Meramec River Fishing, 7/26

It's been a while since I've fished the Meramec during the summer primarily because there are WAY TOO MANY canoes to deal with during float season. Seriously, if you're on the water before 3 PM, there is a constant flow of drunken canoers which makes fishing all but impossible. Especially if you're interested in catching big fish. That said, I decided to head to the river this past Sunday later in the day hoping to avoid the aluminum hatch. Joining me on this excursion were John, Eddie and Doug. Eddie and Doug are now on the official "fishing buddy" list which is great becuse both are showing a lot of interest in the sport.

John and I rolled out of St. Louis around 1 and were fishing by 2:30. Eddie and Doug were leaving around 2 and meeting us on the water. When JD and I arrived, we were pysched to see no cars in the parking lot at Cardiac hill. What were the chances of that on an 80 degree Sunday afternoon? To our disgust, however, the canoers didn't get the memo to stay off the water.

Despite the fact that it was as late as 2:30, the canoes were still passing every 10 minutes or so. It's interesting because I believe there are still 6 or 7 miles to get to the pull out at Scott's Ford from Cardiac. These folks were definitely a little behind schedule probably because most were awful oarsmen. One boat actually hit John while he was fishing. The guy in the stern, covered in ink, was screaming at his wife not realizing that it's his job to steer the f*cking boat. Unbelievable! I thought we were gonna witness some domestic violence right there on the water. If I didn't think the guy was armed, I would have probably told him that he was the reason the boat tipped earlier, he was the reason they lost all of their beer, he was the reason their cigarrettes got wet, and he was the reason they ran into John who stood motionless in the riffle. Great stuff!

Anyway, being that John and I were the only fisherman on the water, we decided to fish the first riffle at the bottom of the hill until Doug and Eddie arrived. I believed that our best shot at cathing fish with all of the canoes would be in the fast water. Whether or not it's true, I think the fish are less likely to spook from the canoes in riffles. With the noise from the current, the broken water obstructing the fishes' vision, and the fact that the canoers move through the fishable water quickly, I think less of the fishes' attention is spent worrying about the hoosier hatch. The problem with fishing the fast water is that a lot of the local canoeing talent, like our boy mentioned above, can't seem to handle even the easiest of white water and the fish certainly spook when beer cans and tattoed bodies float through their feeding grounds.

Aside from the drama above, John and I were lucky enough not to witness any boats go under and managed to pull 5 or 6 fish out of that first run within the hour by literally casting in between canoes. As the day progressed, the canoes became less and less prevalent and the fishing turned on a bit.



When Eddie and Doug arrived, we headed upstream to my favorite hole on the Mac.



To my surprise, the contours of the river above my favorite hole had changed quite a bit and offered a new, long stretch of very fishy water. Doug and JD nymphed the fast water, and Eddie and I headed up to this new stretch and stung a couple fish on hoppers.



All in all, aside from our encounter with the "necks," we had a good day. We caught fish on nymphs, dries, and streamers (even sticking one smallmouth). While nothing was huge, it was nice to get in the cold water and put a bend in the rod. It's also nice knowing that the Mac is still fishable.

Current River Camping & Fishing June 2009

I hit the river for a short float (Baptist to Parker) this past weekend with two of my Alaskan co-horts, Eddie and Doug. I am always in search of new fishing buddies and both Doug and Eddie are new to trout fishing in Missouri so it was a good opportunity to show them the river. We rolled out Friday after a half day of work with our canoes strapped to the car and with a ridiculous amount of gear. Seriously, we probably could have survived out there for at least a month with the amount of food and gear we brought.

One reason for the abundance of gear was the weather. Weather.com was forecasting a 60% chance of heavy thunderstorms Friday night and, having learned from experience, it's always nice to have extra gear when you're camping in heavy storms. Fortunately, the storms stayed to the South of Missouri Friday and, despite a pretty good chance of rain each day that weekend, we managed to avoid any inclement weather.

The fish also decided to cooperate, especially considering the high-water conditions. The river was up, 1.8 - 1.9 on the gauge below Montauk (200 - 220 CFS), which made floating absolutely fabulous, but the heavy stain, depth, and speed of the water had me concerned that we would not be able to get down to the fish. Each of us was prepared with 300 grain sinking lines but we ended up not using them.

Friday evening, Eddie and I both got on the board via the streamer. After floating and setting up camp, we only had about an hour to fish but the fact that we were successful excited us for Saturday's float.

Saturday, streamers and large nymphs were the ticket. The fish seemed to be charged up and were more than willing to rise in the water column for our flies. In fact, one really large brown (in a spot that will remain anonymous), jumped about 2 feet out of the water taking an emerger or some other bug on or near the surface. Despite several attempts to coax this 20+ inch fish to re-surface, he out smarted the three of us and was not seen a second time.

Despite not sticking the pig, we did nail quite a few average sized browns and bows and moved a couple really large fish. Streamer fishing is really one of my favorite ways to chase trout. There's nothing cooler in my opinion than watching a brown just explode on a streamer, especially when that streamer is a bright color and riding just below the surface. Everything is so visual. It's a similar feeling to tarpon fishing watching the whole attack take place.

On Saturday, my man Doug stuck his first Missouri trout and managed to pull in at least two entirely on his own (i.e. he chose the fly, tied the knot, picked the spot, and sealed the deal). Here's a shot of one of Doug's first Missouri trout:




Eddie, who was fishing like a veteran, was also having no trouble putting fish in hand:




We finished the float on Saturday at Parker around 5 PM and planned to quickly head into the park to re-load our ice supply. The plan was a quick stop followed by fishing until dark. One cool side note, while loading the boats on the car, I found a really cool bird point (or arrowhead) that was in perfect condition. This is the second one I have found on the Current. I guess the heavy rains and high water moved enough gravel and dirt to expose some new stones. It's somewhat humbling to think that American Indians were living in and around the Current River hundreds of years ago. If they only had trout back then....

Anyway, we loaded the gear and headed toward the park in a hurry to get back out on the water. Perhaps we were in a little too much of a hurry on those gravel roads because after buying our supplies, Doug's tire was almost completely flat:



Enter the "pit crew," Eddie and I. The following exchange was quite humorous:

Ryan: "Damn, this is going to cut into our fishing time. We need to change this sucker as quickly as possible. Doug, do you have a spare?"

Doug: "No."

[Eddie looks under the rear bumper].

Eddie: "You definitely have a spare."

Ryan: "Doug, where's your jack?"

Doug: "No idea. I don't think I have one."

Ryan: "You definitely do."

[Ryan locates the jack and tire iron in rear compartment].

Doug: "I'm gonna head into the lodge. Little bear, you're in charge."

After struggling with the tire for about 30 minutes, Eddie and I had the truck back on four full tubes and we were ready to hit the road. At that moment, almost perfectly timed, Doug walks out of the lodge with a six pack of cold Bud Light.

Doug: "What can I do to help?"

You'll notice the shit eating grin on Doug's face as he posed for the picture above. Eddie and I grabbed beers and we hit the road. Doug's penance was to carry the back pack for the remainder of the evening.

We ended up fishing for an hour or so until dark. Doug stuck a decent brown on a streamer as he was giving me casting pointers and various other fly fishing instruction.



The three of us fished our way down to camp on foot and called it an evening.

On Sunday, we broke camp and fished a mile or so upstream. Again, streamers were very effective as were large nymphs. Being that we were upstream where the river was running slightly clearer, I decided to try the "go to" method that I prefer on the Current: the dry-dropper combo. Fishing fast, shallow riffles I tore it up landing five fish in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, right when I cracked the code, the boys wanted to head for the hills. I was on board with this idea as our two nights on the river with Anheuser Busch were starting to catch up with me.

We pulled out of Montauk around 1:30 and pulled into the driveway in STL around 4. Great weekend. Thanks for joining me fellas.

Chasing Silver at Location X

I don't know if anyone has seen the movie. If you fly fish and you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. In any event, three years ago Sara got me one of the best gifts I have ever received. It was my birthday and, after my frustrating trip to the Keys where I failed to land the big one, she wanted to organize a tarpon fishing trip. At the time, "Chasing Silver: Location X" had been recently released and I was borderline obsessed with it. Sara's mastermind in gift giving immediately went to work. She contacted a friend of mine who works at one of leading fly fishing companies in North America. It just so happens that my buddy knew the guide from the movie and the guide had two days open that season to fish. My friend told Sara "this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to fish with one of the best salt water guides in the world. You need to make this happen." She made it happen and my friend was right. It's like nothing else I've ever experiended.

Two days of tarpon fishing at Location X with the guide from the movie. Unreal! Every year I get the best gift a fly fisherman could ask for. Seriously awesome. Yet another reason I am not letting Sara get away.

This year marked my third year fishing at this mysterious location. The first year I jumped several tarpon the first day and was poised to land one the second day. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate the second day. High winds, clouds, and rain muddied up the water to the exent that we had zero visibility. Day two was cancelled.

Last year marked success. I fed numerous tarpon, jumping upwards of 12 and landing 5:







This year was another great year despite the fact that we didn't boat any fish. I fed 19 tarpon in two days, jumping 6. Little things were not going my way. Several fish simply threw the hook when jumping. One big fish bolted away from the boat then decided to make a u-turn and come right back at me. There was no way I could pick up line fast enough to keep tension on the fish. I thought about putting my rod tip in the water but before my mind could process what was happening, she was gone. Another fish ate twice right in front of the boat and took off for the deep. I cleared my line out of the bucket but the last bit of fly-line wrapped around my reel handle and the fish snapped my 60lb tippet like it was nothing.

Despite not putting any fish in hand, I learned a ton and am ready to get back out there as soon as possible. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I suppose I can hold off for another year. For now, swimming tarpon haunt my dreams.

April Reports--Current / Meramec

April was a pretty good month for outdoor activity. Despite getting a lot of rain in Missouri, I was able to fish the Current with a few buddies on the 5th and had my first turkey hunting experience on the 26th. After the morning hunt, we hit the Meramec for a high-water attempt at smallies and trout. Not a bad day if I do say so myself.

Our day on the Current was interesting. The morning brought warm temperatures and sun. Caddis were popping and we stuck 20 or so fish early on on caddis dries despite the high water (1.6 on the USGS guage just below Montauk). I fished with Stu, Billy, and Eddie, a friend who I met on my trip to Alaska. This was Eddie's first time on the Current and I wanted it to be a good experience so he would not shy away from an invite down the road. Eddie was all over the morning hatch. He probably netted upwards of a dozen fish in the first two hours all on dries. Needless to say, I think he'll be coming back.

As the afternoon approached, a storm front moved through and the temperature dropped probabyly 20 degrees. The caddis turned off and the fish started eating streamers. Olive was the color of choice and the group continued to have success into the evening. Unfortunately, there were no big fish to speak of but our numbers were good. It was also fun getting a taste of dry flies followed by heavy streamer fishing.

My day turkey hunting and Meramec fishing was slow. This was my first turkey hunting experience and, despite the fact that we did not take a bird, I really enjoyed it. I hunted with my buddy Henry on some property he owns about 45 minutes outside St. Louis. We saw 8 birds and had some gobbles in pretty close range but cound not get a male bird to come out of the woods. We had a hen approach our decoy and cluck a few times but no toms.

With no love from the turkeys, we headed to the upper Meramec for smallies. The river was almost blown out and our attempts to catch bass were unsuccessful. From there, we decided to move downstream below the park to go for trout, a species I am much more familiar with when fishing high water. I ended up sticking a handful of rainbows. Henry moved one large fish and Johnston, who met up with us on the river, stuck a decent rainbow to close out the day.

Hunting and fishing was a blast. I look forward to going for turkeys again this weekend.

Current River 3-29

I crushed it on the Current this past Sunday. Absolutely phenomenal day of fishing. Saturday night and early Sunday morning we got 1-2 inches of rain followed by a few inches of snow. I was a little hesitant to make the drive as I was risking a blown out mess of a river, but I really wanted a good day of streamer fishing and I knew the bad weather would keep the weekend anglers away.

Another motivator for me to get out was the day my buddy had the previous Sunday. Stone, my padawan fly flinger, decided to go fishing with Han (Solo) and it paid off. He ended up netting a 24+ inch pig all by his lonesome. The hog was verified by photos so I know he's not telling me a fish story. Plus, while he has been known to exaggerate, he understands a fish like that is not something you fabricate. It's too great a feat to make-up. It would be like claiming you shot a banded duck or hit a hole-in-one. You just don't do it. Anyway, it was a beautiful fish and I couldn't be more proud of the fact that he caught her by himself. He picked the fly (with some direction I offered prior to his departure), he picked the spot in the river, and he was able to land a huge Current River brown on 7x tippet. Congrats Stone! He also allegedly netted about 40 other fish on the day. I needed to have a day like that for myself.

So I got on the road early Sunday with hopes of matching 24 inches of brown. The entire drive I monitored river levels on my phone. The gage just below Montauk read 1.78, then 1.79, then 1.80 while I fished. I actually think it got a little higher while I was on the water but that's a good thing. I always tend to have better days when the water is coming up as opposed to falling.

Anyway, my concern was not how high the water was. I have fished the river at 2.20 so I knew 1.80 would not be an issue. The question would be clarity. If it was completely opaque with mud from run off, I would be in trouble. I was hoping for a moderate stain. Enough for the big browns to come out of hiding to feed on bait fish.

Driving through Rolla and crossing over the Little Piney, I thought I had gambled and lost. Usually, the Little Piney is a good indicator of what the Current will look like and the Piney was over its banks and fully stained--chocolate milk. My heart sunk as I figured I would be turning around as soon as I arrived. Nothing like spending 5 hours in the car to start off your Sunday. Maybe I could still catch fish if I stayed up high in the Park. I was going to give it a shot.

Turning the corner on 119 and heading down into the Park, I was seriously nervous. I know that sounds ridiculous but I was really excited to fish and did not want to give up my day. To my surprise, the water looked perfect. Slightly off color, enough to conceal the fish and me, yet clear enough for them to still feed. It couldn't have worked out better. The weather had scared off mostly all of the weekend anglers (although the Park was still a circus) and the conditions were ideal for streamers.

White was the color of choice on Sunday for whatever reason and the fish did not mind moving for the fly. The pattern I chose (which will remain nameless) rode very high in the water and each presentation was very visual. This proved to be good and bad. It was awesome to see the take but I had a little trouble early on not pulling the fly out of the fish's mouth when it attacked. I'd better get my shit together before I go tarpon fishing in May.

I use the word attack because that's exactly what they were doing. Some fish were feeding but others just seemed to strike out of pure aggression. It reminded me of salmon fishing in Alaska. When the salmon spawn, they stop eating and the only reason they strike a fly is because they're pissed that a flashy bug is invading their spawning ritual (at least that's what I've been told). It's pretty cool. Raw aggression. The browns on the Current were acting the same way. Fish were swimming across the river to hit my fly and some would come fully out of the water when they struck.

Fishing downstream, I covered about 2 miles of river with my streamers and I must have stuck over 100 fish. I burned through 6 of the pattern I was using simply because fish were destroying the fly. Some fish that ended up short striking the fly actually ripped the tail right off the streamer. I probably netted 50 or 60--mostly browns in the 12-14 inch range. Oddly enough, I think I only hooked two or three rainbows the entire day and two of those were caught on nymphs as I headed back up stream toward my truck.

I moved several very large fish on the streamers. The big boys were excited enough to chase the fly but most would either short strike or roll on it without actually eating. Unfortunately, I lost the two monsters that did decide to fully commit. One of the browns performed two great aerials before throwing the hook. Just enough to get me excited about how big he was before disappearing in the mirky water. This fish could have given Stone's a run for its money but I'll never know. Regardless, it was a phenomenal day and it was exactly what I was looking for. I can't wait to get out again on a rainy day. What's the weather like this weekend?

Current River, March 7, 2009

I hit the Current last Saturday with my buddy Steve. Steve is a phenomenal fisherman and he is largely responsible for my obsession with the sport. It's always a pleasure spending time on the water with Steve. He works as a product developer for Orvis and he always has the latest gear and definitely has his ear to the ground with respect to the fly fishing industry. Not to mention the fact that he's nasty with the fly rod and a pretty decent guy to hang out with to boot. We had a solid day sticking fish.

The weather was a beautiful, 50s and sunny, and of course the river was crowded (especially now that trout season is open again, yay!). I hope you can sense the sarcasm. Steve and I did our best to avoid the circus but depsite taking a long hike in the afternoon, we still bumped into other anglers all day.

All in all, the fishing was pretty slow and I don't really have any fish porn to post, unfortunately. We stuck a few rainbows early on varying nymphs but nothing was rising and the fish weren't taking any pattern on a regular basis. Steve and I both worked through our boxes in the morning and really didn't crack the code until the afternoon. One thing that's nice about fishing with Steve is that I am confident if fish aren't eating what he has to offer, it's not the right pattern. It's great to fish with someone who can really work water effectively. Essentially, it doubles the water you cover and flies you can present.

Steve finally stumbled on a hot pattern, the "Bread Crumb," which is essentially a Hare's Ear with a brown soft hackle collar. I'm almost certain the fish were taking these as some sort caddis immitation as the caddis were comming off pretty thick. I tied on a #16 Hare's Ear and the game was on. We both stuck quite a few fish in the afternoon and I had the opportunity to cast to a pig brown but couldn't seal the deal. Oh well. It was a blast site fishing to 12-15 inch browns and watching them eat my fly. Also, I know exactly where the big one lives and as long as some local yokal doesn't pluck him out of the river, I plan to get another shot at him.

Great day on the water and great catching up with Steve.

Arkansas, February 25 - March 1

The boys and I took our annual trip to Arkansas the last weekend in February. This year there were 5 of us: Davis, Stone, Stuart, Billy, and me. The weekend was supposed to start with a Thursday departure, however, as usual, Stone, Davis and I got the itch early and ended up leaving on Tuesday, 2-25. After work we piled into big John's RV and headed for the border. The plan was to sleep in the RV Tuesday night and park it wherever they were not running water. There was no question we were going to wet a line Tuesday night.

We were loaded and on the road by 7:30 PM. We parked the "Duk Bus" and fired up the the generator just below Norfork Dam by about 12:30 AM. After grabbing a bite to eat and gathering a little inspiration from "Duck Commanders," we wet our lines at about 1:30 AM.

Night fishing was slow compared to what we usually experience. Actually, Stone was the only angler to put a fish in hand. Davis went for a swim right off the bat and, with the 30 degree temperatures, he was a shivering mess by 4 AM.



I have no excuse. I simply couldn't get it done that night. For whatever reason, Stone put about a dozen trout in the net, I was skunked, and Davis was frozen.

At about 5 AM, Stone and I went back to the RV for a hot drink and re-rigged our rods for some daylight fishing. The sunrise was close and we were not planning on sleeping. We didn't drive 5 hours to sleep.

The sun ball rose and, like clockwork, they started running water on the Norfork. Unfortunately, Tuesday night provided the only low water we would see all weekend. Because we were without a boat, we decided to pack up and head over to Rim Shoals, our permanent lodging for the long weekend.

We rolled out of the park around 6:30 AM. Davis hit the rack and Stone and I navigated our way to Rim Shoals. After a brief check-in period, we rented a boat from Gary Flippin (owner of Rim Shoals) and hit the water. They were running 8 units and fishing was not easy--especially since none of us had ever fished at Rim or even seen Rim Shoals on low water. Regardless, Stone and I were on the attack.

Stone hooked up on our first drift with a SJ worm. I was at the motor, entertaining myself by working on my guiding skills. They proved to be pretty weak because we didn't hook up again until we headed down stream to some islands where we could wade fish. On high water, the trees on these islands created some really nice pocket water where there just had to be fish. This turned out to be true. Stone and I each netted a handful of rainbows here and I stuck one good 21 inch brown. I was pretty proud of this fish because I had never seen this water before and because I caught him on a number 16 sow bug pattern that I sort of made up. I'm not going to pretend like I re-invented the wheel here, but I'd like to think that my little additions to an otherwise standard pattern helped seal the deal.



After that brown, we headed back to the cabin to grab lunch and to pick up Davis who, at this point, had logged about 5 hours of sleep. The rest of the day was good. Stone and I were in kind of a daze having stayed up all night, but the three of us managed to put another dozen or so fish in the boat each. Not bad for having never seen the water and for working on zero sleep.

Day two we fished out in front of Rim Shoals with guide Jamie Rouse. Jamie normally guides on the Little Red, where he lives with his wife and daughter, however, he was nice enough to make the two hour trek over to Rim to tend to us for the day.

The idea for Thursday was to catch a big brown. We sacrificed numbers by throwing sinking lines and big streamers all day. The color of choice was white. Probably because of the shad that had been coming through on a fairly regular basis.

Our first drift was excellent. Davis landed four browns and, between the two of us, we moved some really nice fish. As the day progressed the action slowed a bit (as far as number of fish landed) but strikes came pretty regularly. Had we landed every fish that struck the streamers, it would have been one for the books, but that's the way it goes with streamers. Sometimes the fish commits and sometimes they short strike or just roll on the fly.

At about the half way point, we ran back up to the cabin to reload the coolers and grab lunch. As we sat there, our guide embarrassed all the angler's in the boat. He re-rigged the rods and, with an anchored boat just several feet from our cabin, he stuck this beauty dead drifting a shad pattern just off the side of the boat. Nice work Jamie!!



Lucky for Jamie, the clients had the last laugh. Toward the end of the day, I stuck this 23.5 inch, fat female brown:





Jamie was a phenomenal guide and a great guy to spend the day with. I absolutely recommend him to anyone that wants to fish in AR. I look forward to spending more time on the water with him in the future.

Thursday evening Stu and Billy arrived fired up to party. We enjoyed a few adult beverages, played a little poker, and attempted some night fishing from the bank with no success. The high water was killing us! We were all looking forward to Friday with guides John Gulley and Jimmy Traylor.

We awoke Friday morning to two chipper guides ready to head up to Bull Shoals Dam. Gully was actually a half hour early and forced the the heavy-headed crew out of their comas. Needless to say, the anglers required Bloody Mary's and some breakfast casserole to get moving.

Stuart was the big winner on Friday. For whatever reason, he decided to bring a fake mustache along. I wouldn't have mentioned this, but he looks absolutely ridiculous in the pictures and I had to explain why. I don't know what prompted this, but it's not too far off if you know Stuart.



Unbelievable!

Anyway, from Gulley's boat, Stuart netted 3 fish in the 20 inch range before lunch and Billy got a sore wrist from hauling in what must have been upwards of 25 shad-filled trout. The shad that were coming through the dam like I've never seen before.










Traylor's boat did not enjoy the same action. We fished further down river. I landed a few rainbows on egg patterns, as did Stone and Davis, but we had nothing of any size. The two boats rendezvoused at lunch and we changed up the chemistry a bit.

The second half of the day, Stone and I fished with Gulley and enjoyed some of the action that his boat was experiencing. I stuck an 18 inch brown and a rainbow to match, and Stone probably caught 45 fish in the span of four hours. It was pretty ridiculous.



Jimmy T's boat again was not keeping up. His boat caught some fish, but for whatever the reason, Gulley had the formula that day. Thanks to both guides for a great day! I wish we could have seen some low water (and I wish I could have out done Stuart) but, we can't always get what we want. I really hope he doesn't attribute his success to the stupid mustache.

Our final fishing day was Saturday because Sunday, as usual, is reserved for travel and recovery. A weather front moved in on Saturday and Stone and I were the only ones to make the morning shift (no surprise there). For the first few hours of our morning, we fished in almost white out conditions. It was very cool. We stuck a few decent bows in the morning and then decided to go rouse the crew.

All of the boys were on the water by about 10. Unfortunately, the fishing was slow. Perhaps it was the weather, the high water, or lack of knowing where to fish around Rim Shoals. I don't know. I really wish I could have seen the features of the river without 15 feet of extra water. Oh well. Everyone managed to stick a fish and some of us hit double digits. We cruised up crooked creek and caught a few bows which was fun. All in all, I will say it was a slow day fishing but a great day on the water with friends. I am looking forward to my next visit.