FlyfishinOK

It was a catapillar. Size 12 2x long hook with brown dubbing and black hackle. Super simple fly. On some of them I'll add a little bit of foam instead of the dubbing. Also caught a few on black foam ants with black hackle wrapped in between the body segments. My daughter was sitting in the edge of the water looking at rocks when she found a super tiny worm. She had it on her finger watching it twich. She said "I think it's going to throw up!" Then it quit moving for a second and she said "it's head is going to explode!" I heard her scream OMG and it hatched out and buzzed up and hit her in the nose and flew off...lol. Her and my wife were astonished. She spent the next 30 minutes looking for bug under the rocks. Next trip I'll get her some jars and she can collect some critters for tying patterns for me.

Took the family down to Marvel’s Monday. Fishing was slow till after lunch. At one point fish were constantly rising all around me and I couldn’t find a fly that they wanted. Talk about frustrating. Finally found what they wanted and it was fish on every presentation. Weather was great all day. Saw some really big Striper behind a big root ball downstream from camp but my Striper gear was about a mile upstream... We almost didn't go because of all the storms around. Glad we did, Weather was beautiful!

Fished Monday and noticed there wasn't a pattern at all. I too tied on one (or two) of everything in my fly box. I'd find something that would catch a few then they wouldn't touch it and I'd start searching again. Caught most on small drys. Started out with 6x. Later in the day I was using 4x and catching just as many. Saw lots of trout. late evening topwater bite was really good. I saw so many shad that I though about trying to catch some with my 2wt but was having to much fun with the bows.

Went to Watts area Sat to help TU & Tulsa Fly Fishers pick up some trash. Afterwards I fished for about 45 minutes. I waded in by the Watts stocking shoot. I tied on a dry fly and started stripping some line out to get started. A small trout slurped the fly up about 10’ from me. I just managed to set the hook and get him to the net. You know it's going to be good when you are catching fish before you are even ready! After unhooking him and taking a picture I looked up the river. There were four guys fishing and three had bent rods. They were using olive micro jigs and catching fish at will. I fished drys and midges, both producing well. My son and I went downstream to explore the Gore landing area for the first time. We were looking for a launch point for my Gheenoe. We went one access point North of Gore landing and I decided to fish for a few minutes. Hooked into a BIG trout. He jumped twice during the 120 second battle. I was on the edge of a steep gravel slide and having trouble landing him. He spit my stone fly back at me & broke my heart. Maybe next time. We saw some really nice Striper swimming by but didn’t have the Striper gear. Next time I will!

QB, I was wet wading. I would suggest having good boots because of all the big rocks and rebar. They are thick right now because of the spawn. It'll be over pretty quick but you can still catch them throughout the year. Sat evening right at dark we were on the West bank and watched 5 or 6 big striper driving the shad up on the East bank in a feeding frenzy. They were coming out of the water and thrashing like mad. It was a great show. We almost decided to go back to the truck and get some headlamps for a little night fishing. OK44, It was good to finally meet someone off of this site. I saw your pix of the big female. That's awesome! I came back Sat morning with my fly rod but it was toooo windy and the bite didn't turn on till later in the day. Caught 7 really nice ones Saturday and 3 ones Sunday morning all on top water. (all released) Saturday evening the wind laid down and the water was like glass for about 30 minutes. You could see the big V on the water as they stalked the poppers. Sometimes they'd swirl it or hit it and sometimes they'd turn at the last minute. I'd hear the jaws theme in my head every time they would go after it. It would definitely get your heart rate up a few clicks!

That rod in the pix is a 8'6" Lamiglass steelhead rod I just finished wrapping. I call it my ultralight striper rod. It's rated 6 to 12 lb line & 3/8 to 3/4 oz lure. It held up great and I was able to really zing the lures way out. First fish on with it was a 37 lb spoonbill in full river flow. I was a little nervous but it held up fine. I'm now rigged up on a 8wt fly rod with some big poppers & clousers. I haven't fished it in the river yet. I'm on a mission for a 15 lb striper. Current best fly rod Striper is 10.2 lb on a 6wt.

On weekdays the water usually drops in the morning around 8:00 am and rises around 3:00 pm Last weekend they shut Keystone dam off at 9:00 pm Friday and didn't turn it untill around midnight to 1:00 am Monday Here are a few more pix: I kept 5 fish for a big fish fry next month, 70 lb stringer

Great trip! Congrats on the big Rainbow! As soon as the Striper bite is over in Tulsa I'll be making a trip down there.

Top water bite was on this morning big time. I managed 14 all over 10 lbs. Bigest that I weighed was 14.4. Got my hook straightened out on two lures. I had 4 that broke 30 lb line on initial hook up like it was nothing. I'm pretty sure they were way over 20 pounders. landed 3 gar (not my favorite thing to do) Did run into OKFlyfisher44 and his buddy. Got to watch his buddy catch his first striper on a fly rod. Really cool! Went back for the evening bite. Only managed 3 striper around 12 lbs and a really big blue. That's a 6" Storm Kickin Stick hanging out of his mouth. When I lost all of my poppers I thought I'd try it. I worked great for 4 fish...the 5th one is probably still wearing it.

Anyone on here doing any Striper catching below Zinc dam? I've fished it on the 24th and managed 2 small striper, 1 hybrid & about 6 gar. There were alot of guys sandbass fishing and it looked like they were doing pretty good. Saw a guy with 3 BIG Striper leaving as I was arriving. That's always my story the bite shuts down about 30 min before I arrive. May go and try this morning for a bit???

Between work, turkey season & crappie stalking I can't seem to make it down there! I driver over it in the morning and again in the evening going to and from work. It haunts me...lol

That sounds like fun. What's the water level like right now?

I went around 2:30 Sat. Started fishing at the old bridge piers and walked downstream. Didn't get a hit one. Next time I'll try walking the other way. Lots of 4 wheelers on the sandbars...looked fun

Where is a good spot to access the river? Which direction from the soccer fields is the best? Looking at Google maps it looks like there are some deep holes along the North bank.

Has anyone ever fished the Arkansas by the Bixby soccer fields off of 151st? I'm going to several games over there Sat and thought I'd scout around.

Cole, I'll let you know when we go back in the spring. nice sm fishinforhim!

Fished just above the confluence into the Illinois Sat morning. Water was clear and cold. Saw some nice bass but couldn't get them to bite. Caught one 8" SM on a epoxy minnow fly. Fished a small inlet on upstream around dark. Caught 11 small sunfish. Sunday morning it was cold & raining hard. I decided to stay in the cabin and feed the fireplace. I think I’ll try again during the spring.

I'm heading down to camp Darby which is not far from where Baron Fork meets the Illinois River. I'll be fishing Sat & Sunday mornings at sunup. I'll post a report Monday. (Hopefully with some SM pix!)

Here is a selection of flys I tied for Zink Dam area. White/Yellow clousers seem to work the best. Althogh the green/yellow bait fish pattern really had great action in the water until something big took it and didn't stop. The two seventy rod/reel combo went back to BP the next day because the reels drag kept locking up. They gave me a new reel and it did the same thing. Got my money back.

Hoppers right! I fished it for a while with a WR TwoSeventy 6 wt and when you caught a 10+ lb striper it was a long battle. I've since got a WR CV2 in 8wt that fits the bill a little better. I got it on E-bay with extra spool loaded with sinking tip line & cases for rod, reel & spool. Mint cond for only $121.00 incl shipping.

Headed out Wed morning to catch some Striper. Parked at the soccer field and walked to the West side of the spillway. Got to the water at 9:00 am. about 60 deg and wind blowing out of the South 10 to 15 mph. Caught several good sized sandbass while I watched for the water level to go down. As soon as I noticed it going down I started wading to the middle sandbar/rockpile. Made it through some deeper areas and almost to the sand when I tripped on a submerged log and found the big hole in my waders....it was cold...lol. Now I know why I always wear a wading belt. by time I got to my fishing spot a guy in a kayak had pulled up. We fished for a while and didn't catch anthing. I finally caught a Walleye. Thought it was a Saugeye till I looked at pic on the net and showed the pix to a few people. We watched a guy on the West bank catching a few fish so we headed over to help out. Between the three of us we caught over a dozen fish over the next hour. Sand Bass and a few Kentucky Bass. I didn't catch any striper or see anyone catch any but it was good to be back on the river. One of the guys I was fishing with caught 4 striper the day before around 1:30 pm

Was at Marval's Saturday with the family and two guys were at the cleaning station with some really nice Stripers. They had one that weighed out right at 30Lbs

Really nice fish. Makes me want to go back down there this coming weekend!

A few months back my son and I stopped by the lower for a few hours and had a great time. We went just below the Dam and caugt a few fish. It was really crowded and I'm not much for fishing in crouds. This morning my son and I went back down and explored some of the other access points and found areas we could fish and see only a few others. We started off at Marvel just to check out the campground area. We fished on the south end of the campground and caught a few 11"~13" trout. Nice area to bring back the wife and daughter and stay the weekend but I bet it could get crowded on the river there. After a lunch at B & J we went to the end of E0990RD and didn't have much luck. No trout but snagged a buffalo. Most of the guys I talked to said it slowed down around 1:00. One of the guys leaving told me about the gravel pit road so we went to give it a try. Pulled up around 2:45 and walked upstream about 100 ft. Fist presentation of a large stonefly wasn't in the water 1/2 second until a 17" er took it for a ride. Within 5 minutes I'd brought several more about the same size to hand. Moved on up stream and stood in the shade for a bit and tied on a new fly. Got back in the water and noticed it was rising quickly.....game over. All in all it was a good trip and now I feel like I kind of know my way around a little. I definatly be going back soon. I wanted to say thanks for you guys sharing some of the info on here...it came in handy today.

I got there at 7:15 and just missed the fly rod that were'nt part of a combo....dang! I did get 3 fly reels, 4 combos and two reels. I got a really nice quantum 10 bearing spinning reel combo with a nice IM8 rod. It has really nice Fuji guides and delux grip for a wopping $12 bucks. I think the best buy was an Omega reel for my son for $15. It feels really solid. I'll see how long it takes him to destroy this one...lol I'll be looking forward to the next one.