How's the Lower Illinois River?

[david04]

I personally have never had good luck trout fishing on the LIR. Then, last time I was there (1-2 years ago) I saw that the water was barely trickling by. I learned that there had been repairs to the dam which "fixed" the leak which had previously maintained the flow downstream, and that the Corps of Engineers didn't want to allocate any water for the trout fishery. So, what's the status of it now? is the trout fishery still viable? Is it in danger? I have caught lots of trout in the lower Mountain Fork River, but now I have a boat at Pine Cove Marina which is right at the Tenkiller dam, so I need to start trout fishing there!

Is Mar-Val still a good place to fish?

 

[AllOut]

Check my thread from earlier this week
"My boys first trout"
That's was LIR last weekend. Fishing was pretty good when a 5 year old can catch 5 fish in about an hour and a half lol

 

[david04]

Man, I bet you're one proud papa!
5 fish in an hour and a half is good for anyone at any age!
Looks like I need to plan a trip there real soon. Thanks!

 

[JCW355]

You just have to fish it to learn it. Things have gotten better there. They have put in a system that puts dissolved oxygen in the water during the hots summer days. Right now with colder weather the fish are really spread out everywhere. I posted this video a couple weeks ago.http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iVRVaiTSyCY&desktop_uri=/watch?v=iVRVaiTSyCY. Fished about 4-5 hours and I landed 32, Russell probably had that many as well.

 

[Porter]

The LIR has become a really nice fishery thanks to volunteers from Trout Unlimited, Tulsa Flyfishers etc.

Find the right fly and 100 fish days are not out of the question.

 

[dennishoddy]

Is it better toward the dam, or down stream from Marvals?

 

[Porter]

Dennis,

There is good fishing in both of those places. If I fish Marval, I make sure and wade a decent ways up or down river to get away from the campgrounds.

 

[JCW355]

Is it better toward the dam, or down stream from Marvals?

Right now, anywhere. Summer, go up river.

 

[swampratt]

This should get your fishing blood flowing

 

[dennishoddy]

Nice haul Swampratt! That one is pretty good sized.