I'm very grateful to have a Girlfriend who as a late birthday gift to me has booked a cabin near Smithville, OK on the Upper Mountain Fork River for several days this Thanksgiving holiday. My game plan is to wake early and drive down to Beavers Bend State Park and fish for trout until about lunchtime, hopefully being able to fish what was Zone II (depending on flow) or Spillway Creek/Lost Creek/Evening Hole; then in the afternoons fish for smallmouth in the river near the cabin.

My GF is new to fly fishing and she's done pretty well on the Little Missouri as well as the Llano, so my goal is to get her into some trout and see if she wants to continue fishing in the afternoon. Any suggestions on which stretches of Zone I to fish that would help boost her ego? I haven't been there in a couple of years so your help is needed.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing (shopping free holiday)

Michael

What a great gift from your gf!

Thanksgiving should be pretty crowded in the park, so LC/EH may be a tough place to start. It gets pretty packed, even on non-holiday weekends. Maybe your gf wouldn't mind, but I'd imagine it would be stressful to be surrounded by other fly fishers when she's trying to learn.

I started my fiance out on the spillway creek. She had never been fishing before (fly, or otherwise). SC worked out well though, wading isn't too tough, and there are plenty of spots to park her in (even when crowded)that never really require much of a cast. High sticking a nymph+midge dropper rig was a pretty painless of a way to get into it for her. Threw a pink indicator on and she had a blast drifting that thing around.

Have to put a little disclaimer in though... Now that she's seen that she can catch fish without really casting much, it's been a lot harder for me to talk her into learning to cast

when my GF goes with me, she loves the woolly bugger. olive or rust color. you can see it in the water and you can see the fish chase it down and eat it it. usually brings in the bigger fish as well.....easy to use, and a bad cast can catch one - Have fun!

Thanks for the information. My GF says she's looking forward to "out fishing" me (again). Oh to have the good luck of a beginner, again!

Michael

Micheal,always let her outfish you.Dont mess up a good thing.Just dont raise the tip out of the water and shake them off.What a dream.lol

We spent Thanksgiving at Broken Bow a couple of years back. We fished Thursday and had the park almost to ourselves. Friday the park was significantly more crowded. Saturday we were just able to fish in the morning, but the park was a zoo that day. EVERYONE was fishing Saturday.

Thursday was a nice peaceful day in the park. Also, the park resturant had a Thanksgiving meal at lunch that was Great! I don't know if they still do that meal, but it might be worth checking.

Rex

I've charged the camera battery, packed both good pairs of sunglasses, sorted the flies, she's done the grocery shopping and meal planning and is already packed... now only if I could make today pass by more quickly... then I'd be set.

My GF is already smack talking about out fishing me -- we're a bit competitive but in a good way. I'll think she'll enjoy the Beavers Bend area of the Ouachitas even more than she did at Murfreesboro last spring.

Is the swim beach area worth checking out? I've never seen anyone fish there in the times I've gone.

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Michael

Hey Michael,

What day do you plan on heading out? I'm heading out there tonight and will be fishing all day Wednesday. First time I'll be out at the lmf. Maybe I'll see you guys out there.

Have a great holiday!

Todd Hey

We're heading up from the Austin area first thing Wednesday morning. We have to check into the cabin at 3 p.m. in Smithville, so we might fish the upper river on the property to unwind and on Thanksgiving fish in the park, as well as on Friday.

Just be careful, the river and creek in the park are very slippery, try to avoid walking on the big flat rocks. Most importantly remember to have fun!

Michael

stick to the evening hole and spillway creek. the evening hole will be better for newbies. not a lot of trees to snag on.

Will do any good camping spots around? I was going to stay at the Hochatown Lodge but getting a campsite would be cheaper.

Thannks,
Todd

A campsite would also be cleaner.

Everyone wasn't kidding when they said the park would be crowded. My GF and I fished for about three hours both on Thursday and Friday, had a few strikes and brought a couple to the net. I don't recall seeing anyone with much luck at Evening Hole, or further up Spillway Creek -- crowds and a blue bird sky don't make for relaxed, yet hungry trout.

We stayed at a cabin about 8.5 miles north and east of Smithville on a decent dirt road. Very pretty and will be worth going back to in the summer to fish for smallies in that area. I would strongly recommend Cloud Nine cabins for a relaxing get away.

We headed home on Saturday morning, going via Murfreesboro, AR to fish the Little Missouri. I was shocked to find the water green with algae at Riverside Park, and slightly less so at the two nearby access points. By this time we were more in drive than we were in fish mode and made our way back to Austin arriving before just before 9 p.m.

The weekend away was a great birthday gift, and even better was when my GF asked, "When are we going on another fly fishing road trip?" Guess I'll have to make plans to visit my friends in Heber Springs, as well as Eureka Springs...

Michael

You were near the town of Beachton, if you can call it that, which is on the Upper Mountain Fork River, it is a great river for fishing smallies. Bring your trout rods and some crawfish patterns and you will clean up. Some big fish in that river but you will need a kayak, if you guys want to meet up when you come and float it, let me know. Last spring when my brother, dad and friends made a float trip, my brother hooked into a 4lb smallie that royally kicked his a**. Numerous spotted bass were caught in the 2lb range and they are a blast!

I was one of those folks that was short on luck both at the Evening Hole and Spillway Creek. On Saturday we went down to Rereg Dam and totally tore into them, though. It was interesting to me that all our fish, landed or otherwise, were on olive buggers. Midges, prince nymphs, gold ribbed hare's ear - I fished all those and got nothing...nothing but lookers, no takers.

Kind of off topic, but we hit Abendigo's for dinner on Saturday night. I highly recommend the place. Great steaks, great music, and you can bring your own liqour and wine (they sell beer).

I had an excellent day of fishing on Wednesday right before Thanksgiving day. I ended up landing 8 rainbows should've had 8 more but couldn't hook them all. The river was quiet and the weather was great. I fished from 7am to 2pm that day and couldn't have asked for a better day since that was my 1st time to visit and it was a very short visit but I will be coming back very soon. I would post some photos but don't know how to do it. They were really hitting the olive WB.

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1st report I've heard from z3 in a while... glad you had success and thanks for letting us know how it was. You fish the falls at all? Run into any browns while you were down there?

Didn't make it down to the falls this time around. I probably would've, though, if Rereg wouldn't have been so absolutely empty. As for browns - didn't see any. I didn't even see any of the bigger rainbows down at Rereg...just those little 11 inch guys that are all over the place.

For what its worth, the last time I was down around Presbytarian Falls I saw 2 *very* big browns cruising around. I couldn't get either one to give me the time of day, but they were certainly there.