Here at CTD, we have built our own tradition in the form of an annual springtime fishing trip to the Current River in Missouri. I absolutely love this fishery, its the best wade fishing in the state and maybe in the Ozarks. We set off every year in April in hopes of epic caddis hatches, big browns, spunky rainbows, and good times around the campfire. This year was no exception....
We were unable to depart from Tulsa with the whole crew so half of us went up on Thurs night while the rest of the crew was going to have to leave on Friday night. Corey, DonnyB, and myself set a course for the Current on Thurs night, arriving late that night around midnight to set up and prepare camp for the possible thunderstorms that were in the forecast. We woke up the next morning to a light drizzle and overcast skies, had a quick breakfast of bacon/egg/cheese biscuits, and then geared up to hit the river.
We spent the morning fishing the lower section of the Blue Ribbon water throwing streamers in hopes of turning a big brown. We were able to put some small browns and rainbows in the net but never could stay hooked up with the few bigger browns that we could get to eat. How you don't hook up solid with a fish while chuckin' articulated streamers is beyond me...it just wasn't meant to be. We hiked back to camp to dry out from the rain and fill our bellies full of campfire grilled bratwursts. After lunch and a little relaxing around the campfire, we geared back up and headed to the upper sections of the Blue Ribbon water with hopes of getting a dry fly bite during the evening. The river didn't disappoint, as we were met with a heavy push of caddis coming up river to lay their eggs on the surface. Along with the caddis, tiny mayflies began to trickle off which offered up a bug buffet for the trout as they began to rise up and down the river. We fished micro tan caddis and light cahills till dark, it was epic....
As the sun began to set, we made our way back to camp to get some grub and get camp prepped for the arrival for the rest of the crew. Donny and I went to work on dinner which consisted of venison, fried potatoes, and beans all prepared over the campfire....it was freaking amazing. We made ourselves miserable and proceeded to settle into our chairs while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive.
The rest of the crew arrived around 11:00pm that night all fired up and excited about the trip. The normal conversation of the days fishing and how the river looked was hashed out along with a general plan for tomorrows fishing. Shortly afterwards, we all retired to our tents to get some sleep for tomorrows adventure...
We all arose early to a very cool morning in the 30s as we got the campfire stoked up, fired up the camp stove, got the coffee percolating, and Chris began to make his famous breakfast burritos. After breakfast, we finished hashing out a plan of attack, got all geared up, and CTD descended upon the Current River...
The fishing on Saturday was hit and miss for us. Some sections would produce several fish and then we would start to strike out. We basically grinded it out all day by chuckin' the bobber with an egg or something caddis dropped below it along with a few good streamer eats just before lunch time. After lunch, we made quick run to Happy Pappys to get some firewood, ice, and some more adult beverages. After a quick restock of our supplies, we headed for the water in hopes of another awesome dry fly evening after what we had experienced the evening before. Well, the bugs were there and the fish were rising, but we couldn't get it done. The trout were eating some kind of emerger and we couldn't find the bug to make it happen. We were able to stick some fish on a tan micro caddis but it was very hit and miss. After several fly swaps and tons of refusals, we threw in the towel and headed for camp for the nights shenanigans.
After a long night of good food, guitar pickin', and adult beverages....we were a little slow to slide out of our sleeping bags so we got a little bit of a late start on Sunday. The crew split up again as we began to work different sections of the Blue Ribbon water. The bite was pretty slow with some cooler temps, gusty winds, and overcast skies. We did some bobber chuckin' for a while to dredge up some fish but decided to call it quits around Noon so we could break camp and get home at a decent hour.
Again, this marks the 4th year that we have made this trip to the Current and I hope that there are plenty more to come. This place is very special as it is where "the dream was born" you could say for my crew. Most of them got their first real taste of chasing trout on the fly in the waters of the Current and its where my love for fly fishing was reborn more or less. I hope other fisherman out there continue to carry on traditions like we do as I firmly believe that our past helps steer our future...
Until next time, keep chasing the dream...
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