Streams and lakes are ready for trout fishermen and will be stocked regularly into March
By Ed Godfrey
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Published: November 1, 2009
Modified: October 31, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Modified: October 31, 2009 at 11:45 pm
A fly fisherman tries his luck on the Evening Hole section of the Lower Mountain Fork River in McCurtain County. State wildlife officials have temporarily stopped putting trout in the river because of flooding, but the state’s winter trout areas open today. Photo By David McDaniel, The Oklahoman
Time for me to buy some new Mepps and Rooster Tails.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s winter-only trout areas open today: Blue River, Lake Pawhuska, Lake Watonga, Quartz Mountain, Robbers Cave and Lake Carl Etling. Blue River in southern Oklahoma is my favorite of the winter trout areas and the most popular among anglers because it feels like a mountain trout stream. It seems like it belongs somewhere in the Ozarks, not in Johnston County, which is why it is a destination of choice for fly fishermen. Rainbows are added every two weeks through mid-March in most of the winter trout areas, except for Lake Carl Etling, which only gets stocked twice during the entire trout season. Prepared baits such as the Berkley power baits or dough baits are very effective for these hatchery-raised trout. And since they are fed a pelleted diet high in fish oil before they are released, adding tuna, sardine or salmon oil to the dough baits will increase the chances for success. Worms, salmon eggs and whole kernel corn also do the trick. I like fishing with artificial bait, so my tackle box is filled with Mepps spinners, Super Dupers, Panther Martins, Rooster Tails and tiny spoons. Crappie-size jigs (marabou and tube) also catch trout. Blue River is opening at a good time for trout afficionados as no more trout will be added in the immediate future in the state’s two year-round trout streams, the Lower Mountain Fork and Lower Illinois rivers. State wildlife officials skipped the last scheduled stocking of trout in those streams and will miss at least one more because of flooding, said Jeff Boxrucker, assistant chief of fisheries for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Because of high lake levels from recent rains, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is releasing a lot of water downstream from both Broken Bow and Tenkiller lakes, he said. In addition, the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers is planning a month-long repair of turbines on Broken Bow so the lake has to be lowered, Boxrucker said. "All of the releases go through the spillway which screws up fishing,” he said. "There is a whole bunch of water going through the park (Beaver’s Bend State Park).” As a result, the state Wildlife Department also has postponed rebuilding Lost Creek, a trout stream that was built when the Evening Hole area of the Lower Mountain Fork was refurbished. Lost Creek was washed away by recent floods. Repairs were scheduled to begin this week but will be postponed until January because of the Corps project, Boxrucker said. When repairs do start, Lost Creek will become longer and more braider to improve the fishing, he said. Also, the long-awaited rehabilitation project on the Lower Illinoir River is still on hold. The state Wildlife Department bought 320 acres of land along the Lower Illinois in 2006 and announced it would turn that stretch of the river into a dynamic, energetic stream muck like what was done on Evening Hole. The plan is to narrow the stream and add boulder clusters and rock piles for water to rush over and around to create ripples, pools and waterfalls that will hold trout. The project has yet to commence, and it’s uncertain when it will begin. Part of the problem has been that state wildlife officials have to work around a power company’s generation schedule, Boxrucker said. "We are just going to have to see how we can work around (water) releases up there,” he said.
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Nature and the Environment, Wildlife
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