Watch out for Cotton Mouths too. They love the reeds and the places most people aren't walking. We ran into a few in May.

The only snake I have ever seen was one that went across the muddy part between the parking and evening hole.
Now you guys have got me scared to wet wade in shorts and my old tennis shoes.

I DO NOT like snakes

This one was 34" without the head n neck and tail past the poop hole...

DFW Airport Bear creek Golf Course...

Denny

That's the biggest copper head I have seen. Wow.

Nice Copper, Denny! Glad he didn't bite me. I haven't played Bear Creek in abou 3 years.

What are you going to do with that skin?

I have been up in broken bow a lot the last month. Stocking trucks seemed to come last Thursday. Definitely before Friday sometime. All the fish are are under 15 inches for the most part. Not hero pics at all. Olive Near Deers caught more than any other fly we threw.

Woolly buggers caught them too if you cover a lot of water. Once u find the pockets of fish, they r hungry. They didn't stock all the holes they normally do. Seems that just a few got stocked. Out of the 25 spots they drop fish, 5-6 were loaded and the rest void of life. Crowds are still crazy.

Looks as if the crowds are starting to die. I have been at the river 1-2 times a week, and this last Saturday was almost a ghost town. Evening hole never had more than 5 people in it all day. Should be like this till at least OU weekend. Then back to low foot traffic for the winter fisherman. 20-25 fish days are not uncommon.

To have a 20 plus fish day ( not counting the wild dinks) you need to set the hook when your indicator stops, twitches, or goes under. Set the hook before the fish poops out your fly.

If you catch me on the river, I will be using the Olive Near Deer 99% of the time. Why? Lol, cause it flat out catches the fish. Stocked fish, not wild here. -----ok yes, there are naturally born rainbows in there that are 10 inches long or smaller, but I didn't drive 100 miles to catch a par marked dink. I go to the river to catch the biggest stockers they have stocked.

While fishing for stocked fish, I keep my gear simple. I don't use tapered leader or tippet. All I do is take 8 ft strip of Berkley Vanish 4 lb line. I tie that directly to my fly line loop ( the colorful line on your reel). I just use a improved clinch knot. Then I tie on my fly at the end of the 8 foot strip. And then, I just slap an indicator on it to make my fly just bounce the bottom or an inch off the bottom. At the end of the drift, let it swing. When the fly line is completely straightened out, lift your rod tip as fast as a minnow would swim leaving the fly a quarter of an inch underwater and drag it back up to you. If nothing is following it or you don't get a strike on that, swivel your head to where you're going to cast, and roll cast it back up and repeat. In slack water, give your fly a small twitch here and there and wake it up. Make it hop around. Even while dead drifting, give the fly a twitch here and there. The fish will tell you what they want and how they want you to present it to them. You just have to remember: they are stocked fish. Their life all depended on a guy with a coffee can full of pellets till they took a 800+ mile trip, while spending the night in a hotel parking lot in Oklahoma City, then the next morning they get dumped into a majestic river full of hungry people, blue herons, otters, and poachers. I don't care what people say, the fish "do not" spread out and hide from us. They just get put on a stringer one day. Put & Take Fisheries. More taking than putting in the summer months.

Winter is almost here, so pink eggs will be right up there with the Near Deers. On harder days when there are a lot of people, grey RS2's will land them too.

I like to use pinch on foam indicators. Once you pinch them on usually you cannot move them again. But if you squeeze them and pull them up or down the mono, you can usually move them once or twice. I like to use those more than a perfectly round decatur. The pinch on foam indicators are obtuse. You can read them way better than a perfectly round indicator. And, they are cheaper.

If you're a purist, you can scroll back through this thread and you will see all the purest flies to use each month of the year. I listed every fly I would throw if I had purists out on a trip.

All of October is booked solid. I've moved out of Dallas and moved up to Lake Texoma hitting stripers. Way more fun than my small warm water lakes here in Dallas. The drought absolutely is killing me at the local lakes. So the last month I've been hitting the stripers. Heck of a lot of fun. I have joined up with StripersExpress.com on Texoma and we are wacking the fish every day. Fish up to 12 and 15 pounds. Boxfish ( 13-19 inches) Will keep you busy for at least three hours in the morning with a few overs thrown in. I will also be guiding smallmouth, carp, Buffalo, and gar- on the side- conventional tackle or flyfishing. The big Buffalo schools are in shallow flats. All over the flats. Had a couple go into my backing. The stripers, when they get over 8 to 10 pounds, they take about 15 to 20 minutes per fish to get in. Very fun stuff. If you're hooked pulls or you miss a fish swiping at your fly, there will be another one right behind it to pick it up.

I will not be taking any trips until November December for broken bow. If you're thinking of planning a trip with me I suggest you book the trip between now and mid October. I'm already starting to fill up those months, so if you want to fish this winter: Hurry Up!

If you're in need of Near Deers or any of the other flies I tie, I suggest you order between now and October. October I'm just gonna be way too busy to be tying flies in October. If anybody tells you that a woolly bugger is just as good as an Near Deer, they are smoking something. If you don't agree with that statement, put your money where your mouth is and we can fish side by side, and the proof is in the pudding. My fish numbers and my clients numbers of fish to net, speaks for itself.

I noticed some snot algae at the bend below cold hole. I have not seen that in about two years. There are kiosks located at all the major parking lots. Please wash your boots off before you enter the river and when you leave the river to prevent the spread of invasive species and unwanted plants and algae's. I have boots for my White Bass Run, Utah's Green River, and LMFR. So I have three pair. I don't like the idea of transferring invasive species, so I made sure I wouldn't be a part of that mumbo jumbo.

I would also suggest that you wear felt or studded boots. Studded boots gray the boulders and dig through the algae keeping you from falling in and getting wet. Felt is also a good contributor to the spread of invasive species. The felt will wear down eventually making you buy new boots. The studded boots should last you forever. Once the studs wear down all you do is screw new ones in! Without boots sometimes there's just too much algae on the boulders preventing the felt from gripping the actual Boulder itself. The steel studded boots, dig through the algae making contact with the boulders and grip them.

There are still a few Golden Trout, or whatever you want to call them, left in the river. You mainly have one shot at them in the morning. They are very easy to spot, so they get every fly thrown at them throughout the day. If they hit your fly and feel the hook, that fish is done, move on to the next one. Don't stay in one spot unless you are catching fish. If you have drifted your fly in every spot where you are fishing and no results, MOVE! When I am by myself, I will start at the Evening Hole and work my way up to Spillway Dam by foot. I will cover the area within 4 hours. By the time you reach the dam, you will have a good idea of where the heavier concentrations of fish are. When the sun comes up, fish the shade and deeper pockets. Have fun and bring an extra pair of cloths incase you take a dip.

Aside from the stocking schedule, which is a guess at best, the above post has everything you need to know. Use the Near Deer's- they work. My biggest fish have come off the bottom.
Bring food. You will lose an hour leaving the park to get food. If you want to be alone, go during the week and work up spillway creek. Bigger stockers will come soon. They opt for quantity in the Summer months due to stress from people and heat.
If you go once you will want to go back.

TarponFly, we are planning a trip on the 23-27 of this month, how can I get some near deers

On my webpage, go to the store. Order all crawfish colors. I will send you all the colors I would throw. Ordering all crawfish colors, tells me to send you a guide pack of the best colors to catch these majestic wild stockers.

Will do, would you be available for guide on the 24 or 25th

Wow Carey, you put a lot of information in your 9/8 post.

Yes he did. I always look forward to his reports, Jeff's too, because they usually have good pics also.
Carey just forgot the pics this time lol

The 24th and the 25th of this month are open. Problem with those dates is, you're on the third week after a stocking. Won't be a lot of fish in there, but will still catch a few.

On 9/8, I would type a little bit take a break type a little bit take a break. I eventually send it after eight hours.

Taking pictures of fish 18 inches and under just isn't fun anymore. During the winter more pictures will come after they stock some breeders. If I took pictures of every fish we caught 10 to 15 inches : it gets a little boring. Plus you have to stick that fish way up in the camera and extend your arms way out to make them look bigger!