8/2/21 Current River Floatn’ & Fishin’
Taking advantage of an unusually moderate August day, FATC members Al Harper, John Muckerman, and Russ Wagoner were joined by friend and (ongoing) prospective FATC member Ken Hagedorn for a floating and fishing excursion down the upper Current River 8/2/21. We decided to proceed from Baptist Camp Access and take out about 8 river miles later at Cedar Grove Access. While the temperature was barely more than 80 degrees, the water flow, as usual this time of year, was a bit anemic at just 247 cfs and a gauge depth of just under a foot. The seasonal skinny water together with recent tree and limb debris in many sections — including a couple of tree trunks that stretched completely across the river — meant that we had to read the water well and be prepared to drag over a few spots. Nevertheless most of the float wasn’t too taxing and the surroundings included the rustic beauty and peaceful intimacy that keeps floaters returning to this Ozark National Scenic Riverways system year after year. All caught trout or smallmouth and the crystal clear waters revealed more fish than any of us could recall seeing on earlier trips. However, as we all know, seeing fish and catching fish are two different things. As usual, the trout remained wary and selective in what they ate. Early in the float Al connected with a bow on brown dry fly but it was a little further downriver before others began to score strikes on beaded nymphs. John caught a good bow or two in the deep aqua holes the river is famous for on a nymph and later managed to land a beautiful brown he displayed in the accompanying photo. Russ got the biggest fish of the day when sight casting to what ended up being a very nice bow. He was downriver and out of sight when he battled the big boy so we only got to hear his verbal recounting of the how it all went down, but he snapped photos that proved the deed. Ken snagged and landed, a couple of browns and a smallmouth and enjoyed, as we all did, a nice float in his nimble kayak. At one point we grabbed a late lunch and heard each other’s exploits with a background of rushing water and our feet in the cool spring water.In fact, there was so much good water and so many likely looking places to cast that we finally had to forego trying spots and just paddle on down to the takeout. The exertion of covering the miles and spending hours lost in the concentration of fishing caught up with us as we reached Cedar Grove leaving us very glad we paid a local outfitter to shuttle our vehicles for us so we didn’t have to retrieve them on the maze of circuitous country roads. We were able to just load watercraft and gear and simply depart for a reliably delicious meal at Missouri Hick on the way back. Driving down and floating and fishing 8 miles makes for a long day, but it was rewarding enough for us to talk about the possibility of floating the next section of the Current before the end of the summer as we finished Bar-B-Que and homemade pie. We’ll just have to see if we, and perhaps other FATC members, can make that happen.
