Welcome to Broken Bow @ The Lower Mt Fork River.

I got to the river early Tuesday morning about 2 am and shot over to the Evening Hole and did �ok� at the bottom half with 3 fish to 15 inches. Half way up the river, I walked up on a couple deer within 6 ft of them. Scared the [censored] out of me cause I was watching where I was walking with my head down.... I never knew they were there and they were not happy I was there either. They hauled butt and ran across to the other side of the river with huge splashes and ran up the side of the small cliff knocking down branches and boulders in the water. So I figured that stretch of the river was blown and moved on. I got up to the top half and pulled 2 19 inchers out on the first two casts. Then nothing for an hour, so I went to take a nap before day light to meet my client. My digital cams zoom lens is jammed so I had to use the iphone. Sorry for blurs.

Tuesday's Report:

Met my client ( Mike) at 6 am at the Meat Hole/Cold Hole spot. Went down to the end of the MH/CH pool and had him throwing 3 inch black Bead Head Woolly Buggers. Landed one nice brown about 17-18 inches and 2 15-18 inch Rainbows and one 2 lb Large Mouth Bass. Started to get day light, so I switched him over to the Beavers Bend Special Fly and and moved down just above first bend. About on the 4th to 5th cast he jumps a nice Rainbow about 15-17 inches and throws the fly. A couple casts later he lands a 4 inch Rainbow. Stay about 15 more mins there and had some hits and some 2 second hoop-ups and moved on to the 1st bend. Within a couple mins Mike hooked up again and it was a monster. He fought this one for about 15 mins and we never got a glimpse till the hook pulled free. -He cussed a lot on that one. He said he need to smoke his cigar and calm down and asked me to fish and he would watch for a bit. Landed a nice Rainbow and I found a school of about 15 Large Mouth Bass in the slack muddy water above the bend while I was looking for a brown. I still had a Hot Dog Jig I tie for Sand Bass, so I tied that on due to they didnt want a Woolly. Lost it on the next cast to the Tree God. Also caught a nice Rainbow way up the back of the cove.





Headed downstream and Mike hit the rapids with no bites and then headed to the bluffs. Drifted at diff depths for about 30 mins and got nothing. Went to the end of the pool and I spotted a group of 7 nice Rainbows at the top of the rapids. Drifted several diff flies at them to no avail. The bite just shut down all over the river on small flies.



I ran into a buddy on the trails while were walking down near the mouth of Lost Creek, and he said he had been there for 2 days and said the EH was void of fish for the most part. Traded some chit chat and moved just 30 yards down from the mouth of Lost Creek and drifted over the fish there and they never looked. So, I changes to an Olive Creature Fly I tie and he threw it at the first fish he saw, hooked up immediately. Landed that fish, which was 16 inches and fat, within 20 seconds. It hit the fly and basically rolled one time and came right to my hands, no a head shake, run, jump, or anything, -weird. Mike Held it up for a pic and it wiggled free and dropped into the drink and took off. Ended up landing quite a few Rainbows at the upper half of the EH and one little baby Large Mouth Bass. The fish in the pic below also wiggled free but he got control of the situation and took the pose finally. After the picture I saw the red mark on its jaw, nothing on the outside, but on the inside was a diff story. There was a size 8 ish treble hook with power bait on it. Removed it and handed her back to Mike to release. The hooks had all the barbs still out. The line connected to it was about 20 lb braided line. -Terrible.



As he was walking over to deeper water with current to do some CPR, that one also wiggled free out of his hands and took off and jumped out of the water about 2 feet! Wish she jumped when she was on his line. He said hes not one with pictures anyways , so I just took a pic of some of the fish if I was not near water, I didnt want to drop the phone in the drink.







I walked down to the road from halfway in the EH and saw only 3 widely spaced trout, all 15's and under. After I walked back, we headed to Lost Creek and landed about 6-7 fish, from 7 inches to nice 22 inch Rainbow. Decided to go back to the bluffs with the Creature ready, and hit the group of trout we saw earlier. He had some follow it and nip at it but they would not fully take the fly. Moved upstream and hit the bluffs again and got the Creature to the bottom and caught probably 7-8 fish with an average of 17 inches. Called it a day and went to eat lunch. Got back and only saw 4-5 anglers as we drove by the Eh and LC. Hit the well named Cardiac Hill and landed only 2 fish. The other guys down there all said the same thing, -�No Fish�. So we tried for another 30 mins and got some short strikes on the BB Special and started our walk back. Hit the last pool before going up to the truck and he landed a 16 inch Rainbow and creek chub. Went back to the Evening Hole and Mike grabbed a fold out chair. I asked him if he was going to sit and fish with a crazy look, and he said, �No, Im going to follow you around and watch you fish, act like I am not even here.� I asked him 2 times and he said hes my shadow. There was not one other angler on the river at 4 pm so I just power fished each pool with the Creature fly fan casting each spot no longer than 5 mins and moving. Ended up with (11) 16 inch plus Rainbows. If they would go to look at the Creature but would not bite, I would tie on a small flashy Woolly Bugger and they would usually nail that as soon as it got wind of it.



For an all day expedition, Mike landed 25+ fish and lost 6 that were on the line but shook or jumped off. -Never saw another Brown.





Wednesday's Report:

On Wednesday, I got up and hit the river at sun-up on my own. Fished LC and the EH area and only landed 7 with only 2 under 15 inches and one that was 19 inches. The river was being very difficult and the wind picked up. Most people were only catching 2-3 all day. Shared some of my hand tied Woolly Buggers for some of the guys not catching any and that did not have any W. Buggers.... One guy from New Mexico, caught a nice Rainbow on his 3rd cast w/ one of my flies. It was his 1st trout ever..... Pretty neat to see playing it. Hes hooked now. Later I went to check out Zone ll and see what was up there. Stayed 20 mins and saw one fish. Walked the banks and never saw another one...... Left the river at 3:45 and I was back at the house in Plano 6:10 PM. If you like to fish for trout, a 2 � hours drive from basically Dallas, to catch some nice trout, is not not that bad at all.....



If you are wanting to book a trip to Broken Bow, please go thru my website and not in a PM. Thanks!

Till next week,

Tight Lines.

Wow. Great report. Thanks for sharing. Headed up Dec 2 and 3.

Wow! nice report! I'm one of the guys that catch 2-3 a day and lament that the fish ain't biting-p-

I love that place, but have only had the opportunity to go once. Sure wish I could go back. Lovely place. Congrats on the fish, and the peace and quiet.

Not very familiar with Mountain Fork... what is the Meat hole/Cold Hole area? Is the bluffs the area upstream from Evening Hole?

Spillway Creek

Bluffs



moss growning on the bluffs

Evening Hole

Just awesome pics and report. Thanks for sharing. The wife and I are going to be in East Texas next summer. Maybe we will have to visit this area.

Those pics make me hate my job right now! This time last year I was working in nearby Valliant, so I was only 45 min away.

Southeast Oklahoma is a gorgeous place!

Couple more pics.

Very cool. Thanks for the pics and report. I need to get up there one of these days.

Yours is an excellent site. Great pictures and information. I've been fishing the Mountain Fork River since '02. I landed a six pound Rainbow on my first trip. I was there last October when I caught one of the Golden Rainbows. It was around ten inches. I'm going to try to catch one to match the six pound Rainbow but I think I need to leave my 7 year old grandson at home or tie a rope to him. He fell in the river on that last trip and if I hadn't had a one piece rod for him to grab I would have had to get wet. There was little danger of him drowning(he's been "drown proofed") but I have heard that the Golden Rainbow is shy.

great pictures i enjoy looking at them, ive talked about making a trip maybe in the spring?