LMF trip May 17 and 18

I made the trip to Broken Bow 5/16/08 for the Entomology for Fly Fishers class at Three Rivers Fly Shop taught by Rob Woodruff. That class is worth every penny and the time to take it, read my review here; Entomology class review. If you want to be more effective at figuring out what fish are eating, this is the way to go!

Before the class started on Saturday morning I got to do a bit of fishing. I started in the place I normally do to keep from getting skunked, it almost always brings me a fish or two. I was not disappointed when I hooked into a large 'bow that I got up and ready to lift, then he tangled me in a branch and was gone! But I hooked this guy right after and got him up for a picture, a nicely colored 'bow about 18" long. He was really beautiful!

I moved down to the Evening Hole for a check on that water and found a couple of fish, though nowhere near the fish that were there before the water releases.There doesn't really seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why the fish in that area abandoned the EH almost completely. But, there are trout starting to move back in there, and I think there are a few hold over fish also. I have hooked trout in there since right after the releases stopped, just not tons of them. After moving all the way down to the stump I was very surprised to hook this guy, a walleye down in that hole. He must have been swept through the gates and found a deep run to hold in. He had several marks on his back that were distinctly from cormorants taking shots at him, maybe that is why the other fish left. Just a guess.

After taking the field trip with Woodruff on Sunday Tom had to get home and I decided to make a fast run through the park fishing. This is how I fish on lots of my day trips, hit sections of the river for a little bit and then move on. It is a way to see how the river as a whole is fishing but doesn't give me the time to really zero in on a section as I like to when I have the time. But all the same it works for me. First to the Spillway Creek area where I caught a couple of fish that morning. Starting at the lower footbridge I didn't find as many fish as I wanted.

After spending the amount of time I wanted there I moved on to the Lost Creek area to see how the fish were there. I had not hooked any fish there Saturday afternoon with Tom, but that was after lots of pressure that day. I found a pod of fish toward the end of Lost Creek and it produced several nice fish, and they were very hungry. The largest was this big thick one that was a blast to catch. Almost looks like a football!

After having a great time there I decided to see if the fish were hitting in Zone 2, I didn't have time to get to Zone 3 that day. I heard that a fisherman had landed ~17 fish under OPD the night before, that sounded good to me! I moved in under OPD and began working the seams there that I know hold fish. I had a few strikes, but no fish. I think it was the wrong time of day and this little fellow was not helping me at all I am sure. It is amazing to watch these birds work a hole and see how many fish they will pull out of there. Think of the best fisherman you know; that guy you don't want to fish behind because you won't catch anything. And multiply his efficiency times 20 and you would be getting closer to how effective these birds are.

After spending about an hour in Zone 2 fatigue started to hit me.My friend Tom had bought a nice bottle of scotch that we shared a big part of the night before, plus being on the water at sunrise that morning was really wearing me out. I decided that it was best to head home and not be on the side of the road sleeping or worse. I had a bottle of 5 Hour Energy that I drank to get me home, thank goodness. I made it home fine and found my lovely girlfriend here getting ready to move into our new house. We are really looking forward to early July when we can move into Our Place.

I am leaving you with a picture of what I see looking from Old Park Dam down river there. I hope this will entice you to take a trip to Broken Bow and fish the Lower Mountain Fork River. Good luck and get out to fish!!