I'll have to try botht the river and the lake for bass.

br 549canepoler,

I sent you a PM with Willard's #. My buddy can't get away. If you have kids, be sure and go by the West Slope Rock shop and talk to Cephas Hall, he's a local rock hound and has found several dinosaur fossils in the area. They also have a wildlife exhibit near the lake and the Museum of the Red River is supposed to be great. I've never actually been to either of them (usually too busy fishing or deer hunting while I'm there!), but I hear good things.
Be sure and take a drive on the Talihina Skyline-beuatiful scenery!
Have fun!

My grandmother's brothers (when they were alive) cleaned up on that lake. They live in that neck of the woods and had cabins on the north end of Broken Bow, in the McCurtain County Wildlife Refuge area.
I have seen more crappie pulled out of that lake than anywhere else combined. I've also seen hundreds of pounds of the cleanest catfish ever go from lake to grease in a matter of minutes. I guess because I grew up seeing it, that lake has always seemed magical to me. Like little league fields and playgrounds are to other folks. The river is cold and clear and really beautiful, especially zone 3 (never been on zone 2). If you have a yak, take it. If you plan to wade, felt soles are almost a must..you can really bust you @ss out there on those super slick rocks..... have fun!

went there last summer, rented a canoe to do the trout thing. It was about 1Million degrees out, so all we caught was a sunburn. seemed like the locals had no idea what was going on...

So how'd everybody come out?

I'll be posting some pictures soon...I didn't even put a pole in the water...Was traveling with 4 psycho in-laws, 1 cranky wife, 2 toddlers, 1 grandbaby, and 2 pregnant step-daughters, kinda mad at the wife for not cancelling the entire thing......Had fun swimming and canoeing, but that is about it....Here's the deal, I am wanting to go back in the fall with an all male party who just wants to go up there and fish for 2 or 3 days....the potential is there I know....I talked to everyone who would listen and learned some spots and fly patterns that will do the trick.in the streams....As far as the lake goes, I don't really have too much interest in it, even though it is beautiful, I wouldn't hire a guide up there when DFW guides are cheaper, provide more services, and fish on lakes that produce better numbers and quality of fish....In a nutshell, it is a cool place, it was just an ill planned trip and that kinda ruined it for me...gotta get back and turn my frown upside down, if you know what I mean..

I fished saturday - monday, 5am to noon every morning and found trout after trout in the river and the lake. Problem is, I was looking for bass. No good bank opportunities for bass. I couldn't find a spot deep enough for carp or buffalo either. All in all it was fun. Anyone going out there just hit the spillway under the dam. Its so clear you can see 10 trout from any spot down there.

Mark - You don't need depth for carp, not totally sure about buffalo. Even in the summer heat it's not uncommon for carp to come up into a foot or two of water to feed heavily.

Somethingsmellsfishy,

I'm glad you did good. Did you fish that spillway across form the swimming hole with the putt putt golf and bumper boats......some guys I talked to said that they catch walleye there about 5am every day.......I guarantee you there is some carp or drum or something at the place I am talking about....It looked like spinning rods with Kastmaster Spoons and high vis line was the ticket once the gates open.....

I go up there about once or twice a month, and rarely see Carp, or Buffalo in the first 2 zones of the river. (In fact, I never have..)
I do however know that if you go down to the re-reg dam (beginning of zone III) That the water tends to get a hair bit warmer, and I have caught some real nice bass about 75 yrd south of that dam there. I have seen occasional Carp swimming through there and tried to snag one using a nymph.
It's been said that some of the biggest Trout are caught at the re-reg just at the base of the dam where the riffles fan out at the bottom. I was fortunate enough about six months ago to land one, (a rainbow) that measured 25".My buddy had to help bring him in. So try to hit that spot next time.

Wow, I'm impressed that you caught anything
out of that lake. Though it is a beautiful
lake, it was a virtual dead pool 14 years
ago when I last fished it. It is simply
to deep with very little shallow shore
line to support much fish reproduction.

No, I'm talking about the tailrace. The 3rd zone of the river. I never fished the lakeside before. It looks nice, but never been there before. There are no Trout in the lake

Can I buy a non resident license at Beavers Bend?

You can get a liscense at the park headquarters, the fly shop in the park, and then the fly shop right outside the park. Make sure you get the trout stamp.