Lower Mountain Fork

Anyone fish the Lower Mountain Fork in the past couple weeks? Is it still small midges, small dries and streamers up there or are there some other must have patterns for the LMF this time of year?

Thanks in advance.

I heard the water's very warm, like in the '70's.

Went up there for a camping trip this past weekend and found that out the hard way! Water temps were very high, leave the waders at home if you go. Evening Hole isn’t being stocked yet due to high water temps. Spillway creek and faster/shady runs are about the only places tto fish for trout right now. Bass and other warm water species were very active.

Nothing touched a dry fly, midges and nymphs worked well. Going to wait until it cools down to go back up there.

Thanks for the report. I was considering a trip this weekend, but I'll hold off for a bit.

Now where to go instead....

Good info! It makes me wonder how the guides there are getting it done!

i will hold off the fishing trip
i was there several weeks ago and the water temp is high, they dont stock fish at all.
caught few rainbows with high stick method and thats about it

The stocking holes are slim now due to the floods knocking out SWC stocking points. The fish are hammered harder and harder every year. A couple spots they don’t even stock for some reason. It was not fair to my clients to take their money for [censored] Fishing. When they fix the stocking locations and spread the people out more, it will be more fun. As stated above other fish are catchable. Walleye bass and crappie are abundant through the river system. I suggest going to the blue river instead.

Water flow is low on the LMF right now due to a faulty release valve. The low flows resulted in high water temps in some areas during the fall so stocking was reduced there. Hopefully the valve will be repaired soon and normal flow resumed.

Sounding worse all the time! Maybe a new ice age will fix it all.

Ps: a local guidet caught a Holdover Brown, he claims on another forum. . Beautiful fish ya. Every brown is usually pretty.

1 post their catching great colored hold over browns and the post on the ODWC said they released browns in zone 3 and a few in evening hole, so they have been “hold overs” for just over 24 hours lol.

Are there holdover Browns in the river? Of course there are there’s huge holdover fish ( very few ). But that was not one of the holdover Browns,lol. Don’t believe everything you read. The guides up there will tell you anything to get you up there and spend money. Go to the Blue River for now. More fish and bigger. Same flies.

I will respectfully have to disagree with you on the hold over Brown. Peter is not going to lie and is a heck of a fisherman/guide plus he really knows his fish. Unless they changed something the Browns that’s getting stocked are about 6” long with par marks. I'm just about an hour away from the Blue but will make the much longer "Day Trip" to the LMF Monday because I personally do not care much for the Blue and that type of water. I guess it just depends on what type you like. The LMF is not going to be as good this winter, at least for awhile, until they get the valve fixed and the flows returned and the log stops removed. The bad news is who knows how long the flow is going to be completely shut off. If it is very long and they don't open the Tainter gates some it could be awhile before things return to after flood fishing.

OH BTW, they never stopped stocking at the LMF. They did stop stocking at the LIR because of water temps and oxygen levels for awhile.
Also, be careful fishing in the Evening Hole area right now. There were lots of REDDS and paired fish so please leave them alone.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/wheretofish/lower-mountain-fork


“I still anticipate mitigation fish from the USFWS the first week of December. Stocking of these fish will be focused on Zone II and III. Also of note, we received two truck loads of nice browns from a trade with Wyoming on Oct 17th. I sent one truck to Zone III below re-reg and scattered a few from the other truck in the lower sections of spillway creek with the majority going into upper evening hole.”

Note he says nice browns.

So this was an unscheduled stocking that you and he, and many others, didn’t know about.


"Normally after the fall festival in park, the State Park removes the stop logs from the bridges. This lowers the large pools that facilitate several concessions that operate in warmer weather and allows for a more diverse fishing opportunity at that heads of these pools. Given the reduction in flows and the circumstances surrounding the valve repairs, I have asked the Park to leave the logs in place at this time. Although It may not be a popular decision, I think it's the prudent thing to do until the repairs are complete."

Stop logs are in! That will hinder the hold overs from swimming up from the Gulf this year.

I was up there this week. I chase Walleye 99.99% of the time while there. And, my buddy and I were blind sided when he hooked up on a brown the first cast. Then we caught a bunch more. Talked to a Ranger about it and he said they stocked them. We didn’t catch any walleye on that day. The browns moved in and I guess the walleye were spooked.

So ya. They stocked them.

There were lots of 6"ers stocked at first, then a trade brought some good browns in. Holdover, sea-run, planted, stocked, whatever, it is nice to see Browns take a foothold. As long as the regs are enforced, this could be a very good thing.

I've been here since Friday evening. You wouldn't believe the pics if I shared them. There are people standing shoulder to shoulder fishing under the rods of folks on the opposite banks. It's a ZOO.
Counted 32 in Evening hole around 4pm today, 20+ along the left bank down stream from evening hole bridge.
They dumped fish on Wed. at the swim beach bridge and evening hole bridge but nothing from the spillway dam down to the blue pipe. No truck tracks, gate locks are covered in spider webs.
Friday they generated from 3 - 7 and the water at 6a at ReReg was still un-navigable, trying my best to find anything that hasn't been reaped or pillaged.
There is literally 3 places to fish and those are by take a number and mentioned above.
This Am they generated from 6-9 making Zone 2 and 3 unfishable all day. Looks to be the same schedule for the remaining week.
I did see little browns on stringers everywhere and I mean everywhere I went today.
It's sickening to se 6" trout brown or not on a stringer I wouldn't think those could be eaten, or even stink up grease.
I'll take pics tomorrow if I can hold the phone still from laughing.

Sounds crazy! Love the river, hate crowded fishing.....

I am +1 with TarponFly on the Blue over BendBow. Even the OK stockings seem to be slanted toward Blue this year - check the numbers. We'll see this Blue-on-Black.

Helps to read between the lines ... Just found this in an e mail subscription (11/20) and unedited (See portions earlier):

River Flow is Very Low
Current release from the Broken Bow Spillway is less than half of usual flow.

Here is an update from ODWC Fisheries Regional Supervisor Don Groom on the reason and what is being done to correct it.

"Many of you by now have noticed a reduction in the flows from spillway. The reduced flows are not a result of the bridge construction as many are attributing to. Last week, as part of scheduled maintenance, the USACE conducted a visual inspection of spillway structure components. This inspection required the flow to be lowered for a brief period. Following the inspection there was an issue with the valve that has prevented further operation. The USACE have measured the current release spillway at approximately 59 cfs.

The USACE is working hard to address the issues and make the repairs in a timely manner, however, given the nature of what needs to be done, repairs will likely take several weeks to complete. Upon placement of the bulkhead, flows from the spillway will be turned off entirely for an undetermined amount of time. Although, it is undetermined it may range from a day to a few days. ODWC will be working closely with the USACE to minimize the amount of time of no releases in order to provide as much water as possible to the spillway reach.

Temperatures in the stream are currently in the mid to upper 60s depending on locations within the spillway. The USACE is willing to spill water through the tainter gates if ODWC requests it.

Given the current information that I have been provided by the USACE, I will not request an additional release from the spillway at this time. Stocking will continue to primarily focus on the lower sections of the trout stream to make up for a lack of stocking in these areas during late summer into fall. I have also asked that the State Park leave the stop logs in place at this time. Although, this may not be popular with many, I believe it is the prudent thing to do under the circumstances.

I still anticipate mitigation fish from the USFWS the first week of December. Stocking of these fish will be focused on Zone II and III. Also of note, we received two truck loads of nice browns from a trade with Wyoming on Oct 17th. I sent one truck to Zone III below re-reg and scattered a few from the other truck in the lower sections of spillway creek with the majority going into upper evening hole.

I will update the group as details evolve."

Respectfully,

Don Groom

Region Fisheries Supervisor

ODWC

Why can't someone enforce the regs on keeping Brown Trout? We keep paying for them and they end up as a fish stick for a snack.....

Agree.

OK seems to have always had challenges with enforcement due to lack of funds resulting in lack of manpower. It's pretty common knowledge that when hunting season kicks in, you won't see any fish enforcement anywhere. They appear to be overworked and underpowered.

The ParkRangers and Wardens have actually been instructed NOT to write tickets this summer. This was mostly due to regs being unenforceable. Now that the signs are back up and summer crowds have died down, there should be an attempt to enforce. there is no Hunting in the State Park for the Rangers to worry about. Also, the foundation did quite a few nice things for the Rangers and wardens over the last 2 years, so some consideration should be given.

Keep all the dang rainbows you want, leave the Browns alone. But too many Bubbas don't know or care that there is a difference.