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June 18th- Loaded the bait tank with about 12 nice shad in the
5-8inch range, 12 hand size and smaller bluegills, and a few odd ball crappie and small bullheads and headed to the Cimmaron
with Cory. Fished below 81 from 730pm to 4am. Water was moving about 215cfs, but only up about 6inches from normal. Fished
hard keeping fresh baits in the water and moving up and down stream, but only managed one channel cat about 5lbs on a cut
shad. Tough night of fishing; beer to fish ratio ended up at 42-1.
June 10th- Went to Keystone for weekend of boating and relaxin, but
i had to throw in a little fishing. Ran jugs in the cimmaron arm with live shad and did well on blue cats and channels in
the 2 to 8lb range. Sand flats were stacked with shad and thats were we got our cats as well, about half way down in
15 foot of water was most productive.
June 3rd- Took mom and uncle out chasing some hybrids. Left the shad tank at home
to give us a little more room to move around in the boat, so I loaded the livewells with some nice big shinners and a few
smaller bluegills. Started off crappie point and picked up one magnum crappie on a 5 inch shinner. Couldn't get the brids
to hit our baits so we drug some cranks around for awhile picking up a few sandies and small hybrids. Tried to find a few
channel cats, but no go. Did notice the water by the dam had visiblity up to about 8 feet, nice clear clean water.
May 21- Pulled out of the driveway in Enid at 430am and went bait hunting, found
enough to get started and headed towards Sooner. Threw the net a few times on the way out to the cool water side and picked
up about a dozen more nice threadfins to add to our 25 or so 5-6inch gizzards. Pulled boards and down lines around till
we found a few fish and put down the anchor. Had a good flurry of action that resulted in the 2 hybrids pictured below and
several other fish. Did miss 2 big fish that we never even turned. Around 10am we went back for lunch and by the time we got
back on the water the strong ESE winds had died to nothing. We moved around several times trying to find some active fish
but couldn't but a bite. Finally gave up on the bait fishing and chased the schools of surfacing fish for a few hours
before calling it quits. Lots and lots of 11inch hybrids roaming the lake, should be a healthy crop of fish for years to come.
| Sooner 5-21 |
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May 20- Mother's Day was hectic so invited my mother and wife for a fishing trip on Saturday.
Got on the water at Sooner at about 9am and started out trying to pick up some sandies trolling the warm water side. That
didn't pan out so moved over to the cool side where we jigged and my wife Mandi picked up a small hybrid. Got ran over a few
times by some bass fisherman and finally decided we had had enough of them so we moved back to the culverts off of HWY 177
and found the small hybrids and sand bass busting ghost minnow fry. Caught about 20 or so 9-13inch sandies and hybrids till
the heat sent us packing, a good trip with great company.
May 16- Finally got back out on the lake for a few hours this morning. Fished
Carl Blackwell from 6am to 9:30am with Richard. Only brought about a dozen shad from Enid, and couldnt find any more in about
30 minutes of effort on the lake. Started out dragging shad along the dam and chuckin red fins, wildeyes and slabs. Nothing
going except a small crappie. Moved on a point in about 20 to 15 foot and picked up a few short saugeyes and another crappie
on wildeyes and shad. Around 845 decided to try the crappie and found them still on the banks. Mostly all males, but we did
get a few nice ones. Water was murky and a small road runner type jig worked best for them. Will be back at it again somewhere
this weekend.
April 28-30: Flynn and I got to Skiatook around 6 on Friday evening. After talking to Steve Carroll,
our guide for Saturday, he gave us a few tips on where to fish. Moved into an area and on the first cast picked up a sand
bass on a wildeye. We freelined a few large shad behind the boat and threw toward the shore with slabs and wildeye, ending
up with about 10 fish before dark and rain began to come. The next morning we had beautiful weather and Steve put us
on fish on the first stop. He was a excellent teacher and showed us the tricks of pulling planer boards. We moved around a
few times and caught lots of nice sized hybrids and just kept a few sandies and bleeders for lunch.
After filling up on fresh fried fish in the dryness(kinda) of our tent we loaded back up and hit a
few spots with the shad that Steve left us. Caught a few very nice hybrids, sandies, smallies, crappie and catfish, all released.
We quit that about 10 and headed back for some well needed rest. Didn't due much fishing on Sunday but sounded like fish were
being caught. Anyone looking to get on some fish at Skiatook, Sooner or Birch give check out Steve Carroll's site at
| Richard with a 'brid on |
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| Look at that rod bend! |
| Purdum with a nice hybrid |
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| Rain or shine, we're out there |
| Standard Skiatook Hybrid |
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| Seems like we caught this same fish....all day |
April 21 to 23: Pulled out of Enid with Flynn on Friday around 1pm and headed
to meet Brian at Grand lake. Started fishing around 6pm. Moved around some coves looking for crappie up on the banks, but
only pulled half a dozen. Water temps were up to 72 already in some areas. We went back to the dock and had some fried crappie
and soaked some minnows under the lights till about 1am, only pulling a few short ones.
Next morning we launched at Mazies on the Neosho to fish with all the great folks on The Fishing Notebook.
We tried for crappie for the first couple hours and couldn't get anything going, water temps in the low 70's up there as well.
Finally moved out to the river channel and picked up a few sandies on shad and wildeyes, and Brian got one nice paddlefish
at 51lb 7oz. We tried to hook up with another one of them but just couldn't get it going. Pulled out of there after a great
meal with great company and great conversation.
Next stop that evening was at Sooner. Launched at about 715 and got in a few hours of crappie fishing
and chased some brids, no crappie but did get a few sandies. Left out of there and stayed in Stillwater for the night.
Sunday morning Flynn and I launched at Carl Blackwell with a few green horns in the boat
Ty and Jason. Ran a few jugs with live shad that are easy to get at CB and then started after the crappie. Fish are still
stacked on then bank and in about 4 hours fishin we had boated close to 100 fish, keeping 45 nice size crappie and one
saugeye. Had two big crappie, one at 14.5 inches and one at 15, lots of 10 -12 inchers, mostly females.
Four lakes in 3 days, now thats a weekend.
| CB Crappie |
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| Brian with a 51lb 7oz spoonie |
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| Jason with a 15 inch crappie |
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| Carl Blackwell |
April 15 About as windy as it gets. Huge swells across Carl Blackwell really limited
where we could fish. We started up a creek and found plenty of crappie willing to hit 1/32 and 1/16oz tube jigs. We played
around with them for a while then decided to try the main lake for some eyes and brids. Finally got an anchor to hold
right on a ledge and soaked some shad. We got one hybrd, 1 catfish and another about dozen slab crappie all on shad. Tried
dragging some crankbaits across some of the windier points and ended up catching more crappie. Finally decided to count up
our crappie and we were 12 short of our limit so we ran up the creek again and filled it out before calling it quits. Basically
every technique we tried today resulted in a crappie. No monster crappie, but plenty in the 1 to 1.5lb range.
| Carl Blackwell Crappie |
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April 8 and 9: Fished canton on Saturday, started up on the river, but only found 2 sand bass
willing to bite, one pushing 3lbs. Went back down the river below the dam and there was still a bunch of hybrids down there,
but the water is getting stagnant and we saw several dead fish. After that we hit the dam for some walleyes. Ardell landed
one 19" on a firestick and we missed several other fish. Had to call it quits around 9, but the walleye bite was picking up.
Ardell and I then took his newly rebuilt boat/motor up to Canton on Sunday to give it a test drive. We ran a few jugs and
fished a bit, but no action.
| Canton Sloth |
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April 1- Fished with Doug and Jason at Canton from 2pm till about 6pm. We tried
up in the north part of the lake in the reeds looking for some crappie, but must be a little to early. Moved back to the south
end of the lake to get out of the wind and tried some deeper brush for crappie, still no action. Loaded a dozen or so nice
shad up from the canadian area and anchored up in front of the dam, not one bite. Saw a few short eyes caught up on the dam
so we moved up against the rocks. Hooked into two fish there, but couldn't stay hooked up. Storms started rolling in
and ran us off the water. Heard several reports of some eyes being caught, but most all were short.
March 26: Met Cory at Newkirk around 1030 am to do some sand bass fishing
on the arkansas river. Started at traders and got one big sandie at 2lb 12oz on a 1/8 chartruse head with 2 inch black curly
tail. We each missed a couple of fish in that area then decided to head to the bridge. Alot more bait and fish in the bridge
hole, but they were being pretty finicky. I finally got 4 more to hit on bright pink curly tails and pumpkin seed jigs. Never
had a fish hit a white or chartruse all day. All nice sand bass and a pretty area, I will be back.
March 18: Beautiful weather for sitting inside and watching basketball, but Flynn
and I decide to haul the boat over to Canton and chase some walleyes. Got to the ramp around 2pm and did not get a bite until
after 7pm. Finally landed 2 keeper walleye of about 19"(both males) and a few shorts right at 17". Wind, rain, fog and cold
finally got the best of us around 9 and we called it quits.
| Flynn with a couple eyes |
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March 9: Hit Canton again with few results. Got a few sandies and one nice hybrid
on a 3/8oz bucktail, and then tried the walleye along the dam and got nothing. Lots of shad busting along the beach but no
fish. I also heard the wildlife department has only got 4 eyes out of the nets so far, so it may be a bit early.
| 6lb Hybrid |
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| Canton Spillway Construction |
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March 6: I heard a great report from a buddy up at Kaw today. Blues
in the 8 to 25lb range are moving onto shallow flats and feeding heavily on shad. Catch your bait in 10-15ft of water then
head towards a nice 3-6 foot flat and hold on tight. Also the sandies are up the river feeding.
March 4: Tried the river above Canton for a few hours in the afternoon and just
found some largemouths, one pretty nice around 3lbs. Then Flynn and I hit the wind blown rocks around the dam and a
few other areas and picked up about a dozen small hybrids and sandbass and one 15 inch walleye. River up lake is very low,
few holes deeper than knee deep, definately going to need several good rains to get any fish up that way. Few pics
to be up shortly.
| Canton River Largemouth |
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| Wrong bass Flynn, lets get it together. |
| Canton Lake Hybrids and Sandies |
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| This what we were TRYING to catch Flynn. |
March 1: Hit the discharge this afternoon with Flynn and
Cory. Got to the water around 330pm and fished till a little after 7pm. I got 3 sand bass and Flynn got one sand bass and
that was it. Fish came up and busted once and the only fish I saw come out of them was a largemouth. A few fish chased
bait on the flat to the south right before dark, but just a few slaps at a pencil popper was all that came out of those. All
fish came on slabs in the current, but the highlight by far was the weather.
February 21: Made the muddy mile hike this morning around 6am and fished
till 9:30am. Not one bird all morning, nothing other than big gizzard shad and carp busting the top and slow fishing. I got
1 2lb sandie and 1 2lb hybrid on consecutive casts with a 5 inch wildeye around 8 and that was it other than a few short strikes
on a jerkbait. One other guy on the public side had a few decent hybrids and a blue, looked like he got them on crappie
jigs. Weather was just about perfect, other than the East wind, but the fish just did not cooperate.
February 15: Much better trip to the discharge this morning. Started
out right at 6am and rounded up a couple dozen large ghost minnows. Started fishing by the fence and put about 10 ghost
minnows on a large circle hook and immediatley hooked a nice 7lb blue. After that went to throwing a 6 inch Storm Kick'n
Shad and landed a 5lb 1oz largemouth. Then from 7am to 8am nothing, a few birds working and a few busts, but they were way
out of range. Around 830 i hiked over to the cattail point and finally got a sand bass to hit a slab. A few cast later I landed
a nice 6lb 4 oz hybrid in the same area. Fishing then died down on that end of the point so i moved back over to the
fence and got a channel cat on ghost minnows. Then moved to the first point on the public side and caught 12 nice hybrids
and stripers on a slim slab down deep. They wouldn't hit it if you moved it much, had to just barely hop it off the bottom.
Clown color was the key today too, missed alot of fish until I tried that color combo. Had one striper that had the head of
a 10lber and the body of a 3lber, all the other fish were nice and healthy. I had the public side all to myself, and there
was about 6 folks on the OG&E side that were having good luck as well. Here is a pic of the first 5 linesiders i caught
and the blue, fried fish tonite.
| Sooner February 15th |
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February 4: Took off from the boat ramp at sooner at 5am. Water already had
a good chop from the north and the temps were very chilly. Had a tank of live shad, a couple small rainbows and minnows.
Would have been better off eating the trout. Caught 1 largemouth on live shad, a small flathead on a shad head
and a 4lb blue on shad gizzard. Several other boats on the warm side, saw just a few small sandbass caught.
Did have one big blow up on a trout under a balloon. Never saw the fish, and it never came back for it, but it
was a quality fish. We were about frozen solid by noon so called it a day.
January 28: Headed to Canton for another shot at them crappie. Fishing was tough today, we got on the
water at about 10am and found a few willing crappie and 1 nice sandbass. Around noon the wind began to pick up and switch
to the north which completely blew us off our spots. Tried several place out to the wind with no luck at all. We were able
to get shad and tried some hybrid fishing with nothing to show. Total for the day was 6 crappie and 1 sandbass, finally pulled
out around 4 and headed home.
January 15: Made
our way back to Canton, this time with Flynn and Ardell, took the boat out on the same brush as yesterday and wacked 39 nice
crappie, a few small largemouth and one walleye. Still didn't seem to matter, jigs, minnows and we caught some on the small
1/4 Slim Slab. Best colors where red/chart and red/white. Great eating.
January 14: Headed up to canton with Doug, Jason and Flynn. Trolled
the dam with no luck, tried to crappie fish on the dam but we couldn't stay put with the wind. We finally found some
brush in about 15 feet that was sheltered from the wind. Got anchored up and pulled in 32 nice crappie with a few throw backs
and largemouths as well. Most were in the 11" inch range. Jigs and minnows down about 9 foot was the ticket.
| January 14 |
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| Canton Crappie |
| January 15 |
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| Canton Crappie |
January 12: Fished
the discharge at Sooner this morning from 6am to 9am. Should of slept in. Caught 5 channel cats on ghost minnows
and that was the end of it. No birds working and what little bait I was able to get was gone by the time the sun came up.
About 4 or 5 folks fishing the OGE side and all i saw caught over there was 1 small sand bass, a nice saugeye and a catfish
or two.
January 1 and 2: Camped at Lake Watonga for one night with Cory, Ardell and his 4 year
old son Austin. Fishing was tough on Sunday with very high winds. We caught 1 trout on corn, 1 on powerbait and 2 on
an inline spinner. Biggest trout was 2lbs6oz and came on a chartruse inline. On monday Austin and I made the march to the
dam and tried bait for a while then switched to lures; he chose to throw a small crawdad crankbait. Within about 5 casts Austin
lands a 2lb 4oz trout and a 3lb 9oz trout. He was able to reel both fish to the bank with no assistance. The larger trout
also became hooked to me, causing a trip to the Watonga ER for removal. Here are some pics.
| AUSTIN AND HIS STRINGER OF TROUT |
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| Jan 2nd, 2lb 4oz and 3lb 9oz Rainbow trout |
| Ardell with a better view of Austin's fish |
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December 29: Made a quick trip to the discharge with Flynn this morning(6am to 9am). First
2 casts resulted in an small largemouth and a smaller crappie. Next 1,000 casts-----nothing. Saw very little in the way of
bait, fish or bird activity. It appeared only one side of the culvert was pumping water, which made the current completely
different than I am used to. Quite a crowd today, probably close to 12 counting us. One guy pulled a few nice hybrids on crappie
jigs, but we failed to dupilicate his success.
December 27: Haven't been able
to make it out to the lake in the last few days due to the holidays, but here is what I have been hearing on local fishing
reports. Sooner has been hit or miss, but some good fish have been caught. The blue cats are still fired up at Kaw. Les has
been hammering blues upto 30lbs on cut shad in deep water. I am planning a New Years Day camping/fishing trip to Roman
Nose for a change of scenery and some trout fishing. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and hope you start your
New Year with bleeding thumbs.
December 10: Fished the pm at sooner discharge. Lots of small shad in the canal,
but not a lot of fish. Got 2 nice blue cats on shad, 7 largemouth and 3 hybrids. One hybrid came on a slab the other two on
bait. Not a great day, but i have had worse.
December 4th: Got to the discharge at 5am and tried to find some saugeyes before
it got light. Only thing biting was the largemouth, caught about 5 of them up to about 2lbs on a shallow shad rap. As
the sun came up so did the hybrids, nothing huge, 1.5lbs up to about 4lbs was the range. Flynn wacked them good on the chartruse
ghost Slim Slab, i got mine on a clown colored Slim Slab.
November 25: Fished Kaw Lake with a
buddy from work, Les. Launched from Coon Creek at around 7am and found enough shad in about an hour. Anchored in 14
and threw out to 25ft of water and caught around 40 blue cats from 4lbs to 25lbs. Most were in the 7 to 11 pound range and
all came on cut shad. There is a pic below of 15 smaller ones we kept for a fish fry. Great day on the water
November 21: Fished the discharge at Sooner from 6am to
9:15am and caught 12 hybrids in the 1.5 to 3lb size range. All but two of the hybrids came on citrus shad colored Fat Slab,
the others came on a baby bass colored wildeye. Very little bird activity, fish surface breifly, lots of largemouths on the
banks.
November 6: Fished Sooner from
10am till 5pm. Fished with the BTB boys from the boat. Started out hunting shad and only found about 20. Set up on the warm
water side with down lines, ballons and slabs. Caught a few small sand bass and largemouths as we made our way to the
bouy line. Put out hell pets and jet divers and picked up a few more small fish as we trolled toward the cool side
of the lake. Picked up a few better hybrids on the main lake between Crappie point and the island and called it a day after
a few more unsuccessful attempts to find shad. Best fish came on a Fat Slab in citrus shad color.
Below are some pics from our past trips.
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