Fishing Trips

Fishing for Blue Catfish on Grand Lake using fresh gizzard shad drifting flats 12-28ft deep.  I had Doug and Tom Winter plus Tom’s granddaughter Jamie for her first time catching blue catfish.  Tom and Doug joined me last spring for a catfish trip along with Tom’s son, Zach from Alaska.  The bite started out slow when we anchored on some fish on a windblown point.  We caught a couple including a nice six pounder to get Doug on the leader board, but most of our baits stolen from small fish.  We aborted that area and went to a long flat and drifted it.  Actually, we went dragging baits with the trolling motor going .5-.7mph.  The bite wasn’t fast and furious, but we managed a nice mess of fish for them to take back to their family in Alaska.  Tom wanted Jamie to pose for a good old fashion stringer picture!!!

I also had the opportunity to go out this morning for a couple of hours and found crappie on wood 8-14ft deep.  Crappie Kickers and Bubble Gum spray from Fle-Fly was the ticket.  A couple gave the classic thump, but others I would just see the line move a little letting me know a crappie had the lure in his mouth.  Yellow line really makes it easier to see the light bite.

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Fishing for Blue Catfish on Grand Lake in Oklahoma with Larry, Iris, Sasha, and Jake.  We started out drifting a flat between 20-25ft deep and only getting little bites stripping our baits off.  We searched several other areas not marking much, so we went to a shallow flat with the wind blowing in.  We anchored this time and caught a few fish, but missed many with the light bite.  We downsized our bait and started putting a few more fish in the boat.  Today, was a strange day because blue catfish normally hit really hard and prefer larger baits.  We ended the day with a mess of fish, but had to work harder than usual at getting there.  This was Sasha and Jake’s first catfish trip and they were a lot of fun.

Most of the blue catfish were caught in 8-16ft deep on fresh gizzard shad.  Most of the fish wanted the pieces about the size of a quarter today and the bite was really light.  We had to set the hook most of the time instead of the typical reel down on the rod.  So far, the October weather has been really nice!!!

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Fishing for Crappie and Blue Catfish on Kaw in Oklahoma.  I had the day off and had the opportunity to go try out some new techniques for crappie and blue catfish.  We proved some techniques to work and some are still theories….looks like we’ll have to test them out some more 😉

The crappie were in brush piles 6-15ft deep.  We did best fishing about 6ft down.  The blue catfish were scattered on mud flats 6-12ft deep.  Kept a few for a friend a dinner or two.

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Learning how to target blue catfish on Grand Lake in Oklahoma.  Today, I took two new customers, Brandon and Donnie, on a teaching trip at Grand Lake for blue catfish. We started out learning the patterns of gizzard shad and how to throw a cast net. After they got rid of the taco’s and found the pancakes, we ran to a shallow water flat where the wind was blowing in. It was fish on and rods slamming for about an hour. It slowed a little and we came back to the realization this was a trip to learn not catch so we pulled anchor and set off to learn drifting. We marked some fish in 12-18ft of water and set up a drift. Lots of taste testers, but only hooked up with a couple drifting.
Sonar time! We spent a good portion of the trip going over tips and techniques with the HDS 12 and seasonal patterns of blue cat. To end the trip we went to a deep water flat 25-40ft and completed the day with a couple of doubles dragging baits and learning how to control the boat with the MinnKota.
These guys were great and were like sponges soaking up the information. Good times!!!

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I had a group of guys from western Kansas this evening fishing for a blue catfish trip on Oologah Lake in Oklahoma.  We started out dragging at 12-25ft getting tons of bites…nibbles…swim with it taking a taste test, but very few hook ups.  The bite was really soft and some of the fish were good size.  About an hour before dark we decided to hit the shallows, less than 2ft, on a windblown bank.  Hammered some good ones and missed several in the last hour.  The fish in the shallow water were definitely there to get their feed on!!!  We’d see the fish blowing up on top before the seeing the bite on the rod.  This caused my customers to lose several, but they got an adrenaline rush watching the big cats exploding the water!

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Drift Fishing for Blue Catfish on Grand Lake in Oklahoma

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My college roommate, Ben, and his wife came up to the cabin to help me cut a few trees down.  We go that done and had a few hours of daylight left to go fishing and get the boat slimy with blue catfish.  Three throws of the net and we had plenty of 6-12inch gizzards to feed the blue cat.  We made a run to a deep water flat, dropped the trolling motor, and got 6 lines out.  2 long, 2 med, and 2 suspended.  We tried setting back enjoying the evening, but the rods kept getting hit by good eating sized blues.  Filled the cooler for my buddy and his family a fish fry.  Good times with friends!  Water depth was 20-40ft

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We decided to take the kids to Grand Lake to fish for White Bass (Sand Bass) this evening up the Elk River.  We caught fish in 4-20ft of water as the white bass worked bait and trapped them on the ledge and point.  They blew up on top for about ten minutes, but most were caught on slabs on or near the bottom.  My son threw a tailspinner and caught his first white bass all on his own.  Talk about a super excited 5 year old!  It was an exciting moment that I will cherish.  They grow up way too fast!

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Such a fun mini vacation to Bull Shoals, Arkansas fishing for rainbow trout. Ralph with http://www.whiteriverfamilyfishing.com/ put us on the fish from start to finish and was awesome with the kids! I highly recommend his guide service fishing the White River below Bull Shoals.