LMF River Trip 12-28 to 12-31

I had the opportunity to join the Dallas Fly Fishers over part of the New Years weekend for some fishing in Broken Bow. I really love fishing there, it has so many different types of fishing in a small area that is very close to my home.

I was able to get to the cabin, Centennial Lodge, about 8:30 on Friday night. Everyone was there and I got the chance to make a lot of new friends. We stayed up extra late and watched videos, tied flies and got equipment ready. Going to bed at 1AM is not very conducive to rising early. :) Still I was up at 6 the next morning to shower and get ready. I ran over to 3 Rivers Fly Shop to pick up some goodies and see Jesse. We chatted and shot the bull until I had missed the meeting time, or so I thought. I went to see if I spotted anybody on the river and found no one. I decided to slip into Zone 2 and see what I could find there. At Old Park Dam I saw 2 other fishermen, but no fish. After a good 45 minutes of working that water I moved downstream to see if I could find some fish downstream. Another hour of fishing found no fish and suddenly there was "fisherman hatch" going on. I was now in the midst of 8 other fishermen in about 200 yards of river, it was time to move on. I headed for Zone 3, all the way to the highway 70 bridge, and some prospecting for trout. The water has gotten cold enough down there for the fish to feed, and I saw some feeding, but I couldn't get the right combo of drift and fly together for them. I grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the cabin.

At the cabin I found everybody coming back from fishing. It seems I had gotten to Beavers Bend Fly Shop a bit early and missed everyone, OOOPS, before I headed out to fish. The rest of the crew was ready to call it a day and relax, but I had a few more hours of fishing light and rigged some new goodies and headed to the Evening Hole. Once there I found quite a few fisherman and mad my way to the top pretty quickly, I stuck about 5 healthy rainbows in the end of Lost Creek. On the way out of the Evening Hole I caught a few more fish before heading for the cabin. There are fish everywhere in that section now, despite some people still wanting to poach in there, and I know there are going to be some large fish coming out of there in the next few years. Reports of fish from 18" to 24" are becoming more common there.

We had a great time chatting with lots of new friends that night. We watched some football and then saw the Jeff Dunham DVD a second time. Lots of fishing stories and some general BS was thrown out. S'mores were made and lots of beer, wine and liquor was consumed. It was a very friendly atmosphere and many new friendships were made. The night ran a bit late again, but only to about 12:30AM this time.

Getting up at 6:30AM this time I realized I was a bit more eager than some of the others. After some talk about fishing and a cup of coffee I couldn't wait anymore and headed out to fish. I started in the Evening Hole again, totally alone this time, and found a lot of fish throughout that section of the river. I worked mostly in the upper section of the Evening Hole. Moving up to the end of Lost Creek I found several chunky, strong rainbows in there. They are really fat and healthy in that pool. Then I moved up under the bluffs to see if there were fish there. Once there I found fish feeding in the surface film and started trying to find the right fly for them. I had to work down to a size 22 Griffith's Gnat before I got some interest. I finally got about 4 of them to bite, but what a workout! They were very picky back there and needed just the right drift and fly to hook these fish. I decided to end a bit earlier and get some more relaxing time. A quick stop at the liquor store and we were ready for another night of bonding. There was twist this time though, we decided to have our New Year's Eve on Sunday night. We even lit the fire pit and sat around it shooting the bull for a few hours. This was a great idea and we had a blast sitting there drinking champagne and telling war stories.

The next morning I slept in until about 7:30AM before getting ready to leave. We had to clean and get things ready for travel. Two of us decided to head to the river before starting our drives. I thought about Spillway Creek as a spot to fish but changed my mind when I saw the number of people already fishing there. The bluffs were my destination this afternoon again, and it was exactly what I thought it would be, tough work to get a couple of fish to bite. Thankfully I enjoy the challenge and had a great time fighting hard to get bites and looks. Very small flies were the order of the day again. I decided to head home a bit earlier this time. After putting everything away I got on the road with one thought to keep me going; I miss my wonderful, beautiful girlfriend Lucie.

Overall this trip was a blast. There were good people to enjoy the time with, and fish to fight with. All of this was only 3 hours from my door which is the reason I make frequent trips to Broken Bow.