[pjune20]

I just got back from 4 beautiful days on the Colorado River just south of Rocky Mountain National Park and had a great time, caught a lot of really nice fish.

Now I am planning a trip with some frinds to go down to the Lower Mountain Fork this fall, but had a few questions. Between September, October, November, which would be the best month to go? Is there a certian time that the trout are spawning? Is there a certain time where the water cools back down from the summer and the fish are more active? i took a look at the stocking schedule and it looked like they put in more trout pretty regulalry.

Also, i read that many of the fish are fed on pellets as they are grown, before they are put into the river, does that mean that traditional nymph fishing is no good on this river? Any advice would be much appreciated. I need to learn from the local fisherman's wisdom for this area. Thanks everyone.

Pete

[BigCliff]

Trout can be caught in the colder parts of that river year round, though the fish would prefer that you fish when it is less than 90 degrees outside. I say that because trout cannot survive in water over about 70 degrees. In the hottest months of the year, you might find that some of the river is getting up to nearly that temperature.

The trout take a little while to figure out that htye have to eat something besides pellets, but they learn pretty quickly. For trout that have just been flopped into the river, nothing will work better than a fly/lure that looks like the pellets they are used to eating. Then they go through a phase where they will hit most anything thrown at them. During this phase wooly buggers drifted or swung by them will work better than most anything. Eventually they learn that nymphs, pupae/larvae, and adult bugs are the best and safest source of food for them. The longer they are in the river, the pickier they will get.

Traditional nymphing can work perfectly well, though I prefer to use some unorthodox techniques in the fastest sections of the river.

[FowlHabit]

I'd try using some WF-F with that Berkley Powerbait that looks like the feeding pellets on a treble hook!

[MikeLove]

LMFR offers good year round fishing.. Zone 2 is my favorite area. Try fishng during the weekdays and beat the weekend crowds. However our crowds are not like on some rivers I hear. With about 12 miles of trout steam there is always somewhere to fish..I am not a great trout fisherman but even I catch nice 18" bows on the regular..buggers seem to always work and are a good searching fly..midges are tough for me but work on a regular basis as well as dries when they are rising..You want be dissapointed on your trip to the LMFR. I'm 20 minutes away and fish it and all our warm water rivers as well.

[Bob Lang]

It has been awhile since I fished the LMFR, either up stream of or downstream of the MF dam. Upstream all we found were bass. Do any of the tributaries that feed into the lake hold trout, or are they all downstream of the dam? We've seen ads for nice guest houses on the upstream side, places where we'd like to take the family, but if one goes there I'd like to fish there.

[MikeLove]

Bob, The trout fishery starts at the Dam that forms Broken Bow Lake. The fishery continues all the way to the hwy 70 bridge east of Broken Bow, OK.

There are no streams that flow into this section that hold trout..I do fish the north end of the lake in feb and march for sand bass and walleye.. There are no cabins except those in Beavers Bend Resort Park that are close to the trout stream. The other 300+ cabins that are in the area require a drive of 4 to 8 miles..No big deal..I would suggest one of the older cabins in the park for close fishing..come on down..