing in an aquarium, but it's still fun for an hour or so. Aaron got a big male, I caught a few colorful fish, and we took turns spotting and casting to some chunky spooky fish. Aaron had to head back a bit early, I decided to quit about 230, and Darrell decided to catch a few on midge dries. We hit the road back to Tulsa and beyond about 3pm. It was a good trip with good people and good fishing. I think Darrell is headed back in about a month, but my fishing is done for a few months.
Here are a few pics from the trip
I met Darrell in Tulsa at his office friday afternoon at 330. We drove over to Salem, MO to meet up with Dain, his dad, and Aaron at a Mexican place. Burritos were consumed, beer and whiskey were imbibed, and stories were told. The trip had already been decent for Aaron and Dain - they caught some fish friday while I was driving or riding shotgun. Darrell and I went back to our little motel in Licking, MO and prepped for a day on Montauk SP on Saturday. After a little breakfast, we hit the park for a midge hatch in progress. I caught three in 10 minutes before my phone rang with Dain telling me to meet them somewhere else. Oh well. Not the first time I showed up at the wrong place. We all made a short hike into the park to a spot we had all had success at before. I was dedicating myself to Euro this trip, so I started off with a Ranger1965 egg pattern with a pink frenchie dropper. I got into fish right away. It was pretty cool to learn euro with cooperative fish. The guys all had varying degrees of success, but it sounded like Aaron and I had the numbers. I fished thru lunch while they all went and enjoyed patty melts at the lodge. I caught about 50-60 fish, all rainbows, all 10-18". 80% on the egg, the rest on frenchies, RS2's, and a perdigon. I had several people stop by and ask me what I was fishing. After lunch, we hit the park boundary downstream. The action was much slower than in the park. I caught about 10 more, with a few colored up fish and one so thick with spots he was almost black. The other guys headed downstream to try to find some browns and i fished my way back to the car. It was a great day and I learned a lot. I couldn't buy a brown, but I did catch sculpin, hogsucker, stonerollers and some cool looking chub/minnow along with all the rainbows. Fun stuff. We all called it a day and decided on our pizza place in Rolla, MO for dinner. We got to watch the Patriots lose (YEAH!) and eat some good pizza before heading back.
Sunday dawned cold and clear with river fog. I stopped to take a few pics of the river, which I rarely do. Darrell was kind enough to pose. We hit Tan Vat access to try for a few browns. Action was slow to say the least. I got a good tangle, made worse by frozen rod guides, and broke the tip off my Cortland 11' 3wt. First time I broke a rod due to ice. I went back to get my indicator rig while Darrell continued downstream. I think he caught a fish or two, and I caught exactly one when we hit a small midge hatch. Aaron probably caught 20.... geez. We ventured back into the park and the spots that had produced the day before. I decided to toss some small streamers since I was kinda bored with the indicator. I found some willing rainbows in the slow water, but nothing picture worthy. It got pretty crowded as the day went on, which I hate, so I headed over to the spring creek area below the hatchery. It's fishing in an aquarium, but it's still fun for an hour or so. Aaron got a big male, I caught a few colorful fish, and we took turns spotting and casting to some chunky spooky fish. Aaron had to head back a bit early, I decided to quit about 230, and Darrell decided to catch a few on midge dries. We hit the road back to Tulsa and beyond about 3pm. It was a good trip with good people and good fishing. I think Darrell is headed back in about a month, but my fishing is done for a few months.
Here are a few pics from the trip
