Or bison, as many people keep correcting me. Whatever you call them, they are big.
I spent the weekend with Angler John in the The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. This is a really neat place in southwest Oklahoma near John’s hometown. The area is packed with lakes big and small, and it’s a really neat place to go for a few days if you just want to fish and not worry about catching anything you want to brag about.
I wish I would have gotten an up close and personal shot, but when John told me about a few overturned cars, I decided to take it easy and try and not startle one of the bulls, who seem just as big as my WRX.
This is a trip that will have lots of memories specifically one that included watching out for these beasts:
The refuge is apparently the only place in the country where longhorns run wild. I would be pretty scared of one of these things behind a fence, let alone allowed ones that roam and scare the shit out of you by being all sneaky.
We ended up getting up close and personal with one of these bovine when hiking back from hitting the shallows of the most trophy of bluegill fisheries I had ever been on. We were a few feet from this particular cow when it decided to get up and I decided to bolt, leaving John behind to decide to run or play dead (he chose the former.) I am glad he was behind since he saw me drop my only C&F box. I didn’t give a shit about the flies inside, but I risked a goring to get back this box I got on sale and love so much. It was great fun throwing poppers to frisky males full of color on a 4wt. Lake Elmer Thomas is amazingly clear and perhaps the clearest Lake I have seen in Oklahoma in years.
Today we hit 3 lakes Jed Johnson, Quanah Parker, and ended the day going dual in the Native on Elmer Thomas for some late afternoon bluegill. I lucked out since it was John’s first time in the yak and he decided to paddle more than fish and I was able to close out the day on a high note with a small largemouth.
John spent most of the day in his recently gifted tube. I was around a bend when it happened, but John, who is just starting out, laid into what he described as “one of those TV fish.” I was padding fast far away when it happened, but I did hear him scream. It didn’t sound much like drowning and was around the bend when it happened, so I didn’t stop to see what all the fuss was about. John has his first real fish story with no visual confirmation in picture or fishing buddy form. I think this should happen to everyone. It sucks, but at the end it’s what makes fishing such a personally gratifying endeavor.
It was a long day and half, and despite the baked skin and brush with death by longhorn, a really memorable one for the stories and the scenery. My arm’s sore from constantly trying to speed John up by pushing him around with my kayak, but that’s what friends are for. With this kind of scenery, taking it slow its what it’s all about.
There was nothing spectacular was caught on this trip and overall the fishing was slow, but fish were caught, and they were trout. I did catch this one interesting fish. Should I feel bad for something I just stuck with a hook? I think I did feel for this fish:
I am not sure if a bigger fish got to this one or if he had a stocking accident, but I wish him the best of luck since he is at least eating.
Other than that fish this was really an outing to play with my new toys. I tried out the yellow lenses in my Smiths. Wow is all I can say. I lost track of time and didn’t realize how dark it was getting because everything looked so bright. The vision it gave me into the water was phenomenal given the conditions. The wading jacket worked better than I expected, but I am a sucker for anything with pit zips. I got rained on some and I was dry and warm all day. I think the best aspect of a wading jacket is being able to reach into the water if needed and not worry about getting soaked. I need to practice with my composition, but I did get one ok shot:
I like the reflection aspect of this shot, but I suppose I will get the angles right eventually. I didn’t really fish hard and I didn’t cover much area, but getting out is what is important. It took me a while to find the right fly this time. I went through about 6 before finding the right one, a play on a flashback pheasant tail I tied a few years ago. It was kind odd that it took me so long to find something that worked as I know all of the holes really well in the section and know I was fishing the right depth. I saw a lot of risers that teased me into rigging up a dry fly with an emerger tailing off of it. This is a combination I can’t seem to get right on the Lower Illinois. I am going to actually tie up a few things and see if I can actually land one of the larger browns I have seen hitting the top. Maybe it will yield some better than average fish.
December 27th, 2007
Nature is a bitch. A mean and cruel and harsh bitch.
I suppose after so many trout sessions without getting blanked it was bound to happen, even to a guy like me. I was not skunked, but this is all I have to show for freezing my ass off.
So I got up a little later than I usually do to go trout fishing, but by 7 or so I was heading west towards altus and the North Fork of the Red River. I wish I drove past the exit and towards Colorado, New Mexico, anywhere but where I was heading. When I had read that this fishery “Isn’t the Prettiest Trout Stream” I had some pretty low expectations. Western Oklahoma is primarily flat prairie, but tucked in the southwest are a fair number of these:
When I get there it is starting to spit freezing rain and it is in the high 20s and the wind is kicking, thank god I brought my 6wt. As I arrive I see a few bait guys head out from their truck. When I finished bundling up for the elements and switched my new Smiths to the roseish lenses, I see all of the anglers return saying they had caught their one. I went ahead and bet that my best shot was close the the dam; I was kind of chickening out I suppose, but if it got too windy I wanted to have one trout in the bag because what I was looking at was the most featureless river I had ever seen. Loving the new boots I set stride for the dam.
I will generally start off with nymphing if I can, and today was no exception. I don’t mind fishing with buggers, but I do that all of the time for all sorts of fish. Nymphing is one of my favorite things to do, but I know I can always retreat to a bugger if needed. I realized as I stepped into the water that I soon would be switching to a bugger as there was really no flow whatsoever to the water I was standing in. Not only that but I couldn’t wade out more that 20 or so feet from the shore, and I could only do that in 2 places I had found. “Not the prettiest” is an apt way to describe this river, let alone in reference to a trout stream.
After about 20 casts of my nymph rig, and the indicator seeming to drift up stream due to the wind, I relent and put on a bugger. The river is dead and because of an early fall my gloves are toast and I wonder why didn’t I ask for some glacier gloves for Christmas. After an hour and half of pulling buggers in water that all looked the same, I decide it is time to warm up and see if the things are a little different down stream.
When I get there I see some locals under a bridge fishing a big pool, the whole thing is a damn pool actually, so I figure this might be a good spot. I would put up with the lack of solitude for a trout at this point. As I stand on the dam I cast everywhere above and below the dam and only get the a fore mentioned bluegill. As I am fishing a few more guys fishing power bait show up and actually catch a few fish each. So at least I know there are trout here, but why the hell can’t I catch one on a bugger? As it got colder, I got sick of the constant de-icing of my guides. I would have put up with it if I was catching fish, but it was getting tedious doing this every 5 casts. It was time to change gears. I am a lazy fly tyer and generally only have a handful of patterns I tend to fish and always have one or two new things. I have never fished a San Juan Worm or any egg patterns so I never have had to carry them. I really wish I had something, anything, that wasn’t your standard nymph pattern. I tie on my usual killer fly, an indicator, and some weight, already knowing I was completely defeated and I knowing I would have to return sometime soon to avenge myself with a better arsenal of flies.
Nature, and the stockers, kicked my ass this weekend, but I did get to play with all my new toys on the water. I love my new wading gear.. The new Pentax W30 preformed better than I expected given the low light conditions, but I didn’t get to try the underwater feature. Maybe after I get some new gloves.
December 23rd, 2007
The Lower Illinois is definitely the ugly stepchild of Oklahoma’s year-round trout waters. For some reason it doesn’t get as much traffic as the Lower Mountain Fork, and people really only get excited about the striper fishing on the Lower Illinois. In fact the bait chuckers will catch a limit of stockers and use them as bait down river as the stripers love them. I should be grateful the Lower Illinois can always provide fishing with solitude. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the generation schedule, especially during the summer, but for all its faults it has a lot to offer for being so close to Oklahoma City.
I drove up on my usual starting point at 7:45am to find another car, damn, at least it’s in the mid 40s and I am not freezing my ass off like I expected. The other anglers that beat me to the spot were heading down stream so I started in at the hole I always hit when leaving the water. This is my “one more fish hole” and it never disappoints. On the 4th drift I lay into something big, not Long Nose Gar big, but for sure not your average trout for these waters. After a little tangling I finally see the fish’s back. It’s a huge - well, biggest I have seen in these waters - brown. Seeing as how my last trip I had a knack for losing big fish, I compose my self and start working the fish making sure to do all the right things and not something stupid. It takes a while but finally I bring the fish to my net and stare down at this big, beautiful, hook-jawed male. I fish more than your average angler, not as much as I would like of course, and I fish for trout a third or more of that time. I have caught a lot of trout, but I don’t think I have ever caught a trout this big, and if even I had none of them had such brilliant colors as this one.
A brown trout is a special thing in Oklahoma, since only two of our rivers have them. I have heard anglers complain about how hard they are to catch (they are stocked in far less numbers), but I have never seemed to have a problem and will get a least one on every trip. I decided to forgo making some new friends on the Blue so I could catch a big brown, and I am so glad I won’t regret my decision. I do regret not having a camera with me, but that issue will be solved in a few weeks, or so I hear.
The rest of the day was filled with mostly average fish for the Lower Illinois, but it really wouldn’t have mattered at that point. I could have packed up and headed home and I would have had the same smile no matter how many more fish I had caught. I got to do some exploring and see a lot of potential for night fishing in a few places and can’t wait to try it.
December 8th, 2007
I didn’t end up fishing the Blue very much last year due to various reasons. It was nice to get some quality time on the water, but alas my faithful Canon Digital Elph is finally deciding to quit on me. After several mild wet incidents on the river while riding in my pack, the battery doesn’t seem to hold a good charge. Thursday night I got in a little night fishing as I was late getting to the river after eating a bit too much and taking an unintended snooze. I took out the Canon to get some pictures of some river otters following me down river, but alas the camera wouldn’t turn on.
The river otters seem to be new to the Blue and are quite cute, but I tried to keep my distance. They made a huge splash reminiscent of a beaver that scared the hell out of me on my carp flat, and ever since then I try to avoid large rodents. They seemed quite interested in my fly fishing; every time I would turn around I would see a pair of red eyes bobbing up and down in the light of my head lamp. Friday morning I saw a nice sized catfish dead on a sand bar with a huge gash on its back. I suppose the otters are picky and are taking advantage of the huge amounts of trout in the water. I mentioned this on the Blue River group and heard the ODWC is working to expand the river otters back into their range.
While Thursday night was a bust, Friday and Saturday ended up being pretty good fishing. I really try to avoid fishing within 30ft or 40ft of people I don’t know. I like to give people their space, while I don’t really adhere to the low holing principle on the Blue and will go only 100ft or so downstream of another fly angler. There are a ton of spin/bait fisherman there to catch their stringer and they need their room too. Especially cause I hate arguing with them. I know a lot of folks seem to not like the Blue due to the traffic, but if you’re willing to hit up Area 2 and hike you can always find some water to yourself. After catching a few fish in the high traffic area I moved to Area 2 and had terrible luck. I try not to fish buggers on the Blue because I never have problems catching fish, but as I worked my way back to the trail I couldn’t catch a single fish on an olive bugger. I know some spin anglers upstream did well so maybe the trout just haven’t spread out as much as I am used to.
While Friday was slow, it seemed no one wanted to fish Saturday and Area 1 was pretty clear of anglers fly fishing, so I had a nice area I had never really fished hard all to myself. After fishing some nice riffles and picking up lots of stockers I found some nice areas for sight fishing. The Blue has a very interesting topology of very deep pools encased in jagged rock. I have never seen the Blue quite as low as it was this weekend and this allowed for some great sight fishing opportunities. I played with my indicator depth a lot and worked on controlling my depth with some high stick nymphing. It was nice to get to do this at relatively close range and watch for the strikes instead of focusing on my indicator. I caught a ton of fish and while it wasn’t a huge challenge I got in some good practice for more difficult conditions. I feel a little bad about the time I spent in the area above the Islands, but I know no spin fisherman were going to fish the area, and most of the other fly fisherman I saw and talked to upstream were catching big numbers as well. I waved for gentleman to come down, but he either didn’t see me or thought I was an ass. My arm ended up getting a little sore due to the cold, so I stopped fishing when I saw a nice 18”+ rainbow.
This is the first time I have had the chance to sight fish on the Blue and it was a blast only getting 10 drifts at the same fish for a 2 hour period. After losing the fish for a while I decided it was time to go, but I peered in one of the pools she had favored earlier in our encounters and see her bullying around the tiny stockers. I end up doing a quick back track and make a wide 50ft loop around her back side to get in a good position 20ft or so away. I make good cast upstream, but this pool has a really toothy rock in it that I had gotten snagged on 3 or 4 times earlier and so when my indicator dips and I set the hook it feels like another hang up. I strip in about 3 ft of line while taking a step towards the fish to get a better view and I see her take off. I really wasn’t ready for it and didn’t have good pressure on the fish, so I was loosing from the start. This area of water has some nice pools, but all are surrounded by very shallow water. As quickly as I had realized I had actually caught the big fish I had lost it. I am use to fighting big carp and know what I did wrong, but I think I will switch to 5x the next time I decide to chase one of these stocker pigs in these circumstances. It started to sleet as my expletive rang through Area 1 and I knew it was time to pick up the family and head back home.
Due to the area I live in, every time I get to trout fish I can’t bemoan the fact I am catching stockers and need to try and make the most of my opportunity. Fishing the Blue is always fun and I hope the new catch and release area due to open this January provides some interesting opportunities. As my wife always likes to say, “It’s the water, stupid.” No matter what kind of fishing you’re doing, relishing the opportunity is far more important than what or how you are catching them. I wasn’t a good fly tyer this trip, but the Bird’s Nest is quickly becoming the fly I tie on before I put on my waders. I am not sure how true to form I tying it, but it works well and it has been coming through in a big way. 18” rainbows agree that it’s a killer pattern. I will get to return to the Blue around Christmas, and my wife will for sure come through for Christmas and a shiny new Pentax Optio W30 will be under the tree. When I am wading alone I hate carrying the DSLR with me. I really admire some of the work my friends do, but the amount of staging needed as well as the bulk of carrying a tripod is just too much since I fish by myself and am not looking to be published. I really want to capture some and great images and wish my wife was up to fishing this weekend, but I am sad to say her neck was giving her some grief. I hope to get a friend new to the sport out for the first time fly fishing on the next stop on the Oklahoma Trout Extravaganza, Quartz Mountain. Quartz Mountain is described as not the prettiest Trout Stream, but it’s the water, stupid. We will see if that holds true.
November 26th, 2007
I ended up getting 4 or 5 hours on the water this morning during a family visit. I was ill prepared for chasing warm water species in late October, but I was able to catch my first smallmouth. I am not a very astute warm water fisherman, at least in a river type environment, but I gave the smallmouth on Pennington Creek near Tishomingo, OK a try to see what all the fuss was about. I had hoped to try another nearby creek, but I was unsure of where the public access points are, and Pennington is well known for its smallmouth fishing (granted not many people will tell you where). I was happy with my choice of entry points as it is a beautiful area, but it was one of those days that, when driving away, I knew I missed out on some better fishing.
As I said I am not an astute moving warm water guy so when I stepped into the river I looked upstream and downstream. Upstream I see a riffle. I don’t know what I was thinking, but instead of heading downstream towards the slower moving 2ft deep water, I go to where a trout would be. Did I mention this was warm water and this is known as a smallmouth haunt? There wasn’t too much water to fish upstream, but the scenery was killer. Here is where a nice (well not nice from my fishing camera) picture of a waterfall should be. Instead of carrying a bulky DSLR on the water, at least water I have never fished, I opt for an old digital Elph that refuses to die. However, because I only use it on the water I rarely charge it. It’s generally a trooper, but this time the juice just wasn’t there.
I usually don’t like not having a camera, but i have a bit of a problem where if I bring the nice camera with me I never catch anything worth shooting. Knowing I didn’t have a camera at all meant I was sure to catch my first smallmouth. I made my way through lots of very skinny water to a large pool typical of large natural Oklahoma creeks and rivers in the south east part of the state, a 5 ft waterfall leading into a nice 2-3ft deep 25ftx25ft pool. I tossed my half-assed crayfish patterns and got a nice take, but I was unable to land it. After I lost my poorly tied crayfish pattern, I moved to a cone head bugger. A few casts later I was into a nice 2LB smallmouth which left me grinning ear to ear. I tried in vain to catch another, but only redear could be found. The fact that a 4” redear can take down a number 6 cone head bugger still amazes me. I figure only one nice sized fish could stake up residence in this pool so I moved up above the falls to a huge, endless, slow moving section of the “creek”. I don’t see why Pennington isn’t called a river, but I will look up the geographical semantics later. This particular stretch was at least 150ft across and it was nice to not have roll cast any more. I got in some casting practice and while it was too cold for top water smallmouth I wanted to see how I could toss a bass plug in the wind. With my time growing short I made my way back downstream trying again at the same small holes I fished on the way up, but only for 5 or 6 casts.
I really hate getting skunked, but when I try new things I am not too worried about it as long as I learn something. I finally know why people always talk up smallmouth. I thought I was into a much bigger fish and loved playing the fish more than any large mouth I have ever caught maybe twice the size of the fish I caught. The second thing I learned, unintended, is to think more about basics of what species I am fishing for before deciding which way to go. I am not really sure why I went upstream instead of down, but as I drove off I looked downstream and wished I had more time to spend fishing for smallmouth. I love trout fishing. I love the technicality of drifting and the overall art of trout fishing, but I there is something to this smallmouth thing that I really can see loving. I will be back to Pennington in the summer to confirm my suspicions.
While everyone in the Northern reaches bemoans the closing of trout season we here in Oklahoma welcome the opening of our winter trout fisheries in a week and a half.
October 20th, 2007
I had planned to head out and do my normal routine of fishing till noon on weekends. I planned to get in a good session this morning, but unfortunately when the alarm went off I turned it off.
I have never really been a morning person, anyone who knows me can attest to that. I like to stay up until 2 or 3 and sometimes 6 programming. Generally no matter how late I stay up, barring the occasional all nighter, I will always get up to fish. I had been pushing my self pretty hard this week at the office and at home on the computer so I needed a morning to sleep in. Granted in my house hold with my two girls its impossible to sleep past 8:30, but at least I got in more sleep than I have this past week. Despite having my daughters birthday in the afternoon if I could even get 2 or 3 hours on the water I would be happy as it would give me some time to think about tofish and work on my long distance roll casting. I would love to go to my normal spot, but the fishing there has been slow the last two times I went. I kind of got in a groove of always going there, but my last time there I found this:
I thought about returning to my normal spot and I have a pretty good entrance point that is maybe two hundred yards from my favorite carp flat (and through a barbed wire fence). I have never seen deer around my fishing spot, but I suppose I shouldn’t chance anything since the fishing has been slow my last 2 trips there. I just hope all those bow hunters don’t decide to tag some carp when the deer hunting is slow.
I thought today about what I need to work on and what sort of fishing I should do, and decided to challenge my self a little. There is a pretty good spot behind a dam on a local lake that has some nice flow. Hopefully a nice report will come back and add to the lore being developed by others who are redefining the sport. This flow was pretty tough to fish in the summer because unlike the last few years we finally got some good rain in Oklahoma . It looks like it has finally leveled off according to the data tofish has been collecting. I have spooked some nice sized carp in this outflow and I have caught some small large mouth so hopefully the new arsenal of flies and ideas will pay off.
October 13th, 2007
This summer was a pretty good one for me as I was able to get out more than ever and work on my casting accuracy as well as my presentation from 30 feet and beyond. I still have a long way to go, but setting a few goals at the beginning of the summer has brought me to the point where I am always fishing with an agenda. I don’t mean to sound like fishing isn’t fun or that I am trying to prove something, but every time I pick up a rod now I have firm goals that I want to accomplish.
Last Friday I decided it was the time for trout with my kids leaving for the night to stay with in-laws. I begged the wife to come, but alas she wanted to get some sleep after a long week. So I called my mother and told her I was heading to her cabin in the morning and to be ready to go at 7AM. I am lucky to have parents that have a place within spitting distance of one of our two year round trout streams in Oklahoma. Even if I am not going to stay the night I will drive for 2 hours and pick up my mom as I love fishing with her and love help putting her on fish.
Mom catching a trout on a fly was first on the agenda. She has caught some fish on a fly, even a Fresh Water Drum, but for some reason the trout had escaped her olive bugger. The outing previous to this one she had some bites, but was really getting the feel for nymphing and wasn’t able to put it all together. This weekend she did great. She got her drifts just right and while she can’t cast to the runs from 40 feet away like I tend to do she can work her way up to a good run and fish it pretty well now. The result was several missed fish, a few that got off, and finally her first trout on a fly:
I can’t wait until I make it out there in a few weeks. I think she might start to catch as many fish as I do on the Lower Illinois. I love the section of river we were fishing and it is easy for my mom to get around on without much fuss or difficult wading. The one thing that she doesn’t like is the immense amount of these beasts in the water:
You have to watch where you step in this section of the river or you might find yourself slipping on a 40”+ long nose gar. Unfortunately fishing for the gar hasn’t been the agenda as the biggest stick I have is a 6wt. That and I really want to have a waterproof Optio so I get some of those swanky underwater shots all the cool kids post these days. I plan to target the gar very soon and will report back with the results, but until then I need to decide if I can going to go with rope flies or not. On each of my last two trips I have hooked a gar with a nymph. My precious 4wt bends hard and the line starts to zip out giving my trigger finger a bit of line burn. The first time I got about a one minute fight out of the fish and I saw its huge spotted tail break surface a few times. It was a pretty big fish, but I am not an IGFA guy so landing a long nose gar that weighed 10+ pounds on 6x tippet isn’t really a skill I have down. This last outing I got the familiar short fight, but this time the gar was nice enough to give me back my fly. Of course I didn’t check my rig at all before casting again and I promptly broke off what must have been the largest rainbow I had hooked on the Lower Illinois.
Since I had gotten my most important agenda item off the list, getting my mom on a trout, I was able to really focus in on my personal goals for the trip. I recently read Active Nymphing by Rich Ostoff and have been trying to take a few things from the book to the water every time I fish (thanks to The Tennesee Valley Angler for mentioning this great book). While I am not employing Ostoff’s techniques on every cast I am branching out from my standard flies and dead drifting techniques. I have a go-to nymph I have been using this past year that has been a great producer on our Oklahoma tailwaters, but I went ahead tied up some of Ostoff’s Soft Hackle Woolly Worms and rigged it up per Osthoff’s suggestions. I began fishing spots a little bit differently trying to move the fly around rocks and objects both upstream and downstream. I still have a lot to learn about actually executing well on the water, but what I really got from the book more than anything is a different way of looking at the water and fishing it more effectively. Next time I go out I will be trying an even more Ostoff approach by going out on my own and really trying to cover 3+ miles of water in a day throwing a woolly worm in lots of interesting lies looking for big fish. I know there are some nice browns in the Lower Illinois and hopefully the hack and slash mentality Ostoff brings to fishing will serve me well.
Last on my agenda was to capture a picture of a wild rainbow in the Lower Illinois. I have never read anything about spawning in the Lower Illinois, but on the trip before this last one I am sure I caught a wild rainbow trout that was around 5” long. There is no hatchery on the river so we don’t have fish escaping and I have heard no fish with parr marks are released. It’s not unheard of for there to be spawning rainbows in Oklahoma, the wild trout in the Lower Mountain Fork are well known and I have lots of great pictures showing off their stunning colors. I wasn’t able to hook up with any young ones this trip to the Lower Illinois, but hopefully on my next trip I will find one hiding behind the same rock as I did a few weeks ago.
Fishing with an agenda isn’t about catching numbers of fish or even large fish. Going to the river with a plan in mind and trying to accomplish a few things such as improving your tuck cast, catching fish on a few different flies, or fishing some lies you wouldn’t normally try, and imparting a little action on the flies are great ways to improve your skills. This last summer I was able to set some concrete goals and while it will be some time before I reach my goals, I think I have become a much better fisherman. In the past I was always concerned about catching fish and I never really contemplated my attack on the water. It would have been a crappy day had I been skunked, but being able to go out, put my mom on a fish, and further my fishing abilities made this trip really rewarding.
October 8th, 2007