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Post by schrederman on Jan 26, 2019 17:05:44 GMT -6
Somehow I had the impression that work on restoring the river was stopped and what it was, would be what it was. I had not been to LMF in quite a while, because the wife doesn't like for me to go by my (old) self. I pretty much have to wait for my busy sons to get time off. While we were there last week, there seemed to be a lot that had been done where Lost Creek used to be, and a track hoe was working between bluff hole and evening hole. They were loading and trucking the rocks out with gusto... So, for those who know, how much more is the state going to do? It appeared that they had done a lot more than I expected already. Is the Hochatown development driving this? It would be interesting to know. And......... more kudos for Coach and the fly shop. Friendly and helpful as always... We enjoyed our trip.
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Post by turfdawg on Jan 26, 2019 17:32:40 GMT -6
To my understanding they are crushing that rock to fill in where the area around the tainter gates got washed away . I also heard for every truck load taken out of the pile the state gets one truck and the park gets two trucks. I really don’t think they have plans to work on the actual river but all the parking areas inside the park. New Cold Hole area looks great and the power house area also. Hopefully the spillway parking area and the launch area will be nice also.
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Post by captwoody on Jan 26, 2019 20:39:21 GMT -6
Schrederman it sounds like you and I need to go fishing. I run into the same concerns from my wife and my son is always too busy. Glad to hear they are using that rock.
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Post by turfdawg on Jan 26, 2019 20:42:55 GMT -6
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Post by schrederman on Jan 26, 2019 20:59:18 GMT -6
I read the latest just before posting this thread... I guess I should have been a little more patient. 8^) Thanks Turfdawg.
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Post by Fenwick on Jan 27, 2019 9:44:36 GMT -6
Can you believe that? After all that good taxpayer money spent by the Corps to re-engineer the river flow, the river widening effort along Spillway, the removal of the earthern bridge and relocation of its concrete culvert as a fish habitat in newly expanded Lake Cold Hole, the truly remarkable flow buffer installed along the Bluffs, at long last making Lost Creek live up to its name and removing Eddie's former shops (twice!) without asking a cent from him the park staffers go and usurp the whole project. The message in the LMF Foundation letter implies more work is coming. I shudder to think of what is to come after all the good works by the Corps.
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Post by captwoody on Jan 27, 2019 15:26:58 GMT -6
Fenwick, I'm a bit bewildered by your post. Are your forecasting bad things to come, or good things?
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Post by flyfishermann1955 on Jan 27, 2019 18:02:19 GMT -6
Capt Woody,
I believe Fenwick's post is written in "sarcastic font"!
Tight Lines- Ken
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Post by Fenwick on Jan 27, 2019 18:41:06 GMT -6
Cap'n Woody: If you follow the link to the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation "latest news and updates" webpage lmfrfoundation.org/latest-news-and-updates/you'll see a nice photo of the heavy machinery being used to channelize the river along the length of the Bluffs in order to build up and level off the rockpile as the foundation for the much anticipated casino talked about for so long. This is going to be a boom for employment in the region what with the amount of construction workers and eventual casino employees that'll be required. Jobs, tax revenue, more commerce along 259, McCurtain County will get a real boost from this. The parking lot improvements are mere baby steps towards the boat ramps at Lake Cold Hole and the kayak put-in at the base of the dam recently approved by park staff. The canoe rental place across from the Fern campground is going to add jet ski rentals this spring. They are even hiring lifeguards (summer jobs for a few local teens!) for the new swim beach going in at Lake Cold Hole. See? That's the kind of progress we've all be waiting for!
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Post by captwoody on Jan 27, 2019 19:08:04 GMT -6
I did see and read the update prior to my post.
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Post by lipripper1983 on Jan 27, 2019 19:14:15 GMT -6
Let's just cross our fingers that lots of good will come out of this.
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Post by huntnfish2much on Jan 27, 2019 20:35:59 GMT -6
FENWICK!!!
You almost gave me a €#%¥* heart attack!!
JR
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Post by golferjeff on Jan 28, 2019 13:30:29 GMT -6
Fenwick is losing his mind in the cold and dreary northern Virginia winter. He's also too close to D.C., so he's shutting down his brain and tweeting at us to fix it.
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Post by Fenwick on Jan 28, 2019 21:21:47 GMT -6
All work and no play makes Fenwick a dull boy so I vent by writing. Previous mentions in the Foundation site were that there'd be no work done to the river for the foreseeable future. And he's right. Shaping the former Lost Creek environs into a Day Use "enjoy your day here but no overnight camping" area and parking lot repairs are great developments along with whatever other park facility improvements occur (we can all think of a few...and they did put in a new bridge at Cold Hole) yet those are park improvements, there's no actual mechanical manipulation of the river bed or creation of trout habitat to be placed directly in the flow Ie. a few strategically placed logs here, maybe some eddy creating rocks there, perhaps dig a little here or fill it in a bit there" type of work going on. Manipulating the flow however slightly for trout fishing's sake still means the Corps has to do a study and approve the intentions since you'd be fiddling around with THEIR river's flow. Odd how the Corps sometimes gets on the ball cooperating with trout fisherman in river improvements out west yet here they drag their boots.
GolferJeff is correct in that winter here is truly cold and dreary and the stuff going on in downtown DC is just nuts. My escape is writing and posting some wacky stuff every so often to lighten up a bit. I'd probably do a lot better by not watching or reading the news anymore. *sigh* The weather man says rain and ice and snow arriving here tomorrow afternoon. Come on summer!
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Post by FlyAndStream on Jan 28, 2019 21:49:58 GMT -6
I work for think tanks in DC for my day job and retreat to the LMFR weekly. Fenwick we're worlds apart, yet still connected by a common bond – fly fishing the LMFR 🤙
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Post by coldwaterfly on Feb 3, 2019 16:38:18 GMT -6
The rock pile is slowly disappearing and it's a glorious site to behold. Really interested to see what else is in store. May hit up the meeting I got an E-mail about for later in the month.
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Post by schrederman on Feb 3, 2019 20:28:23 GMT -6
I had asked at the park office about improvements upcoming and all I was told is that the reserved RV sites along the river just above the park dam will get sewers... Nothing about the river. Maybe the COE will do some improvements to habitat eventually. Uuuuumm... but I ain't holdin' my breath. I may get up there again for a few days in early April, if I can figure out how to do that and keep my kitchen pass.
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Post by hankinsfly on Feb 3, 2019 20:39:12 GMT -6
You mean you guys don’t get emailed personally by the ODWC, COE, SWPA, and BBSP about changes to the river, generation, siphon repair, and park closures. I get phone calls from the directors of each of these agencies. Thought everyone did.
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Post by huntnfish2much on Feb 3, 2019 21:38:42 GMT -6
You mean you guys don’t get emailed personally by the ODWC, COE, SWPA, and BBSP about changes to the river, generation, siphon repair, and park closures. I get phone calls from the directors of each of these agencies. Thought everyone did. I am contacted by them through mental telepathy, and sometimes smoke signals. JR
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Post by lipripper1983 on Feb 3, 2019 21:49:33 GMT -6
lol @ JR
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Post by jonbo on Feb 5, 2019 17:14:37 GMT -6
You mean you guys don’t get emailed personally by the ODWC, COE, SWPA, and BBSP about changes to the river, generation, siphon repair, and park closures. I get phone calls from the directors of each of these agencies. Thought everyone did. Hank, we'll be expecting you to give a full report here after each of those calls you get.
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Post by hankinsfly on Feb 5, 2019 17:16:54 GMT -6
Will do.
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Post by schrederman on Mar 2, 2019 16:22:31 GMT -6
So, I've been very busy and haven't been on here in a while... Anything new?
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Post by Fenwick on Mar 2, 2019 18:08:44 GMT -6
Recevied this e-mail from the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation on Sunday Feb. 25, 2019: Board, Members, and Friends, At the February board meeting last Friday night, Don Groom of the ODWC came to catch us up on the latest happenings. The biggest thing to come from him is that he is asking for input on the river and on the current regulations. He wants our input for changes that we would like to see. They are also going to be surveying the non-fly fishers on the river so we need to get as much response in to him as possible. Please reply to me! I will collate them and then forward to at one time to minimize confusion. And pass this on to anyone else you know. We want all the input we can get. Subjects include any and everything you can think of. Examples: Regulation changes including lowering the keep number, get rid of the over 20" rule on browns and red zones, move, enlarge, change red zones, definitions of bait (apparently, they can't come up with one that the public can understand). River repairs include repar and dredge out the Evening Hole, dredge out below Evening Hole bridge and make a new beach on the Hickory campground side to become the new Cold Hole, etc. Anything and everything you can think of is welcome. Please be polite. Thank you, Pat Waters LMFRF tpwaterz3@gmail.com
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Post by Fenwick on Mar 2, 2019 18:18:29 GMT -6
Latest News and Updates (3/1/2019 @8pm) By lmfradmin Posted 02/28/2018 In Events on the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation website: lmfrfoundation.org/latest-news-and-updates/MARCH NEWS Per Pat Waters – 3/1/2019 For the third time, the board meeting was moved to the Friday night prior to the tournament. We had another great turnout with about 30 people in attendance. Dinner was catered by Roma’s Italian Restaurant(Idabel) and they did a great job, as usual. The new Park Manager, Aron Maib, caught us up with all the happenings in the Park. As you may have noticed, almost all the parking lots have been regraded, there is a nice new Day Use area where Lost Creek used to be, there is a new parking area at the run below the Swim Beach bridge. And, of course, the slow but steady removal of the rock pile at the top of the Evening Hole. There is a LOT more work scheduled and Aron has a slew of other things he would like to get done in the park. Don Groom came and spoke about the ODWC and their plans for the river. The ATV and small stocking trailer have been refurbished which will increase the number of accessible areas that can get some stocking. Stocking continues as usual and the ODWC does not say where. Don does stock certain fish at certain areas and then stops. This allows them to get an idea on the movement of the trout in our river. This is something we have all been curious about for many years and is a more cost efficient method than tagging. With the rain the lake has been above full pool all winter. With that said, the Spillway gate is still broken and one of the tainter gates has been cracked to provide water to Spillway Creek. With 20′ more of head pressure, flows down Spillway are higher and fishing has been great everywhere. Larger and different trout are being caught – and released – in many different areas. The full minutes from the meeting can be found on the Minutes Page when I get them posted. We welcomed Clark Copeland as our newest board member and newest Secretary. Sorry Clark. The board is looking at the purchase of additional brown trout for Zone I. The Mystery Fly Tournament was also a great success with 33 fishing entrants (6 more than last year) bringing in over $3,400 for our coffers. The fly was a #16 Prince Nymph. The fishing was fantastic for the first 15 minutes on a drizzly morning. Then it poured down for about 20 minutes before clearing up and the fishing became pretty difficult for most everyone. Except for Matt Lough who slayed them and won for his THIRD year in a row!! Congratulations again Matt. Despite the rain, it appeared that everyone was in good spirits and had a great time.
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