These beautiful fall days are just too precious to let slip by. Ten FATC brothers took full advantage of the opportunity yesterday, October 10, 2024, to chase some trout at Montauk State Park and the Current River.
The weather was glorious. Bill Byington, Bob Hassett, Glenn Haake, Ken Welter, and I (Jim Craig) carpooled from Eureka or St. Clair. Chris Beahm, Bill Grelle, Matt McClure, and Bob Born met us there as they were camping for multiple days or had to make an early get-a-way in the afternoon. Wait, that’s not all. To our surprise and amusement, we were also joined by the one-and-only Mayor of Montauk, Sid Aslin. Despite Sid’s very challenging health setbacks, he has made an impressive rebound and was back in the water again fishing with his buddies.
After securing out trout tags at the lodge, we met at 8:30 AM at the Naturalist Cabin to gear up. From there, everyone headed out to their favorite places in the park while Glenn, Matt, Ken, and I decided to fish outside the park. We stopped at Tan Vat first. With five cars already in the parking lot, we decided to try below the cable.
Speaking for our group, the fishing below the cable was about average, maybe even a little better than we might have expected. The river was low, slow and clear. Those conditions made us dial back our expectations when we first arrived. Yet, we all picked up fish as we moved down to the first bend. We used a wide variety of flies. The black zebra midge, purple zebra midge, yellow egg, and the little white thing were working. We were also treated to an amazing BWO hatch about 10 AM. Late in the morning, Matt and I made it down to the second bend and fished some great looking water. But, other than me missing the hook set on a big one, little was happening. As we walked back upstream for lunch, Matt encouraged me to try just two casts at the log where that big one got away. The first cast drifted by untouched. But, the second drift was more than that big guy could take. He was still there. I finished the morning with an 18” brown.
Everyone met for lunch at the “Staggenborg” tables. The stories were pretty typical. Some guys had success while some guys were struggling a little. But, everyone was in good spirits. Sid, with Bill as his witness, reported he caught a lunker rainbow in the park with his go-to fly, the black wooly bugger. He didn’t get a measurement of it, but the picture sure looks nice. Now, armed with the knowledge of the techniques and flies that worked in the morning, we were ready to net some more fish in the afternoon.
Everyone fished in the park for the afternoon. Most guys headed back up to the spring. Matt and I headed down stream to fish below the spillway bridge and eventually below the campground bridge. We called it quits at 5 PM. It seemed guys who struggled a little in the morning were able to turn their luck around, with some good catches coming on dry flies. Other than those flies already mentioned, winners for the day were the big Hurt, small perdigons, cream-colored crane fly larva, and the elk hair caddis.
After a fun day on the water, the group decided on a delicious pizza buffet fellowship dinner in Salem. Their salad, soup, pasta, pizza and ice cream topped everyone off. We arrived back in the St. Louis area around 8:45 PM.
I can’t think of a better way to enjoy these perfect fall days. Don’t let them slip away. Post your own trip now and I guarantee you will have lots of guys jump aboard.
