(One of Brians many catches)

The last couple of weeks have been great at the almighty Lower Mountain Fork River, as usual. Crazy numbers of Rainbows have been landed within my vicinity. Sent clients home with memories of new Personal Best's and lots of great memories. They have not stocked Lost Creek for a month now and is almost void of fish. There are some but no where near the numbers or even Trophy fish for even the baitchunkers to come poach out. Good news is "Treasure" ( a fish I named) is still alive! This is a 27-28 inch Female Rainbow Trout. The spot she is in, is very over looked and people come within 4 ft of her all day long and never look at this spot. If someone saw" Treasure", they did they might pee themselves. I hooked her a month ago in the Evening Hole in 2 ft of water and she just lifted her head out of the water and shook her head, and hook came flying back at me. I will remember that one for awhile. I see her almost every trip now. Showed her to Brad, Wednesday morning. Should have seen his face, classic. -He had just landed his 1st fish of the day five mins before and it was a baby 4 inch Bow. Then, to see his face, when a 27 inch fish laid up in a spot 3 ft from us. Treasure has gotten very smart now. A lot of times she will put her nose in some brush and sit there all day not allowing you to cast anything at her. Even the bait fisherman wont find her. Live on Girl!







Two Days Ago Report 12/20/2011:



Tuesday, in the we morning hours, about 4 am, I get up, get in the truck, and head to my office for the day at The Lower Mountain Fork River. To my wonderful joy I could not see more than 30 yards in front of me as I walked out the front door. A major thick fog bank had come through over night. Terrible and scary to drive in. Expecially when you are trying to stare at the road, and you see a cow wizz by on the side of the road grazing. But it got better, a mile down, another one! All this on 109. Then to add to that. 1 mile from 70 on 109 going south, there is a goat doing the same thing. Im sure some of ya'll have see the big white cow. I see it every other trip. Scary...



Got to the river about 10 mins late and rigged up the guys and hit the river to learn to roll cast. They both were Bass Fisherman, so the habit of throwing thier arms was collaping thier loops a lot. Fixed that and started catching fish. They caught a doz or so each after some bass fishing sets. Broke a couple off at first and then learned to use more finesse. Tuesday the average fish was 12-13 inchers that were mainly feeding. For the first part of the morning, almost every cast was getting a hit but they were not used to the very short strikes. At about 8 am some deer came crashing out of the woods and were going to cross the top of the Evening Hole Rapids and stopped 40 feet from one of the guys and stared at all of us for about a minute or two and went hopping back into the woods. They did very well for not ever fly fishing before. About noon the guys went to luch and went fishing on thier own and the succeeded with catching fish in spots I didnt take them to. Well done Gents! (They were fine with no pictures)







12:30 PM: It was my turn. So, I went looking for my buddy, whom drove up with me. I found him in the Evening Hole with a bent rod and some drag peeling off his reel. I smiled and asked what his tally was for the day and he replied 53. Didnt matter where we went, besides Lost Creek, the fish were biting and on fire. The Brown Trout, that were in the cold hole, were rising on PMD's (Pail Morning Dun's). The PMD's were hatching all day long in our area. The BWO's (Blue Wing Olives) hatched for about an hour. We saw a few Black Stone Flies and a couple Black Midges flying around, but they were scarse.







Ended up leaving about 4 pm and headed home. Dan landed 61 trout with 3 being Brown Trout. I decided to go get dinner up the spillway and 6 Rainbows very quick and threw them in the cooler. I landed 23 with a lot of Tree Bass mixed in the Rock Grouper were getting on my nerves bad, lost 12 flies to them.







Got home, and 30 mins later I get a call that my crappie trip wants to move days. So I get the day off! Now, where to go.....hmmmm. 10 mins later the phone rings, A old high school buddy asks " Can you take me to the Lower Moutain Fork tomorrow?" At that moment its 9:02 PM.



Top flies for this day:



Near Deers

RS2 (grey)

Orange and White Dazzle Egg

Phesent Tail

Yesterdays Report12/21/2011:

On the road again at 4:30am, headed to the river. Brad said he would drive since he lived near by so I said no prob and gave him a discount. It was nice not to drive for once. Brad said he has been coming to the river for about 2 - 3 months and said his record was 8 fish in one trip on the river. I asked what when where and how, and mainly he was only fishing a 50 yard stretch of river everytime he came down and wouldnt leave to look at other places . We started at a hole loaded with fish, but they wanted nothing to do with anything we had. About 10 AM that changed. I hear Brian say, " I got a big one!" Got most of the fight on video minus 10 seconds.







His numbers in the net were way off and crooked. Got the Tape measure out and it was a 20 incher!







He got his Personal Best in the hole he has been fishing at for all this time. And to add to that, we went down stream to a non pressured spot and landed over 9 just out of one hole 30 yards down from where he had been fishing the whole time before we went out. So we were on the move the whole time we were there Showing him all the Sweet Spots. Zone II was generateing so that was a no go. So I decided to hit Spillway Creek and hike in a bit to spots with not a lot of fishing traffic. Told him where they were laid up and he started to land sh after fish. Moved around and hit a bunch of pools. I saw, what I thought was a Brown Trout at first, so I started targeting it. I miseed it 3 times till I finally hooked up with it. Then I had a surprise at the end of the line!











Found another Albino in a fast deep rapid, but all he wanted to do was look. So, we moved down to the last pool of the day and picked a really solid fat 16 incher. Called it a day and came back to Dallas and listened to Brian talk about the" Big One" and how we tripled his catch ratio. Hes got the bug and is going again Friday.











Top Flies for the Day:



Near Deers

PW Dazzle Eggs





Last fish of the day Video: Brian leaft them biting.

Good Lord i need to go one of your trips soon!!! Looks like an absolute blast. Maybe I can set aside enough from my tax return! *fingers crossed*

Thats spot is deff on my "go to" list!

Well Played Senor Thorn and Brian. Those are some nice trout for sure. And BullMonty let me suggest the partial tax return for a guided trip with Carey be tops on your list. There will be no money better spent for the stuff he'll teach you, and the greatness that is Broken Bow. Our first trip out netted over 75 fish of all species with most being trout.

Thank Carey, now I have another spot that I want to fish when the white bass not running.

Near Deers
PW Dazzle Eggs

Are the the new fly patterns that you came up with? I am so out of FF lately.

lol, yup.

PW means Pink & White. Just an egg with tinsile i tie. Fun to throw it cause you can see the fish eat it casue its so bright in the water!

Trout are out and very active with the cold weather. The colder the better for these big fish. Most fish averaged 17-18 with plenty of 20 inchers and a few 22's. Couple of brown trout to mix into the bags. Everyone's average was about 20 fish. The park was super busy due to the holiday vacationers. After this week, the fish are going to be very easy to catch seeing how they wont be getting beatup everyday by 100 people. In mid January, you might see 10 other anglers or sometimes not one person at the river! I stayed up there a Monday-Wednesday last year, and didnt see another person in the park the whole time, not even a car drive by. Fish were biting and I had the whole river to myself.

Anyways, the pics and all tell you the storys.

Had a rough start this morning. Missed way more than they should have got, but its all a learning curve. Average fish today was 16 inches. Many 17-18's. Fish didnt turn on till around 2-3 pm when the air pressure stabled out. Same flys as always. Dan landed 44 trout, all on Near Deers, and I landed 19 mainly bumping eggs on the bottom. The Evening Hole was packed at noon today. No pool to fish. But there is a trick to that too. When you look down the Evening Hole, and you see people lined up, standing the river, It looks like there is no spots to fish.....? Well, while all those people are standing on the fish, the trout get spooked to the main walking bank. I was standing on the bank while people were casting at the hill side, meanwhile, Im sight casting to trout behind them. That lasted about 45 mins till everyone figured out what was going on. The Twins were there, as usual, and the thought that was amusing to watch. But, those Twins LOVE life. Anyways, even the Twins had a tough day. The big fish made up for it though.



-4 days ago, Lost Creek was FULL of fish. Over 100 easy, after they stocked it..........I saw 2 trout today in the whole creek. And "no" they didnt swim out into the river. The familys that set up Lawn Chairs in Lost Creek, that have 10-15 trout on thier stringers, and using minnows to catch them, and leaving a bunch of bottles and McDonalds Bags by the river....... I think they have something to do with it.

- Or, maybe its the cast netter I saw today below the Evening Hole Bridge.....? (the list goes on and on.....) Irritating.





Trivia Question: Would 55 lb Braid Line be good to use for 2 lb trout in 3 ft of water?





-It still had some line embedded in its skin. Gave it a little First Aid and sent her on her way.

Below, I kicked a rock over and found this.



-Freshwater Sponge.



Now, Im sure yall remember me telling a tail of a fish called Treasure (its a male). I have hooked him 2 times in the past 2-3 months. You only get a chance at him every so often when he moves out of the brush that he has his nose in all day.Well, I was goofing off in the Evening Hole, and got a phone call. It was Brad. He was hooked up with a trophy fish, he said. I took a quick jog to where he was and, there is Brad Holding Treasure.












Picture says it all. Fish was CPR'd.

Very nice fish, I need to talk to you for a trip of my own. Great job.

Hey I know that spot. Great work Brad. That is some serious size to a great looking fish. Carey why don't the game Wardens hang out down there since it seems to be one of the most obvious over-fished places? That should cut back on the B.S. I've only been three times, but the only place I've ever seen a warden is up at the store.

I dont have a real answer for that.

This is nice!
I have not trout fished in OK.
I have fished for years in Ar. and Mo. rivers for trout.I may need to take you up on a guided trip in Ok for Trout areas.
Do you know lake Waurika in Ok for Hybrids?

I know that lake, but never been.

Lake Waurika is a very good lake spring and summer crappie,sandbass,hybrids.It is closed in the winter for hunting.
This lake has HUGE hybrids in it.Large sandbass....
We bank fish and boat fish...
My middle son lives in Waurika after many years in the Army.He works with the vet there.He purchased a home there.I visit him and we fish the lake...his clients tell him where to catch them and what is biting..On shore we wade fish windy points..catch lots of large sandbass and big hybrids in certain areas..crappie all over the trees and stumps..
In a boat same areas but a lot deeper water.
Before my sons grew up..I use to trout fish with them alot..I like to striper fish all over in fresh water and salt water fish for alot of fish in Port Aransas...I sold all my boats so I bank fish now.I fished RC some and did pretty well and still am -in certain spots with a certain bait..you know..

"The Majic Near Deere Jig Fly"

4-19-12

tarpon fly, do you sell your near deer fly?

There's a couple different kinds of them, not sure which one's, but i bet they all work great and they're on the link above

On my website

Thanks for telling me you were going up there....

( Photo by Dan)


I have not thrown a report up in a bit so here's one.

The fishing is the same as always. Its good fishing, period.

Put first timer Corey on 11 Rainbows today. For the first hour he missed a couple dozen trying to set the hook like a bass fisherman. After I got him calmed down, he started to land fish here and there, but still missed a ton of them.



Fish really liked the fly on the swing today or even dragged they were nailing the fly.....

Finished up with Corey and I hit the water for two hours. By then the sun was way up and it was hot outside, but, the water was perfect. No waders needed. Saws bunch of neoprene fisherman. Man, I bet that was not very fun. Been seeing the Neo-Waders for three weeks now.

I had already walked the river with my client in the morning, so I knew where all the big fish were layed up that we missed. Pulled out a few 18-19's and a bunch of dink 12 inchers. Dan was on his way to another hole as , I landed an 18 incher so he got a pic.



I has my eye on three monsters of the day, so for about an hour, I was hopping back and forth drifting a fly to the monsters. Hooked one well over 20, but she pulled off. So after an hour of that, I went to the truck to rehydrate. After that I headed up Spillway Creek. ( video is 8 mins. Nothing really fun. Got bored really quick and all I had on my mind was those big trout and I wanted a 20+ inch trout before I got back on the road, so after this video, I headed right back to them.missed a bunch in the vid. As I was letting it dangle at the end of the run, )



One of the pools had four deformed bows in it.






Very weird to watch them swim. They hobbled over to take my fly it seemed. Their tails were stuck crooked.

Then I finally land my 22 incher. After 50-100 drifts, she finally gave me a fight. Ten mins later we were in the truck coming back to Dallas. Just in time to avoid rush hour.



Totals for the half day:

Corey 11
Dan 27
Me. 37

We're headed out there for the weekend, but not fly fishing. Any experience with lures? It's my buddy's bachelor party... Camping, fishing, floating, etc.

White spinners 1/8 oz
Silver
Chartreuse

Buy at least 4 of each color and don't let them hit the bottom. They will snag.

Crimp the barbs down so u don't destry the fishes mouths.

That should land you a few fish. Steady retrieve.

Read the signs at the river and stay out of the red zones with those lures. Stick to the blue zones.

Been busy and the 12 hour days are draining me of energy, so, I'm sorry about the delayed reports. I'm going to mix up all the species of fish into one report to save me some time. So, here we go:( FYI- pictures are all out of order)

White Bass:

They have been doing the same thing they have been doing for 3 months. All 14 roadbeds / old ramps ( that I have found so far) are holding fish. Today we pulled a limit out in about 2 hours. Marcus threw back all the fish that were 12 inches or smaller so he had some big fish for the grill today. The wind was out of the south and it was bit choppy today but they were stacked up. Then the wind shifted out of the west and they moved somewhere. So off to the one of many, RB's. Side Scanned it and the fish were loaded on this one again. All three of us got a double on the first cast. Just crazy fun. You actually get bored of catching them after awhile......



Yesterday, I had a couple guys hop on the boat. They said they were newbies. They usually just sit on the bank with some earthworms, but they never caught anything. So we hit Lavon at about 7 am and set up. They usually turn on by 730, but they were late.



We started to boat fish one after the other by 750 am.



We never moved from this spot till 11 am landing 100's of sandies. They caught more fish, obviously, and the biggest fish of their lives. They were a hoot.





After they had sore wrists and the fish would not quit biting, we called it day. I asked them if they ever caught a crappie before. They said no. So, I stopped at a magic brush pile and I gave them a crash course on jigging. I said we wouldnt leave till they both landed one.



So, yeah!...... Everyday has been great on the White Bass bite. Only the day we got the tail wind from the hurricane was it slow. It was super slow. But other than that, the bite has been going strong and almost impossible to not limit.

The Crappie Report:

Fish are very easy right now. 8-15 ft depths.

The reasons some of y'all are having issues:

1- your fishing the same structure you were fishing when the lake was 5-6 ft higher. They moved out of those areas for the most part. Plus those hot spots are now visible and get hammered. You need to find new brush piles in deeper water. 15 ft seems to be a good number, but I have 4 piles in 10 ft of water, and the fish are stacking on them. So again, learn to find new brush. You must cover a lot of water. Every so often, you will land on a big school of them and catch 20 keepers off of it. -Just have to find that spot.

2- minnows are king. Jig bite will pick up as it gets to 75-80 degrees and minnows will not be king anymore.

3- your fishing in your honey hole to long. Move to find those aggressive fish and put the crappie in the boat. Don't wait on them, go get them!

As some of y'all know, I guide year round for rainbow trout in Beavers Bend State Park @ the Lower Mt Fork River. They stock this river with 4200 fish every other Thursday year round so there are always fish to be caught. Its only 2.5 hours from Dallas and your in the mountains. You don't have to fly fish either. You can do it anyway you want. Drag a minnow in the Blue Zones and you will limit quick. Drag a 1/8th oz white rooster tail on 4-6 lb line on a spinning rod. or fly fish using all kinds of different flies that will produce a nice fish in your net. 20 fish landed is a slow day on my end there. 50-75 is an average outing with Tally's of 100 being broken on occasion. Big fish swim here. My client hook a Rainbow Trout that was about 25 inches on Wednesday. 5-7 lb trout right there. Hooked another one later about the same size. Both got off. They looked like a salmon. Huge fish......



Lower Mountain Fork River Fly Fishing Report:

So yup. Same thing everyday up there. I have been up there once a week or so for the last couple months. Nothing has changed. Crowds have gotten way smaller since school is in now. We saw 4 other anglers on the red zone all day.



Night and day compared to the last couple months. In two weeks it will be a ghost town and no group of kids everywhere. All the canoes going downstream all day long, was ruining a lot of my holes and the fish were super spooky. But now, they are starting to come out and feed again. Caught a lot of fish that have been in the river for awhile.



Super pretty colors. Lost Creek and Evening Hole was stocked full of fish. A few good fish have made their way to the bluffs again. So fishing the whole river has started to get better. But, here comes the heat again......




lol, Fish will always be there though. Just have to throw what they want to eat. Spillway Creek fished pretty good. You really need to focus on the shady spots when the sun is up. They will stack up on top of each other and there will be 20-30 fish balled up in a shady pocket the sized of a large trash can lid. When you go into lost creek, watch what they are doing since they are easy to see there. Then take the pattern you have just learned from them and hike up Spillway Creek. Lots of fun but mending and high sticking is very important. Side casting is too. Some casts need to be thrown up under a over hang to get the fly to drift in some hidden pockets. Don't just drift the obvious spots. Drift the fly in every spot you can everywhere.




The browns have been hiding under the small grassy overhangs along the shore lines. Very tough to get out. Most of them are caught before dark and on WB's at night.









Cant wait till Nov/Dec when it gets cold. No pressure from anglers, so they stock 4200 fish 0n top of the last stocking that barley got a dent in it. Great winter fishing up there and views. The cabins are super nice too.

Mike Landed 32 rainbows
Chris landed 15-20
I landed 75 and quit and went home while they were still biting.

Caught two wild ones today.

Broken Bow has been fun the last couple weeks. Real fun. At least, on my side of the river.

Met my 5 guys at the river at 7 am and went for a walk. Deer were on the trail and wouldnt move till you got about 2-3 ft from them. That was wierd. Showed the guys the roll cast/how to land fish, and on the first cast, landed one. Pretty much how the day went. But, with a twist. The first fish of the day was a 15 incher. The second one was 10? Then I hear drag screaming down the river. I look over and one of my guys has something BIG on the line. Took him into his backing and went way way downstream ( medium current ), around a log, and wrapped him up. This went on for about 5 minutes before he wrapped up in a log jam. SAD. It was very very big whatever it was. Had to be a big mammoth of a brown trout IMO. My client is still smiling and texting about "the one that got away". This was his 5th cast of the day and first fly rod trip ever.

2 of the 5 guys- have fly fished before, so it didnt take them long to catch on and start catching fish. The other 3 were newbies to the sport of fly fishing, and boy did they get spoiled today. All of them. Took what pics I could when I was around to take them. Waiting on the other pics they took, when they get back into town.

We were all over the river today. I found a pattern the Monster fish were on. Today they were eating my Near Deer fly. Thats the pattern. We spot a fish and drift till it bites. Easy as that.

Evening Hole has another Rainbow/Salmon in it. This fish is an easy 28-30 incher. I had my guy beat it up for 15 mins or so. Finally I hear him say he got it! But freakin of course it got off again. But thats barbless for you....

So after that I had them walk the banks till they saw what they wanted to catch. Told them to skip all the 15-16 inch trout and only target the 17's and up.



No idea what thier tallys were.... but it was a lot.







21 inch Rainbow Trout (above)- They caught many of them.





After the trip was done, it was my turn. Mike drove out with me and I found him watering up at the truck. He said, look at this.




Spillway creek has big fish too.

So I head up the creek.....






-----------------------------------------

Hit the Evening Hole areas as well.





Then I decided it was time to hit Spillway Creek again. Then it happened. I spotted the fish I was going to catch before I left the park. I worked on her for about an hour. I had her turn on my fly 10-15 times and I think she took the fly once, but im 50/50 on that one. Could have been the bottom, but who knows .

So I sat down and watched her for 15 mins . She never opened her mouth, so she was not feeding on anything. hmmmm.

Started drifting the fly to her again for about 30 mins and again she would drift over to the fly or turn a bit, so I knew she would eat eventually....? Then I noticed something. Everytime she would drift over to my fly or turn a bit, it was only when I drifted on her left side. So every cast I started drifting to the left side of her. Then it was every 2 casts she would get a bit more excited. Then a freaking male moved in behind her and started biting at her. At this point, I get a bit upset. The male wouldnt stop picking on any of the fish in my spot here. So I moved up stream and followed it till it layed up and I could drift my fly to it.



As the fly landed 7 feet in front of him, He swam at full speed and attacked my fly and started to jump all over the place. So, I got him in and went back to the the fish I wanted to land before I left for the day.

Started to drift the left side of her and again she immediatly turned and took a short strike at the fly. Second cast, "HOOK-UP!

Up and down, up and down, the rapids she went. (This was all in 2 ft to 3 ft of water in Spillway Creek) 20 minutes later she starts to tire out. Then she turns downstream at full force and makes a run over a 4 ft waterfall, down into the next pool below me. I was following. -From the bank of course. 5 mins later she is beached.



29 inches

Now, the reason she was only turing to her left, was, she didnt have much of an eyeball in her right eye socket. Got popped awhile back at some point. So she was blind on her right side......


Now, this fish was in a major stocking point and had no chance in the world to live. She was going to get yanked out before the weekend would end. The next pool up, a guy had his limit of trout and all of them were 18-19 inchers and a 23 inch kicker. His daughter, had the same thing (7 Years old) and her kicker was a 22 incher. So since the fish would be taken within a couple days, I will be giving it a new home on the grill and inviting some friends over for some beer and grilled trout.

I had to go find Mike to take a picture, so she lost her colors.

Everywhere we went today there were big "old" trout swimming around. Fun day for sure and huge fish biting.

Mike 31 Trout
Me 51 Trout and a 6 inch Warmouth/RockBass

Great trip

...after four years, he finally likes the way I take pictures...

One heck of a nice trout,man.

So yeah, fishing has been very good if the weather holds up.
Fronts have been nasty mean to the fisherman, shutting the fish down to a slow trickle.

No crazy numbers but a solid 12-25 fish per morning and the same in the late afternoon. Fish the shade.

New stocking truck.

Pretty cool video, & a bunch of nice fish you'all caught

Thanks. And u don't just have to fly fish. BaffinBay chunks minnows and does very well. It's as easy as catching blue gills.

But for the fly fisherman, here is your list of flies.


Beavers Bend Fly�s

MAIN FLIES:

Near Deers
Bead Head Pheasant Tails (Size: 14-18)
Hares Ear (Size: 14-18)
Orange Soft Hackles (Size: 16-18)
Red Hackles (Size: 16-18)
Bead Headed Wollybuggers (Colors: Olive, White, Black, Rust) (Size: 10-20, I like Big WB�S)
Black Midges (Size: 12-22)
Red Midges (Size: 12-22)
Blue Winged Olive (Size:16-22)
Sulpher (Size: )
Cahill (Size: 18-22)
San Juan Worm
January:

Hatches: Baetis, Blue Winged Olive, Light Cahill, Midge
Flies to use: Pheasant tails, Red Fox Squirrel, San Juan worm, Egg Patterns, Griffiths Gnat, Adult Caddis, Emergers


February:

Hatches: Mayflies, Midges, March Brown

Flies to use: March Browns, Bead Headed Black and Red Midges (size 12-14), San Juan worms, egg patterns, Griffiths gnat, CDC, Emerger Patterns, Soft hackle

March:

Hatches: Blue winged Olive, Midges

Wet Flies to use:
Soft Hackle, Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails, Egg patterns, Red Fox squirrels, crane fly

Dry Flies to use: Griffiths Gnats, Hares Ears, March Brown (mayfly), Blue Winged Olive (mayfly)

Flies to use: Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute Adams, Thread Midges, and Caddis Pupae Flies, Soft Hackles, Midges, Hares ears, Pheasant tails, Prince nymphs


April:

Hatchs: Flying Ants, Caddis, Mayflies, Crane flies, Midges

Flies to use: Red Soft Hackle, Elk Hair Caddis, Midges, Ants,

May:

Hatches: Baetis, Beetles ,Blue Winged Olive, Brown Caddis, March Brown ,Tan Caddis

Wet flies (nymphs) to use: Cream Colored Soft Hackles, Nymphs, Adam Parachutes 12-16, Hare's ear Nymphs, Elk hair caddis

Dry flies to use: CDC Caddis and CDC Mayfly Emergers, EHC, Adam Parachutes


June:
Hatches: Mayfly, PMD's, Sulphurs
Flies to use: Grasshoppers, Ants, Midges, Mayflies, Caddis

July:
Hatches: Mayflies, Midges
Flies to use: Copper Johns, Griffiths Gnats, EHC, Ants, Griffiths Gnats, Soft Hackles, Hoppers, Soft Hackles

August:

Hatches: Midge, Hexagenia, Caddis, Mayflies, Mosquitoes
Dry Flies: Caddis and Mayflies (including dry, emergers, and cripples)
Flies to use: Soft Hackles, Midges, Pheasant Tails, Copper Johns, Small Mayfly Imitations, Caddis Pupae, Emergers



September:

Hatches: PMD/s, BWO's Yellow Sally, Grass Hoppers and Katy-Dids, Hexagenia Mayflies

Wet flies (nymphs) to use: Green Bead Head Caddis Nymph imitations in about size 14-16, Egg patterns, San Juan Worm, Various Soft Hackles, Light Cahill, Grasshopper, Ant, Hex Nymph

Dry flies to use: Stimulators on a size 10 hook, Elk hair Caddis, Hex

October:

Hatches: Caddis, Grey Mayflies, Blue Quills Blue Winged Olives Midges, Sulfurs
Flies to use: Miracle Midge, Zebra Midge, Egg Patterns, San Juan Worm

November:

Hatches: Small Tan Caddis, Small Black Caddis, Midges
Flies to use: Thread Midges, Caddis Emergers, spiders, Copper John, Egg Patterns, San Juan Worms

December:

Hatches: Black Caddis, Blue Winged Olives (mayfly) and Midges.
Flies to use: Emergers, Caddis, Mayfly, Midges, Egg patterns
Dry flies to use: Griffiths Gnat, Blue Winged Olive, Black Caddis

Right click... Save

Its not that easy...

Chunking minnows in Spillway Creek is NOT easy. Especially when you keep falling on your minnow bucket...

can you fish with spinning gear there as well? I assume that is what he was using for the minnows, but what about artificials?

You can use spinning gear with a minnow if you want. Just make sure u are fishing the blue zones only. Read all the signs before fishing an area.

Reports:

Best flies to use on my end of the river:

RS2 Grey #22
Near Deer #1/100 (Secret Color) <---Just for you BB
Red Midges #20-22
Black Midges
Eggs (as small as you can get work best) red, pink, yellow

The fish are feeding mainly on the bottom, so weight them down a little bit w/ a small split shot. If you dont see fish in the pool you are fishing, dont cast there.....

Every day we nailed 50-75 fish each, to the net. Most were 15-16 inches with a lot of 18-19's and a few 20's. Best bite was around 10-3 pm while the BWO's were hatching. Spillway Creek was where the best bite was. Zone 2 ( Evening Hole area) was good too, but was getting hammered by people. So I mainly fished Spillway Creek 90% of the time.

When a front rolls through, the fish slow way down while the Air Pressure rises. Small flies work best during the fronts. If the air pressure is stable, the Near Deers are all that I throw at them. -No need for anything else.







If you see this above, at Zone III, its blown out and very hard to fish. This area is terrible right now for trout. I dont think they are stocking it yet.....? Its still good for small mouth bass and walleye though. I deleted my Walleye pics somehow..... But they are there. Biggest was 22 inches. Most were 16-18. Caught 14 walleye and some small small mouth bass here on Saturday. Clousers-















And, im sure yall have seen the monster in the lower end of Cardiac Hill just teasing you for the last 3 months.....Well, I decided that on Friday we were going to sit on the hole till we hooked it. I ran out of RS2's, so I walked back up to the truck and tied a dozen up really fast. After I walked back to the guys, I handed Howard a couple and he tied one one. There was a Blue Wingged Olive hatch going on and a Black Caddis hatch at the same time. (They didnt want anything black, mainly red midges and Grey RS2's were murdering them. The Near Deers were best in the early morning and evening.) So, anyways, Howard proceeds to land a dozen rainbows within the first half hour of changing to an RS2. Then I see the monster flash where his fly drifted. Three more passes and a magestic fight was in place. 20 mins later he brings the monster I have been targeting for 3 months..... Every time Howard comes up, he lands a monster with me.





26 inch Male Rainbow Trout.

I have another trip scheduled for my family Dec 26, 27 and 28th. This time we are staying at a place right on the river about 1.5 miles downstream of zone3. Have you ever been down that far fishing? On the map it is before the 70 bridge where it is marked private. I hope some of the small mouths will be in that area and trout because it would be nice and easy for my stepdad to get to.

Baby trout. They stocked 35,000 of them. They are everywhere you go. Can't miss them.. I hope the vid quality is good, I'm just now messing around with the GoPro.



A spawning colored up Rainbow Trout just chilling.



Fat trout caught my my client Monday.



Monster Male Rainbow Trout on a Near Deer.



Eggs and Near Deers were all we threw at them. Caught well over 30 trout each on Monday. Never even thought of a tally. I was messing with the go pro. The next ones will be edited.. The park was void of people. We saw one other fly fisherman and a flywoman. Baby brown all over the place. They will eat anything small enough to fit in their mouths.

Smallmouth are always good in the rock gardens. Been awhile since I was down there

Those are "deformed" thats WHIRLING DISEASE. Rainbow trout, being a super-synthetic, inbred, "rubber-fish" tend to have that protazoa. Although in a put-and-take fishery like Broken Bow, there isnt too much worry

Not worried. I'd be a bit worried if I was fishing in Utah for WILD trout. I see this all the time at BB. The big fish, 20 inches and bigger, last about 3 months till they get sick or starve. The 12-18 inchers would live, but get yanked out pretty quick. But that's why they stock 4000 plus trout every two weeks.

I heard there are wild fish in that river? I read about it in SouthWest Flyfishing. They said there w3as reproduction of browns and rainbows? How does it stack up to the Guadalupe river?

Yes there are wild fish there, but as soon as they are a size big enough to possible eat, they will get poached or harvested. Im sure some we catch that are of size, may be wild. But, id say it would be 3%....IMO. I can answer anything about the guad. But I do know there are hold over trout while I was in town talking with a guide at the shop.

Broken Bow is stocked every two weeks, so there are always fish ans somewhere to hide from people, and hidden spots that have huge fish in the still.... -but not many.

7 days until our 4 day trip, can't hardly wait. The schedule shows them stocking on the 24th. Is there anyway to find out where they put them?

All the bridges and spillway creek where ever u see truck tires is where they put them.

Any new updates?
I sure wish this cold front would have held off untill after we returned home. I cannot wait to start walking down one of the trails to spillway creek.

Well the weather put a damper on our trip. I had planned on several days of fishing, but that did not happen. On the 26th we had to leave later than planned because of the road conditions. On the 27th it was cold so we decided to take a drive through the park because my mom had not seen all of it, well it was beautiful with all the trees and ground covered in snow. The park service was out with chainsaws cutting the ones that the snow had weighted down and had fallen across the roads. Some places, like the roads to get to zone II, were still covered so we did not go down there. The 28th had light rain falling most of the day. We went to several spots and did not catch many, although we had better luck than most. After trying several flies, jigs, super duppers and roostertails we switched to the small stick minnows and Berkly 3" Trout worms and had some success. We stopped at the spillway for a couple of hours before heading home on the 29th, and wouldn't you know it, we tore them up on the 3" trout worms. Most were small but they were fun and even caught a few Brown. The last two trips have been rainy and cloudy during the trip and sunny and beautiful the day we leave but always fun.

I love these new fish from the new hatchery. They fight a lot harder than the AK fish. The fish are way more active now thats the water is chilled off the summers heat. If you like dragging a Woolly Bugger, now is the time. They are smashing them. Nothing has changed. Near Deers, Black and Red Zebra Midges, Woolly Buggers olive, Grey RS2's #22. At the end of the day, my camera was out of juice. And, wouln't you know it, the trout turned on like wild fire. Caught over 30 near the Evening Hole within an hour. Met one of our Lurkers here, who was camping with his dog, and he got in on the fun. I now have an extra battery for the GoPro so I can get the entire day on video.

Great video with super fish. Simply Outstanding!

Nice Catch Carey!

Sunday AM trip at the river just opened up. To fill the slot, Ill do $150 4-5 hour trip. $75 each additional persons. Fish and fun always happens up there. 2.5 hours from Dallas. Should hook up on a fish within five minute or less apon getting there.

Normal Price $225

TarponFly,

Any chance you are available either Friday the 25th or Sunday the 27th? I have been to LMF about a half dozen times, but still learning the waters and patterns.

Thank you for your help.
Jeff

Saturday 26th, 1 pm and 4 pm, I have 2 seminars at Bass Pro Shop Garland. Booked all day sunday 25th. Book thru website. Friday 25th open at moment. Though someone asked about friday, guess it was you? But please request days you want to go thru my site and put three other days u can go, and I might be able to fit ya in somewhere.... After the end of Feruary, I will be booked solid a month out. So get your Broken Bow trips in soon. I will not guide during holidays anymore. Its just not fair to the client. We walk to find a spot more than fish for the most part during holidays. MLK Day/Weekend was terrible. It was like spring break all over again. March is White Bass & Hybrid Striper - Run - Time.

Snuck into the metro mess of people/women in the Evening Hole and Put Tia on a 18 incher.

That man can catch'em

I am going to have to get a fly rod. I really like catching them on my fairy wands [ultra lights] but fly fishing looks like so much fun. I guess I could walk spillway creek with the fairy wands and try and fish the wider and more open waters with a fly rod.
Did they get all of that timber off the road in zone 1 redzone between bridge and evening hole area?
I really like your videos.

they are still cutting the trees that fell in the roads.... Headed back u to the river in 8 hours. Report up in two days...

Started at the bottom of the Evening Hole and power fished all the way to the Spillway. We threw Pink San Juan Worms w/ a Grey RS2 #22 dropped from it/ Olive Woolly Buggers/ Near Deers. (90% came off Near Deers.)



My client for the day, (above) Landed over "120" trout from 8-5 pm. We stopped counting at 120ish trout and it was only 3 pm. The trout were fighting over the flies as soon as they hit the water. If one pulled free during a fight, another trout would pick it back up immediatly. When we found a Woolly Bugger bite, as soon as the fly hit the water, 8-10 trout would come fight over it. This is when I got mad. The GoPro was in the truck and so was my phone. Would have been some great footage.

As we were landing fish after fish after fish, a group came up with a kid. I asked the little guy if he wanted to take a shot at it and catch a fish. 1st cast he did. And the second cast. And the 3rd cast he caught one, lol. The river was on fire!



Called Brad and told him what was going on down there and he drove up today to fish the hot spots I told him about. Tried to text him to see what his talley was, but no answer so far.

I was the client on Friday... Amazing fishing. I have never seen anything like it. I am an accountant and even I couldn't keep up with the numbers. We easily caught 75 fish inside of 2 hours when we were both fishing. CT - next time remember the GoPro! Bugger fishing was a real treat - six trout chasing your fly less than 10 feet away. We even had a 'double' at one point - 1 line, 2 flies, two fish on. Carey had a 5 year old and his novice dad catching rainbows like a pro. Probably the most fun day I have ever had on the river. Thanks Carey!

BTW - fished Saturday and Sunday as well - without TarponFly. even with a cold front and high pressure, my limited skills caught over 50 fish on his fly setups. Great weekend on the LMF. Next up..... weekend of Feb 22nd. Anyone????

Hit the river Saturday morning and had some fun up in Spillway Creek. Keith had not fly fished in awhile, but it didnt take him long to land his first fish. Within 2 minutes he was hooked up on a 14 incher. Landed about 10 nice fish out of Spillway and headed to the Red Zone. Picked out 10 more or so from the Evening Hole to the Bluffs. The Bluffs are starting to hold more fish these days. Lots of great fish are still in the Evening Hole. A lot of 20 plus inch fish are still roaming around.

I decided to stay the night due to I found a spot loaded to the T with fish. So I woke up Sunday morning after the rain stopped pouring down. My spot was not to secret. So, I left and figured by 11 they would be gone. Yup. No one there for hours after I showed up. As rediculous as this may sound, as it was, I landed 147 Rainbows out of a spot the size of a car. And the crazy thing thing, is there was another school of them 50 ft away with 500 fish strong that I could see at any given moment. So after I quit at a stupid number, I walked back to the truck and watched the water for awhile. About 4 pm, some Dallas guys showed up and hauled butt to the river. One did a superman dog dive into the water on the way out. Didnt stop him but he was on his way to the wrong spot. 20 mins later I told him the secret hole and him and his buddy landed a butt load of them. They came in right befiore dark and we chatted for an hour and we all got on the road back to Dallas. -Fun times.
I had the GoPro on the entire time I was fishing and captured the trip. -There is just way to much to edit and I just dont have the time. It was every cast or a fish every minute. Nothing really over 16 inches at all. Saw a few sandbass in the buch but the trout would beat them to the fly. Maybe next week. Ill try to posts pics and more vids then. Hitting it again Friday.......

Near Deers
RS2's
Red or Black Midges (most people were using Red that I chatted with and did well.)
San Juan Worms Pink or Red
Pheasant Tail

Feb 13= 8 trout in 3hrs.
Feb 14= 25 trout in 1.5hrs.
I fished the same area and the time of day and they were releasing water through three windows. So what was the difference. CAREY THORN.
I have fished with Carey before and sent him a message about the 8 caught. He quickly responded and offered a few tips (Near Deer). He told me where the X was and made my decent trip great. He didn't have to and I doubt many guides would. 3X the fish in 1/2 the time in unfavorable water conditions. Actually he told me to go elsewhere if they were generating, but when you arrive at 4:30PM time is not your friend.
I felt bad (momentarily) for the four others in the area not catching a thing. That could have been me.

If you want to learn Lower Mt Fork book a trip. You will not regret it.

You might have laughed at my last post, lol.. Crazy T-Fly with another off the wall ridiculous post. I chatted with people at river that laughed at me when I said that.....

You meanies! You hurt my feelings.

It was pretty far out though, 147 trout, not possible. Not heard of really is it? So, I will apologize to everyone for lying. -It was "147" Trout and "1" Red Ear Sunfish, forgot about him! -I forget about one fish and you laugh at me and "think" I am lying.

So here below is 11 trout in 15 mins.



I have the entire 4.12 hours on video, of me, catching 147 trout. YouTube only allows me a 15 min slot. So with that said, If you want to come over and eat some popcorn and see me rip 147 trouts lips on the big screen, come on over. Proof is right here.

So I took 15 mins of video and edited it out. I was there 4-4.5 hours.

10 fish every 15 mins
That equals about 40 trout per hour
I was there say 4 hours? = 160

Hello everybody,
First time posting on here. I just moved to Dallas from Iowa at the end of last year. I used to go trout fishing up in eastern Iowa in creeks and streams with my dad. Since moving down here I have had the itch to go do some trout fishing, and it sounds like LMF is the best/closest place to here. I am going to head up the weekend of March 2nd and 3rd and camping out up there with a buddy. I am looking for some help though. I have been reading on here religiously for all the tips I can get, but was wondering if there is a place to find a map that will show were some of the places talked about on here are, ie; spillway creek, evening hole, the bluffs...? And best parking for these places? I will most likely take a fair amount of time to walk the banks myself, but i have a feeling the 12 miles first time I wont get too much fishing in and will be exhausted once I do. Second of all does anybody have a good reccomendation on a place to camp near by? In Iowa we would just find a clearing close to parking and pitch a tent for the night. Also Tarpon Fly do you have a place in dallas that you sell your flies, or just online?

Thank you all in advance for your responses and tips.

I can mail you the flies or meet up with you in Plano or Allen.

When you are in downtown Broken Bow and you are headed to the state park, take the second 259A right hand turn, its 2-3 miles north of ThreeRiversFlyShop. The fly shop is at the first 259A on the west side of the hwy.

But ya, take the second right turn into the park. 259A just does a circle through the park. After you turn and enter the park, you will cross over the dam. Lake is on your left and the start of Spillway Creek is on your right below you. The road to get down there will be behind you as you cross the dam. 100 yards down is a parking area on the right side. Thats Cardiac Hill.

Continue down the road for a bit. the road will start to bend to the right and you will see the main dam. As soon as the gaurd rail stops, turn right, before going over the dam. On down this hill you will cross over the river. On your left is Cold Hole/Meat Hole and on your right is the end of Spillway Creek. The small foot bridge is the start of Lost Creek and the red zone. The Bluffs are just down stream of the footbridge 300 yards or so. Big root system at the top of the run. Deep too. the bluffs drop you in the best hole in the river usually. Its where Lost Creek dumps back into the river. Below that run is the upper end of the Evening Hole. All the way to the bridge. You can see a cabin up in the mountain above the bridge.

Start at the bottom of the Evening Hole and walk to the Spillway Dam and fish every hole. You will have fun doing it. Spillway Creek is the Pretty area. From the Evening Hole Bridge to the BeaversBend Fly Shop, are a bunch of nice camp grounds with fish right there......

fly shops have maps... i think.

Thats just retarded...

That's why Carey is a class act!

Carey,
Thank you very much for all the info. Your reputation precedes you, I constantly hear about you from other fishermen in the Dallas area. Everyone talks how you are one of the best in the area, even staff at Cabelas and Bass Pro! I will definatly be booking some guided trips areound the dallas area with you! I am also going to be putting in a nice order of your flies as well!

Thank you all again and I will let you know how it goes up there!

LMF February 23-24

Saturday was the LMF one fly tournament. Dozens of anglers throwing March Browns in the EH area. If anyhone knows of a winner or result, please post it. The area was a zoo for most of the day. Spillway had fewer fish than normal - possibly due to slightly lower stock rates and an earlier stock date. We still managed to catch 15-20 among the crowds. For fun today I counted the total number of anglers on the 1.2 mile stretch of spillway creek. Counting the cold hole, from top to bottom, 231 rods in the water. About 2/3 were bait or spinners. No ulterior motive here, just having fun.

Sunday I hooked up with TarponFly and a few clients in Z3 below the rereg dam. Great weather, postcard sunrise, and hungry fish. In about 3 hours we totaled about 75-100 fish. The three main pools all held hundreds of fish. They had 4 gates open, so the water was churning a little more than normal. No Sand Bass or stripers yet, but we did see a few Walleye. The big riffle and pool about 100 yards below the dam was on fire, too. Slightly larger fish in this area. I had a new fish toy to try out, so I dug it out here. It is a small hand held scale. Here is what I learned: average 12" rainbow weighed about 11 ounces, 16" bow was 23 ounces. A few small browns (6") were 3 ounces. Interesting stuff if you like numbers and pay attention to the new hatchery reports. Z3 has easy fishing right now. Until the 8 foot no hackle dry flies show up around Memorial day!

All in all a great weekend on the LMF. I just couldn't leave work behind so I counted everything I could

Report: He said it above.

NOTE: I will not be taking trips in the month of March In Beavers Bend State Park. Due to the amount of people that will be occupying the park, during spring break, is not fair to my clients to guide them in the metro mess of people. I will resume my guide service up in Broken Bow at the Lower Mountain Fork River in the month of April. Sorry if this is an inconvenience to you.

Otherwise, If you want to get your Flyfishing fix, and don't want to deal with all the people, I am guiding Sandbass/Hybrid Striper on the fly rod and conventional gear in surrounding creeks in the DFW area, for the annual spawn.

Accountant?

Yes, accountant. Damn taxes keeping me away from the water......

From Utah to Broken Bow, the trout love to play with my flies.




( A new friend I met at the creek above. Copper Head Snake. Yes, they are out in force now. Keep your head pointed at the trail and not the landscapes while walking around. Go "around" the rocks at Cold Hole as there is a family of them living in there. Also the pines beside the river at EH has a couple wasp nests in them. As for the snakes. Please do not kill them oout of hate. Thats when people get bit. The venomous snakes keep the rodents in check as well as a few other things. If its in your house or yard, thats another thing. We are entering thier world and they need to be left alone. I see people here in Dallas kill Non-Venomous water snakes, because they are in the water and assume they are automaticlly a cotton mouth/ water moccisan. No need for that BS. )

Once again, its that time of year: Less Trout in the River System. The Summer, always, is harder due to all the people yanking fish out of the river at huge ratios. In the afternoon, you can see all the fish in the river when the sun gets to a good point. So, you can actually count 90% of the fish in front of you or in a pool. I showed some "friends" the ropes yesterday at the river and they both landed about a dozen nice fish and broke and LDR'ed a lot more than usual. Now, due to the small amounts of fish in the system, I am not going to post up the pictures ( they look like trout as usual and nothing over 18 inches, most were 13-16 inches). I dont want everyone converging on the 4-5 spots I figured out where they are stacked up at. But again, there are still enough fish to have fun and they will stock again and again. Like peeps have said in the post, schedule a trip close to when you "think" they are going to stock and plan your trip around that to increase the odds of landing more fish. One thing you really need to understand is, you "cannot stay in one spot to long". Keep on the move after you find out what they want to eat and hop pools every 10-15 mins. If you have ever seen me down there, I am always on the move. I will fish the Evening Hole in less than 1/2 hour - 45 mins, and pull 10 fish out of it easy. -But im not standing in one spot. Its plain retarted to stay in one spot all day long. Just because you see 30 fish in one spot doesnt mean your going to pick them all off. You need to find feeding fish or that one hungry fish willing to eat on a power walk. It only takes me 15-20 mins till I figure out that Magic fly for the day that is going to land the fish and make my trip a good one. Once you see a trout turn its head and look at your fly, " That fish is def catchable!" you just need to figure out why he didnt want to eat the fly on the drif. Drop a size down on the fly, your tippit is to heavy, your tag end on the knot is to long, wrong color, ect.

It was night and day when I got there compared to my Green River Trip. The stockers dont spook at all compared to the wild trout and we are super spoiled at BB. My "friends" were trailing behind me and stopping and saying, " theres a fish right there!" They wanted to catch it. . Ok, well ya, we can catch it, but I want you to target something bigger than a 12-13 inch fish. I wont stop and target a fish unless its 16 inches or over. It's just not worth my time. I will say this though, The trout at BB are a very curious fish and will usually take any fly you throw at them within reason. They have to learn what to eat now. There are not any pellets floating down the river anymore. So they will try any fly at least once till they get in the groove of being a new "Wild -semi- Trout".

The Near Deers worked ok, but not the best this trip. They wanted Brad B's (we will call it the BB Egg for now) -a "secret" Egg pattern that Brad told me not to tell the whole world about. If we targeted a fish with the BB Egg, we would hook it, break it off, or catch it 80% of the time. Other than that, yesterday there really was not much of a hatch going on. Saw a few, under 20, BWO's flying around. Other than that, just mosqitoes and gnats.

Sparkling RS2's trailed behind the BB Eggs was key but not nessesary. The right color and size was the ticket all day. After my " friends" went back to the hotel, I went to the hot spots I located and pulled out 23 on Brads BB egg, and 12 on the Sparkling RS2, and 17 on the new fly pattern I saw at Utah's Fly Shop (Purple and Red Zebra Midge). They were almost swallowing the BradBasset's Egg patern.



Purple & Red Zebra Midge #18



Sparkling RS2 #22 & #24

No more than 8 people I saw at anytime, when I drove by the EH at any given moment Monday. Park was empty. It was greatness. Put a couple names to screen names and it was nice to meet ya'll! Try posting and not being a lurker........

very nice and good information !
except the snake..

looks just like the copperheaded cobra rattler i ran into at rowlett creek

That pic was from in front of the white pipe near hell hole, but I saw about 10 of them at Broken Bow the other day. I have seen 20-30 at Creek X and Rc combined.

I am lucky so far, saw 2 of those at x, and one garden snake at rc, east fork t was the worst place when it comes to snake

I caught a few too!!!

Brown Trout are beautiful!pretty fish....

beautiful fish

Chubby brownies! Looks like those planters last year are getting fat.

Report:

Fishing has been pretty good. Still a bunch of people there, but the fish are starting to move up the river to spawn. So fish below and above the stocking holes and small pockets with gravel to get your numbers up and keep on the move, or go to Split Cane's spots and use a size 22 midge and you can catch the heck out of 2-3 fish. Fish with Pink Eggs or a Pink Bubble Gum Near Deer ( Sorry Split Cane, I had to rename it and I didn't want to send you royalties.)

Below is what happens when you use a Near Deer:



Sunday we started at the upper end of Spillway Creek and landed 20-25 bows on the secret Pink Egg pattern, Pink (BGND), Purple/Black and Olive Near Deers.

There was a guy fishing the pool above us and was doing just as good as we were. The pool he was in was only 2-3 ft deep and had a small drop to 3 ft at the end of the run. Some guys saw him catching fish and planted themselves around his hole invading his space. So he went to the next pool after he got crowded out. The invaders didn't catch squat. Watched the guy that got invaded start catching on the next pool he went to. Then one of the guys thought all the trout were where we were and headed over to make a cast. I bet he never tries that again after I learned him.




Hit the lower end of spillway and caught some toads. The big fish average 18-24 inches right now. They stocked a bunch of little ones this time and they are readily taking dry flies. BWO's and Grey RS2's are best bet. Midges, I'd use black or red ones if I was to target the smaller fish ( big fish eat small flies too, but the Near Deer and Secret Egg pattern are killing them right now. Black stone flies and BWO's are hatching everyday. On one of the Logs that the water rolls over in Spillway Creek, I hooked a 22-23 inch Rainbow. for about 5 mins out of the 15 I was playing it, the fish sat in one spot and never moved, I couldn't turn it or anything, just sat there. Finally she started to move around. She was just about wore out and headed down to the log/waterfall. I was prepared to chase it down to the next pool and it did something I have never had happen to me. Instead of going over the log/waterfall, the freakin fish went under the log/waterfall into the next pool. snapped me off fast on that one. So if you catch a 22 ish plus fish with a Split Cane Near Deer, I mean Bubble Gum Near Deer, you get a bonus fly and a great looking fish!

After the spillway, we hit Evening Hole area. Caught another 20-30 fish with 10 or so over 20 inches. Most were off the Secret Egg pattern, and the rest off Near Deers.

End of the day, I decided I needed a couple fish to put on the new smoker. Tooke a whole 2 casts to get them.




Don't walk through the spawning beds. they look like a brighter white patch where they are fanning the beds/redds. Fish with egg patterns below the beds. There always feeding trout near them willing to take a fly.

Disclaimer: ( All fish in the making of this report were hurt )

With all the great guiding and fishing you are doing up there, I can see why you haven't gotten serious about the crappie yet. But I can tell you they are on the move in the spots where there is water!(banking it).

Hope to see you on the trails soon.

Rudy

I'll be back on crappie after this weekend.

The crappie are anxiously awaiting your return!

Lower Mountain Fork River @ Beavers Bend State Park Guided Fishing Report:

Friday - Sunday

Freaking Awesome Fishing!


( above: this 32 inch Wild Stocked Brown Bow annihilated a Pink Near Deer. Might have been 18 inches but I didn't have a tape with me. )

20-24 inch fish all over the river. Most people we talked with were not doing well. Mainly because the water was stained due to it was raining the entire day- and the fish were starving. You could see the fish actually fighting over our flies. 5-10 always chasing it down if u didn't hook up.



I think everyone else must have been using a Plaid Hopper Dropper w/ a Dropper Hopper, with not much success. Fish cant see that little Parachute Adams when u can't see 2 ft down due to water clarity. But, they can see a Pink Near Deere with an pink egg dropped from it. Wacked them the whole week. Near Deeres in the morning till 11 am, then they wanted eggs bouncing the bottom till dark. Sunday was prob the best day as the water cleared up a bit. On Friday, we fished Spillway Creek and EH areas. The park was empty. No one there but 2-3 people. Picked up 15-20 nice fish out of The Evening Hole, a few out of Lost Creek, and lots out of Spillway Creek. Fridays client, Aurthur, had never fly fished in his life.



After we were done and he graduated from my fly fishing 101 class, he hit Spillway Creek and hit his limit of 6 rainbow trout within 45 mins all on his own. Roll casting, tying the rig, mending, and fighting the fish, he did perfect. Now he's hooked and is already talking about the sandbass and hybrid run in the spring on the fly rod. Sunday the weather cleared and water got crystal clear again.



I met up with Jeff and fished the whole river. At 2 pm, Jeff decided to finally listen to me, after he was about to break his rod in half out of frustrations or break offs/ no fish/ and watching me hook up into fish every five mins. He rigged up my way and made his leader longer and wouldn't ya know it.....? - he lands over 20 fish in less than an hour.



Saturday was slower as the air pressure was rising all day and just made it slow. Jeff said he caught 15 or so on his end. I didn't fish, so I don't know the true report.



The crowd was non existent till 3 pm Sunday. We walked out of Spillway Creek towards Cold Hole and ended up seeing 20 people with more showing up as we were moving spots. Went to the last spot of the day and there were people there, so we decided to just pack up and get out.



For the rising trout: 90% are under 12 inches that are rising, use Blue Winged Olives for topwater action or grey Rs2's for just under the surface. You will catch a few bigger ones on the small flies, but the bigger fish are wanting more protein than a small nat or ant.



All we threw were olive Near Deers/ Pink Near Deers/ Pink Eggs. Tried a few other stuff, but they love the pink eggs. I'm messing around with another egg pattern and did very well with it. So we will see what happens later with that pattern as the season goes on.




19.75 inches

SHOW OFF!

No reason for a long report. All day 16-24 inchers. Clients caught fish on first cast and last cast and a [censored] ton in-between. My clients actually gave up and had enough - cutting the trip early. They were actually tired of catching big fish. The stupid Near Deers bored my clients.



Everyone was catching fish left and right. One of the guys always had a fish on.

Then I fished for two hours and Brad was with me as a tag a long. We both agreed we had enough too, brad landed over 50 with some huge monsters and I got about 25 ish in two hours 80% over 20 inches. Brad and I were horsing in 18 inchers or trying to get them to shake the hook out so we could hit the bigger ones. Crazy. - but, it got boring. Weird to say that, but its true.























We had a lot of great runs and jumps. Fun times.

I'm throwing a trout tournament up here in Broken Bow March 8 th. longest 6 rainbows wins! Info in the fly fishing section.

Never been to Broken Bow, OK, Trout Fishing. If I went there and tried to win the trout tournament, it would be quite a stretch.

great PICS!

Lower Mountain Fork River Fishing Report:

Dink fest. They mainly released 10-13 inchers this stocking. I told Michael all about the big ones swimming in the river so he was excited to land one. He usually catches one a day there and his biggest was 8-9 inches. He caught four in four casts when we got there and missed a couple within 15 mins. By the time we made it to the holes with the big fish, Jeff had already covered the area and landed a bunch of the big brooders.



So we didn't have luck with the big girls. One of my buddies was there and he was targeting 2 brooders 22-24 inches. No one could catch them all day. They just didn't want to eat. My buddy asked if I had anything else to throw at them. And I did. I was messing around with the Pom Pom eggs and made just one test fly. Glued 4 eggs on it instead of 1.



About 15 mins later I see him hooked up on one of the monsters on my test fly. Maybe he will post the pic.

I had one last final spot to hit on the way out of the river that had a 10% chance of holding a hidden monster. And there he was! Personal Best for Michael.



Later that afternoon, Jeff landed that 27 incher. I'm sure he will post a pic. A nice 28-30 incher is still there. Most of the brooders are already getting skin diseases and are getting fitted in running shoes and running away from the river, cause there is only a 1/4, if that, left of big big ones. Anything pink was king and olive Near Deers.

Report: addition to last.

Dad ( Brian ) catches his PB of 17 inches in spillway creek.



After we left Spillway Creek, we arrived in the Red Zone. It was a bit busy. We started out near the bluffs and then I hear Riley say he has one! 10 mins later he lands a nice 19-20 inchers for a new personal best.



A bit later we move downstream and slip into a spot that I located a big fish in. I pointed it out and said only target that one. A couple of us guys were watching this 10 year old cast like he has been doing this since he was young, lol. The kid is a champ.

A couple mins into it, we see him set the hook. "I got one!" He says.



He relizes what he has hooked and he looks down stream for his dad to let him know he hooked up again. Dad was half way down the Evening Hole. I yelled at his dad and he heard me and started his way towards us.

Meanwhile, Riley is battling the little minnow up and down the pool like a pro.



The little fish decided it wanted to swim around the top of the rapids and I could tell it was thinking about going straight down the rapids to get get away from the little kiddo. And it did! Riley was a pro and kept that fish hooked up the whole time.

The dad finally showed up to watch his son fight an incredible battle with this fish.



Then the time came to net the little fishy.

We had broken 2 personal bests already this day. But, this fish might be the PB that sticks for a long time.




23-24 inch male Rainbow Trout caught by Riley.

Broken Bow @ Beavers Bend State Park Fishing Guide Report: Lower Mountain Fork River



The fall colors are probably going to start popping out within the next week or two. I'm starting to see some of the trees turning red and orange splotches, getting ready to really pop. Should be a beautiful scenery in the next coming weeks. I think we're at the tail end of the monarch migration. That was a beautiful sight to see, with hundreds of monarchs all around you all day long.

We shared one of our spots with a bald eagle all morning long one morning, perched right above our heads in a tree. I was out scouting in a couple places I've never been before and noticed an eagle dive at a fish. I remembered an episode of one of those Alaskan reality shows where they live in the woods. One of the guys said he follows the bald eagles to the fish, like we follow the Seagulls to the fish. He was right, my new bird friend was definitely on fish that day as we slammed them. He even had some skeletons below his tree of some pretty spectacular fish. Mr. Eagle even made me jealous.

At this current moment the river is semi-full of 10 to 11 inch wild stocker rainbows. They are obviously stocking a couple bigger ones as I saw a couple 20+ inch bows in the Evening Hole and a couple other spots. The big girls get yanked out quick if stocked in a blue zone. Catching small fish is really just not my thing, so right now we are fishing for walleye, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, crappies, and monster bluegills.



My main target is the Walleye right now. I am pretty sure, there are actually more walleye in the river then there are trout now. There is one pocket that we know of that has over 100 baby walleye. 12 to 13 inches. They absolutely just everywhere in the river system. From Spillway Dam to the Red River. There are a bunch of deep pockets from the Spillway Dam to the Evening Hole, but be very careful going there. If you don't have polarized glasses you're pretty much wasting your time. Slick rocks can send you in a 12 ft hole. When your scouting, If you cannot see the bottom of the river in a pocket, there's probably a walleye in there!



~Anyways, we are flyfishing and using spinning tackle. For fly fishing, we are throwing clousers, streamers, and Sparkling Olive Near Deere's at the fish. Clouser colors vary from white and chartreuse, green, green and chartreuse, black, gray and white. Streamers very in all shapes forms and sizes and colors. I tend to do well on olive or black crawfish imitations or shad streamers in white or grey with flash. Most streamers and clousers are 2-4 inches long. On occasion we will hook up on the Game Changer pattern. It's a segmented fly. Very fun to tie and mostly to fish, but, the profile is to big for most of these fish. So weather it's fly fishing or spinning rod, I will get you on these fish. If you would like to learn to fly fish as well, after about two hours max, you will be doing everything on your own. All I will have to do is tell you where the fish are.

Spinning gear: we are using 4 pound mono with a 4 pound floro leader on 7-9 ft rods. We will use rooster tails, tiny flukes, curly grubs, and small jigs used for catching Crappie's like a Thump Buddy in glitter clear, and small cranks like Rapalas. If they just will not hit a lure/fly, we will switch over to live bait ( rarely do I use live bait) which includes earthworms, crickets, and live minnows. Sometimes they want very small minnows or they'll end up wanting 4 inch minnows. You just have to pay attention to the shad hatch and match the size of the bait swimming around. When the sun comes up, the fish move a bit deeper usually. But some days, even on a bright sunny day, they might be sitting in 1 ft of water and sometimes even in the rapids. Most of the time we are off the beaten path power fishing the deep pockets where most people don't venture.



The White Bass are very abundant in the river as well. Just Sunday morning, I landed well over 100 Sandies that were 15-18 inches long with only one small dink on a jig. The fish were ten feet in front of me and would school on the surface chasing my fly. About an hour after that they would not touch an artificial lure/ fly at all. I tried for about 20 minutes to no avail. I threw grubbs cranks rattletraps, rapalas, and all I got was just that one dink. Switched to minnows and casted to the same pocket and immediately hooked up. I caught sandy after sandy for 2 1/2 hours every cast 10 feet in front of me. Sometimes I would catch 2 to 3 Sandy's on the same minnow. But still, they wouldn't touch any lures after that time they quit hitting them. It was very very odd. Normally we don't have an issue catching them with lures and flies. They were just really zoned in on live bait this day ( not normal ) But still super fun with 4 lb mono.



As for the trout, same flies that usually work, work. Near Deere flies still whacking them. White midges and grey RS2's bumped on the bottom. No pics cause nothing was over 15 inches lately. Nothing has changed except for the size of the fish. A few monsters here and there but very rare at the moment. If you have a 3 weight, bring it. Walleye and Sandies I recommend a 5 weight.


( Cody's epic day on the river)

For the bait fisherman for trout: bump a real salmon egg on the bottom. Find the Cold Hole and fish your way upstream less than a 1/4 mile and bump the eggs on the bottom with 4 lb line and a small split shot. After you get your limit, please put the bait up and switch to lures to prevent gut hooking every fish after your limit. You may only have one fish over 20 inches out of your six.

I would assume they will start stocking the wild hold overs soon, when it gets a bit colder. But again I've not looked into this, it's just an assumption.


( 17 plus inch fish are active at night mainly but we will still catch some monsters here and there during daylight hours. )

It's very hard for me to fish for trout right now, when the walleye are in the same waters- and they are bigger than most of the trout. If you hire me for trout, so be it then, we will go catch trout.

Facebook page : Carey A Thorn

$350 for 6 hours fishing

1-3 people

Group trips up to 8 persons with two guides available.

Dang, those are some nice hauls!!

very nice fish tarpon.

We just got back from a 3 day trip and had a blast
Caught a few on power bait
Rode the haunted train with the kiddos
Colors are turning
Nice cool weather
Great trip

Heading up Friday morning. Already hungry for some more walleye.

This past weekend was slow compared to usual, due to it being so crowded. Still caught plenty of fish. Tons of 10-12" stocker rainbows. Crappie and Walleye were pretty spooky. They would follow the bait to the surface, and then turn away. It took a lot of work to get them to bite. I did get one hefty walleye on my fly rod that made my weekend. Black bass seemed to be all over as well. Caught a few largemouth, quite a few spots, and probably 20-25 smallies. Biggest of all being about a 2lb smallie. I'll be back soon, hopefully less crowded.

Fishing is going to do nothing but get better as it gets colder. If you wanna get in on the action, and learn what it's all about, give us a shout. We'll give you a trip you'll remember for a lifetime.

Didn't get an exact measure before she was cleaned, but she hung off my golden ruler by a few inches. Ruler tops out about 22.5". Smaller walleye in the second picture was the 2nd biggest caught all weekend, and it was 20.25". 18" cutting board. Heck of a way to break in the new Sage rod.