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Sun December 24, 2006

Evening Hole gets a face-lift
Trout fishing
Deeper pools, swifter water and a new Lost Creek

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Lost Creek is Oklahoma’s newest trout stream. State wildlife officials excavated an old overflow channel, and dubbed the new stream, Lost Creek, which connects Cold Hole on the Lower Mountain Fork River with the area know as Evening Hole. BY ED GODFREY, THE OKLAHOMAN

Special trout fishing regulations
•In November, the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission passed emergency rules to establish special trout fishing regulations at Evening Hole and Lost Creek

• Anglers may use only artificial lures with barbless hooks and may keep only one rainbow trout and one brown trout 20 inches or longer per day

• The state Wildlife Department proposes to make the emergency rules permanent next year. The new fishing regulations are to be discussed at next month's public hearings across the state on proposed 2007 hunting and fishing rules.

• The same fishing restriction is being proposed for a half-mile of the Lower Illinois River Public Fishing and Hunting Area near Gore and the final quarter-mile on the northern end of the Blue River Public Hunting and Fishing Area for the first four months of the winter trout season.

By Ed Godfrey

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By Ed Godfrey
Outdoors Editor
BROKEN BOW — A golden leaf of autumn rides by on the ripples of the Lower Mountain Fork River, passing in front of stream biologist James Vincent

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Walking along the bank of Evening Hole, Vincent was explaining to me just how this section of the state's most popular trout stream was given a facelift.

"See that,” Vincent said with voice rising, pointing to the leaf. "That's what makes a guy like me excited, to see stuff moving in here.”

Before its major makeover, Evening Hole was wide and shallow with warm, stagnant and muddy water. Few of the rainbows and browns released into Lower Mountain Fork River cared much about this part of the stream.

Fishery biologists for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation wanted to change that. Through computer analysis, a lot of sweat, and 600 dump truck loads of earth and gravel, they rehabilitated Evening Hole.

And they also built a new trout stream, a tributary called Lost Creek that runs from Cold Hole, one of the most popular fishing spots on the river, to Evening Hole.

State wildlife officials attacked Evening Hole with bulldozers and backhoes to narrow the channel, creating deeper pools and making the water swifter and cooler. It also made Evening Hole easier to reach for anglers.

Boulders, logs and islands were put in the stream for better trout habitat. Computer models were used to determine the optimum size and placement of boulders to protect the integrity of the river.

"We didn't want to put anything in the river that would be transported downstream,” said Paul Balkenbush, southeast fisheries supervisor for the state Wildlife Department.

Native limestone rock, cobblestone, gravel and the hardwoods of McCurtain County were all used in the renovation. Trees in Beavers Bend State Park that had been killed in previous ice storms were recycled into the stream. State wildlife officials said the project required 800 tons of boulder and 7,500 tons of earth and gravel..

Lost Creek was excavated, adding 1,200 feet of trout stream. The old drainage channel primarily used by squirrels will now hopefully become a major trout route between Cold Hole and Evening Hole. Even before state fishery biologists had released a trout into Lost Creek, rainbows had discovered it.

"I don't think they need to stock it,” said Jesse King, owner of the Three Rivers Fly Shop in Hochatown. "The fish will find their way in here.”

King is one of the founders of the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation, an organization dedicated to taking care of the stream. The group of anglers donated money for the Evening Hole project and King is pleased with the results.

"It won't make it easy, but it will make it fish,” King said of the Evening Hole improvements.

On the day of my tour, a fly fisherman from Texas was testing the waters at Evening Hole. Rick Knipe, a wildlife biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife from Centerville, Texas, has been traveling to the Lower Mountain Fork since 1989.

He and his wife make three or four trips to the river each year. This was his first look at the new Evening Hole.

He was lamenting the loss of one honey spot in Evening Hole that had always held fish. It was no longer a part of the new Evening Hole.

"That deep hole here was hard to beat, but it was the only spot in it that was productive,” Knipe said. "I think this is a lot better. There are more holes for trout to lay in. It will just take awhile for the insects to get established.”

On this November morning, Knipe had seen some trout rising but had not caught a fish. No matter, he will be back to try again.

Like many other Texans, he and his wife love the Lower Mountain Fork River. Because of its location in far southeastern Oklahoma, it's more frequented by Texans than Oklahomans.

"I always catch a lot of fish here,” Knipe said. "This is our favorite place to come.”

And with the addition of the new Evening Hole and Lost Creek, it should be an even better place to catch fish.

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