Blue River: After the Flood of 2015

July 30th

Lady Blue is going to fish a lot differently after the Biblical rainfall of 2015, and I am excited about the possibilities of the coming trout season.  My pictures don't do justice in illustrating the changes Blue has undergone, but for those that have spent time in any of the areas shown they will recognize how the flooding scoured and flushed the river clear of much brush and aquatic vegetation.

The following photos are all from the area north of SH 7.  This first set shows two perspectives of the same stretch of water and is the first place to access the water from the road leading up the west side.

This next photo is awful, but it was the best I had.  Best is best right?  The image is of the area directly east of the location above.  Many of us have crossed this formerly treacherous area, but it is unrecognizable now that all the brush and mud is gone...for as long as I can remember, this area was covered with a 3-6 foot jumbled mass of mud, brush and trees.  Now it is scoured down to bare rock.

These are of the next set of riffles to the north.  Still accessed from the west side.

Next stop, the first set of falls to the north.

Below these falls are a run and more riffles.  I included the photo of the run to illustrate how clear the water is.  Others may have had a different experience, but I feel the water appears to be as clear as it would be mid trout season.

 

The only significant insect activity I observed was of dragonflies and these ruby spot damselflies.

I'm hopeful the winter stream flow will remain similar to the way it is now.  If so, some of the low flow areas will fish better than they have in years.

Next photo is from the rock pictured on the left...November 2010 for flow and clarity perspective.

Due to the cleansing floods, there won't be a better time to learn fly fishing on Blue...most lost flies should be to fish and underwater obstructions rather than decorating streamside foliage.  No fish pics this time...just some little smallmouth and largemouth bass and bluegill.  Others may be having more catching success than me, but there weren't many observable fish...perhaps they were mocking me from the shady areas while I experienced triple digit heat. 

 

Oh, final observation...normally there are a lot of snakes here during the warmer months, snakiest place I've ever fished, but not a single snake made an appearance.  Looks like we exported them to our Longhorn and A&M loving friends to the south!  BOOMER!!!

 

 

 

The Visitor That Never Left

This will be brief.

We had a visitor arrive at our home late one Sunday about five weeks ago.  We've always been pleased with our back yard, and we've had many compliments from friends and neighbors, but the most recent arrival passed judgement in a different way.

Carpe Diem (revisited from 7-4-2011)

Independence Day 2011 found me visiting my parents before a brief fishing excursion.  The weather had been better than the previous several days; Less wind; Less humidity; Slightly lower temperature.  Leaving the family, I found the weather conditions had changed dramatically.  The temp had dropped from triple digits to 81 degrees.  NICE, but not without complications...the Oklahoma wind had ratcheted up from 5-10 mph to 25+ with gusts to 35 (all data complimentary of the Oklahoma Mesonet).  Not good numbers for the long rod.  Nevertheless...

Carpe Diem!
I had planned this outing over a period of several days.  Recon had been performed with regard to quarry and the body of water where the stalking was to take place.  I was not to be denied.  Turbidity was a concern.

6-8 inch visibility had me thinking about a fly that would hopefully suit conditions.  Thinking bright, weighted, on an upturned hook, I came up with the best that my limited collection of materials would allow.  My version of the "Sucker Punch".

Materials I used:  # 6 hook, 6 strands rubber skirt material, bead chain eyes, dark and burnt orange dubbing and red squirrel tail.

Carpe Cyprinus carpio!!!

So, did it work?  The wind was howling, the fish were there, and I was willing.  Two out of three ain't bad.  Fortunately, with the dingy water and wave action the carp didn't spook easily, even with errant casts.  Regardless, they were mostly uncooperative.  Several were feeding in the shallows and occasionally there were up to 3 cloopers having their way with something only they could see.  At one time I counted 14 either rooting or clooping away.  Much of the time I could have attempted presenting a fly to fish that were 30-40 feet away, but I managed to wait till others would come to within 20 feet.  I must have casted to 10 or more individuals multiple times with no success.  Having one phantom hook-up over about an hour I was close to going home skunked when one willing 20 incher appeared to react to the fly.  Believing I had seen the line twitch, a strip-set was rewarded with a bent rod.  It was several moments before the carp really seemed to realize he had something tugging at his face, at which time he bulled his way pretty much wherever he wanted.  Finally after a pleasurable fight he began to tire.

Even now he wasn't ready to give in.

After a few more runs, carp and fisherman are equally spent.

Sending him on his way, I packed away my things, enjoyed the sunset for a moment,

and headed for home.

Cyprinus carpio, until we meet again.

River Etiquette

We made it to the river for our first trouting outing of the season this past Thursday, and the river was covered up due to the holidays. Fishing was tough...the catch and keep crowd appear to have been highly active and brutally effective during this mild stretch of winter weather...not bitching mind you, after all that is why the good Lord made 'em and why our underappreciated OK Wildlife Department stocked 'em, but that's my excuse for us catching only 3 fish that afternoon. As Collin Raye puts it...that's my story and I'm stickin to it!!!

Now, on to behavior that is near and dear to my heart. River Etiquette.

We've all done unto others and had others do unto us, unintentually as well as intentually, just for giggles as well as with malice, but it seems to me, as an educator, maybe it's time to add Social Graces 101 to our public school curriculmn!! At least that way our youth will grow up knowing WHEN they've committed a "breach of etiquette" and they'll understand WHY someone served them a knuckle sandwich!...now, the REST of the story...

We (Alan, Felix and me) parked at the west parking lot off SH 7 and hoofed it to the first area where the road bends next to the river. Suprised to find it unoccupied, we entered the water and Felix, new rod in hand, said he hadn't caught anything with it yet. I told him we'd christen it at this spot...fortunately I was right. He caught his first, and I'm sorry to say, last trout with that rod...it broke about 2 hours later. If he had only known this little tidbit of intel shortly after his first catch, this story could have turned out significantly different.

Each of us, Felix and me with lines on the water, and Alan, on the bank playing shutterbug, were doing our thing when a couple of kayakers came banging along headed upstream from the south. They had to portage the small falls behind us and I found out later that us cousins were thinking the same thing...there was plenty of room behind us and SURELY they would not go over our lines, but instead portage behind us. Never assume...a maxim that has come home to roost too many times, and will again. You can't tell from the pic, but Felix's rod and line made a lovely pointed arch for one of them to continue their journey.

As I said, if Felix had only known at this moment how his rod would meet it's demise...

When the rod broke later that day, I mentioned to Alan that Felix maintained his composure quite well...better than me...he never uttered a word and I was suprized. To paraphrase "A Christmas Story", I would have woven a tapestry of obscinity that would still be hanging in space over Blue River. Alan's reply? He was suprised how well Felix maintained his composure, and I'll stay with the "Christmas Story" theme here, during what would have surely become known as the Red Kayak Affair!!

Yodellers like Red Kayak may never understand river etiquette, but maybe Social Graces 101 could help keep some kids from eating a knuckle sandwich, or at least understand why their jaw is wired and they're dining on Gerber products for the forseeable future.

The Summer Blue

Finally got around to a summer time fishing trip. Left close to 5:00, and during the ride I got to simultaneously enjoy two celestial bodies. The two pics were taken seconds apart on opposite sides of SH99. While fishing is a lot about catching, I knew that the day ahead would be a fine one even if the fish failed to cooperate.

Hit Blue River...but no more pics because I was wet wading and thought better of taking the iphone...and boy was I right!! Wading several areas I couldn't see bottom, I kept stumbling into rocks that would hit me anywhere from shin to just above the knee. During the outing I managed to stay on my feet most of the time but still went down up to my neck 3 times.

The first area I tried was south of SH7 on the west side of the river. Saw a few fish milling around causing wakes to occur on the surface, but never saw anything actively feeding. Missed what I believed to be the only strike I had, so I headed north to an area I've recently named Elephant's Butt because of a rock formation nestled in the river. Quickly caught and released a small sunfish, one that I would have to wait till later to identify, and a small Kentucky. Both hit within 1 foot of the bank on a McGinnis coneheaded streamer. Moved on up stream and tangled with a largemouth above the riffles, and a nice smallmouth below the large falls. Moved around to the east side of the large falls and caught beauty of a green sunfish.

Headed back downstream and caught another of the same unidentified sunfish, another Kentucky and another decent smallmouth near "The Elelphant".

Adjourned back to another area where I've always caught a few trout during the winter months, a cool area with a nice set of falls that comes into the river from the east and abruptly turns south leaving a nice slackwater area to the north that should produce but hasn't...yet. Lots of large underwater boulders in the moving water has made me believe there should be plenty of fish holding here, but I've yet to do any real damage in this area. Today was no different, but I did manage to get a small channel cat to inhale my offering. Not a bad way to end the day. I did go ahead and walk the riffles, too shallow to produce consistently during a high sun, and stopped at one of my favorite trout spots, but the water depth, temp and sun pretty well chased most of the fish from that area for that time of day.

Onward to home where I quickly confirmed, via a sunfish identification chart, that two of the fish caught were longeared sunfish. Beautiful, vibrant colors and the long dark patch on the gillplate make them easily identified.

Not bad...6 species on my first summer flyfishing trip. Already looking forward to the next trip...might have to give it a whirl this weekend.

Blue River Trout

...and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. For me, with regard to trout, it had been much longer, since March, but Hemingway understood. Fall 2010 trout season began for me around 2:00. First thing I decided to take a page from Donny Carter's playbook...not the EHC, but wading wet. It was approaching 80 and my thoughts were to travel light: two tiny flyboxes, two tippet spools, an extra leader, nippers and a Ketchum Release tethered to my shirt.

Snapshots don't always turn out well at 65 mph, but I thought these weren't so bad.

Passed up the western-most parking area that leads to the C&R area...
Wheeled into the west parking area nearest the river. There were two vehicles here and two more in the parking area directly south. Didn't bother crossing the bridge to see what was happening on the east side of the river.
Passed up several occupied spots before arriving here. Water clarity seemed very good and the water temp was a suprising 63 degrees...that will surely change with the coming weather, but it was very nice wading today. No takers. Kept moving.

Arrived at another spot and soon tangled with my first bow of the season. Lame, I know, but I really thought I had several better shots than this one. WRONG!

Continued on and fished a lot of pockets. Missed far too many fish, but hey, what did I expect? Released 18 B-E-A-utiful bows in about 1.5 hours of fishing. I was especially glad to see that the fish had managed to disperse as well as they had despite the low water level.Anyway, a great day. Thanksgiving came early...

Redear

Shellcrackers...redear are called this since they feed on, among other things, snails. They have pharyngeal teeth in their throat that allow them to crush shells. Like many, I find myself searching for these "bream with shoulders" each spring when they are considered easiest to find and catch, and this spring was no exception.

Some of my hot spots were already occupied when I reached the lake, but fortunately my favorite location was unmolested. In my Outcast Super Fat Cat I slowly made my way from the boat ramp across the lake in hopes of tempting some of these brutes. Kicking furiously, I managed to arrive near enough to my favorite locale that a newly arriving fishing tandem graciously chose not to muscle in.

Honestly, it is really one of those places that most will overlook, or, fortunately for me, decide it is too small and shallow to consider fishing. Even though the area is small and shallow, the underwater highway the fish use is a small creek channel, almost a ditch, that winds it's way from the back of the pool to the deeper channel of the cove. I've yet to be disappointed in this general area when the lake level is near normal pool. If the water level is higher...it's good. If the lake is three or more feet below normal...fuhgeddaboudit.

This year taught me something that I had either overlooked in the past, or was just unique to this day...I'm eager to return to the lake a time or two before the full moon Thursday the 27th to test this theory. I found that the redear brought to hand almost always came on the first bump of the cast. If I missed the first bump, but managed a hook-up on a second, third, etc., bump, all but one of the fish were bluegill or some other sunfish. So, the rule of the day appeared to be "lay down your best cast and be ready for that first lick if you want to do the dance with the redear".

In two hours, give or take, I tangled with 25+ bream, 2 largemouth bass, 2 drum, 1 spotted bass, and at least 13 redear. Three or four were rather small in the 4-5 inch range. The others, however, were really nice fish in the 8-11 inch range. All fish brought to hand were admired briefly and then returned to their watery abode and are hopefully preparing to do the deed that will keep me coming back.