OKFlyFisher44

So far there is no pattern...AT ALL! Its been pretty much FULL THROTTLE from the dam this past month or so. The last couple of days...it hasn't got below 4000cfs when I checked it earlier on USGS.GOV with their current streamflow tables... Its pretty ridiculous....it's projected that there will be no generation tomorrow from 1-6 pm but who knows if that will hold true and if the river will drop low enough at Zink to allow for good wading conditions. I'm going to take my gear with me to work and watch the streamflow at work. If it gets below 2000 cfs, I'm going to go check it out...see if I can't get a few casts in!

When I was out there last sunday, there was 2 guys out in the middle of the river on the little island up close to the dam fishing...with the river rolling at 4000 cfs!! It blew my mind. I walked downriver a little ways...see if I could maybe get out on the river a little ways but yeah, there is no way! They walked out there after I'd tried to get out there. They got out there in tennis shoes, mesh shorts, and t-shirt...I dont know how. I mean...there was some spots that was around belly deep that is where they'd crossed but it was really iffy. If the water had come up anymore...they'd been swimming back to the bank. Some people are just really ballsy...or stupid...

That's about normal...they've running water 24/7! I'm game for some night fishing if they ever shut down the water enough that there's prime wade fishing. I think it could be very good... All of us that live locally in/around the Tulsa area need to try and schedule a night that all of us show up to fish. Kinda like what some of the guys do at Taney. It would be cool to put a face to some of the names we see on here! You can also watch the USGS stream flow website for current water conditions. It updates every hour and gives several different readings like cfs, water temp, etc. USGS Stream Flow - Zink Dam

That's a good point. Its tough to say. If they weren't generating any water...I'd think it'd be similiar to fishing Taneycomo. The 2 spillways would be kinda like the outlets at Taney where as the other stretches where the water slows down quite a bit at Zink would be similiar to like the slower shallower water below Rebar. I could be dead wrong. I would think you could fish Clousers on the swing in most of the water...and then strip it in at different speeds in the slower water or the deeper pools. That's just how I think it would work. Some bigger streamer patterns would work too or maybe some big popper style flies... I don't know...just curious as to what everyone thought. I think it could be done...

Both...haha!

From what I understand...the River Parks area doesn't close till 11:00 at night right? Sooo, could we technically do some night fishing at Zink if the generation was good till that time? When we used to fish for white bass on grand lake when I was younger, we'd murder fish till 1 or 2 in the morning. I would think the bigger stripers would really be actively feeding at night...don't ya think? I could be dead wrong...don't know much about the behavior on stripers to be honest with you guys. I'd think throwing some black/purple clousers at night could possibly yield some big fish. Obviously, there's no way I'd fish it by myself at night...no way! Anyways...what do you guys think?

It was a crap-shoot. I got down there around 4:00 or so. Yeah, it was flowing a full-bore. Don't know where I messed up into thinking there would be some good wading conditions but boy was I wrong. I gave it a shot for about an hour but there was just too much water. There was low water today for almost 4 hours but I couldn't get away as I was playing Mr. Mom while the wife was away on a shopping spree, which I don't mind at all. Stupid corp. of engineers...

According to the generation schedule...they're planning on running water most of the day on monday which was my original plan as far as going. So I'm going to try and sneak off to Zink tomorrow afternoon/evening sometime and do some fishing. Hopefully the warmer temps from today and into tomorrow will get the fish active! Anyone else coming down?

Last time I went there was no generation at all...plenty of wading options on both sides of the river. I only got into a few stripers but caught lots of sand bass n' hybrids. This warm weather we've been having shoulda started to bring up the water temp and get the fish active...until today when it freaking snowed! I'm going to try and sneak off down to Zink on Monday afternoon if the generation is right...drop me a message if anyone wants to go!

Dang...I knew I shoulda went to Zink yesterday! Hmmm...might just have to sneak out there this afternoon!

We went downstream and parked at the bridge, then walked back upstream and fished. Lots of good looking water...no doubt about that!

When I was there....we had luck with brown, ginger, and olive scuds along with Y2Ks, red/orange san juans, and sculpin patterns. Lots of different things work at random times on Taney it seems... For sure have a good selection of scuds in the fly box though and you'll be fine....

Left Capps a little after Noon today and head to R.R. to talk to Tim about Crane. Was informed that Crane wouldn't be any good due to volunteers doing a Stream Clean on the lil' creek so I spent the rest of the afternoon at R.R. Spent the first hour or so scouting for big fish...didn't really have much luck. Kinda got lazy and didn't feel like walking up and down Zone 1 so I just parked my butt in a hole where there was some fish rising and proceeded to have a fun afternoon with some dry fly action... Killed them on a #20 griffiths knat and then switched to #20 Adams...it was a good time. Hadn't got into some good dry fly action in a while so it was nice refresher you might say. Probably woulda caught more fish if I woulda switched to 7x but, again, I was too lazy and didn't feel like rebuilding my leader. Fish didn't seem to mind too much anyways... Overall thoughts on the C&R season this year...I only made 2 trips and didn't really spend a whole lot of time on the river. Caught plenty of fish but I did notice that there didn't seem to be as many BIG fish in the river as there was last year. Lots of 2-3lb fish but not as many 5+lb fish as there was last year. Whatever the reasons are...who cares...still a good time on the river this winter!

Again...thanks a bunch guys for showing me around. Really appreciate it. Fishing was tough...I had a couple of strikes up by the mill but nothing to hand. Capps really is an awesome creek...lots of holding water for trout, MDC just needs to put some trout in that holding water. Had a dang good time...I'll be back again... On a side note...I didn't make it to Crane guys. I got to Tims and he informed me that there was a "Stream Clean" going on where volunteers walk the creek to pick up trash, tires outta creek, etc. Too much commotion for those Crane trout...so I just stuck it out at R.R. and caught lots of fish on dry flies the rest of the afternoon so I was content : ) Tim and me worked out another time to go to Crane in the coming weekends, so I'll be back to Missouri very soon!

Thanks for all the input fellas... Sadly I'm going to have to pass up on this night fishing trip. Just too much to pull off with having to work till 3:00 on saturday and then driving down to Taney. Along with either freezing my butt off camping or trying to find a place to stay before I even hit the water that night. They show to not be generating on saturday and sunday...I might try to sneak down there Sunday evening after I fish Crane. Its just under an hours drive from Crane to Taney according to MapQuest...so I still might try to sneak down there. If anyone will be around sunday evening...I'll be in a black Dodge quad-cab 4x4 pickup parked by the pavillion.

Yeah, I woulda sh!t my waders...no doubt about it. I woulda left and never came back...heh, kinda freaking me out actually!

You wouldn't be talking about the Taneycomo squid? Or the numerous beaver attacks I've heard about

I was down there a couple of weekends ago. Things were kinda slow in the morning in Zone 2 but caught a handful of fish on a san juan worm w/ a micro-egg fished under it. Then picked up a few fish on a #20 adams that we rising on the very upper end of Zone 2... The rest of the day I spent chasing big fish with a san juan worm...did pretty well in Zone 1. My nephews caught lots of fish on a micro-egg in the brown color (trout food)...heh, whatever works. End of the day I caught several fish at the last hole in Zone 2 on a #20 PMD...lots of fish rising...

Right on. Thanks guys! My headlamp has an infrared switch that is really nice at night as it doesn't jack up your night vision and I've got a tiny handheld infrared light kinda like you'd hang from your key chain that I think will be great too....

Just tied up a couple PMSs and some big knarly buggers...should do the trick for big streamers. Bust out some scuds and I should be good to go.

Are anglers in this tournament allowed to fish up by the dam in the trophy area? I'm only curious because I was planning on coming down to fish saturday night and sunday morning...I'm pass if the area by the dam is going to be hammered on saturday. It gets pretty ridiculous up by the dam....combat fishing at its finest!

Whoops! Wow...this icy/snowy weather is killing me with this cabin fever. Losing my mind...yeah, I'm pretty much an idiot...

As long as they're not scheduling to generate, I'm going to try to sneak down to Taneycomo saturday night to do some fishing along with fishing the following morning before I head back west to fish Capps and Crane. I've fished Taney a few times during the day in Fall of '07 but I know the floods have changed the river significantly. Any tips on methods or flies? I was betting on big flies fishing them on the swing or just tight-line drifting smaller stuff. Just not really sure because I've heard and read different things. It seems the BFE is a hot fly right now and I've actually got a few those in my box. Any help would be appreciated...I'm really excited about going night fishing!

Depending on the weather for the remaining week, I'm planning on making a day trip out to Capps on Sunday sometime. Not sure if I'm going to hit it in the morning or in the evening. Depends on where the rest of my trip takes me... But if anyone is interested in meeting me out there to wet a line...let me know!

Thanks Lilley...that'll be an easy print-off to take with me. Even better than the maps on MDC. Thank ya sir!