Anyone heading to the Blue this weekend? I'm making my first trip up there on Saturday!

I was up there this past weekend. The trout derby was going on so I stayed north of highway 7 and ventured into the catch and release area. Only managed two small fish, although they were darkly colored which makes me think that they had been in there for a little while. Did see a few fish rising but didn't have much luck in the spots where I usually have success. I had a hard time figuring out the hatch as well. It looked to me like there were several different insects coming off. There were midges swarming around and also saw several small dark mayflies in the afternoon, blue wing olives maybe? I thought blue wing olives only hatched on cloudy days though, and I didn't really see them hatching so much as flying around landing on my fingers. Maybe this was a spinner fall? It ended up being pretty frustrating as the blue can sometimes if the fishing is tough. Maybe it had to do with the cold front coming in on Sunday? If you're not familiar with it, it's a lot different than the LMF. It's sort of a meandering river with long slow stretches of what looks like fish less water followed by a waterfall. I think there are like 50 something waterfalls on that 6 mile stretch. If you're going to fish the waterfalls make sure you get deep. I usually have success throwing an olive jig or woolly bugger and stripping it back. Pheasant tail nymphs and midge patterns do well there also. I say it can be frustrating because the Blue is a pretty overgrown river where I spend a lot of time untangling from trees and branches and if the fish aren't biting, that can get old pretty quick. It can be a lot of fun as well though. Anywhere you see a trash can is a stocking point from what I'm told. Have fun.

I was up there about 3 weeks ago and the same results as DainW. Game warden in the parking area doing creel surveys said its been like that for a while. The powerbaiters were catching fish but the remainder of people were struggling. I fished about 5 hours and landed one fish and had 3 or 4 hooked but practiced long distance releasing.

At least the wardens are somewhere in Oklahoma. It's too bad they can't stick around the LMF. The great Mateo has brought along a good topic of a great place. I hope this stays as a sticky at the top great discussion here as well as informative. It is a great place to hit warm and cold water species alike great smallmouth there as well.

I think one of the reasons it's probably been fishing like that lately has to do with the hatchery problems in Nebraska. The released an article in the daily Oklahoman about a month ago that outlined the issues and more or less said that the 8 places in Oklahoma that receive stockings will get about half as many as normal. I know that the contract for the LMF has since been taken back over by Crystal Farms in Missouri, but I wonder if they took over the contract for the rest of the state as well?

I remember this news but I didn't realize the problem was that bad. 50% less is a huge number of fish.

Here's the article in case you're interested: http://newsok.com/outdoors-notebook-fewer-trout-swimming-in-oklahoma-fishing-waters/article/5383279

Again, I'm not sure if this is still the case. I know that the Missouri hatchery took over the contract for the LMF in January and they've resumed stocking the normal amounts. I would think that the state would only contract with one hatchery at a time and that if the Missouri hatchery is supplying fish for one place in OK then they would be supplying fish for all of the spots, but who knows. I don't think it's not worth going to the Blue though. There are still fish there for sure, and just because I didn't catch much doesn't mean anything. I'm still relatively new to the sport so it may have very well been that I just couldn't catch em that day. It was also 71 degrees that day and the next day a cold front came in, so that may have something to do with it who knows.

My son and I are headed up there this weekend. We'll most likely hang out at Hughes Crossing. I want to venture out up river but I don't know how far the hike is to the C&R area. Is it quickest to hike in from HWY 7?
My son (almost 11) just got his first chest waders and he almost wanted to sleep in them. Anyway, I appreciate the details DainW. I'm taking a wide array of flies with me. He and I hav eonly fished up there when they first stock'm in early Novemeber. During that time of the year, we've done extremely well on GB Hare's ear and Wooly Bugger as well. I'm curious to see if those do well this time of the year. I've got two spots I can't wait to hit!!!!! Love me some blue river.

I'm thinking I'll start at Hughes Crossing as well and then go from there. I'll be in a Black Tacoma with a golden retriever in tow (only when I'm taking a break. he won't be scaring fish...). FishDaddy- I think I read the best place to park for catch and release is off Hwy 7.

What about the area between Hughes and C&R? Seems separated enough to get away from the busy spots, but I never hear anything about it.

I usually start out at highway 7 and work my way north to the catch and release area. I think it's about a mile and half to the start of the catch and release if you start at the west parking lot and walk directly to it. The walk from the east parking lot is further, but there are a lot of good hole along the way and rarely do you see another angler. The area directly south of highway 7 can be good too.

I went yesterday and spent all day on the water. I had a great time and pulled in 12, which is good for me. Nothing big, 8-12".

It was packed at Hughes Crossing so I ventured downriver a little ways to get away from people, and then after lunch hiked up toward Desperado Spring and found a little mini feeding frenzy going on in one of the pools. There was a hatch going on (I guess BWOs?) but I'm a terrible dry fly fisher and couldn't make that work. No worries, they hit the near deere over and over again.

Like DainW said, the river is covered in trees and that was often in spots I wanted to fish. I got plenty of opportunity to work on my "distance" roll cast, which needs some serious work. I thought the river was beautiful, and it seems like it's just a series of water falls and pools, with few of what I would consider runs. I know that need to get better at fishing very slowly moving water.

Flies of the day:
1. Near Deere
2. "Long Creek" Tied by Jeff Guerin who guides on the Little Missouri
3. Rs2 Emerger

All in all, great day!

Robert, I was in LMF yesterday and today. I actually saw wardens on Saturday morning checking people and then Park Rangers strolled thru looking for baiters in the red zone. I've been going up for 4 years now and this was the 1st time to see a warden or a Park Ranger in the red zone other than driving over the bridge.

My son and I hit the BLue On Saturday and a little on Sunday. Hit the water about 7:15 on Saturday and fished hard all day. we only caught three. We were primarily using a gold bead hare's ear about 2 feet under our strike indicator on 5x tippet.
I tried black and olive wooly buggers, a dry mosquito on top with a midge 2' below, and two wet flies at the same time.
We primarily fished around Hughes crossing from the island up to the first waterfall/drop off up river on the other side of the crossing.
I managed to pull in one beauty that was about 14 1/2". Funny thing is I hooked him once and my leader broke on me. Lost my strike indicator and two flies. 15 minutes later I caught him again, got my flies back, and released him on his merry way.
All in all, it was a fun trip for us and I love seeing my 10 year old fly fishing!!

Been fishing the Blue 1-2 times a week for the past few weeks. Most trips I have been catching 15-20. Today was a little bit slower, only managed to catch 9 by 10am. Here is a photo of todays catch. Can't wait to get them on the grill tomorrow evening.

Beautifull photograph Mike! Glad to here your having some luck. I wanted to go up there today just to shoot some snow scenes of the river but my schedule didn't allow it.