Friday was a pretty good morning to fish. Fish were active and feeding. Everyone caught fish and missed lots more.




Around noon, everything changed as a front blew in. Air pressure soared over night and fish got lock jawed.






TFF member and friend, Baffinbay, drove up for the afternoon, and we was close to me while he hooked up with a nice rainbow trout. He said he wont forget the net next time.






Saturday AM was stupid cold. Stayed under 28 degrees till 2 pm or so. Reel Feel at 7 am was 8 degrees. We battled ice on the guide of the rod all morning. Couple of break offs due to it as well.







Trout flies for the day were: RS2's, eggs, Near Deers, BWO's, Pink San Juan Worms.







Saturday with the coldness, came along with a terrible cold wind. 20-30 mph gusts. Every other angler we ran into had snot running down thier faces.... It was very slow. Air pressure was over 30.50 and fish were shut down. We still managed about 20 fish or so.

I like the Pressure around 29.95-30.20 and steady or dropping slowly.



The river got pretty stained up and had a 2 ft vis. Fish were hugging the bottom most of the day. About 3 pm a hatch started, but ended before we tied on new droppers and all.... small fish were rising, none of the bigger fish were really feeding. But we got lucky here and there and sqweezed out some 18 inchers.....



My otther buddy came up Friday night and tried to night fish. You can see him on the bottom right, little spec standing there.



I saved this for last. The Dad told me his son needed a Fly Fishing Merit Badge for the Boy Scouts of America. I said no problem. When it was time to teach him the ropes, and I thought he was ready, we hit the water. I told him where to cast the fly and saw him walk up to the water. Then, his mom walked up and I had to re-tie her fly on. Meanwhile, I hear the little Boy Scout ( 7 Years Old ), say, "Carey, I got One!!" I told him to do what I taught him. After an epic battle with jumps and runs, his brother help land it and did a perfect net job.

1st cast, first fish ever, first time fly fishing.



22 inch monster. He almost couldnt hold it up.

The smile on that kids face makes the cold feeling go away I bet. Can't wait for my son to be old enouph to go out with me.

Sounds like a hot fishing trip in the cold.Great job Carey!!

H it the road at 430 am Monday morning and off to the river again....



That was yesterday, above pic. 1 inch of snow and ice pellets over night. Water coolled down 6 degrees over night. Fish didnt like that very much. Still managed 20 or so. Lost both monsters yesterday afternoon. one broke off and one hook pulled out. It was suppose to snow all morning till 2-3 pm and then rain. NOPE: freezing rain all morning, rods were icing up, and fish were locked pretty much. The little baby fish were rising 3-6 inchers, but we were after the monsters. It was not super action yesterday, so I was Home before most of yall even clocked out of work.

Even though we didnt catch a ton of fish, there were only 3 other cars in the park. We fished every part of the river above Zone II. Power Fished actually. That was what my client wanted for the day, to know all the holes and wont have to scout.

On my way back in 17 hours again!

Todays Fishing Report 2/15/12: Epic.



Met my client for the morning trip at the river, and hit the water at 7 am. The rain was on and off till about 9 am and stopped all together, and it was beautiful day, compared to the last couple of days up there. Upper 50's no wind, clear water, not one person on the river but us and the very hungry Trout. The water was 6 inches or so lower than usual, so it made fun for spot fishing.



The morning bite was absolutely outstanding. We started at the bottom of the Evening Hole, working our way upstream, and spot fished only 17+ inch fish or any sized Brown Trout, passing up all the smaller trout, if we could help it. But, sometimes a smaller trout would bite while drifting a fly to a larger one.



When we would find deeper pockets, I had my client work them hard till we knew we hit every corner with 3 different flies, and, then again, we would just keep on the move looking for the big girls. When we would spot one, I had him cast 4 ft upstream of the target and drift the fly of the hour, in the trout�s faces.....



We would drift the fly to the target about 5 times, then switch rods with a different fly, and do the same thing. If that didn�t work, I had another rod ready, with another fly. Out of one of the three flies/rods we had, 90% of the time we would get at least a hit or swipe from the target. A couple of the fish, were so aggressive, that they came 4-5 ft and attack the fly. When we would see one charging on the fly, we knew it was going to go aerial. Due to a couple before hand did the same thing.



I think we had one of the 18 incher's jump 11 times, pulling drag till the end. A fish like that jumping out of the water a foot and belly flopping is a classic site.



We hit the Bluffs and blanked there. Moved up to the next pool and worked the swift water and seams. Again throwing all three flies and moving. He picked up about three good ones in that pool before moving on to the next area.



We hit last elbow before it goes up to the Cold Hole, and blanked. Water was a bit lower and fish moved downstream. So we walked up to the 1st hole below the Cold Hole. Then I spotted one of the massive 25 inch PLUS Rainbow Trout a couple pics down you will see it. Started casting at her with no looks. Tried one of the backup flies and she took it immediately, jumping half way out of the water and doing a massive head shake like a Big Gulf Speckled Trout does. Amazing and beautiful site. During the head shake, he shook the barbless hook right out. It was a sad moment till the next cast produced a 19 inch solid fat female. We picked up a few more and moved up to the Cold Hole.



Then I spotted a dull shape in the water and told him to land next to the floating leaf that was in front of the targeted fish. He lands the fly perfect, mends perfect, and gives the rod a twitch. Then the reel starts singing! He even jumped the beast once, clear out of the water. I wish I had my Video Cam out for that one. So, we ended the morning with a massive fish. -Cold Hole Fish at that!



The release:

Hold fish upright with its nose in the current and hold the fish with out moving it back and forth.

The fish will start to power back up as you are holding it still.



Do not release the fish until it kicks out of your hand on its own power.



The fishing started to slow to a trickle as the front moved in at about 1030. The air pressure started to rise and the fish started to shut down.



A blue wing olive hatch was going on most of the day till about 2 pm, and the dinks (5-8 inchers) were popping the surface most of the day. Got a bunch on a dry fly, but they were not catching my attention. So I went to spot I had not been at in a long time due to there are so many people there usually. No one was there when I arrived. So quiet, so nice, and FULL of big fish. I have never had a trout, at the Lower Mt. Fork River, take me into my backing. Today was the day. It was a 15-20 minute battle, 24.5 inches and fat. Not my personal best there, but it was a memorable fight I won�t forget. She had a bad injury from being stocked on her gill plate. Actually the whole gill plate was pretty much gone. Harvested her with a few 18�s, for the grill. They were so big and fat, I only needed 4 of them.

Great day!

Dang, TarponFly! You're showin us how its done!

-Tom

Waiting for the next report !!!

Saturday was a bit busy at the river. But, Sunday, Holy Cr&p. Every Fly Fishing Club was at the river at the same time. One came on a bus from Alabama. I thought Spring Break was bad.

Fish were hammered all day 12 hours a day. Even saw head lamps at night twinkling in the river, trying to land some monsters in the night.

But, we still managed to land some fish.



At one point I counted 37 people in the Evening Hole.







Miss Cloud and her Father had come to Broken Bow in the past, and the guided trip they had that time bombed with no fish. So, they looked to a Texan to do the deed.

Took a bit to figure out what the fish wanted, -A break is all.





I decided to not fish dead water and hold some ground for awhile. We would fish it hard for 10 mins, then give the spot a rest for 10 mins. Worked out very good in the long run. The upper portions in the Red Zones were just over fished by 10 am.

Mr Cloud was loving life after he landed his 1st Brown Trout.

-I saw one of the biggest hatches of multiple insects, that I have ever seen before. March Browns, black Midges, Stone Fly, Blue Wing Olives, all at the same time for an hour. Landed about a dozen on Dry Flies during that period.




Later they decided to keep a limit for the cabins grill.

Flies of the Day:

March Brown Drys
Grey RS2's (#1 PRODUCING FLY) Size #22
Near Deers 1/100th
Eggs#18
Black Woolly Buggers
BWO'S

We were the first on the river and the last off the river yesterday Started my Client for the day, Jeff, in the Evening Hole and worked our way up, after he blew ten years of dust off his reel. Second cast we landed a fish.



Water was lower than usual, so deep small pockets were very good.



Not one other angler in site, till 9 am. Saw a total of 7 other people. Till spring Break.....




Fish were biting all day long.



I was excited to go to Lost Creek, because Brad said it was loaded with lots of fish last week.

-Not anymore. There were like 5 or 6 per hole. Small ones. -And I wonder they they went. They should have just made the whole river a blue zone.

Jeff ended up with 14 and missed triple that and had a blast.



At noon, I sat down and tied some more flies up and hit the Evening Hole. Spot fished for 3 hours up and down it. Landed 87 bows and 2 of which were browns. They were smashing the Near Deers.



A Husband and Wife looked over at me every minute and a half watching in disbelif as I landed fish after fish in the spot they just fished. Landed over 20 and asked them if they had caught anything, they said a couple. So, I gave them one of my Near Deers and by the time I got 20 yards up to a pocket I looked back at them, they were landing a fish already

Turns out they they are TFF members. Nice to meet ya'll.



Bugs were hatching all day. The weather is so nice up there, you wouldnt think to bring OFF. I had a blood sucker land on me as soon as we got out of the truck. He died instantly. sprayed some Off on and we were good for the day.

Little guys were feasting in the shallow pools on something very very small. No hook can match. But, a RS2 was tricking them.

Most fish were 14-17 inches. Near the end of the day, Jeff hooked a monster and took him for a spin. Ran 75 yards downstream. 25 plus inches. Ended up breaking his main fly line. Like I said, he dusted off 10 years of dust of the rod its been that long. He was smiles all day long. He said he would eat lunch and fish 2 more hours. I ended up at 5 pm dragging him off the river to go eat dinner and get back to Dallas, lol. Its hard to leave this place with so many fish and the beautiful area.

I had a blast yesterday getting reintroduced to fly fishing yesterday with Carey. He was like a golf caddy carrying around 2 extra fly rods and telling me how and where to cast. When the trout didn't like one fly, he would hand me another fly rod with a different fly rather than waste time tying a new fly on. When I snagged and lost one of his Near Deer flys, he handed me another rod to continue fishing while he tied a new fly on my rod. I really learned a lot and will be going back to perfect some of the techniques.

Thanks Carey.