Heads-up to those of you who fish below Denison dam: the Corp and game wardens are actively enforcing the no-wading area up by the dam.

On Monday of last week, I was fishing the river and ran into a guy I know who catfishes, practically every day, below the dam. He advised me he has seen stepped up enforcement of the no-wading area. He then went on to tell me that on the previous day he witnessed two fly fishermen wading in the pool just upstream from the cable. He said a Texas game warden stopped his truck on the road between the parking lot and the dam and, using a bullhorn, called to the fly fishermen telling them to get out of the water and come to him. The encounter between the game warden and the fly fishermen lasted around 20 minutes. The catfish fisherman said it appeared to him the game warden issued the fly fishermen citations. I don�t wade upstream from the cable and I encourage all fly fishers to respect the posted restrictions and not wade in the restricted area. You can hit a lot of that water from the banks and from the rocks in the center of the river that are just under the cable.

Now a little about the fishing. Since mid-November I�ve been fishing the river a couple of times per week. The fishing has ranged from fair, 3-4 striper/outing, to very good, 15-25 fish/outing. Most of my outings have been fair but 2 or 3 were very good. The majority of the fish were 15�-18�, with an occasional 20�er. During this time frame, I didn�t catch any big fish. The only time I got skunked was on Monday of this week, but I still managed to land the nice Sandie in the pic below.

Over the past 2.5 weeks, with the cold air and water temps, my numbers have decreased. On my last 4 outings, my numbers were 3, 2, 2 and zero. In order to get strikes I�ve had to slow my presentation. I�m talking really slow. I�m putting the fly on the bottom, then making 2-3� strips and waiting a couple of seconds between strips. The fish are literally picking the fly up off the bottom. The eat registers as a very light tap and, to hook up, requires a quick strip-set to stick �em.

During the cold months of winter, I find fishing below Denison dam to be difficult and generally unproductive. I�m thrilled with the success I�ve had the past couple of weeks (which I consider to be unexpected and unusual). I hope it continues. But, for those of you who might read this post and decide to head up, be advised to temper your expectations. Don�t be surprised if you fish hard and still get skunked. It�s tough this time of year. If you do catch a fish or two���..you�ve done good!

And���please don�t wade in the restricted area upstream from the cable.

Here�s the sandie I caught on Monday

oops.....pic didn't post. Here it is

Wow. Great tip, thanks. I've definitely done some exploring in the past... not anymore.

Most of the fish in that big pool?

Good to know I�ve never taken a chance crossing it anyway. Just glad to hear there are still a few to catch!! Has it been better with generation going or no generation?

Glitchmo, yes there are often, but not always, fish in the pool just upstream from the cable. My favorite way to fish the area is to wade out to the rocks in the middle of the river, stand under the cable and cover as much of the water as I can reach. It�s tough when the wind is out of the west.

Robert, I too am thrilled there are still some good fish. Assuming we follow the pattern after the 2007 flood, by this time next year we�ll probably consider a 14� fish a big fish. I�ve been fishing when they aren�t generating, so I can�t comment on fishing during generation. Anybody else fishing during generation? Got a report?

Thanks for the info

Good Info !!

So when is the best time / months to fish stripers at Denison Dam ?

Park, this thread is from January of last year. The river has changed dramatically since then and they are still running too much water to wade in that area. You'll have to wait until they stop running water through the dam in order to wade. Whether there will be any fish below the dam still remains to be seen.

oh ok Great info . Thanks !!

The surf rod guys my have eaten them all before the water falls to good fly fishing lol. I have caught some good fish when the generator is running but you have to really be able to read the water to find a seam holding the fish. If you do they may be stacked in there.

Should be fishable soon, I would guess, unless we get more rain. Flows have been dropping for a month or so now. But yeah, it's a question of how many fish made it over/through and how many are left. I'm gonna give it a whirl as soon as they stop generating.

They are still generating, one unit 24/7.

I haven't fished below Denison dam since I made this post. Mostly because I bought my little boat-like thing and jumped over to the lake, but partly because of my pessimism that the post-2015-flood raping of the river is now probably complete and the vast majority of the fish that were in the river have been caught and eaten. I know there is some restocking of the river through the dam, but I think the survival rate of fish that go through the dam is low. It's not as if a fish going though a generator turbine in the dam suffers the same 100% fatality rate of a bird going through the turbine of a jet engine, but I suspect the survival rate is relatively low. As for the fish that are sucked though the flood gates, they face the prospect of hitting one of the concrete pylons traveling at about 20'/second and suffering the same fate as a bug on a windshield. However, I think the survival rate of small fish going through the dam is probably pretty good and these fish provide the primary restocking of the river. But it takes time for them to grow big enough to be worthy of catching.

Despite my pessimism, I am anxious to give it a try and am looking forward to a pause in release. My expectations are low, but I hope to go up and find that I am totally wrong! I notice the Corps has lowered the lake's seasonal conservation pool down to 615' and, with the current lake level is at 616', the lake is currently considered 1' high. So, it may still be a while before we get our shot.

Thanks for the info

The overflow tunnel on the OK side was running a lot of water through it due to the high water and there may have been some nice fish coming through it. But there definitely won't be near the numbers as there were after the flood a few years ago. We'll just have to wait and see.