Trout Season Nears At Blue River

Come this Friday, November 1st, the trout will be stocked in Blue River near Tishomingo, Oklahoma.  Blue River has become one of the top fall and winter season trout fisheries in Oklahoma.  The river and the trout have a huge following from across Oklahoma, Texas, and many other states. 

Stockings will take place weekly, although there will not be a published announcement of the exact dates.  During the season that begins in November and lasts through March, 60,000 trout will be stocked in the river.

During trout season there are a number of events that take place and here are the dates of those occasions.

The Veterans Day Weekend Trout Derby will take place November 9th and 10th.  Over $1,000.00 in cash, prizes, and awards will be up for grabs during the derby.  Spinner bait anglers, bait anglers, and fly anglers all have a chance to compete in this event that many have been attending for decades. 

In February, the President's Day Weekend trout derby will take place and the dates are February 16th and 17th.  Same awards, prizes, and categories are open just like the derby in November.

One week after the February derby is the Blue River Fly Fishers event called The Blue River Fly Classic.  This event has been formerly called the Blue River One Fly, but since a one fly event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming has been ongoing for many years, the name One Fly is trademarked and therefore the Blue
River Fly Fishers changed the name of their event.

This event will take place February 22nd.  All contestants will receive one single fly of the exact same pattern.  Contestants can purchase one mulligan fly for a fee.  100% of the proceeds raised by this event are donated to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife in support of the trout fishing program at Blue River.

Fly fishing prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers and usually there are a number of give-away prizes at this event.  Chuckwagon cook Vernon Forrester of Texas puts on a grand feed for the event and sometimes the food is the best part of all the festivities. 

Just yesterday I commented to a friend how the Blue River has a way of bringing people together.  How the river does that I haven't a clue... I just know she does.  The Blue is ours to keep or ours to lose.  Since the river can't speak for herself, then it is our place to always speak for her.

One project anglers and visitors might look for this trout season are stations that house free trash bags.  The message that will go along with these stations is for visitors, anglers, hikers, and hunters to help themselves to a free trash bag and carry out more trash or litter than they carried in.  It's one way to help eliminate trash on a beautiful little river.

Blue River - too lovely to litter.

Chapter 58 Day 17 - Trout Season

Fascination With Flies - Estate Sale #3

In that big bag of 700 or so flies I acquired through a source that attended an estate sale was this beauty. 

It's a creation of zonker strip and mylar. 

So, what is the name of this fly?  I call it a Zonker Minnow.

Will it catch trout?  Yes, I've use them before on Blue River to capture trout, but, the one pictured is a little too large I think for the trout at Blue. 

And how to fish it?  I panic strip it or strip and twitch it.  This pattern is intended to simulate an injured minnow or baitfish.  So, with that in mind you want this pattern to act fleeting.

Haven't fish this pattern in quite some time and in the estate sale bonanza is some smaller versions of the fly pictured above.  Think I'll pack them in the fly box and carry them with me soon.   

Chapter 58 Day 12 - Trout Season

It was a tough, tough day on the river today.  Not just for me... for everyone.  The river was as muddy today as it was yesterday and looks to be extremely slow in clearing. 

Today was the first day of the trout derby.  Things were so tough, many participants had given up and left the river by noon.  At 12:30 I had to quit fishing because of my nagging back.  I had managed four trout, one perch, and one smallmouth... and I worked hard for all of them. 

The derby organizers put some really large trout in the river and some will go eight or nine pounds.  At the weigh-in today I saw only four trout weighed in that would go three pounds or better.  So... there is going to be a lot of large trout left in the river after this derby weekend. 

As far as fly fishers weighing in there were few that had fish to weigh in.  The young lad I speak so much of, Kody Young, weighed in a stringer one pound more than mine and that puts young Kody in the lead.  Kody is long overdue for this award and I think he has an excellent shot.  Other fly fishers were a pound or better behind my stringer, so tomorrow is really anybodies game.  Hopefully in the morning my body will tell me I can return, but, if it doesn't... then it doesn't. 

Everything I caught today came on buggers.  Use dark color buggers in dark color water.  May not make any sense... but, it works. 

It was good to see an extra fly fishing presence at this year's trout derby.  Jerry Hammon with the Red River Fly Fishers set up an information booth about his group and Jerry also had a fly tying station going on. 

The river, besides being muddy, became severely choked with leaves today.  Rather brisk winds arrived about mid-morn and when they did they dislodged the golden and brown hues of nature's wonderment. 

One notable fly fisher was absent today.  Chris Adams is always a heck of a competitor and he is the one that makes the trout derby competitions always interesting.  And... Chris is my friend. 

Today, I missed my friend.