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Post by superdave on May 28, 2024 19:35:28 GMT -6
Greetings from a first time visitor to Beavers Bend State Park. I have been reading blogs, watching youtube videos, and googling trout fishing at Beavers Bend State Park, ad naseum. I wanted to start this thread for other newbies, like me, who have never been there and want to try trout fishing in the park.
I know a daily parking fee ($10) is required to park a vehicle anywhere in the park. Also, I read the OK fishing regs and understand the regulations pertaining to trout fishing in the Lower Mountain Fork River. I have downloaded maps of the park and am aware of the main fishing areas: Spillway creek, Cold Hole, Bluffs, Evening Hole, Hickory Hole, 40 Foot Hole, Fern Campground area, Elm Campground area, Flyshop/Kayak Rental area, Acorn campground area, public swimming area, Buckhorn campround area, Acorn Campground area, and Low Water Dam area.
As a day user, I identified places tp park and walk to well-known and highly used fishing areas, starting at the spillway dam area, the Friends Trailhead parking area, roadside parking at the spillway/cold hole bridge, roadside parking at the Hickory Hole Bridge, parking in the Hickory campground, parking at the Grapevine campground, parking at the Fern campground, parking at the Elm campground, roadside parking at the Flyshop bridge, parking in the Acorn campground, parking at the swimming area, parking in the Buckhorn campground, parking at the Acorn campground, and parking at the Low Water Dam area.
I expect to do some wet wading, but mainly fishing from the bank. I prefer frequent casting and retrieving with roostertails, spoons, carolina-rigged powerbaits, and floats with suspended flies/powerbaits.
Any recommendations or comments concerning parking and short hikes/wades to popular fishing areas?
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Post by superdave on May 28, 2024 20:48:31 GMT -6
I wanted to car camp. It was confusing to find a campsite. I booked nights at the lodge, instead.
Finding a campsite was challenging, so I tried google maps, looked at street views and looked at the various campgrounds within the state park. I learned there are primitive tent sites (no electricity or water) and restrooms are basically an outhouse. There were RV sites with electricity and with and without sewage dumps. Some RV campgrounds in the park offered showers for a fee, and others don't. There are some cabins, but all are plain jane. The lodge is available but is located a long distance away from the trout fishing areas. Best choices for luxury facilities are private homes via airbnb or vbro in Hochatown.
If you want to camp, you must make reservations online. Fees for campsites include the $10/day parking fee. Many campsites seemed cramped--unless you like having neighbors closeby.
If you think you want to camp, be sure to make a separate trip, prior to your planned camping dates, to survey the various campgrounds within the park and note those that appeal to you. The reservations website does not show enough information to make a wise choice.
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Post by superdave on May 29, 2024 6:44:13 GMT -6
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Post by gui on May 29, 2024 11:42:13 GMT -6
Looks like you did some good groundwork research there!
One thing I'll add to the great info above is to remember that the entire trout stream is barbless hooks only.
Most spoons and hard baits (like rapalas) that you can buy in stores come with barbed treble hooks. I believe that the best way to comply with the barbless regulation is to swap the barbed treble hooks for barbless single hooks.
Have fun and post a report!
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Post by superdave on Jun 4, 2024 19:06:58 GMT -6
Update
Arrived Sunday afternoon around 4:00. Made a drive thru all the campgrounds then drove to the well known fishing areas. Noted that most of the Spillway Creek would be too difficult for me to reach (too old and too fat.) Also noted the areas with easiest access were obviously crowded with families and children. I visited the fly shop and the nice lady asked if I was flyfishing or spin fishing. I told her spin fishing so she showed me the bobbers and Berkley baits.
Equipped eith a bunch of Berkley Mouse Tails (chartruese heads with orange tails), floats, swivels, tiny shot weights, and size 12 bait hooks, I was ready for Monday morning. The plan for Monday was to fish the Cold Hole/Bluffs as early as possile. The first hour was a constant series of frustrations, mainly due to snagging bottom and breaking off. I decided I needed to make adjustments: the float was a tiny styrofoam float and the splt shot was too large.
Here was the original rig: 8# braid for the mainline, followed by a 1-foot 4# flurocarbon leader attached via a surgeon's knot. Next was a tiny swivel attached via a Eugenes Bend knot, followed by 4-foot 4# fluorocarbon leader, also attached to the swivel via the same Eugenes Bend knot, then a small gold #12 bait hook. I used a traditional trout float (1") 3 feet up from the hook, and a split shot 1-foot above the hook. For bait I was using a Berkley Mouse Tail.I also used a 4'6" micro spinning rod & reel.
The details were important because the minor adjustments totally changed my day, and went from frustrating to fun/success.
The first adjustment was to increase the flotation of the entire rig. Using 1 tiny bobber was not enough to keep the rig floating. As ugly as it appeared, when I added a second float the entire rig moved much better thru the water column, only occassionally ticking the bottom. I had several bites at the downstream end of the bluffs.
I adjusted the distance between the bobbers and the hook, reducing the distance to about 2-1/2 feet from the prior 3- feet. This allowed the bait to stay close to the bottom withouthout hanging.
Then I made a fateful move to the bridge next to the cold hole. Casting towards the bridge and watching the bobber float past me, just before reaching the end of the line downstream where the bobber would start swinging towards shore, the bobber abruptly went down. Immediately I could feel the fish, and what a fish it was, I played him/her thru 4-5 runs, first upstream, then downstream. As it tired and came closer to shore, this fish looked like a giant. I have caught tons of stockers, a few browns, and a few brookies, but never have I seen a rainbow trout that was as big as my thigh.
I tried to land him in my landing net and he was a lot longer than the net. I finally got him into the net, got the hook free while all the while keeping him in the water. I never lifted the net out of the water, so I can only guess how much he weighed. I didn't measure or weigh him because I was more interested in not hurting the fish, and he was able to swim away. I know this sounds like a fishing story but that rainbow was the largest trout I have ever seen!
That was Monday morning. I caught nothing else and I quit around noon. That fish was caught between 7:30 and 8 am.
To be continued...
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