Thread: Oologah Brush Question

I didn't want to hijack the Oologah report page, so I thought I'd ask a question here.

I read Reaper's post on the report page and looked at the brush pile maps. My question for those of you who are regulars to the lake is this.

Do the older brush piles still exist and hold fish? Seems like the older ones would be better...if they're still there.

I could talk for an hour on my theory. I'll try to keep my answer short. My best overall fall came fishing 3yr old brush piles on Oologah. They had rotted down to the point that you could barely find them on my sonar, yours might be better. The fish were right on the bottom and I was using a drop shot and the fish would have mud on their bellies. The way I new I was in the right spot was when I caught a fish and I would drop a marker before I even got the fish half way up to the boat. I fell in love with those brush piles so the next year I signed up for the brush pile day and I have helped ever since. The brush piles we make now will last much longer than those that I was fishing that special fall. They are much bigger and we put them in crates with rocks and sink them. I don't think the ones that I was fishing before were done that way, not sure but the new ones seem to last longer. The first year I helped we caught some really nice fish just a few days later suspended above the piles. That lasted for about two weeks, I think it had something to do with the thermocline. After that I would catch them on the bottom but the size diminished and I was catching ten small ones to every keeper(10inches). I was using minnows. Odie is using jigs and doing very well this year. I haven't been out on Oologah since Labor day when our church group went fishing for blues, with the exception of putting brush out on brush pile day. All that being said, I like smaller piles close to the bottom in 15 to 20 foot of water. I am sure more members will post their success stories that are much different than mine. I all depends on past experience and what you have confidence in. So much for being short.
Ps
The crappie in my avatar pic are 2lb in my left hand and 21/2lb in my left hand caught that fall on two different piles 1/4mile from the dam in Nov 4 years ago.

OkieDon, I have the brushpiles loaded on mine all the way back to 2005. I sometimes fish older ones but usually fish the 2-3 year old piles. Last year my best piles were put in in 2007. In the summer on Oologah the thermacline is usually 16-18 feet so I never try piles deeper than that no matter how old they are. This year in the early winter the key was 16-20 feet brush and here lately it has been 25-30. We had a major shad die off about 1 month ago and since then you have to find shad around the brush or you are wasting your time. The crappie we have been catching are not IN the brush, but are feeding on the shad around the edges of brush. We are not anchoring over brush, we are locating brush in 25-30fow and looking for shad in the immediate area. The balls of shad are moving, but not long distances. We just use our locator and move with the shad. The crappie have been right in the shad balls. The first day we caught all the fish in a 25 yard circle and the second day it was a 75 yard circle. Most of the time we are fishing corp brush piles. These last 2 trips we were fishing OUR piles that WE put out. I don't mind helping any of you find fish but just can't give out the coordinates of the piles. I hope you guys understand that. Those of you that have ever put out a lot of brush know how hard the work is. We cut our brush, haul it home and drill holes in the trunk. Then we load it on an old pontoon and sink it during the winter at night. I have some buddies who think we are crazy, but most of them don't know where our piles are. We take friends fishing on corp piles all the time and yes we usually can catch some fish, sometimes a lot. The piles we put out ourselves we usually save only for the ones that help us put them out. The corp piles are great, but can be overfished at times. My suggestion is find a couple good buddies and put out some pile of your own and swear them to secrecy. Hope this helps you guys out and I hope you guys understand why we can't give out our GPS coordinates.

Odie

Kenny and Odie, thanks a lot. I was thinking that those put out in 2003 and 2004 may be gone depending on the type of wood they used, but wasn't sure.

I've never fished Oologah, but I'm going to start soon. I calculated the mileage to Crowder at Lake Eufaula from my house and it's 85 miles. From my house to Talala, it's 50. (according to Google) Not sure it's worth the extra 35 miles or more (if I go further South like I sometimes do).

I like fishing Gibson (20 miles) but I'm not crazy about being limited to the 15 fish per day limit.

So if I want to save gas and time (and it's really about the windshield time), it's either learn to fish Oologah or buy a place near Crowder!

Don, I don't know what kind of trees were used in the building of the Corp BPs. I can tell you that any tree, brush, rock was fair game when I helped build some in Spencer Creek area. I want to say it was 2,006 and we had a great turn out. There were a total of 96 piles sunk that day alone! Spencer also offers some protection from the wind too. I understand the windshield time, It's rare I'll drive to the other side of the lake to launch, and even more rare for me to venture across the lake in my rig. As any lake, there is usually brush to be found around deep points, usually just to the inside. Crowder to me is way down there in the paw paw patch. Isn't there several areas on Eufaula closer to Coweta?

North End is nearest to Coweta however it is usually feast or famine there I-40 is sometimes good and not very far as is graves creek and hiwire cove I like Don live near Coweta and I usually fish south first because they start first down there but change over to Oolougha in mid may I hardly ever fish the spawn up there becasue of water changes as most places are really behind the trees a long way and I didnt pay for my ranger to get out and wade fish

Hey Reaper,

It's about 35 miles from my house to Gentry Creek. I grew up just East of Henryetta on the Deep Fork River. I fished Graves and Gentry Creek, as well as the Deep Fork River, often.

The problem is for me that the water is usually muddy in the Spring due to the Deep Fork running into it. I've seen Coon tracks on top of the water before because it was so muddy!

The muddy water probably bothers me more than the Crappie, but it is what it is. I like water with some clarity!

Plus both those areas get Super heavy pressure from both boaters and bank fishermen when the spawn is on. You can just about walk down Graves creek from boat to boat when the spawn is one and never touch water :D

I like the South side of the lake. The water seems to stay a little clearer after rains plus I don't seem to run into as much competition. Not to mention I seem to catch more fish when I go there! I just simply enjoy fishing there more than on the North side.

Muddy water warms faster is what I have heard. When fishing the shallow creeks for early spawning fish, the muddy water can help mask your presence. Don't be scared to give it a try. If you're used to using jigs, try tipping them with a minnow or use a jig scent on them.

With all the high water the last 3years on Oologah it was worth the drive to go to Eufaula. The two years previous to that I did quite well on Oologah. I'm 30 minutes to launch at Oologah or 1hr 45min to launch at Eufaula (south). I tried several times to find fish at Oologah but had no luck until things calmed down around the middle of June. My worst day on Eufaula was twice as good as my best day on Oologah. I made a lot of trips to Eufaula.
Fishin or catchin.

True and correct Coyote