Reports/Trips

February 15th: Headed to Texoma for the weekend with the family. Stormed on us just about all day every day. Bait was easy before light and when we could get out and fish we could catch some nice stripers right in little glasses. Only problem was that we would miss 3 for every 1 we caught, but every time we got out we caught fish. Crappie were not in the docks but did catch a nice smallie, my first from Texoma. Lake was in good shape, should be a good year.

February 9th: Jason and Doug's turn out to Kaw with me today. Started cold, but bait was easy and fishing turned on. Only landed maybe 25 today and missed a lot of fish. Quality was up though fish averaged probably 15lbs with big fish over 24lbs. Nice day on the water.

January 19th: Flynn, Ardell and I headed to Kaw this morning despite the frigid temps. The bank in Ponca City said 5 degrees when we rolled through. The day started with a frozen steering cable, boat ran great as long as we went straight. We would go for a while, put the trolling motor down and straighten us up, go for a while longer........Finally the cable broke loose and we were on the way. Only took a few tosses of the net in deep water to have enough bait, then the fishing began. We started on the steep side of the river channel and picked up a few smaller blues then made a move to the other side of the channel. Fish were hammering us when we made the move. We would occasionally move 100yds up or down the channel and always found fish. Landed 42 with most in the8-12lb range, had 3 over 18 and big fish was 22lb 4oz. Coldest i have ever fished in but very doable with the right clothes, if only my beer wasn't freezing on me.....

January 5th: Flynn and I started at Canton in search of some crappie. The 35mph winds greeted us along with some none active crappie. We fished hard for a few hours and finally loaded up and went to Roman Nose for some trout. We started with artificals and landed 4 including a nice 2lber that Flynn caught. After being tired of fighting the wind we tied up to some timber and picked up a few more smaller trout on minnows. Ended up being a pretty good day just a few short of 2 limits.

December 5th: Kaw lake fishing is really picking up. Water temps all the way down in the mid 40's. Wind was howling today and made it slim pickings as far as where I could fish. Bait was easy and I landed close to 20 nice blues in the 4-8lb range all on cut shad. Best bite was in 25ft of water but I had to move when the winds picked up. Ended up catching a few more up at about 15ft. It only going to get better.

October 30th: Flynn met me at the ramp at sooner at about 10am. I had saved my bait from my last trip to Kaw. I landed a few decent hybrids early before picking up Flynn, then it was dead for a long time. Wind was way up limiting where we could fish. Did see Paul out with some clients wackin' 'em good. We landed one more late in the day and finally called it quits. Only thing I could figure was our bait was a little big. Good to be out as always, but fishing for my boat was slow.

October 29: Joey and I launched at Kaw at around 830am. Shad weren't in our normal spots but we found them soon after that. We looked at the deep water first and saw nothing worth fishing so we headed to a few points and anchored between them. We landed a few blues and a nice channel there, but took off looking for better size. The next stop was on a steep drop from 1ft to 35 ft. Fish and bait were loaded there, but the fished we marked would not hit. We did pull a few more blues up on the shallow flat next to the drop including our big fish of the day one around 13lbs. The next spot we had a quick run that lasted about 30 minutes where we landed two doubles and had pretty constant fish on,  but it soon died. We cruised around a few more spots looking for some better fish, but could only find the 2-4lb guys, we landed 20, keeping a dozen, and missed a lot of fish. My guess is that if I would have changed out to smaller hooks I would have landed more, but we really weren't fishing for them. I had water temps from 56 to 60, water was pretty muddy, best depth was from 3 to 8 foot.
Get 'em!

October 9th: A bit weary of the recent cold snap I met long time friend Dr. Dave at the sooner ramp bright and early. Shad were easy in the normal locations and off to the fishing grounds we went. We started in a searching pattern with a balloon, a pair of boards and several downlines out. We hit a few nice fish early on boards and downlines, but nothing consistent. There were several groups of fish surfacing in the area that we would cruise through and we did pick up several small sandies and a few nice hybrids on small BTB slabs worked in the upper 1/2 of the water column. They would not touch flukes, wildeyes, or even medium size slab, artificial had to be small. After a few more attempts in the immediate area we found a ledge and got on an anchor and immediately landed several nice hybrids on downlines. The bite slowed around 9am and we went on a search. We found fish at the first two stops but only one skinny striper was willing to bite. On the 3rd stop we made the graph looked great and these fish were feeding. It was near constant doubles and triples for the next 4 hours. Fish were hitting small shad, big shad, ghost minnows, perch and cut baits with gusto. No real big fish today, biggest 'brid maybe 5, striper around the same, and a 6lb flathead. We kept 25 plus a couple sharks and released at least 2x that many more. Our hot spot was in 32 foot of water, and you had to be 5+ cranks off bottom to get hit. Lively threadfins out-produced other baits, but not by much. Water temp was 72-76, and a bit murky. Oh by the way, if you were stuck in the office today you missed out on one of the most beautiful days weather-wise there will ever be, sucks to be you.

October 2nd: After a hot tip from Steve Carol, I loaded the boat and headed to sooner early on Tuesday in spite of 30mph south winds. Got my shad at the lake and hammered the fish hard for the first several hours of light. The winds got the best of me at the first spot after several waves over the front of my anchored boat so I move to more protected grounds only to find a few blues and some small sandies. Several nice size hybrids and a few nice blues made for an excellent game day fish fry. Early action was all on free lined small threadfins and a handful on cut gizzards. Never have I taken my little boat over such rough waters, she handled well, but I got completely soaked.

September 22nd: Flynn, Joey, and I loaded up and hit Kaw early hoping for a duck and blue cat bonanza. Found a few teal early with only one in the bag, but got a good idea of the area for huntin in the future. We ran 5 jugs all day and had no luck at all. I think we landed 5 blues, 1 channel and 1 sand bass on rod and reel and had to work very hard for them. Shad were thick anywhere you threw a net, but the fish would not cooperate, still a great day on the water with great friends, food and cold beverages.

September 11th:  Changed scenery and headed out solo to Canton. Bait was super easy, anywhere on the lake, throw a net and catch shad. Fishing was a little tougher, weather started out windy and cool but i got anchored on a hump in about 17ft of water and pulled 3 nice hybrids, 1 on down lines and 2 on balloons. Missed several fish then the wind calmed down and my bite died. Tried several different spots with several different baits with only a few small sandies, largemouth and a huge drum. Water temp was in the upper 70's by the time i left, and water was very murky to muddy.

August 28th:  Back to sooner with my dad this morning. I was hoping to get him on some fish after our last trip to Kaw was a bust. Morning started out great, plenty of perfect threadfins in one throw of the net. Got to the fishing grounds and the graph was nearly blacked out. That was the end of the good news, nothing would bite. We fished hard all day, chummed heavily, tried all different spots, tried all different sizes of baits and only picked up 2 blues and 2 small hybrids. I am blaming it on the eclipse and the full moon.

August 25th:  Headed to Sooner with Shelby. We launched a bit before sun-up and quickly made our bait. Found plenty of fish and picked at them slowly for a few hours on top of hump. Ended up with about 15 from that spot, with some in the 4lb range. We moved around a lot after that and never got anything going. We marked a ton of fish at every stop, but just could not get them to bite.

August 21st:  Had a nice tank of bait and was on the water solo at 6am. Started out slow, but caught a few fish in about 18-20 foot on freelines and balloons. Got on an anchor at about 730am in 33 foot of water and caught fish till I was worn out. Caught 3 on a slab the other 30 or 40 on live bait, size did not seem to matter. Good mix of stripers and hybrids, most in the 3-4lb range, big striper was close to 8lb. Water temp in the mid 80's. Kept my limit of mostly bleeders for a fish fry, and released about as many. Started out with 5 rods in the water, wasn't long and I could only keep up with one. Great day on the water, a little rough, but I hardly noticed.

August 14th:  Finally to the chance to take Joey on a well deserved fishing trip, but we ended up having a tough day of fishing. Trip started out with a tank of dead shad, a few had got stuck in the filter housing and it killed everything in the tank except for a few small carp. Our first few stops we were on fish, but only landed a small channel cat. After several hours of nothing we decided to go on a shad hunt and finally found some in the back of Turkey Hollow, but they were very small, with the largest only going about 2 inches. We couldn't upgrade so we changed out our hooks and went back to the fishing grounds. It didn't take long and we landed a few nice hybrids, a couple sandbass and a channel cat or two, but by this time the heat had gotten to us so we enjoyed a bit of tubing before calling it a day. Thermocline set up at about 17-20ft, water murky and 92 degrees by the time we left.

August 3rd: My brother was in town from Atlanta to visit his new niece so I loaded him up and headed to sooner in the afternoon. We had a nice tank full of shad from 4 to 6inches, and instantly found fish. Only problem was getting them to bite. We landed 2 on the first stop in about 25 foot of water and that was in on live bait for a long time. I missed one fish that never got turned, but felt as if it was a blue or flathead the way it stayed down, it wrapped me around my bouy line and snapped me off. We were just about to pack it up when we found a school on top that held mostly small fish but we did get a hand full of keepers to fry up. We marked fish on every spot today, and marked more schools of bait than ever before out there, but all the bait we saw was ghost minnow fry that was puked up by the fish we landed from the topwater school. Slow day, but enough to have a family fish fry.

July 29th: Dads turn out on the boat today, and after yesterdays day at Kaw we changed plans and headed that direction instead of CB. Water was still running the same, and we got there even earlier and more prepared for the action. We could not keep the a shad in the water without it being attracted by a gar, most gar infested water I have seen in a long while. We picked at a few sand bass on wildeyes and one lone crappie before we called it quits. Shelby was out with his his family in his dads boat and had a little better luck catching one striper that pushed 10lbs and a beautiful 28inch walleye. We packed it up early.

July 28th: Got wind of some hot striper action below the dam at Kaw, so Flynn, Shelby and I headed out for a few hours. They were running about 10000cfs out and we got anchored in about 10ft of water below the riffles. It didn't take long and Shelby landed a nice 7lb striper on a fluke. Not long after that the bait rods got attached by a school of stripers and we landed a few smaller 2lbers and a couple in the 8-9lb range. We stayed on that one anchor for about 3 hours and landed a few more nice stripers on wildeyes, plus the occasional big crappie and jumbo sandbass. The gar soon found our shad and ran us to another spot were we picked up a few more sandbass and a lone 7lb striper. Good times.

July 25th: Got the invite to a farm pond with co-worker James. After a slow day of work we loaded his two man and headed towards his 70 acre plot out by Crescent. Upon arrival i was instantly impressed by the looks of the area. The water was clear with a bit of coffee color to it, standing timber littered the upper end, and flooded willows surrounded the banks of the lower end. The action started slow, but as the sun got lower we started picking off a few fish on spinnerbaits and Texas rigged worms. Later in the evening I changed to a Mann's hardnose frog and started getting hammered on nearly every cast. Most fish were 1lb or smaller, one fish was close to 3, good time for middle of the week fishing action.

July 22nd: Loaded my mom up and we launched at Carl Blackwell at 6:15am. The shad catching the night before was tough for me, most of my baits were on the big side. Soon after launching I could tell there was a thermocline set up that stayed between 14 and 11 feet throughout the lower end of the lake. The first point we stopped on had lots of fish so we put down our baits. It didn't take long and we had two rods buried, but one came unbuttoned and the other ended up being a 5lb channel cat. We missed several other bites on our large shad and went to cut baits and landed a few more quality channel cats then we then pulled a 12lb flathead on one of the bigger live shads. We moved to a different spot and marked more nice schools of fish, but just pulled one nice hybrid here. After a few more moves with no success we packed it up before the crazies got out. Felt great to be back on the water.

June 9th:   Flynn and I got to the ramp at sooner at 4am. We found fish stacked on the first spot we stopped at and had constant "fish ons". It made it quite interesting in the pitch dark with multiple fish on. The action slowed after the sun broke the horizon and we had to go looking for fish, we found some, but nothing willing to bite other than a nice green perch for Flynn.

May 12th: Got the the ramp at Sooner at 630am. Jason and I headed across the lake and found fish stacked on the deep side of a drop towards the intake. We put about 20 in the boat pretty quick before it slowed down, but the fish were running a little small, averaging about 2lbs. We made the decision to move up-lake in search of some better fish and found them stacked up in 31 foot of water. We pulled several hybrids in the 4-6lb range, 2 stripers up to 8lbs, and 2 hybrids in the 7-9lb range. Most fish came on downlines with live baits, but we did pull some on balloons and a few on cut bait. We put about 50 fish total in the boat keeping only 8 bleeders. Water temp 70 early then up to 80 by afternoon.

May 3rd - 6th: Made a trip down to Texoma with my family for a long weekend.  Thursday morning we fished with guide Elmer Spicer and had a blast. We quickly had our limits and released several overs to fight another day.  That afternoon my brother and I took my boat out and found some nice sand bass stacked in the back of a cove that provided a lot of fun on light tackle. After we had had enough of that we hit the main lake in search of some stripers. We caught a few sand bass and crappie around the Roosevelt bridge, but no stripers. When it got close to dark we had moved back to the back of Little Glasses and found a few small schools of stripers surfacing. They provided non-stop action with quality fish in the 18-24inch range. That spot proved to be the honey hole for the rest of the weekend. The fish never surfaced again but they stuck around a few points in the area and would willing hit a 4 or 5 inch wild eye, slab or live shad. The crappie bite was tough around the docks throughout the weekend, but you could catch some very nice ones here and there down around 10ft with small jigs. Shad were easy to get behind the boat docks in Little Glasses, with lots of threadfins up to 7 inches in size, and plenty of 4-10 inch gizzards to sort through. Water temps were anywhere from 69 to 75 in the back of the coves. Great time with the family. Lake lice where out and about, wont be long before they take over.

April 28th: Met Cory at the ramp at Sooner at about 6:15 Saturday morning. Took his boat this time around, and had a very good trip. I had spent 3 hours the night before catching bait, and still only had about 50 to show for it, with lots of them being big 8-12 inchers and several blue gill mixed in. Figured we would make do and on the first stop on the cold water side we hit a nice 4lber on a big 7 inch live shad. It didn’t take long and we found where the fish were holding and got an anchor on them and whacked them good for a couple of hours. Lots of fish in the 3-5lb range, Cory landed a nice 6lber and I got a beautiful 8lber on a small perch. Around 9 we headed to the ramp to attempt to assist a troubled boater, but we couldn't be of much assistance, but did add Flynn to the boat at that time. After making it back out the fishing hole we picked at them for a few hours, but never could get it back fired up. Estimate we landed around 30 fish, with most in the 3-4lb range, we probably missed as many fish as we caught, not sure if that was do to our bigger baits or not. Couldn’t get anything on artificials, but it didn’t matter what kind of bait we used or if it was live or cut.

April 21 and 22nd:  Ardell and I got out for a while but we heard nor saw a thing.  We tried the same method as earlier but they just weren't there.  As luck would have it, the next day Flynn was able to get back out down South before he got back to work.  He smacked a near clone of his bird just the other day giving him two for the season, a first for him.  19 pounds, 9.25" beard, 1" spurs.

April 19th:  Flynn and I again headed out in hopes of finding a morning gobbler before he flew to LA and I had to go to work.  We started off at one piece of land near Enid and though we heard lots of gobbles, they never would get closer.  After toying with em for an hour or so, they shut up and we decided to try spot #2.  We heard two far off gobbles right when we got there that rejuvenated our spirit.  As we walked down to the creek, the tracks got thicker and thicker but we didn't hear a peep.  We called several times and sat and called and sat and called, nothing.  Nearly out of time we thought we'd slip down the edge of the creek and see if we could shake any action loose.  We hadn't gone 20 yards when we flushed a hen from the bottom of the creek, then a few yards later, another.  Fearing that we would watch turkeys fly away for another 200 yards we devised a plan.  I would walk down the creek edge and try to get a clean shot at a flushed bird and if they evaded me, Flynn would cut them off several hundred yards downstream.  In typical outdoorsman fashion, the plan didn't, and never quite does, go as planned.  Flynn hustled around the timberline and as he crossed back into the trees to pick a good cutoff point, he came upon two gobblers calmly walking ten yards away.  A bit baffled but not one to let an opportunity go he dropped the rear bird with one shot.  The bird weighed out at 18 pounds, had a 9" beard, and 1" spurs.  Not bad for an unorthodox approach, even though it wasn't the exact plan.

April 14th:  Flynn and I headed out to Canton after all the rain to see if we could find any turkeys, hybrids, sandies, or big wallies.  The mroning started with high hopes as we heard two birds gobbling from the roost.  We hustled to the edge of a field, set out a couple deeks, and went to work.  We spotted a lone bird 150 yards out but couldn't sell him what we had to offer.  Twenty minutes later we watched two more birds follow the first's and wouldn't be persueded either.  We chased and called for a short while after that but the birds were not receptive so we quit and went looking for river sandies, strike one.  It was pretty apparent from the start that the river wasn't what we were hoping for but we waded in and gave it a try anyway.  There wasn't a flicker or a splash up river or down and after a half hour or so we knew our only option left was to get the boat and hit the lake, strike two.  We hit the lake with extreme predudice.  After a lackluster morning we were in need of redemption.  We trolled the humps, we drifted with live shad, we threw wildeyes, inlines, jigs, crankbaits, and slabs. We did manage to avoid the skunk by picking up 3 Largemouth on the dam, one sandie apiece, and a barely legal walleye.  However, for 15 hours of work it was a minor payoff.  Nonetheless, the old saying remained true and it was a better day than any at work or home ever could be.  The water was glass all day and the air was perfect.  The water temp had dropped significantly and we figured that was the rub. 

March 31st - April 1st: Fished Carl Blackwell with Cory, Flynn and Kama over the weekend. Saturday was tough, it started great with 5 crappie in the boat before I even left the ramp, but then the winds came. Huge swells made crossing the lake nearly impossible, and fishing was very tough. We started back in Turkey Hollow and only landed a few sand bass, not crappie up on the banks. Next move was to head for shelter and hope the winds calmed down. We found a point out of the wind and anchored up with shad and landed about a dozen decent crappie. Also landed one nice hybrid on a jerkbait up against a wind blown shore. Sunday we woke up to flat calm water and nice clear skies. The crappie cooperated a little more, and I think we probably landed about 50, kept about 40 of the nicer ones. They were all up shallow and the bite seemed to pick up the more the water cleared up. We were about to pack it up when we hit a point with wildeyes, just casting and slow cranking and landed 4-5 nice fat hybrids and a big saugeye. Fish were chasing big shad in the 5-7 inch range. All but 2 of the crappie I cleaned were males, and the two with eggs looked to be ready to go at any minute. Water temps on Saturday were 63-63, and by Sunday evening we were finding water temps up to 70's.

March 24-25th: Went to Beaver Lake in AR, for the weekend with co-worker and friend Richard. Started off at around 5am launching from Hickory Creek. Before we got 100yds from the ramp we slammed into a submerged log, but no damage or problems.   We got to the fishing grounds at the junction of the two feeder rivers and started dragging live baits and throwing topwaters and swimbaits. After the sun rose a few fish started surfacing here and there and we chased them as best we could while keeping our live shad and shiners in the water. The first day we landed 3 stripers, and 6 sand bass, all on artificial at the river junction. We tried way up the rivers and marked no bait or fish, even-though the water temps were reading 59 to 61 degrees. The next morning we started out in the same area and only landed 1 striper and 1 sand bass.  After the surfacing action stopped we moved back toward the main lake and marked more fish and bait, but only landed a few catfish off of the spot.  Beaver Lake is a beautiful lake, and every fish was very healthy, all the sand bass were in the 3lb plus range and all hit big redfins and topwaters. The stripers were also all very healthy, smallest around 4lbs, biggest maybe 11 or 12lbs. Catfish were anywhere from a 2lb channel to a 13lb blue. Good trip for our first time seeing the lake.

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March 7th: Needed a mid week break so met up with Dave at Sooner for some more hybrid action. Launched at 7am and headed toward the warm side. Fish were very scattered today and we never found any great looking schools, but would pick up several fish at each stop. Ended the day with 43 hybrids and sandbass, probably a few more hybrids than sandies, close to 10 largemouths (none bigger than 2lbs), 3 quality sized crappie, and 1 little channel cat. My freezer is stocked up so we just kept the bleeders and crappie so Dave could have some fish. All fish on lively shad, very little action if you didn't have a lively bait on. Biggest hybrid just short of 4lbs, water temp at buoy line up to 62.5. Great day on the lake and nice to be one of only two boats on the lake.

March 4th: Pulled out of the ramp at Sooner at 9am with Flynn and a friend of his Kenny. Made our way to the warm side of the lake and anchored about halfway up to the buoys. 1st stop was some good fast action for about an hour with about 15 nice hybrids and a few sand bass in the boat. That spot slowed so we moved up another 200yds and found a huge school of fish right on the edge of a 17 foot flat that dropped into 21 foot. It was none stop doubles, triples and even quadruples for the next 3 hours. When the dust had settled we had 3 limits of quality hybrids anywhere from 2-4lbs with a few sandies mixed in. After that we released all of our fish but kept putting fish into the boat. Total was somewhere upwards of 100 fish, all fish came on down lines with small lively shad or cut bait. At times cut bait was the top producer. Water temp at the ramp was 54, up by the buoy line was 59, and out toward the red bluffs 49. Great day on the lake.

February 25th:  Fished from about noon till 4pm at Sooner . Had a load of great bait from my shad hole. First stop netted a few largemouth, catfish and just one hybrid. We moved down the canal a bit and marked a good school holding in about 17ft, but couldn't get the anchor to hold in the brisk WNW winds. Finally got on a small school around 330 that was willing to bite and put a total of 9 birds and a channel in the box. Good trip and great to be back on the water. Water at ramp was 53 and at the buoy line 58. Should be back at it on Saturday.

December 16th:  Fished hard all day on Saturday. Flynn, Kama, and I started the day at Sooner with the great crew from the fishingnotebook.com . We knew that the weather conditions were going to be less than ideal so we took the boat along for the ride as a back up plan. Fishing started out slow and never picked up, by 8amI had only 3 largemouths all less than a pound, and I think Flynn had about the same. We left sooner around 930am in search of a Kaw Lake blue cat. There were several nice largemouths caught at Sooner after we left, but the linesider bite never happened.

The blue cat bite started out great, big thanks to Steve Carol for the bait. Our first stop gave us 5 or 6 blues in the 8-10lb range in a hurry, but then it died. For the next 3 hours we had nothing, tried all over the lake and had nothing to show. We finally made it back into pretty shallow water to end the day and found another 5 or 6 good fish. Kama ended up with the big one of the day yet again, a nice 12.5lber.

December 13th:  Met Cory at the ramp at Kaw at 730am. Took about 30 minutes to catch our shad, then the fishing began. On the first stop we hit a few 6lbers, an 8, and a 16lber, then that spot slowed down. Moved around some more and found a hole that was stacked with fish, but they all seemed to be 6lbers so we made another move around noon and found a few bigger fish. Ended the day with around 25 fish, all blue cats except for one 6lb channel cat, most blues in the 8-10lb range all on dead shad fished on the bottom.

December 10th: Flynn, Kama and I started out with plans to take the boat to Sooner for some hybrids, but we had a horrible time catching shad around Enid. All of my normal holes only produced about 10 shad, and none were bigger than 2 inches.We were heading out of town toward our last chance spot for shad when I received a call from a co-worker Les Bundy. He was at Kaw and the blue cats were on a tear. We took an in car vote and decided to change the plans and head to Kaw. We had a tough time getting bait there too, but Les helped us out with a bucket load. For the first about 3 hours we were hurting, only catching two blues, one right at 4 one around 8lbs. Finally around 4pm we hit a honey hole and it was near constant fish on. Most fish were in the 8-12lb range with a few in the 14-16lb range, and Kama hit the big fish of the day with one that was close to 24lbs. Total combined weight for 3 anglers in about 3 hours was right around 160 pounds.  Great fish and everyone on board hooked up with several nice fish, but I know Kama had the big fish and the most. Our freezers were full so we released all fish to fight again another day I have an awesome catfish slime collection in the boat. Water temp was between 40 and 42.

December 3rd: Hit the rich mans side of the discharge on Sunday morning with Shelby and a friend of his that works for OG&E.. We got there a little late, right at about 7am, but Shelby's first cast he had one take off with his jig and never stopped, finally broke him off. I got down to the water and on my first cast with a jointed shad X rap I missed a solid hit, the next cast was a fish on. I knew it was a good heavy fish right of the bat and then she jumped, and I was a little disappointed to see it was a largemouth bass, but could tell it was a good one and I estimated about 6lbs. It then jumped a little closer and I could tell I had the fish of a lifetime hooked. I finally steered her out of the heavy current and navigated down the bank on iced over rocks and 3 foot snow drifts, but when I had her headed my direction I put the death grip on her lower jaw. My first thought was that it was going to be close to ten, the trusty digital scales showed it to be 12lb 1oz. Beautiful fish. I figured my fishing was about done for the day, but about an hour later while casting a slab off of the end of a point I hooked and landed a great 16lb 6oz striper. What a fight, but unfortunately it had swallowed the slab and was bleeding pretty bad, so I kept him for a fish fry. About 5 casts after that I hooked another big striper. This one took off on one of the longest runs I have ever been on the other end off, it must have taken 50-60yds of line in 20 seconds. I got her to the bank and quickly release her. She was about the same size as the other, but probably about 2lbs bigger, I estimated 18lbs. Bad part of the trip is that is all that was caught. No bait, no birds, no surface activity. Nothing, but I wont complain.

November 24th:  Launched at Coon Creek on Kaw at 930 on the 24th. First stop was to get shad, no problem. All the shad were small, but they were easy to catch.  We put out 4 jugs for something to do if the fishing was slow and headed out to the fishing grounds. We focused on drops from 14 to 18 foot, but the first several stops only put one blue in the boat at about 3lbs. We finally moved across the lake and found a lot faster action. Around 4pm we had 4 fish in the boat with the biggest at about 8lbs. We made one last move before dark and it paid off with one fish that went 28lb 14oz.  It was caught on a wad of about 4 shad heads in about 20ft of water. The fish put up a tremendous fight and it took great team work to get the other rods moved around. After about a 5 min fight I got her boat side and Flynn got the net around her. The net snapped in half when we heaved her aboard. Called it quits shortly after that and picked up our jugs, we had 3 small blues and one that went 12lb 12 oz on jugs ran in the
14ft range. Couldn't ask for better weather for late November, 15mph SW winds, air temp of about 65 or 70, water temps ranged from 50 -54.

November 19th:  Took Flynn out to the whitetail "honey hole" a good buddy let us hunt South of town.  Textbook day as far as deer hunts go, Flynn popped his early in the morning and I shot mine 10 minutes before shooting time ended.  There will be plenty of bucktails available soon.  Results below.

October 28th and 29th:  Stayed with Cory for the weekend in Bartlesville and fished Copan. Our soul target this trip was to figure out the blue cats. We found lots of little 1lb and smaller blues in the forest under the water turkey roosts. They were fun but not what we were looking for. We found a few nicer blues along some steep drops in the lower end of the lake, but the fish were suspended and tough to get to bite. Biggest blue was about 5-6lbs, and all nice fish were caught on fresh cut shad. Tough weekend of fishing, but a good time with good company.

October 7th and 8th: Took a trip to OKC to visit Flynn and his girlfirend.  Dual mission trip as all three of us were scheduled to take the hunter's safety course test on Saturday morning.  Everyone passed, Flynn and I had 100% scores and Kama had a 98% which she got more flack for than anyone with a score of 98% deserves, as you can imagine.  That took Saturday morning out of the picture but we were out on Hefner by 3pm that afternoon.  Started off slow and there was just nothing happening by stars and stripes.  So, after a good attempt at that, we headed to the North end.  Trolled for maybe five minutes before the first fish was caught and it never slowed down from there.  We landed several more with trollers then dropped the trolling motor and started in on 'em with the slabs.  Fast-paced action and nice-sized sandies is what we got form about 4pm till the day turned to night.  Even Kama who is relatively new to fishing and completely unseasoned in fishing with slabs kept pace with the competition.  There were lots of fish surfacing but we caught far more a bit deeper down with small and medium-sized slabs, white seemed to be the magic color though chartreuse was good too.  Took home 20 and released several more.  Hit the same lake with the same plan of attack on Sunday a bit earlier.  The fish were a bit more scattered but we worked 'em hard and caught another boatful of nice keepers though we released them all to fight another day.  There were quite a few more fishing boats on Sunday and the standard sailboat crowd.   A good weekend with friends, but funny how slabbin magnum sandies just gives it that extra "shine".

September 30th: Went with Shelby in his boat out to Canton. Got on the water right at sun-up and went looking for a few largemouths. Started out with topwaters and had nothing going. Shelby pulled one small fish on a crankbait and I got one just short of 14 on a rat l trap. Couldn't get anything going along the dam so we moved around several times with nothing to show. We changed gears around 10 and chased some sandies. Saw a few caught by trollers around the Longdale ledge, but all we got was a small gar. Made a last ditch stop on the humps and found lots of sandies. Got about 20 sandies, anywhere from 7 inches to 1.5lb, and a nice chunky channel cat. Beautiful day on the water, water temps in the mid 60's.

September 9th:  Arrived at the Sooner ramp with Flynn and Cory at about 6am. First stop we got a couple sand bass and one small striper before light. We hit every spot we knew about and ended up with only 6-10 sandies and 3 largemouths. We changed gears for a while and tried to get onto some crappie, but no luck. Toughest day at Sooner in a long time, water temp was down to 78, so it should be getting good soon.

September 4th: Met with Dave out of OKC at the Sooner ramp at about 2:30. Had rough day all around. Started with my bait tank pump going out right after I get it loaded and get halfway to the lake. Made do by pulling the bilge pump out and using it. When I got to the lake I noticed that the bilge pump I had pulled had shorted out so I had to pull my live well pump out and use it. It worked the rest of the day, but when we got to the first stop I noticed water filling up the floor of the boat. Quickly I realized that by removing the cartridge out of the live well pump I had left the water intake hole open so water was pouring in. I used the cartridge out of the bilge pump that had fried to plug that hole and it worked great. Only problem now is that there is about 2 inches of water in the floorboard, and no bilge pump to pump it out. Rough way to start the day for sure. Fishing was not much better. Caught a few right off the bat, but again all small fish. The next few stops had nothing going, until we reached the intake. Lots of fish on top there, but again all small. Moved back to where we started and pulled fish constantly, but mostly sand bass. To top the day off cut the end of my finger off while chumming, then got to tow a stranded boater back the ramp. Ended the day with maybe 30 fish, and was glad to get that day over with. Definitely owe Dave another trip some time soon.
 

September 3rd: Arrived at Sooner with Ardell at around noon on Sunday. Started out on a steep drop from 24 to 32 feet and couldn't keep a bait in the water, but all the fish were average sand bass and very small hybrids. So we moved all over the lake looking at every hump and depth change I knew about and even discovered some others. Never found any big schools of fish, but always could pull one or 2 from each stop. Ended back where we started the day and put another few better fish in the boat. Ended with close to 50 fish, but hardly any quality fish. Biggest fish was a crappie that had to push 3lbs caught on a down line, when I get the pictures developed I will scan a few on.

Aug 27th: After a few stops, Jason and I made our bait in Enid and arrived at Sooner at 4pm. We launched in a light rain but it let up about 30 minutes later, leaving us with a beautiful day. We tried several different stops, anywhere from 15 to 40 feet, and had trouble finding any concentrations of fish. When we would find them they were all small hybrids of about 1lb. We ran into huge schools of fish on top out in the middle of the lake in about 70 feet of water. After pulling several on the 1/8oz slab we moved on to try to find bigger fish, but nothing ever materialized. Good day on the water with about 40 hybrids and sandbass, but could not find any bigger fish.

Aug 16th-20th: Got on the water at Canton Wednesday afternoon around 5pm. Bait was easy to get and then headed out to the mid lake humps. Marked a few fish, but couldn't get any takers. Moved over to the channel drop in front of the dam, again marked fish, but no takers. Moved over in front the dam on a small drop and marked a nice school. Had a few hits on smaller shad, but again nothing in the boat. Decided to try something different and hit the face of the dam with a spook. The largemouth were stacked right on the rocks. Nothing big that evening but a lot of fun on top waters. On the way back to meet Flynn at the ramp, I stopped and re-baited the 5 jugs I had set. The first run had a few channels and gar on so dinner was secured.
After loading the bait tank again Flynn and I headed out at about 10pm for some night fishing. Went to some mid lake humps, and no sooner than we had the lights in the water we had fish slamming our shad. Most were smaller sand bass and walleye, but did get a few magnum sandies. We constantly stayed on fish for about 4 hours and decided to catch some shut eye.
We slept in Thursday and awoke to an already hot morning. We ran out jugs and tried some trolling around the mid lake humps. Big sand bass were stacked on the edges of the humps in about 12ft of water. Most were caught on Frenzy deep divers trolled at about 8 foot down. It started to really get hot so we went below the dam and waded, trying to find if any hybrids had got holed up in the deep holes after the recent water release. Did not find any hybrids, but the crappie were stacked in there. Mostly small ones, but a good time on light tackle. After a quick fish fry we headed back to the face of the dam for some more top water fishing. Largemouths were still stacked in the area. We boated 12 over 14 inches and 4 that were right at 3lbs, and plenty of short fish as well. These fish were right on the bank, 2 foot off the bank was too far. These fish seemed to like the smaller chug bugs and spittin' images.
Just before dark we went and ran the jugs and pulled another couple nice channels, a walleye and a big drum. We set out for night fishing again and decided to try some different spots in hopes of finding a hybrids. We baited up this time with small crappie, perch and shad, hoping to find a magic bait for the elusive Canton hybrids. Every stop we made we found fish, but all were sand bass and small walleyes. We did catch much larger sand bass Thursday evening, some upwards of 2lbs.
Friday marked the arrival of my wife and Flynn's girlfriend. We started the day with the running of the jugs. Pulled in another few channel cats and small gar. We ran the jugs along the channel bend in front of the red bluffs. Live bait seemed to be the most productive bait for the channels, while the cut bait was popular for the gar, drum and walleye. We spent most of Friday dragging each other around the lake and letting Tuco, Flynn's 12 week old black lab , get used to the water. While waiting for supper time we hit the face of the dam and again found many active largemouths, walleye and channel cats willing to bust a rat l trap or a top water. After a burger at Kelly's (formerly Louie's) we headed out for some night fishing. We got out to our spots and found that with the lack of wind the bugs were absolutely unbearable. We decided to run the jugs quickly and get back to the shore, and away from the bugs.
Saturday morning we awoke to a stiff north breeze with waves rolling up the ramp. We decided to wait it out and sure enough the wind died down around noon. We headed out with my wife and did a few trolling passes over the humps. No takers there. We then moved over to the face of the dam and begin casting rat l traps and bucktails. We again landed several nice largemouths and a few odd ball drum and walleyes. It got hot so we took turns on the tube enjoying the 84 degree water. About 6pm we could see a storm rolling our way so we loaded the boat up. No more than 5 minutes after we got our boat our of the water the winds kicked up something terrible and boats were running for shelter. It turned into a mad house at the ramp and we felt lucky to avoid that situation. The storms stuck around that evening so we weren't able to make it out for any night fishing.
Sunday morning we awoke to another stiff north breeze, but decided to tough it out and headed out to pick up the jugs. After getting them stowed away we trolled the ledges at the humps, instantly getting onto some very nice sand bass, a few short walleyes and some big channel cats. They seemed to be running a little deeper on Sunday, wanting small crankbaits down about 10ft. After a trip back to camp for some refreshments we headed back out and hit the dam. Flynn pulled a nice flathead on a bucktail right off the bat. I had switched over to a senko and began pounding nice largemouths, most over 18 inches and better than 3lbs. Flynn later switched to a fire stick and began pulling smaller largemouths left and right. Finally around 4pm we had to call it a day.
A great trip, with good company. Water levels are down about 5 foot, but all ramps are usable other than Longdale. The entire north bank is a sandy beach. Water temps ranged from 81 to 86. Still lots of construction below the dam, and no water being released at all.

August 6:  Headed for Sooner with the wife and her friend in hopes of catching a few hybrids. Bait was tough but we did manage plenty of small ones by the intake. Most shad were in the 1-3 inch range, and had one 5inch drum to go along with them. Started off on a mid lake hump and had a few pull downs, but nothing to the boat. Moved up shallower to another ledge and marked a few small schools, but nothing spectacular. We did have one good fish on the small drum, never got her turned and she spit the hook. The ladies grew restless so I changed gears and chased the small hybrids and sand bass on top around the south side of the island. Probably ended with close to 20 fish, a couple of the hybrids were right at 2lbs, and all caught on 1/4oz BTB slabs. Water temp at the ramp was 91, main lake 86.
 

July 21st-23rd: Camped and fished Canton with Flynn.  Got to the campsite and pitched the tent just before the sun disappeared. We had initially planned to fish well into the evening but the four-foot rollers kept us on dry land. We rose early the next day, netted a good number of 2-3" shad and, though we landed only a few fish, it was a hero's showing considering the amount of Canadian blended whiskey emanating from our pores due to our forced stay on land the night before.  However, we persevered and went noodling figuring if the fish wouldn't take our bait we'd pull 'em out by force!  This tactic was even less productive than than our first and we felt some fish but landed none.  It was doubly effective though in cooling us down and rinsing off our Crown Royal de toilet.  For the rest of the day the wind and waves drowned all our hope of fishing the main lake.  Resorting to old school tactics we decided to try the river below the spillway.  The water was gushing and the scene looked perfect but the fish were nowhere to be found.  With three strikes looming, we headed back to camp for smoked chicken and a regrouping of thoughts.  At 9pm the wind died down and we set out, determined.  We found a good looking hump, anchored up, and set out lines.  A few minutes later I landed a nice sandie and before I could even reach for the needle-nose, the bait clicker on my other rod went nuts, our bad luck was over.  We caught fish solidly for hours, easily topping the 100 mark and proudly catching most on small BTB slabs.  We landed 7 different species of fish in a few hours but the majority were feisty 2lb. sandies.  After a while we simply wore out and left 'em biting.  By Sunday morning the wind was gone and the lake was glass.  We trolled for a bit but without the wind it heated up quick.  We decided to drag each other around on the tube and judging by the soreness in my arms as I type this, may have been a little excessive.  We trolled off and on during the rest of the day but found it easy to revert back to throwing each other off the tube after the previous night's overwhelming victory.  After loaning a stranded boater a battery to get back to land, we loaded the boat and headed home, admittedly with egos that had grown since our arrival.  All total, it was a great weekend, although I still hate the wind.

July 9th: Cory Fished pond X Sunday.  Pond was perfectly still with no breeze and a slight sprinkle off and on. Bite was slow. One bass caught on red and brown wooly bug. 15 crappie caught on chartreuse and white spinner bait. All fish caught on West bank.  Water was clear, with good visibility several inches below surface, cover fished was exposed tree roots along bank, all fish caught in one to three foot of water. Small bass, crappie in the 3-5in range.

July 8th: Got to Sooner with Shelby with a tank full of nice shad from 1 inch to 5 inches. Marked a nice school of fish off of crappie point and trolled live baits through them, nothing. Went to the intake and marked another nice school of fish, but again nothing on the shad. We did pull a couple of sand bass on Bleeding Thumb Baits Slim Slabs, seemed that the bucktail trailer was the ticket on these. After dragging baits through this area we threw the net in the little channel and added another 50 nice threadfins to our tank of gizzards. Headed back toward mid-lake and took a little noodling break. We found a ton of fiesty little blues that were just about trying to chew our hands off, moved to another spot and still no flatheads. Fished one other hump for about an hour with one crappie coming on a slab and finally headed for home around 6pm. Beautiful day on the water, but couldn't get on the right school of fish.

July 4th: Went noodling with Richard on a creek north of Enid. It was our first try at this section of creek, and it was a lot of dead water. We found a few very nice holes, but nobody was home. Felt maybe 5 fish, and got just one about 12lber out. She was holed up in a tire with several other fish. She was the biggest in the hole, but still not what we were looking for. Best part is we fished on 4th of July and didn’t see another person.

June 24th-25th:  Finally got back to Texoma for a stay at the grandparents cabin with my mom, dad, sister, brother and wife, and we had a blast. Fished with guide Elmer Spicer on Saturday morning with my brother and father and had a good day on the water. A lot of guides struggled that morning but Elmer put us on a bunch of fish in the Two Rivers, Soldier Creek and finally hitting the jackpot at The Cross. All fish came on live shad with our limit of over 20's and unders, plus several released overs and small fish. No monsters, but good consistent action. I would highly recommend Elmer Spicer as a guide, very professional and a lot of fun to visit with. After a quick nap I was back on the lake with the ladies getting them some sun and also found a huge school of surfacing sand bass and stripers by the oil wells. Most of the stripers were small, but we did get a few box fish out of the bunch. All fish were caught on Bleeding Thumb Bait slim slabs, color did not seem to matter. Even my sister was able to land about 20 nice fish. The next morning my brother and I slept in a little to long and couldn't find any shad, but went out chasing some topwater fish. Found tons on top between Catfish Bay and the railroad bridge. Most were small, so we headed for different waters after pulling a few. Nothing going around the oil wells so we headed toward the road bed in Big Glasses and found some active stripers and pulled a few on fat slabs and wildeyes. Called it quits about noon and went in for some crappie fishing. Pulled in a nice mess of big crappie in a short amount of time on jigs tipped with minnows. Another great trip with great company, but I am wore out.

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:  Hit Keystone with Doug and Jason on Saturday. We did a lot more boating than fishing, but still had some luck on the few juglines we threw out. Caught about 8 blues from 4-7lbs and 3 or 4 channels in the 2lb range, perfect for the frying pan. All fish came on fresh shad that were netted with no problems in the Cimmaron arm, and jugs were run in the 10 to 22 foot range, fish seemed to be suspended, as the top hooks were most productive.

June 3rd:  Took my mother and uncle out for some hybrid action at Sooner today. Left the shad tank at home to give us some more room to get around. Had a live well of some nice big shiners, thinking they may do the trick. I was wrong, we got one great big crappie on the shiners and that was it. Tried dragging some crankbaits around for a while and got into some of the little 11-13inch hybrids. Moved over to the culvert area to see if any more crappie were going, but just found a few more small hybrids and sand bass. Fishing was slow for us, but had a great time with great company.

May 21:   Started off a bit behind schedule Sunday mornin' as the 4-6" shad were few and far between the 8-10" variety at the shad hole.  However, we managed to put a dozen or so in the bait tank and headed to Soooner.  Arrived just after the sun did and went looking for a bit smaller bait.  Managed to net a couple dozen perfect 2-3" threadfins and headed for Crappie Point.  From this point on the catching was non-stop.  Throughout the day we chased schooling 1 lb. hybrids all over the lake with doubles probably outnumbering the singles.  All total we probably caught nearly 50 of these fighters on light tackle in bursts all day.  But by far the best portion of the day were those first 3-4 hours of sunlight off Crappie Point.  The wind hadn't died down yet, the sun hadn't heated up yet, and we ran out of little threadfins while still hammering hybrids like these below.  All in all, an excellent day of fishing.