Just posted: http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/10566747/1

Very good report, enjoy reading it. thanks Carey.

Well he just smashed it yesterday, did he show you the pic?

Denny

Who smashed what?

Not sure who smashed what? Peter Breeden caught the same fish Saturday - absolutely gorgeous fish.

Report: Rainbow stocking has finally occurred. Smallish fish - 10-14". The red zones were full of them and they were pretty much stuck to the bottom. Spillway creek was hammered with people, but the fishing was OK. If you stayed deep, you could grab a couple of nice fish. Flies that caught some fish were: Rs2, small caddis pupae, various midges, and the olive neer deere. Water was crystal clear and the river seemed healthy.

Zone 3 has literally thousands of baby browns. Mostly 6-10". I hope they get a chance to grow up. You can barely fish for the bigger rainbows as these little guys peck away at every fly you toss. It was fun for awhile, and the scenery was pretty cool.

Nature call: We watched the Great Blue Heron at the top of EH eat 3 stocker rainbows in 10 minutes. She then promptly regurgitated them. We chased her off for a little while so we could fish too.

Brad's big brown from 2014 was caught again. One of the local guides landed him. Gorgeous fish. He is back in the river awaiting the 3rd lucky angler. Picture attached.

Nice one to bad zone two flooded and no real attempt was made to restore it. You could get into rainbows an browns that size great fish. I have seen one coming out from the cut bank right there that looks about that size.

All nice Trout!
Great pictures from Oklahoma; From good people enjoying the outdoors God gave us all.
Im ready to see Roberts Giant sand bass this year..! He caught some whoppers last year..!

Fished the Park on Friday. I had met a young man from Dallas by way of Minnesota on another site. His name is Ryan. We met up on Spillway and I showed him around. Unfortunately, by the time Ryan got to the Park, bought a license, and found me, it was nearly afternoon. He was able to fish for only the mid-day hours when, as so often the case, the fishing is toughest. Anyway, I caught several small rainbows, and, I think, a small brown on Spillway on a Rainbow Warrior fished on bottom in the runs. This was before 11 AM. After that the sun was overhead. I couldn't make anything happen up there no matter how deep I fished.

We went to the fly shop and visited with Eddie. He and Ryan talked Gophers football. We got some RS2's, no Barr's'es as they had sold out (hotcakes), and headed to Evening Hole. There were fish everywhere, but skittish in the direct sunlight. Ryan was able to "get the monkey off his back", as he put it and catch a rainbow. He did this on an RS2 trailing an egg beneath an indicator. He hasn't trout fished much in MN, mostly small-mouth bass fished with Clousers, and had never caught one in a stream. He was amazed at the population of trout and their visibility in EH. But it was tough. We had several hook-ups and just a couple caught in an hour and a half. Then he had to leave and get back to Dallas.

After the shadows started getting long the fish got a little more active. I caught a few in the slightly deeper run in upper EH on an egg pattern trailed by a Zebra Midge (they hit both). Then I had some action on an RS2 swung in the current. The fish all day were 10-12 inch rainbows and a couple of browns about the same size. All in all it was a great and blessed day of fishing.

I MUST GET BACK THERE!

What did Z2 used to be like? Were there more shallow areas that were wadeable or something?

Nothing has changed about it other than the fact when they open the floodgates all the fish were forced downstream and all my times fishing it I never saw anybody keep a fish from down there they stocked it regularly most fish were 14 to 16 inches with a bunch of fish in the 22 to 26 inch range and they were everywhere. When the March Brown's showed up and they were keying in on the surface as long as you had a dead drift it would eventually get eaten almost every cast. I had one night down there stripping a white zonker I was going to fish all night take a nap and fish till the evening and head out. By the time sunrise got there I was so exhausted from catching fish I took a nap and when ahead and drove straight home I'd had enough. It really seems like they are wanting it to be more just wild fish down there they've not made any attempts to stock it very often but the fish that I caught some of them look like steelhead but you're going to be fishing hard all day for just a few fish. They brought in a bunch of loose substrate to make it more Freestone in a few areas and I have seen a lot of little fish the last couple of years I really hope they continue being successful. I've very rarely fished spillway creek it all back then.

There were not just a ton of really big fish but fantastic average. And real good chance at a fish in the 20-22 in range every trip some times several.

I hooked something pretty big down there last summer. Saw a little color before I screwed up trying to get it on the reel and lost it. My guess was a 19 - 20 inch rainbow. It was on a red wooly bugger I was crawling on the bottom like a bass pig 'n jig. I always say I'm going to go down there and never make it. When my wife and I go stay at a BB cabin on Memorial Day I will definitely go visit Z2 with some streamers.

There are a few good riffles in the first mile. Here a nymph rig could pay big dividends. For the most part thought that stretch is slow and deep streamers rule here. The best time is late winter during the shad kills. White bugger or zonker if you hit it at the right time even now it could be epic.

Based on what y'all have seen, is it worth a trip this weekend? Hoping Valentine's day keeps the crowds down.