What the heck are you talking about, Jeff?!? Do you have real info? How long has this been going on for? Dang! I knew all the reports were too good!

It's no secret that Nebraska is getting out of their contract and Crystal Lake is set to take back over. A few weeks back, the Nebraska hatchery reached out to the State and Crystal Lake because they said they could not make a scheduled stocking (but had already been paid for it). In good faith, Crystal Lake delivered fish from their own hatchery so the stocking date wasn't missed. Crystal Lake wants their money and from what I understand is holding out any future deliveries until they get paid for it.

So far there has only been one scheduled stocking missed (last week).

My guess is that the State won't allow this "holdout" to last very long. But you never know.

Thanks, Brad. That's not that bad, then, at least not yet.

What Brad said....

Crystal Lake Fisheries had the contract to stock The Lower Mountain Fork River (Beavers Bend OK)for years. It was RARE they had a problem delivering fish on time. My buddy Dan and I made 90+ trip to Beavers Bend over almost 10 years. Only twice was there difficulty getting the trout there on a stocking Thursday. They did an excellent job in many anglers opinions. The Nebraska Hatchery is small and over 900 miles away. It takes them 2 days to deliver trout. They have some other contracts and appeared over booked. Their fish (that arrived alive) were good. The Kamloops strain of rainbows. However, you never knew when they'd stock and the 3 week deal just is not practical for a 365 day fishery that is now very popular. I'm glad for Crystal Lake. A Crystal Lake 20" trout from the Trinity River in Ft. Worth TX.

WOW! FINALLY this nonsense with that worthless hatchery in Nebraska is OVER! Whom ever allowed that contract to be signed in the first place should have been fired! NOW can we all get together and put some serious pressure on the Oklahoma parks director to PLEASE clean & upgrade the shower house in the fern loop! They have t power washed the showers, fixed the damn shower heads or replaced the shower curtains in over 7 years!!!! It is truly disgusting!!!!!

My biggest gripe about the park. No bathrooms (besides the holes that are like a 3rd world country). And they one they do have is too nasty and is over crowded for the number of people. Saturday mornings there is a line around the building. Hope your bathroom needs are not an emergency.

Taking the wife up there turns into an issue when it's time for a bathroom break. Leave fishing hole, hike out a mile, drive another mile or 2 to get to a nasty bathroom. She will not even venture into the ones with the hole in the ground. The look on her face coming out of there the first time was PRICELESS!!

I camp 90% of the time I go to the park. I'm not a cabin balla. OK has the worst bathrooms of any state run park. I have been all over camping many different states. Beavers Bend and Texoma State Park in Oklahoma is the worst ever!!

And for them to charge $12 per tent is highway robbery.

Welp, These are all state budget issues, I'm sure. Nothin' to be done. Luckily, whenever I'm day-fishin' I'm willing to use the "hole in the ground" outhouses. And I am a cabin-balla'. My wife and I stayed last summer in one. I thought it was fine. She thought it was too primitive. I don't know why.

Say, anyone seen Carey?

Budget issues to clean a restroom, now I've heard it all.

(I can go buy them a new shower curtain, bottle of bleach and a new shower head for under $10. No big expense needed.)

I call it laziness....or lack of diligence for the Park Manager and his cleaning crew.

It is the only park I have ever been too that gets the guys in jail to do the clean up work and repairs.

Not sure I understand. Looking at the rates for Texas parks, campsites are $15 + $3 per day entrance fee. Even the undeveloped sites are $12 + $3 per day per person entrance fee. The rates don't seem that different between the two states.

I'm amazed that OK doesn't charge an entrance fee. For a day trip the use of the park and facilities is free. The license fee is required to fish whether you use a state park or not, so it doesn't have much to with financing the park.

Although, I'd be willing to pay an entrance fee in exchange for better park facilities.

Texas does some of that too. Especially, using people that receive community service sentences.

Most states charge per campsite. Beavers Bend charges per tent.

As a grown man, I don't like to share a tent. Seems a little weird for me.

So if you go with a group and everyone brings a tent, your cost is all of a sudden near the price of a nice cabin.

I was even charged one night to sleep in my truck. Hammocks are $12 extra.

Community Service is one thing, guys in orange county jumpsuits coming into your campsite is another thing. Sketchy, IMO.

Well, the jailbirds do a lot of clean-up and mowing in my small town, especially at the Fair Barn. I was going to write a movie script, a small southern town mystery, but I only had one scene for it. That was of my bosses mother, this very stern (but not unkind) old woman. She used to drive around town with a pickup bed full of jailbirds. She'd take them around and do clean-up here and there. One of her stops would be the tobacco store so they could buy their cigarettes. I don't know if she paid for them or they had to buy their own.

Quick question. Thinking about heading up this morning but not sure it is worth it. Barometric pressure is extremely high. Did anyone fish yesterday and do ok. No holes or patterns wanted. Just trying to determine if I need to save my gas. Drive is about an hour and a half