Fished Last Week

[Aeronikl]

Came up last week with another couple to night fish for browns. We fished Sunday night with Leonard and had a great time swapping flies, stories, and good information, not to mention we caught fish. We really appreciated the guidance of someone who knows the area below the dam. Everyone knows that it is slower this year, and nights are no exception. Five years ago, when I started fishing at night here, the action was almost non-stop. Catching 50 or more fish in 2-4 hours was normal. My first trip this year I was forced to fish somewhere other than at the KOA access, and thought that maybe it was because I didn't know the water up closer to the dam. Then, I started to read the posts about drought, lack of food, slow fishing, etc., and that it has been going down hill for the past several years. I can only comment that it has been that way for me too. Don't get me wrong, it is still a very good fishery, but I hope that it can be back to where it was 5-10 years ago, and soon. Mother nature will eventually cooperate with some wet years, and things should improve, as long as man doesn't screw it up, somehow. Anyway, back to fishing. We only caught 6-10 fish apiece each night, fishing 2-4 hours, but they were mostly browns and mostly big, 15-18". I broke off one very big fish, but did land a large, 22" male, on the last night of the trip. He was jumping about 20' out from outlet 1, every few minutes for about an hour. I hadn't had any luck casting to jumping fish all week, but I tried him, anyway. I moved up to where I could strip a fly through the area. He took the third cast, and I was able to get him in quickly, less than 5 minutes, and he revived very nicely, when held in the outflow. Even though the fishing was tough and the weather was worse most of last week, we all had a great time. It is still a special place to visit and fish, especially for the fellowship of the people we meet and fish with.

[Terry Beeson]

We fished Sunday night with Leonard and had a great time swapping flies, stories, and good information, not to mention we caught fish.

You forgot to mention all the "lies"... and if you were with Leonard, I KNOW there were a few of them flying around...

As a former resident of Claremore, OK once said... "I never met a 22 inch brown trout I didn't like..."

or something like that...