Some years it warms up enough in southern Oklahoma that you can catch bass on poppers, so you might be able to catch some at your brother's lake. Beavers Bend below Broken Bow Lake has 12 miles of trout water that offers a lot of variety of water, from small mountain stream type fishing to wide shallow river fishing. Even some of the people from the White River system in northern Arkansas come here for the dry fly action. However, you seem to be set on catching some bass. Above Broken Bow Lake, the Upper Mountain Fork offers some of the best smallmouth action available in the state, and should be pretty good by late March. There are also numerous streams within the Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area that can offer pretty good fishing for bass and bluegills. Just a few miles west of Broken Bow is the Glover River which is arguably the best smallmouth stream in the state, but you will need some good maps to find your way around there, or hire a guide. A good person to check with would be Jesse King at Three Rivers Fly Shop, just outside Beavers Bend State Park. He can be reached at: 3rivers@pine-net.com.

Larry Compton