Summer trout fishing on the Lower Mountain Fork
A rainbow trout caught at Spillway Creek on the Lower Mountain Fork River in McCurtain County
Donny Carter of Stratford, who has become my Lower Mountain Fork correspondent since I rarely make the 4-hour drive from Oklahoma City to Broken Bow anymore, took a trip to Oklahoma’s best trout stream last week and reports the fishing was good.
Carter reported a banner day on Friday. He didn’t’ catch anything very large, but the dry fly fishing was excellent, he said.
“If you don’t mind fishing ‘til dark, the famous “Hex” (hexagina mayfly) hatch was going full force in the late evening into the dark at the Evening Hole,” Carter said.
“These large mayflies look like tiny sailboats on the water and the trout were just slaying them. I don’t think it really mattered what kind of dry fly you had on as long as it was big and bushy.
“I was using the stimulator. I started out in Zone II that morning, but the water was rather warm (72 degrees) and I didn’t do any good there. Evening Hole and Spillway Creek though, were really good. Very cold water (58 degrees at the dam) and the trout were very active.”
Carter said he caught trout all up and down the refurbished Evening Hole.
“I like it better than before the flood,” he said. “They (state wildlife officials) made some really nice runs-pools at the top end of the Evening Hole. Great dryfly water.”
During the heat of the day on Friday, Carter caught a very fat, healthy 14-inch brown on Spillway Creek, also using the stimulator. He said he missed several other nice browns there, also.
“Summertime fishing on the Lower Mountain Fork can be, and most of the time, is great,” Carter said. “It’s my favorite time of the year to fish down there.”
Thank you for joining our conversation on Outdoors. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
Bob,
Hope Mr. Godfrey doesn’t mind me chimming in, but the EH has been fixed, and personally, I like it better than before. Some great dryfly water at the top end of the EH. They are working on Lost Creek and should be done in October, or that’s the last I heard on that. Can’t wait to see how it looks. Looking forward to fishing it again.
Donny
Good post. The easy part is to set up a blog, the hard part is to make it interesting so people will visit it…Well done!
I thought I read that the floods ruined all the work on Lost Creek AND the Evening Hole. I haven’t fished it since the flood, guess I need to make the trip this fall.