Ozark Chronicles Outing (Current) 2/12 - 13/2005

Where: Montauk and Current River Trophy Area Ozark Chronicles Group Outing. A lot of planning went into this trip. Basically a bunch of guys from the Ozark Chronicles message board all met up for a trip to Montauk state park. Attendees were as follows: Matt Tucker, Tiny1351(Brent Hinds), FiveWeight(Mike Goldenberg), Norm Crip, bgreer(Brian Greer), Sharps(Vic Shaffercuter), FliTrap(Pat), Ron Cami, Lee, a couple others and myself. Brian and I reserved two cabins that were connected to each other up on the hill across from the main park office. The cabins were nothing fancy but had a full kitchen with utensils. However don't count on them having everything you need to cook with. I arrived around 6:00pm on friday afternoon. Five guys were already there and had some brats and soup on. I had brought all of the firewood in myself, so after we unloaded it we proceeded to get a fire going. We sat around the fire talking fishing and drinking a couple of beers. Matt and Brent showed up around 10:30pm. Saturday morning we cooked a big breakfeast consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and hashbrowns. After getting everything cleaned up everyone got ready to fish. A couple guys went to Parker Hollow, a couple to Tan Vat and some to Baptist and a few fished the park. Brent and I headed up to the catch and release area to fish. A buddy he knows from feather craft was going to meet up with us as well. I think his name was Jeff, but I can't remember. The three of us fished in the park around the main bridge for a while. I managed to pick up about six fish on an EHC just above the bridge in the smaller channel. From there we went back to the cabins for some beer and lunchables. The remainder of the day we fished from the end of the park to Tan Vat access. I found a small riffle section with some caddis and a few fish rising. after missing the same fish five times I finally hooked him on a CDC caddis. I ended up picking up two more fish in the same general area on crackle backs. However I should have landed more because I missed about a dozen strikes. Rainbow from behind Montauk Hatchery Office 
The three of us made it back to the cabin around 5:00pm. The remainder of the night we cooked up hash brown potatoe casserole, steaks, shrimp, beans and beer bread. It was an absolute feast. Everyone chipped in something and it worked perfectly. It rained about all night so everyone stayed in. We sat around having a couple of brews sharing fishing stories and adventures. Pat aka FliTrap is an excellent fly tier and he shared his immense collection of flies. Caimi also showed everyone one of his hand made bamboo rods. Which I may add are a work of art. I do believe I would be too scared to actually fish one myself. Maybe when I get older.
Tiny1351 slicing up the BEER BREAD he just pulled from the oven. It was Great!  Sunday morning everyone was up around 7:00am. We started the morning off with another big breakfast. After eating everyone started packing up to either fish or head on home. Norm, FiveWieght and myself stuck around and saw everyone off. About 10:00am the three of us headed down to Tan Vat access and collect a bunch of bugs. By far the majority of the sample was caddis larve. We also found one large Stonefly Nymph (which is pictured in the sidebar) as well as scuds, mayfly nymphs, sow bug, cranefly larve, sculpins, and a tiny underwater earthworm (san juan). Norm and FiveWeight collecting bugs below TanVat Access 
After the bug collection we headed down to Baptist access. Norm was going take us down to Ashley Creek. I've floated and fished around Ashley but I had never walked there from Baptist Access. Suprisingly the walk was fairly easy as there were trails through the woods that we followed. Hopefully when I go back I can find them again. When we got to the riffles just above Ashley the caddis were ovioposting and there was an occasional rise. Norm fished for just a bit and then said he had to leave. FiveWeight and I continued to fish till about 3:00pm. I ended with four browns landed. It should have been more but I was having a problem hooking fish. All in all it was a great trip and I hope to fish and hang with all of these guys again. Nice Brown caught on EHC above Ashley Creek on the Current River