DainW

Sweet fish man. Thanks for the reply. Looks like I'll be headed up rain or shine lol.

I was just wondering at what flows most people would consider the upper part of the blue ribbon section fishable (will be wade fishing)? I'm considering making a trip the weekend of the 26-28th. Probably fish the first day at roaring river and then head up to fish the current the 27th and 28th. Looks like there's some rain in the forecast for the next couple weeks and I just wanted to keep an eye on river levels. Also, I'm assuming that the gauge for Montauk State Park is a more accurate indicator than the Akers gauge for the area from Tan Vat down to Baptist Camp?

Ok good deal. So unless we get an absolute deluge, it should remain fairly fishable you think? By the way, how did you do?

I think these are all good patterns. Here are a couple that I would add to it: 1. Grey RS2 - size 20 2. Rainbow Warrior - size 20 3. Barr's Emerger - size 20 4. WD-40 - size 20 I like to go small in the wintertime, since most places the insects that will be hatching are small midges and baetis. Any of the above behind pink san juan worm or black pat's is usually the ticket in wintertime for me.

Thanks for replies everyone. Just one more question. It looks as though there is some rain in the forecast for early next week. Anyone know about how long it takes for the river to clear after a rain. In other words, if we get rain say on Monday or Tuesday, would it be fishable again by Saturday?

Man I didn't realize when I was talking to you on FB that this was your screen name. I guess it makes sense though lol. Thanks for the advice by the way. I've seen mention of the megaworm before. I wonder if there's a recipe for it anywhere?

I'm considering making the trip up from Oklahoma City to roaring river the weekend of Christmas and just had a couple of questions for everyone. Ok first question is about the regulations. I saw in some older posts that fishing is not allowed in zone 3 during the winter. Is this rule still in effect? Also just so I'm clear, a trout stamp is required, but not a daily trout tag like you'd have to buy during the season right? As far as flies go, I've been reading some of things that Tim has posted, seems like "junk flies" are pretty effective....woolly buggers, eggs, worms, etc. What types of insects typically hatch this time of year? Any other "must have" fly patterns? I also wanted to ask about the roaring river below the park. Can fishing in this area productive this time year? Thanks, Dain

I guess not much. Budman asked me about fishing Baron Fork so I thought I'd share, since he had been rather forthright with information. I think the Baron Fork is a classic type Ozark stream, so hopefully some of the techniques that are successful there will translate well to CC.

Yeah baron fork is pretty sweet. Lots of fish, but have never caught anything huge. Always had my best luck from the proctor access on highway 62 and wading upstream as far as you can go. Never caught anything larger than about 2 lbs, but usually catch quite a few. Lots of craw dad and sculpin in the river. Creek crawlers, woollies, clousers all have been productive for me over there

Al thank you for the information about flows. I figured 124 CFS would probably be wadeable flows for Crooked Creek, but I had no point of reference. Usually when I plan a trip to a new river, I try to dig up as much information from old posts as I can, before asking a question, so I don't ask something that's already been answered. In the posts I looked through, the only real references I could find to stream flow on this forum, people were using gauge height so that's why I framed my question that way, since that was my only real frame of reference. It's honestly the first time in my life that I've ever used the gauge height graph on a USGS page. I agree, CFS is a much better reading to use as it's a measure of how much water is actually flowing past the gauge at any given time. Honestly, it was probably a "duh" question to ask, because on my home stream, Baron Fork Creek in NE Oklahoma, 124 CFS is very friendly to wade fishing (I've actually fished it and been relatively successful all the way up to 350 CFS), and Crooked Creek is a wider stream channel than the Baron Fork. I just wanted to make sure that I did ask about the flows though because it'll be a 5 hour trip for us and I want to make sure I'm doing my due diligence in researching the stream beforehand. Budman, so it sounds like Fred Berry is the Kelly Slab access then, if I'm not mistaken correct? Sounds like it should be easy enough to find. So the question is for anyone that wants to chime in on this, between Kelly's Slab access and Snow access, which one has better fishing?

Ok thanks guys. Budman, we'll only have 1 vehicle, but when we smallmouth fish usually just like to find an access and wade/fish as far upstream as we can until we get too tired to go any further or don't think it's productive to go further. Then turn back around fish the holes that were most productive on the way back. Where is the Fred Berry Center exactly? That sounds like a solid plan. Danimal I also saw snow access and thought that might be a good one to try. I'm assuming most people probably fish the stretch from Kelly to Yellville right, which I would think would mean snow access would see less pressure. Are fish populations more or less the same for most of the river?

Hello everyone, My dad and I are looking at making a trip to Arkansas to do some fly fishing on Crooked Creek. I'm not looking for any hot spots or anything like that, just what people think is the best access to point to wade fish crooked creek? Also, anybody have any idea what optimal wading flows are? I think I saw an old post on here that said anything over 13 ft on the Kelly's crossing gauge you need a canoe is that right? Right now gauge height is 10.5 at Kelly's crossing and with not much rain in the forecast between now and trip time (October 3rd), we should be ok to wade it right? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Yeah that's got to be my favorite fly to dredge deep holes with. It sinks like a rock and I'm not sure it doesn't do an equally good job of imitating a crawdad as it does a stonefly nymph.

Thanks everyone who offered advice. Just got back and wanted to write up a quick trip report: First of all let me say what a beautiful river you guys have up here. I heard a lot of good things about how scenic the river was and it didn't disappoint. I actually met up with another OAF member, Bruegy, who was kind enough to show me around Saturday morning. We started at Tan Vat and worked our way down. I started hooking up pretty quick but LDR's my first 3 fish. I was finally able to land a nice 14" rainbow behind a sunken tree on an egg pattern. We worked our way down to bluff hole by about 9:00 a.m. Bruegy and his crew headed back upstream while my dad and I continued to work our way down stream to a nice hole below the next riffle. I picked up several nice rainbows and LDR's what seemed like 10 more. All in the 14-16" range and all very healthy. Started the long walk back to the car about noon and broke for lunch. After lunch and nap at the hotel, we decided to hit Baptist Camp for the evening. Walked down stream for about a mile until we made it to a nice deep run below an island and ran into a really nice caddis hatch as well as some of the recently stocked brown trout. Caught a couple of those, about 8-10" and about a 12" rainbow and called it a night about 8:30. Got up this morning and decided to check out parker hollows. The river is much wider here and we had to do some walking to find what looked like good water. We were there for about an hour when it looked like it might begin to rain. We hadn't caught anything and didn't want to get caught on the wrong side of the river if it really started to come down, so we headed back to the car and drove up to Tan Vat. I guess everyone fishes upstream from Tan Vat because we didn't see anyone fishing downstream. Headed down steam and caught a couple nice rainbows on a z-wing caddis below one of the riffles. Worked our way all the way to the hole below the bluff hole again. Tied on a pat's rubberleg and proceeded to go to town. Probably caught 10-12 in an hour and a half span. My first hook up of the day was really strange. I hooked up on a strong take and as I'm fighting the fish, I noticed that there appeared to be another fish that had taken my dropper! This didn't last long and I eventually pulled in my best rainbow of the trip, about an 18 inch fish. It got really cloudy for a few minutes and as soon as it did I hooked into a nice 17" brown trout. This was one of the fatter fish I've ever seen. Of course I didn't have my phone with me to take any pictures. I also lost a fish that felt bigger than that one. I never got a look at it, but I made what seemed to be a really good hook set, he made a hard initial charge, and then just kind of skulked around at the bottom of the pool. While he was doing that I was keeping good pressure on him and all of a sudden the line just went slack. Dange! Anyway it was a great trip and I'll definitely be back. All the fish were really hard fighting, very healthy, and the rainbows had some great color to them. You could tell that they had been in the river a while. Thanks again for everyone's help. Dain

That's what I like to hear. If we don't get a canoe, I think we're headed downstream from Baptist as far as we can go. I've caught a lot of rainbows in my life, but not a whole lot of browns. Looking at the forecast for tomorrow, it could be streamer weather. I've got a 6 weight and some junk I'm bringing with me. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

I don't really mind a little but rougher walk/wade, sometimes it can make things fun. I really just want to give myself the best opportunity to catch a few fish. I'm giving the canoe rental idea some serious thought though.

The more I hear about this trip the more excited I get. I've been fly fishing for about a year and half now and have gotten to where I can consistently catch fish on the rivers I fish often, the Lower Mountain Fork and the Lower Illinois here in Oklahoma. I'm sure some of that is just getting to know those rivers well though. I'm really looking forward to exploring some new water and seeing if I can catch a few in an unfamiliar river. Thank you again to everyone that has provided advice. I think I'm gonna take Fly Guy's advice and walk up from Baptist since it sounds like there might be less pressure that way. I was also reading the ozark anglers site information on this river and it was saying that caddis are an important food source in this river? These aren't usually very abundant in the rivers I usually fish so I went ahead and stocked up on a few caddis patterns today.

Ok so I did a little more reading last night and I'm thinking starting at Tan Vat and walking downstream. Any idea how far Tan Vat to Baptist is? I don't mind walking. My experience has been that 99% of the other fly fishermen on the rivers I go to stay as close to the parking lot as they can. I prefer a little more solitude and usually a short walk will get you some. Also thanks for the advice on mini jigs. I always forget about those for some reason, but they're very effective here as well. I actually tie up an olive jig with a pink marabou tail that's been pretty good for me.

Also, what about the white ribbon stretch, how's the fishing down there?

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm actually planning to wade this trip, but considering coming back for a float trip later on in the summer or fall. Did I read right that it's predominantly brown trout in this stretch? I think I saw something that said the only rainbows are fish that swim down from the park?

Hello everyone, I'm new to the OAF and was just hoping to ask for a little advice. I'm planning on making my first trip to the current river this weekend (I realize it will probably be crowded, but it's a 3 day weekend what am I gonna do, stay home?). I live in Oklahoma City and my go to spot is the lower mountain fork river but the forecast calls for rain all weekend and with water levels as high as they are at the lake, it's just a matter of time before they open the floodgates up and blow the river out. Since almost every tailwater I could think of to fish within a 6 hour radius of okc is in the same situation, I got to doing some research and the current river looked like a really nice option. I think I'm gonna try to stick to the blue ribbon area. I'm sure the park itself will be a mad house this weekend. Plus the idea of fishing to trout that were stocked that day isn't all that appealing to me anyway (I'm strictly catch & release). I did have a couple questions though: -Will I need to buy a trout tag to fish this area, or is that just for the park? Am I ok to fish with just a Missouri license? Does the entire 9 mile stretch hold good populations of fish? Are there any areas that you would recommend starting at? I wouldn't ask anyone to hotspot for a first time poster, I realize that's in bad form, maybe just a hint as to the best public access spot to start at. -Are there any hatches that I need to be aware of this time of the year or any fly patterns you'd recommend? I'm pretty well stocked with the standard eggs, worms, midges, smaller mayfly nymphs, and a few stonefly patterns. I've also got a few sculpin style streamers I was thinking about throwing if we get some cloud cover. Is there anything else that you guys would recommend? I've heard glo-bugs are really productive on this river? Thanks ahead of time. Any advice is greatly appreciatiated. I'm really looking forward to exploring a new river, and from what I hear the current is beautiful. Oh one last thing I think I read a post that said wadeable flows are below 300 CFS right? Doesn't look like it's supposed to rain much between now and then, but there was some rain today right? Will the river have cleared up by the weekend?