Tag Archives: Craig Peterson

Montauk State Park (Licking, Missouri) — December 31, 2004

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This was the annual first trip of the new year for Craig Peterson and I. This was the 3rd annual New Year’s trip that we have taken, and hopefully it will continue well in to the future. Craig doesn’t get out as much as he used to, due to some job promotions and climbing the corporate ladder, so I let him choose the water. He chose Montauk based upon its close proximately to St. Louis (i said, tongue in cheek). We both needed to be back in St. Louis by about 3pm due to some New Year’s Eve festivities that we had previously planned.

I have fallen a little behind on fishing reports as of now (I have a couple more to write still), so this one will be short. We fished mainly the C&R area and the area around Hatchery Office. We picked up fish on a variety of flies, including some midges and mohairs. But the park was crowded, as that is what a 70 degree day in December would give you. It was very packed and it was tough to find some water to fish. Finally at about 11:00am we found a pod of fish and had a complete blast. We each caught about 25 fish in 2 hours or so and had at least 15 doubles. It was one of those times that we could do no wrong. We were laughing so hard, because the water we were fishing was completely overlooked by the hordes of other anglers. It was a good day and a great way to ring out the year. Hopefully 2005 is as chalk full of fly fishing stuff as 2004 was. Tight lines and fish hard.

Maramec Spring Trout Park (St. James, Missouri) — November 13, 2004

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I fished Maramec Springs Trout park on saturday for opening day of C&R Fishing with Craig Peterson and Mark Kotcher. It was a beautiful day, which of course brought out the crowds. As far as C&R season goes, I found the park very crowded. The water was up and murky, so it made sight fishing a little tougher. Everyone seemed to congregate in the places I like to fish — most everyone with a fly rod other than Craig, Kotcher, and myself were throwing big glo-balls and catching fish at ease. We did not venture to the dark side, but the thoughts did venture our mind. I was able to squeeze out about 12 fish within the last hour of fishing on an BH Olive FlashABugger (size 10). I hooked an absolutely beautifully orange brown trout (which I find rather unusually at Maramec Springs) that would have been close to 18″ but didn’t get a good hook set. All in all it was a good 4 hours of fishing. We were back in St. Louis by 2pm. I didn’t take my camera out of my bag this trip — so no photos (sorry). Not much to report this trip.

Norfork River, White River, Spring River (Somewhere in Arkansas) — October 22 – 24, 2004

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I am writing this report more than a month after the trip, as I was waiting for the new OzarkChronicles web site update. The trip started off with Craig Peterson and I leaving for the Norfork River around 12pm on Thursday, October 21. We got down to the Ramada Inn in Mountain Home, Arkansas just in enough time to give John Wilson (www.flyfishingarkansas.com) a call and inquire about the fishing and a place to watch the Cardinals vs. Astros NLCS game 7. We ended up at the BackForty Bar & Grill and watched the Cards to victory while enjoying a great burger and some cold beers. We headed back to the hotel room in preparation of David Stinnett driving in from Lewisville, Texas. David showed up about 11pm and after quickly unpacking and checking the generation on the Norfork, we opted to do some night fishing at Quarry Park.

We got to the river around 11:30pm and suited up, and headed towards the river. Not being on the river for 30 minutes, the horn started blowing and the water came up. During the rising water, David hooked up with his biggest brown trout to date of about 16″. As we were standing around the boat ramp waiting to make a decision, another angler made his way up to us. It was Troy Miller, an internet acquaintance from John Wilson’s message board. We talked like we were old pals for at least an hour, during which the water came back down. We all decided to fish a little more (even though falling water normally means no fish), and I gave the riffles in front of Dry Run Creek a try. I was rewarded with a nice 21″ brown trout, which made my trip and was the reason I came down. About 3:30pm we all met back up at the truck and decided to head back to the hotel room and get some sleep, since it was a long day.

On Friday, we rose about 10am to find that the water had been running for some time that morning and after a quick conversation with John Wilson it was decided that they were probably going to run it all day. We ate breakfast at the Country Kettle, and then decided to check out the fly shop and then go check out the White River dam area (since I have never seen that water). We walked around for a bit, and it was crowded, but there was some wadeable water on 3 generators so we decided to suite up and fish the area around the trout dock in the State Park. After about 2 hours of fishing, I found a nice incline on which to take an afternoon siesta.

After a shower, we met up with John Wilson for some drinks at the BackForty bar until about 11:30pm on Friday night. The only good that came of that night, other than the great conversation and friends getting together and telling lies was that the other guys learned how to say “Put it on Tucker’s tab.” All in all it was a great time, no matter what the bar tab.

They ran water all day on Friday and were still running water when we got back to the hotel room from the bar, and we made the decision to head over to the Spring River in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas to ensure that we got some fishing done. The Spring River diddn’t disappoint, and on Saturday we caught over 80 fish between the 3 of us (Craig caught over 40). We fished out the river for an hour on Sunday and then headed home. I am forgetting a lot about the Spring River, but it has definitely become a great standby in place of the tailwaters if they are running water. There is talk that we may head to Wisconsin to chase steelhead and lake run browns instead of doing Arkansas in October (due to water generation), we will see………..

Current River (Licking, Missouri) — April 16 – 18, 2004

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This weekend was a mini get together for members of the St. Louis Fly Tying Group on Yahoo, and some other select St. Louis area fly fisherman. I had been looking forward to this trip, since it was almost a month since I had been on the water. The trip had started out to be one that McClane and I were going to leave on Thursday night and arrive down on the Current River late that evening — instead McClane didn’t have a chance to be late……because he cancelled on this trip due to “work” commitments. I scrambled to find someone to ride down with me in the maiden fishing voyage of the 18ft travel trailer I had bought on eBay last november. The trailer has proved to be a little too much weight for my Blazer in its first outing to Washington State Park (near Desoto, MO) in March, so I borrowed my brother’s Tahoe for this trip since there was a ton of Ozark highway miles.

I finally got Mark Kotcher to ride down with me and by 8am on Friday morning, we were on our way. Towing the trailer with the Tahoe was night and day when compared to towing it with my Blazer. Gas mileage sucks while towing, but the accomodations were nice. We finally got down to the EaglesPark Campground in the Trophy Trout Management Area on the Current River, just outside of Montauk State Park around 11:30am or so. Several other people had already arrived and were on the water. We quickly set up camp, suited up, and hit the Current River at Baptist Camp and fished upstream. We ran in to Illinois bamboo rodmaker, Ron Caimi, taking a lunch break at his vehicle and said our hellos (he was part of the group that was staying at the campground and one of the tents were his) he informed us that the fish had really turned off around 11am, but the morning brought a ton of stockers on caddis imitations. The weather was unseasonably hot and the temperature was near 90 with bright blue skies, when we finally got on the water and started the trek upstream. They had previously stocked the river with several thousand Brown Trout a week earlier, but the fish were not anywhere to be seen in these section of river. As we worked our way upstream, Mark Kotcher picked up two Brown Trout on an elk hair caddis and I missed one fish. I was not feeling well on the water today (probably a combination of allergies and dehydration) and was pretty set on just walking upstream to the bluffs and fishing. We never made it up to the bluffs, and fishing was so slow and crowded that we quit fishing around 4pm and waded back to the Tahoe and decided to check out the other accesses and then head back to camp. There was a ton more cars at the Baptist Camp Access, complete with a group of guys swimming in the big hole in front of the access. At Parkers Hollow, we only saw one car and I didn’t think the water looked very attractive so back to camp we went to wait for everyone else to arrive (I drank a ton of Gatorade and actually took a nap and tied some flies — I was pretty anti-social on Friday). The others started to arrive around 5pm and set up camp and Craig made it down around 6pm.

The fishing was much of the same on Saturday morning, several of the guys in the group set out to float from Tan Vat to Parkers Hollow (including Mark Kotcher — who was trying out his pontoon boat for the first time), while Craig and I got on the water early and parked at Tan Vat access (with the plan to fish down to Baptist and back and make the trip last a full day). We got to the access around 7am and there was already a ton of cars there and as many people suiting up and getting ready to hit the water. Craig and I were already suited up so we made our way across the pool and high tailed it down river. I picked up two browns and Craig picked up one brown prior to 10am, but then the fishing just shut down. We fished down past the bluffs and were frusturated and hot — the weather was near 90 again with bright blue skies and there were more people on the river than I had ever seen. We decided to head back upstream and fish some of the runs that we had skipped over when trying to stay ahead of all the other anglers. It paid off, as I foul hooked (it was hooked underneath the mouth — so is it really a foul hook) a beautiful Brown Trout on a leech pattern but lost the fish (it was faul hooked anyway right……LOL). We both agreed to hit the car for some liquids and check out some of the other accesses and campgrounds. I took Craig to Parkers Hollow and there were at least 10 cars parked down there, complete with about 4 anglers cleaning trout in the river as we pulled in. We then hit Cedar Grove Access (man that is quite a drive from Parkers Hollow) and watched as a school bus load full of people launched at least 10 canoes on the water. On the way back to camp, we checked out Baptist Camp Access and were amazed at the amount of people and cars that were parked there. We grabbed some food and headed in to the state park so that Craig could call his wife. We were both frusturated and didn’t really feel like fishing (afterall, today was a carbon copy of yesterday) so we checked out the campground in Montauk (only 3 campsites not occupied in the whole place) and were back at camp by 2pm. After a nap and some rehydration we were tying flies in the camper as the other anglers whom had had much of the same luck (or worse) than we had made there way back.

Saturday night was when the main festitivities were to start, complete with a feast for kings and a huge bonfire (bonfire compliments of Dave Dawson — proprietor of EaglesPark Campground). We sat around the campfire and compared notes from the day as we waited for the fire to get just hot enough to start cooking. It was then that I realized we had assembled a great group of guys together to share a campfire and a river with. Gavin Poppen was in charge of cooking the meat for tonights dinner (18lbs of Pork Steaks from Mattickers Meat Market in St. Louis), Dan Burleigh prepared some kick-ass chili, and I assembed the italian salad that McClane had sent down (he volunteered to bring a salad — before he knew he couldn’t go). It was a great meal with great guys. We continued drinking until I went to bed about 2am, and some people were still up at 3am (when nature called for me). Most of what went on Saturday night, is best left at “You had to be there.”

1st Annual Campout on the Current Attendee List:

  1. Gavin Poppen
  2. Craig Stevens
  3. Keith Stevens
  4. Bill Peterburgo
  5. Craig Peterson
  6. Adam Smith
  7. John Nesselrode
  8. Dan Burleigh
  9. Andrew Arnold
  10. Matt Tucker
  11. Ron Caimi
  12. Brian Meiss
  13. Mark Kotcher
  14. Dave Dawson
  15. Norm Crisp
  16. Joe Weber
  17. Tom Hargrove
  18. Gene Horbelt
  19. Keith Gamn
  20. Several Other Unidentified People

1st Annual Campout on the Current Top 10 List

  1. Norm Crisp’s wisdom on getting older (Never Underestimate a fart)
  2. Gavin Poppen’s 6 foot bamboo rod
  3. Mark Kotcher’s maiden voyage of the personal pontoon
  4. Camp Tucker (and the fact it only has 2 windows that open)
  5. John Nesselrode & Craig Peterson’s humor
  6. The 60′ bonfire
  7. Tom Hargrove’s m-80 and the general burning of stuff
  8. Cutthroat Beer & Little Yeoman Beer
  9. Matt Tucker’s BBQ smeared all over his body
  10. Dave Dawson’s Hospitality (stay at EaglePark Campground when you are down there)

This trip was not about catching fish (seems like I would say that, since I only caught two fish), and we didn’t even fish on Sunday morning. Actually Mark Kotcher and I got up around 6am and packed up camp and headed for home (after stopping off at PJ’s Diner in Licking for breakfast). This trip reminded both Craig and I why we do not fish during the warmer months — the fish didn’t bite as well; and the river was crowded. We both left this trip, thinking that we probably won’t fish again until the fall (unless there is a cool day with some rain that just begs for us to be on the water) and spend the summer tying flies. Even though there was disappointment in the fish cooperation, I will be back for the campout next year. Until the next hook-up……………

Montauk State Park (Licking, Missouri) — January 18, 2004

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This trip started out a little differently than most of my trips, my fishing partner Craig was on time for a change. Not only was he at Denny’s near I-44 and Bowles at 5:00am, he showed up 10 minutes early. I was in complete shock at the start of this trip. We were also supposed to be fishing with Brad Guenther today, but as is Brad’s tendency — he was a no call no show. Fishing, or not fishing I should say, with Brad Guenther is kind of comical in the sense that he always says he can make it and never does. We waited until 5:00am and we were off — figuring that on the off chance that Brad calls my cell phone, we will turn around and get him. He never called. The temperature when we left Denny’s in Fenton was 36 degrees and the wind had just really started to kick up. After gas and gatorade we arrived at Montauk by 7:30am and were suiting up in one of the nice warm restrooms. The temperature was still in the 30’s at that point and it really wasn’t all that cold — but we still needed to layer. We had just finished suiting up and rigging up when the whistle blew and it was time to fish. The first hole we fished (the deep hole below the C&R area) didn’t produce any fish for me for the hour that I fished it in the morning with my leech (there were stocker sized fish rising all over the place, but I was after the big fish that I saw swimming in that hole). I opted to head up to the C&R area and check it out, while Craig put on a #18 grizzly adams and proceeded to slay the fish on the top. Up in the C&R area there were a ton of LARGE fish and they were feeding like crazy. I put on my Tan / Ginger Mohair leech and went to town. I proceeded to hook up fish with ease in the water. My first rainbow was of decent size (at least 16″) and fought great. I also had a hook up with a HUGE Brown — with out a doubt the biggest fish that has taken my fly in Missouri. I threw my leech against the far bank and took one strip for it to hit the current, and then the whale of a fish came out of nowhere and inhaled my fly and then laid on its side like it was trying to get out of water only it was too big to make much of it and snapped my 6x tippet without hesitation. Needless to say my heart was pounding after that encounter. I proceeded to have lots of hookups on a variety of leeches and wooly buggers, with the end result being very few brought to hand. I threw white mohair leeches, black mohair leeches, brown mohair leeches, olive wooly buggers, brown wooly buggers, and black wooly buggers — but my Tan / Ginger Leech and my ginger sculpin seemed to produce the best. The highlight of the fish I landed in the C&R area was a 20″+ Brown that took a tan/ginger mohair leech. This fish was a huge accomplishment, because I sight fished to this fish all the way and set the hook as soon as the fish opened its mouth and landed the fish without the aid of a net or anyone else. After snapping a few pics of the fish it was time to revive it and off it swam — I just wish someone was there to share in the excitement. So I reeled up and went to show Craig the photos and was duly pumped. He had continued having luck with the grizzly adams on top in the deep pool and I opted to finish out the day in this hole sight fishing to the rainbows that were “spawning” in the riffle water at the head of the pool. It was pretty cool, spotting the fish and then tossing the leech up and high sticking it down to the fish and watching them turn on the leech and inhale it. The fish today were really aggressive and were hammering my leech and sculpin — I started the day with 8 tan/ginger leeches and ended the day with none of them left (breaking each of them off on a fish). Craig fished down to the hatchery office and back with a black wooly bugger and picked up several fish. In total I brought to hand 9 fish (with allot of LDR’s and a few foul hooked fish not included) and each of those fish were over 14″ in length. Craig brought to hand 13 fish and experienced the same thing with regards to nice healthy sized fish. We stopped fishing about 12:45 and in total caught 23 fish with each of us catching a fish of 18″ or better (Craig’s biggest was about 18″ or 19″ and mine was over 20″). The weather would not make up its mind what it wanted to do today — it would be sunny with no wind or it was cloudy with a steady breeze that made casting difficult. It was definitely a good trip and it was good to share the water with Craig again. Tight Lines….