March 6-7th, 2025 – Montauk trip
Normally, a 2-day trip (with one overnight) to Montauk in early spring would have not been of much note. But the fall catastrophic flood, which washed out the hatchery rearing pools and re-sculptured the Current River for miles, caused the cancellation of winter fishing at Monty. So when Steve Baker and the author (DanStag) decided to fish the park and Current River after opening day festivities were over, we didn’t know exactly what to expect.
Steve expressed a desire to fish Baptist Camp first. The cut bank area had washed out some, and the deep spot at the corner was more filled in than usual. Steve was nymphing and put on a bead egg under Eggstacy fly and later a Perdigon, and then a red zebra midge as he worked his way downstream.
I had been intent on stripping a brown leech on sinking line, which had worked well recently. I fished the stretch above and across from the parking lot at Baptist and didn’t do well. I hooked 4 or 5 and only landed 3 or so in a couple of hours (losing 2 flies and tippet to the tree branches). I moved down below the bend and got little love there either. Hardly satisfying.
Steve had worked this way downstream, and I saw him pick up a fish or two, not really killing them. But we were both happy to be back on the stream.
I decided to go to change techniques and go nymphing, since stripping a streamer wasn’t setting the world on fire. While rigging up and opening my fly box, a red ruby midge popped loose. I had previously experienced some good luck at Baptist with that fly, so I figured, “Why not?“. I set the indicator about 18” above the fly and didn’t change that setting for 2 days.
After a few casts in the faster water, I started picking up fish. Keeping in mind the washed-out hatchery miles above, many of the fish were in the 8-10” range. But after the previous 2 hours, I was happy to have some activity. By the time Steve worked back upstream to the car, I had landed 18 trout (by my estimation). I was feeling the love ! Steve reported that farther down the stream he went, it got too deep to wade across to the gravel bar. In that time he had picked up at least 4 or 5 fish.
We decided to go fish the park.The park staff had done a pretty good job of resting order to the chaos after the flood. Some picnic tables are gone as are the 2 cabins by the dam. Hard to even find evidence the cabins had once been there.
Acting on a tip from friends Don McCain and Jeff Duclous, on the previous Monday, we fished the narrow Catch and Release area above the bridge by the picnic tables. I kept on with the Ruby midge and later put on a grey scud at Jeff’s suggestion. Again, there were lots of little fish, but there were some huge ones (20+”) mixed in. We were able to land several of the nicer ones and had good numbers all along the C&R area until the 6:30 p.m siren ended a nice day of fishing and catching. I’d estimate over 60+ fish were caught, with probably a dozen “keepers”. Steve had walked up to the first access above the power lines and discovered the water there was too deep to wade he saw very little fish activity.
The next day, we did some exploring in the park. We drove up to the Spring and walked along the stream. We didn’t see many fish even in the relatively shallow water. We drove back to the steps at the “Blue hole” below the bend of the spring run. Walked along the stream in sneakers along the path and didn’t see all that many fish. Obviously, by high banking, I spooked some, but was disappointed by what I saw there. About 3/4 of the way down to the fast water by the cut bank, there was apparently a deep hole that had 4-5 fishermen around it. One of my previously favorite spots didn’t look so good anymore.
On the way to get our tags, we stopped at the Governor’s hole (aka Sid’s hole) behind the lodge. There must have been 3 thousand fish in there ! (hatchery escapees regretting their decision to leave a steady meal)
Steve decided to fish below the bridge by the playground down around the bend, which he did. Not wanting to crowd Steve, I walked up to fish below the dam in the frothy water, which is supposed to be good for scuds, which I had on from the night before. The fish seemed pretty universal in their disdain for what I had on, so I moved to the shallower water (like 1-2 feet deep) and worked my way down after switching to the red Ruby midge (to try to recreate yesterday’s magic).
There were lots of fish of various sizes to be seen there. This area normally had a lot of moss/vegetation there, but now it’s scoured out. I started getting bites at a pretty regular pace every 2-3 drifts. In the next 2 hours, I continued slowly working my way down, avoiding the 2 newly fallen trees hanging from the far side. As I waded down the middle of the stream, I caught fish in front of and behind me. It didn’t take long to lose count. I eventually switched over to a CK Nymph, a fly I’d tied and wanted to try out. It did not disappoint either.
Sure, I caught some 4-6” trout, but the vast majority of fish were in the 8-13” range, with at least 15 trout in the 15-18” range. I fished down to where I was into the Zebco fishers, and then got out and walked down below the bridge, hoping to catch Steve around the bend. I got into a spot where I pulled out a good 25 fish and later slowly moved downstream. The fish were podded up more than I had ever seen in the shallow, narrow water. There were easily another 30+ more fish taken in that area further down.
Finally, it was time to head back to the car and start the trip back home. There I saw Steve walking back from the stream back around the bend. When I asked how he did, he said, “ I musta caught 100 fish. I lost count after 30; there were so many !” Steve said he had the same experience as I had; some little guys, but a slew of nice fish that just kept coming.
A couple of lessons from that day: First, when a fly pops out of your box, be sure to give it a try. Who knows if somebody is trying to tell you something?
Secondly, there are often big fish lurking in among the smaller fish. Trout are known to have a definite pecking order, and big fish will often nose out a smaller fish for food since their calorie requirements are much higher.
We estimated we had each caught over 100 fish, losing count.
It was incredible fun and was a day we probably will never be able to duplicate again.
Submitted by DanStag
10 March 2025
