Montauk SP, Current River, March 10th, 2010: Weather held out-not bad!

The weather looked to be bad up in the St. Louis area, so I decided to head south for one of my favorite places to stream fish in Missouri- Montauk SP and the Current River. It was overcast all day with some moments of drizzle....it stayed cool- around 40 degrees all day. I am glad I was able to dress warm. I just got a TFO Lefty Kreh rod at Feathercraft Fly shop (off Manchester by the Innerbelt/40- very knowledgeable) and I really was wanting to use it it bad....I have been having some casting challenges, especially in casting Wooley Buggers and heavier jigs, so I wanted to help fix that this year. The rod, along with some study of what I have been doing (too much wrist) really helped.

I got to the park around 8:00 a.m. and went to the fly only waters first. Hit a nice hole right by a big rock and caught a couple of trout right off the bat with Brown bead-head Wooley Buggers. Was not able to hook enough to land. I think I figured out what the challenge was- I had my rod in my sleeve to keep me from using my wrist when I cast....unfortunately, I think you really need your wrist to set the hook....hmm, real dilemma. They hit them real hard, however.

Got some lunch and came back, but there were 4-5 people "asses and elbows" on the hole, so I decided to go down river. That is the only thing I do not like about the trout parks. If you find a spot, you really need to hog it to keep it.

Went past the park and fished the Current River right around Tan Vat Access point....that is where I got the "moment of Zen" video. Did not catch anything in this area, but I belive there are fish...I just was not able to get on them.

Cannot wait to go back!

Fish ON!

MLT

Montauk SP, Current River, Oct. 25th: Fished in and out of the rain

The weather was very changeable on this day, but we decided to head out super early....we have had so much rain this month! My sister got a new pair of waders and we wanted to try them out, so we headed down to Montauk on the Current River. This is one of my favorite parks and probably the least fished due to location.

When we got out on the water, we hit the fly waters first. I was in the water for a while and noticed a hatch. I also noticed that there were trout together right in front of a rock coming up and hitting on things towards the top near the film of the water. I took the wooley bugger off and tied on a really, really small emerger type nymph and cast out in front of where they were at. Second cast caught a really nice one. Seemed like it took at least 10 min. to land it...I had really thin (7x) tippet tied on, so I did not want to horse it in and either break the tippet or leader. I was also upstream from where it struck, so that made it a bit of a challenge as well.

Jenni did not fare quite as well, but she was still getting accustomed to the spinning rod and rooster tails. We will get her started off on the fly rod once she masters the spinning outfit.

Took a lunch break and it was raining very, very hard. We sat in the car for awhile afterwards, and then decided to get the rain gear on and fish anyway....like some kind of a miracle, the sun came out, and the rest of the day ended up being better than the first half!

Fish ON!

MLT

Montauk SP, Current River, April 11th: Great day to get out!

Great day to get out on the water at Montauk SP. Trout are looking good, the weather was the best you can hope for. Started off in the fly zone, fished the deeper pool first with a nymph. No success, so I hiked into were there were some runs and pools. Lost one on a nymph, and later in the day in the fly area lost one on a red San Juan Worm.

What I like most about fly fishing is you learn something everytime you go out. My knots on the flies were improved cinch knots....I know that if I would have tied a Berkely knot (just like a cinch, except it goes throught the eye twice) I would not have lost as many. I was using a really thin tipped (8x), so I am going to try that next time.

After lunch, grabbed my spinning gear and fished from the bridge down. Last year, this was the spot that had all of the trees shoved under it......caught my biggest trout of 2008 at this spot. The trees have moved and it is much different now...not much success

The family came with me, so it was great to do some other things as well (took a hike around the upper spring area, Lake Montauk, etc). The weather could not have been any nicer- 70 degrees and sunny.

Fish ON!

MLT

Montauk (Current River), Wednesday March 26th: Park a little torn up, fishing very good!

Great evening of fishing. Arrived at the park around 4:30 or so. I knew I had a limited time, but it was great to fish Montauk State Park again. I had not fished Montauk in a couple of years. I think the last time I was at the park was in 2005 during the catch and release season. Forgot how beautiful of a park Montauk truly is .

Started off in the fly area. I picked up a couple of nymphs a few days ago, so I thought I would try them out. Threw those as well as black jigs (real overcast conditions). No luck. Spoke with a gentleman who had been fishing the area all day. Montauk has so much sand due to the flood that they had a backhoe dredging the area right before the dam earlier. Probably should have throw a San Juan Worm.

Went back to the car and got my Quantum w/ 2# test and decided to throw my go-to: Spoons. Started to catch them right under the bridge. If you look at the photo, there are about 3 large trees that were uprooted and are jammed under the bridge. What is cool is that water is flowing under them. The trout were suspended underneath the trees under the bridge! So I got downstream and threw the spoons up stream so the current would take them back. Caught the largest one (measured out at 18") in the structure. Caught another good size fish (about 17") right in the current. That was the one I thought I was going to lose.

I cannot wait to go back to Montauk!

Fish ON!

MLT