Hi I'm kinda new.

[cassie]

So my name is Cassie and I used to come up there with my brother Stephen. He was known as StephenL on this forum I think.
He died from covid in 2021.
So I haven't been up there since 2019. I'm really wanting to get up there. This spring.
I haven't kept up with what's going on there but I do know about the daily fee.
I remember how it was free and they must of not realized how much revenue they were losing so now they're trying to make up for it. Any way I was wondering if the river has gotten any better in the past few years. I remember the last flood and how it really changed everything.
So I'm joining this forum because I want keep on fly fishing. My brother taught me everything he knew. He could wet a hook without catching a fish.

[huntnfish2much]

Jan 5, 2024 20:27:37 GMT -6 cassie said:

So my name is Cassie and I used to come up there with my brother Stephen. He was known as StephenL on this forum I think.
He died from covid in 2021.
So I haven't been up there since 2019. I'm really wanting to get up there. This spring.
I haven't kept up with what's going on there but I do know about the daily fee.
I remember how it was free and they must of not realized how much revenue they were losing so now they're trying to make up for it. Any way I was wondering if the river has gotten any better in the past few years. I remember the last flood and how it really changed everything.
So I'm joining this forum because I want keep on fly fishing. My brother taught me everything he knew. He could wet a hook without catching a fish.

Cassie, welcome to the forum. My sincere condolences on the passing of your brother. COVID changed many lives in many ways, and it still affects many people today.

The river has changed. There’s no question about it. I still can’t make myself go to Spillway Creek and dig into fishing it and learning it. I have fished pieces of it with decent success, but there are also areas that I like to fish where I have confidence, and I catch fish there.

I read Smallfry’s posts, which are very entertaining, and I think about going to evening hole, but it’s usually crowded when I have the opportunity to make a trip there.

Many here would suggest hiring a guide on your first trip back, and I can’t argue that point. A guide could potentially cut down the learning curve on areas of the stream that you may overlook. I would say that maybe you could check into that option, especially if you’re going to wait until springtime to visit.

Be aware, too, that a new casino is being built right at the Hochatown entrance to 259A, or the North park entrance. It’s supposed to open in early 2024 which will magnify the chaos that is now, in my opinion, already out of hand. You will not believe how much the Hochatown area has changed since your last visit in 2019… stop lights, turn lanes, storefronts lining the West side of the road, billboards blocking out the sky as soon as you leave Broken Bow…… UGGGH!

I have already seen advertisements on local TV (I live in the Tyler area,too) for the casino, and they are exploiting the beauty of Beavers Bend’s LMF stream.

Parking in the park will cost you ten bucks per day, unless you are camping or have rented a cabin. Yes, they’re making a KILLING off parking fees. These funds can only be used to improve infrastructure in the park. I have that straight from the source.

Fly fisherpeople are on the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to recreation interests of the park management. Absolutely THE LAST consideration given to every other visitor to the area. Stop log removal is one thing that used to make wintertime fly fishing amazing. They used to pull the stop logs the weekend after Thanksgiving. No more.

Best wishes and best of luck with your visits back to Beavers Bend. Go with an open mind and an open heart. There’s definitely beauty there. Hopefully you can see the beauty around all the development and construction.

JR

[cassie]

Well thank you for all that. I'm pretty familiar with the park and river. Even though it's been a few years I think I can do okay on my own. We came up there several times a year for more than ten years. I think my first time fishing it was like 2002. I miss Sid.
My brother and I pissed off guides all the time because we would be catching fish and his clients couldn't get a bite.
He even had people ask him to help them catch fish. He taught so many people to fish.
I'm probably no as proficient as he was but I can do pretty well.
I might be up in February. I'm a nurse and I work on weekends so I have Monday through Fridays off.

[jt8fishing]

February would be a great time to go because it would be less crowded. Good luck on getting reacquainted with the river.

[cassie]

December thru March is when we'd usually go.
Sometimes in the summer our family would come and get one of those cabins around hochatown.
Also he Stephen would come up with his father in law and some other guys in July. They were coaches and only could do a week long trip in the summer. Stephen was a mechanic and we'd come up on weekends. Us and a couple of his friends would always camp in hickory.

[huntnfish2much]

Jan 7, 2024 10:30:01 GMT -6 cassie said:

December thru March is when we'd usually go.
Sometimes in the summer our family would come and get one of those cabins around hochatown.
Also he Stephen would come up with his father in law and some other guys in July. They were coaches and only could do a week long trip in the summer. Stephen was a mechanic and we'd come up on weekends. Us and a couple of his friends would always camp in hickory.

You’re probably very familiar with the Hickory Hole and the 40 foot Hole. They’re both right there below Hickory campground. I’ve caught lots of fish in both areas. The stretch below evening hole bridge holds some good ones, too. My favorite time to fish nowadays is exactly as you put… December thru March. Before a person had to reserve a camping spot, I would tent camp in Fern section. That’s when they used to actually put trout in Zone 2. That’s another entirely new subject… Zone 2.

Cheers.

JR

[cassie]

Yes the hole below the evening hope bridge can hold some pretty big fish if you're patient. 40 ft hole has plenty of fish to catch but if you are patient and can let your fly sink down deep enough there are some bigger ones that hold in the bottom. My biggest fish is actually come from under the evening whole bridge there's like a big railroad tire or something down there and I was fishing a daredevil spoon across there and this 18-in guy comes out and takes it. The area below the swim area bridge is always been good but I remember it being very Rocky in there and makes wading a little more treacherous.

[cassie]

huntnfish2much

So you're in the Tyler area?
I'm originally from Tyler but we lived all over growing up. Been in Palestine the last twenty years. I recently moved back to Tyler to work.
I work at UT health. I have my own fly rod as well as my brother's I have his fly boxes too.
So if you see an old black bronco up there it's me.