Current River - Aug 6th

[Dave]

Natasha and I along with some good friends of ours went for a weekend trip to the Current River in the Missouri Ozarks. We paddled just over eight miles on Saturday, Pulltite to Round Spring. We managed to get out ahead of most of the crowds and had comfortable weather for a change. The air temperature made it too cold to swim in this spring fed river until late in the day when the sun finally came out.

We enjoyed a great day of fishing, cold beers, relaxed paddling, and good company. Spotted wildlife included trout, smallmouth bass, google eye bass, muskrats, turtles, green and blue heron and the ever present turkey vulture. We also saw tons of blue wing teal (season opens in less then a month), which I tried (unsuccessfully) to lure back to us with my duck call. :wings:

I remembered the camera, but left the memory card at home in the laptop!! :mixed-smiley-030: Fortunately, my buddy Luke snapped a few pictures.

 

[Ursidae69]

Wow, that river looks so peaceful and relaxing! :Wow1:

 

[flywgn]

Looks great! Please tell us a little more about the trout habitat.

Allen R

 

[FourByLand]

HAHA, that's pretty clever putting the "roll me over" sticker on your canoe!

:elkgrin:

 

[Dave]

Wow, that river looks so peaceful and relaxing! :Wow1:

Depending on the time of day and the time of year, it can be very peaceful. The put-in we used had 300 rental canoes already setup on the gravel bar ready to go when we shoved off at 8:30 in the morning. I think they used 275 of them that day, and that was just for the 8 mile stretch we were on. The National Park Service does regulate how many rental boats can be on any given stretch of the river within the NP boundaries. Luckily, we got a few hours jump on the masses. Not to say we're prudes who don't enjoy a good time, but you can only be offered a Jello shot so many times in one day before it starts to get old. ;-)

Looks great! Please tell us a little more about the trout habitat.

Allen R

The river is a spring fed river with several large, cold running springs. The headwaters are at Montauk Springs, which is considered a "trout park" due to it's accesibility and volume of stocked fish. The nine miles below Montauk Springs is what is considered a Blue Ribbon area by the Missouri Dept. of Conservation (MDC), meaning conditions are right to support a naturally reproducing population. Blue Ribbons areas are also stocked, in this case with browns. The next seven or so miles below the Blue Ribbon area is considered a White Ribbon area, meaning conditions are capable of supporting a population. These areas are also stocked but not as often as the Blue Ribbon I believe.

We were a good 20 or 30 river miles below Montauk Springs, so it was surprising to even see a trout that far down river considering the pressure the trout park and the "Ribbon" areas put on the fish.

We mainly go after the smallies on this river and save our trout fishing for another river not far from the Current called the Eleven Point.

 

[flywgn]

Thx for the additional info. Looks interesting.

Allen R

 

[Westy]

Fishing

Do you have any more pictures of the river or fish?

How is the smallmouth fishing there? It looks like it would be great.

Thanks for the report. Great pictures as well.

 

[Dave]

Do you have any more pictures of the river or fish?

How is the smallmouth fishing there? It looks like it would be great.

Thanks for the report. Great pictures as well.

Smallies are usually pretty good, but can be fickle on the weekends due to the amount of traffic on the river. They're much easier when it's overcast and/or raining. They go nuts with topwaters when it's raining a little. I've attached a picture of my buddy Luke with a smallie he caught that weekend. Also, here's a few more pictures of the river...