I know that lake, but never been.

Lake Waurika is a very good lake spring and summer crappie,sandbass,hybrids.It is closed in the winter for hunting.
This lake has HUGE hybrids in it.Large sandbass....
We bank fish and boat fish...
My middle son lives in Waurika after many years in the Army.He works with the vet there.He purchased a home there.I visit him and we fish the lake...his clients tell him where to catch them and what is biting..On shore we wade fish windy points..catch lots of large sandbass and big hybrids in certain areas..crappie all over the trees and stumps..
In a boat same areas but a lot deeper water.
Before my sons grew up..I use to trout fish with them alot..I like to striper fish all over in fresh water and salt water fish for alot of fish in Port Aransas...I sold all my boats so I bank fish now.I fished RC some and did pretty well and still am -in certain spots with a certain bait..you know..

"The Majic Near Deere Jig Fly"

4-19-12

tarpon fly, do you sell your near deer fly?

There's a couple different kinds of them, not sure which one's, but i bet they all work great and they're on the link above

On my website

Thanks for telling me you were going up there....

( Photo by Dan)


I have not thrown a report up in a bit so here's one.

The fishing is the same as always. Its good fishing, period.

Put first timer Corey on 11 Rainbows today. For the first hour he missed a couple dozen trying to set the hook like a bass fisherman. After I got him calmed down, he started to land fish here and there, but still missed a ton of them.



Fish really liked the fly on the swing today or even dragged they were nailing the fly.....

Finished up with Corey and I hit the water for two hours. By then the sun was way up and it was hot outside, but, the water was perfect. No waders needed. Saws bunch of neoprene fisherman. Man, I bet that was not very fun. Been seeing the Neo-Waders for three weeks now.

I had already walked the river with my client in the morning, so I knew where all the big fish were layed up that we missed. Pulled out a few 18-19's and a bunch of dink 12 inchers. Dan was on his way to another hole as , I landed an 18 incher so he got a pic.



I has my eye on three monsters of the day, so for about an hour, I was hopping back and forth drifting a fly to the monsters. Hooked one well over 20, but she pulled off. So after an hour of that, I went to the truck to rehydrate. After that I headed up Spillway Creek. ( video is 8 mins. Nothing really fun. Got bored really quick and all I had on my mind was those big trout and I wanted a 20+ inch trout before I got back on the road, so after this video, I headed right back to them.missed a bunch in the vid. As I was letting it dangle at the end of the run, )



One of the pools had four deformed bows in it.






Very weird to watch them swim. They hobbled over to take my fly it seemed. Their tails were stuck crooked.

Then I finally land my 22 incher. After 50-100 drifts, she finally gave me a fight. Ten mins later we were in the truck coming back to Dallas. Just in time to avoid rush hour.



Totals for the half day:

Corey 11
Dan 27
Me. 37

We're headed out there for the weekend, but not fly fishing. Any experience with lures? It's my buddy's bachelor party... Camping, fishing, floating, etc.

White spinners 1/8 oz
Silver
Chartreuse

Buy at least 4 of each color and don't let them hit the bottom. They will snag.

Crimp the barbs down so u don't destry the fishes mouths.

That should land you a few fish. Steady retrieve.

Read the signs at the river and stay out of the red zones with those lures. Stick to the blue zones.

Been busy and the 12 hour days are draining me of energy, so, I'm sorry about the delayed reports. I'm going to mix up all the species of fish into one report to save me some time. So, here we go:( FYI- pictures are all out of order)

White Bass:

They have been doing the same thing they have been doing for 3 months. All 14 roadbeds / old ramps ( that I have found so far) are holding fish. Today we pulled a limit out in about 2 hours. Marcus threw back all the fish that were 12 inches or smaller so he had some big fish for the grill today. The wind was out of the south and it was bit choppy today but they were stacked up. Then the wind shifted out of the west and they moved somewhere. So off to the one of many, RB's. Side Scanned it and the fish were loaded on this one again. All three of us got a double on the first cast. Just crazy fun. You actually get bored of catching them after awhile......



Yesterday, I had a couple guys hop on the boat. They said they were newbies. They usually just sit on the bank with some earthworms, but they never caught anything. So we hit Lavon at about 7 am and set up. They usually turn on by 730, but they were late.



We started to boat fish one after the other by 750 am.



We never moved from this spot till 11 am landing 100's of sandies. They caught more fish, obviously, and the biggest fish of their lives. They were a hoot.





After they had sore wrists and the fish would not quit biting, we called it day. I asked them if they ever caught a crappie before. They said no. So, I stopped at a magic brush pile and I gave them a crash course on jigging. I said we wouldnt leave till they both landed one.



So, yeah!...... Everyday has been great on the White Bass bite. Only the day we got the tail wind from the hurricane was it slow. It was super slow. But other than that, the bite has been going strong and almost impossible to not limit.

The Crappie Report:

Fish are very easy right now. 8-15 ft depths.

The reasons some of y'all are having issues:

1- your fishing the same structure you were fishing when the lake was 5-6 ft higher. They moved out of those areas for the most part. Plus those hot spots are now visible and get hammered. You need to find new brush piles in deeper water. 15 ft seems to be a good number, but I have 4 piles in 10 ft of water, and the fish are stacking on them. So again, learn to find new brush. You must cover a lot of water. Every so often, you will land on a big school of them and catch 20 keepers off of it. -Just have to find that spot.

2- minnows are king. Jig bite will pick up as it gets to 75-80 degrees and minnows will not be king anymore.

3- your fishing in your honey hole to long. Move to find those aggressive fish and put the crappie in the boat. Don't wait on them, go get them!

As some of y'all know, I guide year round for rainbow trout in Beavers Bend State Park @ the Lower Mt Fork River. They stock this river with 4200 fish every other Thursday year round so there are always fish to be caught. Its only 2.5 hours from Dallas and your in the mountains. You don't have to fly fish either. You can do it anyway you want. Drag a minnow in the Blue Zones and you will limit quick. Drag a 1/8th oz white rooster tail on 4-6 lb line on a spinning rod. or fly fish using all kinds of different flies that will produce a nice fish in your net. 20 fish landed is a slow day on my end there. 50-75 is an average outing with Tally's of 100 being broken on occasion. Big fish swim here. My client hook a Rainbow Trout that was about 25 inches on Wednesday. 5-7 lb trout right there. Hooked another one later about the same size. Both got off. They looked like a salmon. Huge fish......



Lower Mountain Fork River Fly Fishing Report:

So yup. Same thing everyday up there. I have been up there once a week or so for the last couple months. Nothing has changed. Crowds have gotten way smaller since school is in now. We saw 4 other anglers on the red zone all day.



Night and day compared to the last couple months. In two weeks it will be a ghost town and no group of kids everywhere. All the canoes going downstream all day long, was ruining a lot of my holes and the fish were super spooky. But now, they are starting to come out and feed again. Caught a lot of fish that have been in the river for awhile.



Super pretty colors. Lost Creek and Evening Hole was stocked full of fish. A few good fish have made their way to the bluffs again. So fishing the whole river has started to get better. But, here comes the heat again......




lol, Fish will always be there though. Just have to throw what they want to eat. Spillway Creek fished pretty good. You really need to focus on the shady spots when the sun is up. They will stack up on top of each other and there will be 20-30 fish balled up in a shady pocket the sized of a large trash can lid. When you go into lost creek, watch what they are doing since they are easy to see there. Then take the pattern you have just learned from them and hike up Spillway Creek. Lots of fun but mending and high sticking is very important. Side casting is too. Some casts need to be thrown up under a over hang to get the fly to drift in some hidden pockets. Don't just drift the obvious spots. Drift the fly in every spot you can everywhere.




The browns have been hiding under the small grassy overhangs along the shore lines. Very tough to get out. Most of them are caught before dark and on WB's at night.









Cant wait till Nov/Dec when it gets cold. No pressure from anglers, so they stock 4200 fish 0n top of the last stocking that barley got a dent in it. Great winter fishing up there and views. The cabins are super nice too.

Mike Landed 32 rainbows
Chris landed 15-20
I landed 75 and quit and went home while they were still biting.

Caught two wild ones today.

Broken Bow has been fun the last couple weeks. Real fun. At least, on my side of the river.

Met my 5 guys at the river at 7 am and went for a walk. Deer were on the trail and wouldnt move till you got about 2-3 ft from them. That was wierd. Showed the guys the roll cast/how to land fish, and on the first cast, landed one. Pretty much how the day went. But, with a twist. The first fish of the day was a 15 incher. The second one was 10? Then I hear drag screaming down the river. I look over and one of my guys has something BIG on the line. Took him into his backing and went way way downstream ( medium current ), around a log, and wrapped him up. This went on for about 5 minutes before he wrapped up in a log jam. SAD. It was very very big whatever it was. Had to be a big mammoth of a brown trout IMO. My client is still smiling and texting about "the one that got away". This was his 5th cast of the day and first fly rod trip ever.

2 of the 5 guys- have fly fished before, so it didnt take them long to catch on and start catching fish. The other 3 were newbies to the sport of fly fishing, and boy did they get spoiled today. All of them. Took what pics I could when I was around to take them. Waiting on the other pics they took, when they get back into town.

We were all over the river today. I found a pattern the Monster fish were on. Today they were eating my Near Deer fly. Thats the pattern. We spot a fish and drift till it bites. Easy as that.

Evening Hole has another Rainbow/Salmon in it. This fish is an easy 28-30 incher. I had my guy beat it up for 15 mins or so. Finally I hear him say he got it! But freakin of course it got off again. But thats barbless for you....

So after that I had them walk the banks till they saw what they wanted to catch. Told them to skip all the 15-16 inch trout and only target the 17's and up.



No idea what thier tallys were.... but it was a lot.







21 inch Rainbow Trout (above)- They caught many of them.





After the trip was done, it was my turn. Mike drove out with me and I found him watering up at the truck. He said, look at this.




Spillway creek has big fish too.

So I head up the creek.....






-----------------------------------------

Hit the Evening Hole areas as well.





Then I decided it was time to hit Spillway Creek again. Then it happened. I spotted the fish I was going to catch before I left the park. I worked on her for about an hour. I had her turn on my fly 10-15 times and I think she took the fly once, but im 50/50 on that one. Could have been the bottom, but who knows .

So I sat down and watched her for 15 mins . She never opened her mouth, so she was not feeding on anything. hmmmm.

Started drifting the fly to her again for about 30 mins and again she would drift over to the fly or turn a bit, so I knew she would eat eventually....? Then I noticed something. Everytime she would drift over to my fly or turn a bit, it was only when I drifted on her left side. So every cast I started drifting to the left side of her. Then it was every 2 casts she would get a bit more excited. Then a freaking male moved in behind her and started biting at her. At this point, I get a bit upset. The male wouldnt stop picking on any of the fish in my spot here. So I moved up stream and followed it till it layed up and I could drift my fly to it.



As the fly landed 7 feet in front of him, He swam at full speed and attacked my fly and started to jump all over the place. So, I got him in and went back to the the fish I wanted to land before I left for the day.

Started to drift the left side of her and again she immediatly turned and took a short strike at the fly. Second cast, "HOOK-UP!

Up and down, up and down, the rapids she went. (This was all in 2 ft to 3 ft of water in Spillway Creek) 20 minutes later she starts to tire out. Then she turns downstream at full force and makes a run over a 4 ft waterfall, down into the next pool below me. I was following. -From the bank of course. 5 mins later she is beached.



29 inches

Now, the reason she was only turing to her left, was, she didnt have much of an eyeball in her right eye socket. Got popped awhile back at some point. So she was blind on her right side......


Now, this fish was in a major stocking point and had no chance in the world to live. She was going to get yanked out before the weekend would end. The next pool up, a guy had his limit of trout and all of them were 18-19 inchers and a 23 inch kicker. His daughter, had the same thing (7 Years old) and her kicker was a 22 incher. So since the fish would be taken within a couple days, I will be giving it a new home on the grill and inviting some friends over for some beer and grilled trout.

I had to go find Mike to take a picture, so she lost her colors.

Everywhere we went today there were big "old" trout swimming around. Fun day for sure and huge fish biting.

Mike 31 Trout
Me 51 Trout and a 6 inch Warmouth/RockBass

Great trip

...after four years, he finally likes the way I take pictures...