Grand Lake White Bass / Sand Bass – 4/24/16

Grand Lake White Bass / Sand Bass

Today, was our first white bass trip on the main lake at Grand this year.  When they come back from spawning they feed very heavily on shad and that’s what they are doing right now.  It will only get better as more fish return from their annual run up our creeks and rivers to spawn.

Grand Lake White Bass Sand Bass

We caught our fish on two different patterns, but the same water depths, 14-18ft, for each pattern.  Our first area, was a ridge they were running up and down feeding.  We caught about a dozen good fish there, but the action never really got good.  They were moving too fast and it was hard to stay on the fish.  That’s the problem with fishing ridges, unless it’s a giant school.  The second pattern was a rock pile hump in the lake.  It peaks at about 14 foot deep.  The fish move in packs surrounding the shad and working them up the hump.  When the wind picked up it was fast and furious action for about an hour.  Multiple doubles were caught today fishing in the wind.  We use a slab and fly tied above.  You can get them from FleFly.com or area tackle stores.

There are three primary methods we use to work the slab.  One-drop down to the bottom and jig up, dropping it back down.  Most hits will occur on the fall.  Two-cast it out and hop it off the bottom.  Three-cast out and work it at the desired area of the water column if the fish are suspended or feeding on the top.

Today, was the first day using the 7′ medium action High Standard rods from FleFly.  I’ve got to say, they are the best slabbing rod I’ve used, very light and I can feel all the action of the lure.  We use 20 pound braid with a 14 pound fluorocarbon leader tied with a uni-uni knot.  The leader is less visible and more abrasion resistant.  White bass have sharp gill plates and will cut the braid.

Water temp was 68-70 degrees and chartreuse/white and white/silver were the colors we used.  Grand Lake white bass action will just get better!!!

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Blue Catfish on Oologah Lake in Oklahoma – 4/20/16

Blue Catfish on Oologah Lake in Oklahoma

We put the hammer on the shallow water blue catfish this evening on Oologah Lake.  These guys had me running around the boat like crazy trying to keep baits in the water.  At one point, we had six fish laying in the boat and they were both reeling in fish.  Nothing like a little spring water inflow to get the fish biting up in the weeds.  There’s just something about pulling big catfish out of water less than a foot deep.  Gets the blood flowing!!!

Oologah blue catfish are excellent right now!!!

Oologah Lake blue catfish Oologah Lake blue catfish

Kaw Lake Blue Catfish – 4/10/16

Fishing for Blue Catfish on Kaw Lake in Oklahoma

It was a windy windy day on Kaw Lake in Oklahoma chasing blue catfish with Glenn and crew today.

Bait was easy and off we went to see if they were up shallow where the wind was blowing in.  We got a good fish really quick and then the wind blew us off our anchor.

We decided to move to a slightly less windblown area and caught a couple of smaller fish, so we decided to go back and try the windier area again.  Mistake!  The wind had kicked up harder and we failed to get a good anchor even with the big box anchor.  Time to reevaluate our situation.

We decided to completely switch areas of the lake and patterns.  This was just not going to work today with our 25-35 mph winds.  So, we decided to try fishing wind tunnel coves.  This pattern has worked for us before during similar situations and it worked today.  This pattern will not typically produce large numbers of fish, but each stop will get a few…and that’s the situation we had today.  We had to bounce around from area to area picking off the active fish and moving on.

We had a blast with these guys two weekends in a row and look forward to the next adventure together.

Kaw Lake Blue Catfish Kaw Lake Blue Catfish

Oologah Lake Shallow Water Blue Catfish and White Bass Sand Bass- 4/8-10/16

Oologah Lake Shallow Water Blue Catfish and White Bass Sand Bass

We fished Oologah Lake for shallow water blue catfish and spawning white bass/sand bass for 3 days with our good friends and customers, Don, Roger, and Rod.  These guys come down every year at the same time from Minnesota, Iowa, and Kentucky and every year they’ve timed the bite just right!!!

We started out fishing Friday afternoon and it was GAME ON from the very start.  One stop shop and got their limits of blue catfish quickly.  These guys are always a blast to have in the boat.  Roger brought some pick spleens to give a try, but the catfish didn’t want any of it even though Don was bent on it working.  Fresh gizzard shad was what they wanted.

Day 1

Oologah Lake blue catfish

Same story the next day.  Limits of shallow water blue catfish quickly.  They made it look easy…or rather Don and Rod made it look easy.

Day 2 morning

Oologah Lake blue catfish

Since we had plenty of time left in the day, we decided to go put in the river to see if we could find some spoonbill paddlefish or white bass/sand bass to catch.  We scanned a large portion of the river and did not find enough spoonbill paddlefish to snag.  With our rain this past weekend, they must have made the move up.  So, we made the run up to find some white bass.  I hadn’t been to the upper end of Oologah to catch spawning sand bass in years, but not much has changed, luckily.

After setting the trolling motor down and giving a quick how to, it was fish on.  Now, Roger didn’t catch many blue catfish this morning, but he put a whooping on everyone in the white bass department.  We boated over a hundred sand bass and he caught at least half of them.  Don, who ran his mouth this morning, was oddly quiet in the back of the boat as Rogers drag on the light action rod just kept screaming.  Roger just were a smirk, not saying much, and enjoying every hook set!!!

They really preferred the 1 inch pearl GoGo Minnow from Fle-Fly tonight.  We caught some on the larger 2″ model and other colors, but not like the small pearl.  We stopped after a couple of hours and headed in to get some much needed dinner and rest.

Day 2 evening

Oologah Lake white bass sand bass

For day 3, they decided to put a time limit of 10am on our trip this morning, so they could get on the road and checked out of their hotel on time.  It wasn’t fast and furious like the day before, but we got a couple limits before time to go and left them biting.

These guys are a blast and we look forward to another adventure next year!!!

Oologah Lake blue catfish

Oklahoma Licensed Fishing Guide

Spoonbill Paddlefish on Fort Gibson – 4/8/16

Spoonbill Paddlefish on Fort Gibson Lake in Oklahoma

Spoonbill Paddlefish have been tough the past couple of weeks and it continued this weekend.  I had two trips today and the fish were extremely scattered with our mild temps and no water flow.

The first trip we managed to get one stinking spoonbill paddlefish and a couple gar.  Not at all, what we expect for snagging this time of year.

The second trip was a little better.  I made a long run way down lake to some wintering areas and found a large group to get everyone a fish.  I’ve never see it this tough.  Good news, rain is in the forecast which will get us some flow and much much better fishing ahead.  The weather and company was great today, but the fishing was super tough.

Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish

Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish – 4/3/16

Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish

For our second group of the day, we had Rob from the Dallas, Texas area up  on Fort Gibson Lake in Oklahoma for his first experience snagging spoonbill paddlefish.

Same story as last weekends second trip…the fish had left the area.  Now what?!?!  We decided to make a long boat ride and see if they had pulled back with the no flow and high boat traffic.  As we got farther down we started seeing more and more fish.  We ventured out into the lake in the large swells and hit a home run.  Huge schools of spoonbill paddlefish!!!  We quickly got the rods out and began catching.  Rob caught on quickly and was listening to the drag peel off in no time.  It’s always fun to have first time guests on board that don’t realize how hard these fish fight and don’t know what to expect.

Rob hooked into what would be his final fish of the day and boy was it a screamer!  This was possibly the hardest fighting fish we’ve ever hooked.  It was a good fish, but his attitude was much bigger than his body.  Good times and Rob’s arms were done!

Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish

Fort Gibson Spoonbill Paddlefish – 4/3/16

Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish

The morning we were the second boat for a trip with Larry Wine and the guys from Chesapeake Energy snagging spoonbill paddlefish on Fort Gibson Lake in Oklahoma.  We started out hitting spoonbill paddelfish on the edges of a long straight.  This was these guys first experience hitting spoonbill paddlefish and they were a riot reeling in these prehistoric monsters.

All the fish we hit were hard fighting males today.  We left the group of males to find some big females…we only found more males.  Oh well, they fight harder and these guys were having a blast!!!

We left the spoonbill paddlefish and made a run up the river to find some white bass.  We only found one willing to eat and missed a couple more bites.  We didn’t stay after them long because our guys decided they wanted some more hard fishing spoonbill paddlefish fun.

All fish were released and they were off to play a golf game.  I’m not so sure they will play too good with worn out arms!

Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish Fort Gibson Lake Spoonbill Paddlefish White Bass Fort Gibson

 

Blue Catfish Kaw Lake – 4/2/16

Blue Catfish Kaw Lake

This morning we had a two boat trip on Kaw Lake catching blue catfish.  We started out with a very cool start and found fish on an 8-10ft flat.  It wasn’t fast and furious, but we put some fish in the boat to get a good start.

We moved up shallow and were rolling big fish.  Anchored up, and only caught a couple for the box.  Moved again, same story.  The big fish just wouldn’t eat!

We made a big move to another area of the lake to see if they were more hungry…nothing, only a couple of gar bites.

So, we headed back to the area we started and went for the stealth mode method.  Trolling motor down, quietly anchor up and throw fresh baits out.  We’d catch a couple each stop and it just kept on this way for the remainder of the evening.  We rolled more fish than I have all spring and the bite just wouldn’t turn on.  Our big fish was about 22 pounds and we had a decent box for them to eat, but man did we have to work for it.

These guys were fun and we’ve got them again in a couple of weeks.  I’m hoping those fish we were rolling decide their hungry!!!blue catfish Kaw Lake blue catfish Kaw Lake blue catfish Kaw Lake blue catfish Kaw Lake

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