Montauk Trout Park Fly Fishing

I sure don't want to present myself as the expert on this area. I have been to this park probably five or six times. Of the parks, I do enjoy it the most, especially when I can get there on a weekday. A week or so ago, I fished it with my younger son, he concentrating on the bait area while I stayed exclusively in the "fly area."

I put fly area in quotes, because if you are not familiar with the park, spin fishing is also allowed here, but there are restrictions regarding terminal tackle allowed. Generally speaking, there is no negative interaction between spin and fly fishermen here as I have heard there can be in some places. Some of the spin fishermen here have shared pointers with me that even though I am using a fly rod, I have found very helpful. The caveat I will throw in is that there seems to often be a lack of stream etiquette in the parks.

This lack of etiquette seems to be equally displayed by spin and fly fishermen. I do not have a confrontational personality, so when someone comes thrashing through the stream right by where I am fishing, or casts directly into the area where I am drifting my flies, I usually just move on. I always hope they get the idea, but doubt they do.

More often, folks are polite and stay an acceptable distance, and sometimes pleasant conversations ensue. Last time I met a couple of retired gentlemen from Illinois. One of them had grown children who lived in Alaska and Colorado - both places where I have lived. We shared stories of streams, lakes, and ocean areas where we had both fished. He was spin fishing, but was also a fly fisherman and shared some advice on what to try. Because I didn't know the flies he was talking about I nodded like I did, but remembered the names so I could learn about them later. I wasn't having much luck (it was slow for everyone) and when I told him I wasn't sure I was gonna catch anything, he said "sure you will."

We parted ways and a bit later I took a break. I went back to my truck, rested awhile and re-hydrated. I then tied some new tippet and headed back out. I got to my favorite hole and started cycling through the options I have had luck with in the past. This time I used a strike indicator, which normally I avoid. First I went through my offerings at a depth where I was just ticking the bottom. Then I shortened up to a depth of about 24". When I tried this with an orange and red glo-ball I started getting meager taps. Ten minutes of this later, the fish for reasons inexplicable to me began inhaling my offering.

Some trips at this park I have limited in a very short time (4 fish). Other times I have had to work at it a bit. I enjoy the latter more. My thought on being successful in the fly area is to find and area that I know or can see (depends on clarity of water) and keep trying things until I find what is working. In these parks, I am convinced that generally, fish in a given area are just waiting for the right offering at the right time. It really is like a switch gets turned on and then off.

For information on the park, visit their official site at Montauk State Park Official Site. For more information on trout fishing in Missouri, including trout parks, visit Missouri Trout Fishing.