Here with 8 kids. Any tips on where to fish or other fun things to do with 15/16 year olds boys.

We've gone with a mens group from church a couple times. I really enjoyed kayaking with a local outfitter. I think we used Tree Frog rentals the second time. Took our own the first trip.

Fish under the dam.
Zip line.
Axe throwing.

Had good luck fishing at the area with the paddle boats. Jigged a 3/8oz silver spoon and a small crankbait with good results.

Are you in the state park area?

The friends trail hike is worth doing.



I recommend renting kayaks at the state park.

Thanks all we are close to the state park. Caught a couple of fish below the dam this morning. Beautiful area.

We just got back from there and we also enjoyed renting a UTV through Bandits Rentals and driving the trails in the national park.

For those recommending a kayak trip, is there a better option than the approx. 1.5 hour trip out of Beavers Bend Fly Shop. We enjoyed this one but pretty slow moving and not too exciting. Was more of a booze cruise which was great too.

My reply above, Tree Frog rentals. Not in or near the park, They're down at 70 and the Lower Mountain Fork river. They shuttle you up to Mountain Fork Park and put in there. The Presbyterian Falls section is good assuming there's decent water flow. Lots of rocks and challenges to navigate around, but not too difficult or scary for novices.

The water flow was good the two times we went down the river.

W TX Refugee said:

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Thanks all we are close to the state park. Caught a couple of fish below the dam this morning. Beautiful area.

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Heading there in a few weeks. What bait did y'all use? Really want to catch a few trout to cook.

I know warmer now, but heard they stock every 2 weeks. Any tips to increase chance of success? Not fly fishing, just need easiest way to catch with a 7 and 9 year old with me.

toolshed said:

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My reply above, Tree Frog rentals. Not in or near the park, They're down at 70 and the Lower Mountain Fork river. They shuttle you up to Mountain Fork Park and put in there. The Presbyterian Falls section is good assuming there's decent water flow. Lots of rocks and challenges to navigate around, but not too difficult or scary for novices.

The water flow was good the two times we went down the river.

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Also looking for kayaking tips. Was thinking of Ambush Adventures for rentals and their 3 hour trip a little further down from beavers bend. Do you know where Tree Frog floats compared to Ambush?

We have a 7 and9 year older with us, so need tandem kayaks for them. We tandem quite a bit with them, but not in whitewater… I'm assuming any rapids on the LMF would not be too bad? Or are there areas we need to avoid?

Any other recs besides fishing and kayaking? Looked at zip line, but I don't think the youngest is heavy enough.

Bumping for the morning crowd. Any help appreciated.

Was just there last week. Stopped there on the way back from Omaha for two nights so we only had one full day.

We didn't fish but rented kayaks and swam in the swimming hole somewhere on the river below the dam. I can't remember the name of it but the kayak rentals were right next to the swimming hole and the water in the river right there was perfectly calm. We also went on a horseback ride but unless that's really something you want to do I wouldnt recommend it. It's just a 45 minute walk with a bunch of old trained horses that follow each other. Perfect for little kids and city folks but not much of a ride.

A couple of notes

• The water is cold, but worth it. Great way to cool off after the heat in Omaha
• The kayaking on that part of the river is enjoyable. Very calm waters
• Warning-My BIL and I got into some chiggers. They must not be too widespread because we were the only ones.

There use to be an outfit that offered jeeps and atv's for riding some trails but I don't know if they're still around or not….you can also rent a pontoon at the marina for a day on the lake…When we go back we're just going to hang out at the river…

My kids (7 and 10) favorite part was horseback riding through Riverman Trail Rides. You actually get to cross the river on the horses and both kids thought that was awesome. Definitely make a reservation as soon as you can though because they book up fast

Looks to me like they're next to each other there on the highway, so I'd assume they put in at the same Mountain Fork park up river and float down to their bridge.

As long as you're going through Presbyterian Falls, it's all the same trip. Nothing I'd steer clear of with kids, but I'd make sure you have an adult in each boat with a younger kid. Navigating the rocks and channels can be a little challenge if you aren't looking at the flows, depths, widths of the openings, etc.

It's an enjoyable trip for sure, not calm still water like up in the park at Beaver's Bend State Park.

Thanks! I looked also it does seem that all of those float the same stretch just above the 70 bridge that includes the Presbyterian Falls (PF).

So it is either floating the slow horseshoe in Beavers Bend OR this area of the LMF?

It also sounds like you cannot bring alcohol of any kind now on the LMF where tree frog, ambush, etc. float?

Reading lots of reviews on the kayak rental pages, I am a little nervous on the PF drop... although some say it is not a big deal. Really mixed reviews. My wife cannot maneuver as well as I can. We have kayaked down small low water crossings in the 2 ft drop neighborhood though without issue. I am assuming PF is not much different?

Hit up the hocha hut. Best corn dogs ever. I'll second the friends trail. There are some others but that's the only one my wife and I hiked.

There is also a maze that opened recently. Unfortunately it wasn't completed when we made our trip.

Maze at the state park?

These videos do a good job of showing what the river looks like. Obviously water flow will dictate the challenges. But I would say the drops are too much of an issue, 2' drops or so at most. Mostly, it's just navigating rock obstacles and changing directions as far as challenges go. If you fall out, the river is very shallow.

I'm not what I'd call experienced for rougher class water in a kayak. I've done rivers in Colorado on a raft with groups, but not a single or double kayak through them. This area might look intimidating if you don't boat a lot, but it's really a fairly easy run. You can see all types of boaters in the videos, most have just rented a kayak for the day vs being seasoned boaters.

If the rocks are intimidating, you can go to the left at the split in the river, shown at around 6:00 in the second video, and bypass the rocky area of the river. The drone flies up that side around 11:30 in the video as well.

Those are great videos, thanks for posting. Looks like everyone went left in the video? Right looks bigger, but more shallow rock sections... did you go right?

We went left the first year, we were in two man canoes mostly that we took ourselves. Not really river running canoes so we bypassed the rocks and such.

We actually put in at Beavers Bend and went from under the dam down a little ways around the train depot and paddled to the swimming area where you can rent in the star park. Mostly slow water paddle if here.

The next day we put in at the S end of the state park (not sure that we were supposed to do this?!) and paddled to the rereg dam (mostly slow water, lots of paddling), then cross rereg and went from the park there down to the bridge where the rentals are. As mentioned, we went left this time not knowing how bad it would be. I think a couple guys that brought kayaks went right and told us it wasn't so bad.

This is the best section of the river. In my opinion.

Second year we rented from Tree Frog and went right through the rocks. We had more fun navigating this area, and it wasn't too bad with kayaks. Definitely hoping to do it again soon, maybe this fall if we can muster up a trip and affordable cabin. Prices up there have gone up a bit since our first trip in '17 or '18.