Thread: Headed to Talala Creek

Lazinback, myself, and a friend of his will be putting in at Vada point this morning. We are using Lazinbacks boat/truck, so if anyone else is putting in there, look for three guys ina boat. We plan to launch sometime close after sunrise. I don't know what his boat is. We'll most likely be working (hiding) banks hidden by the wind along with a couple of points. I think part of the time will be showing him some decent spots to test out when him and his bride venture out on their own.

Reaper, give us the report when you get back. I may venture out after church tommorrow, if I can find a spot to hide from the wind. If I do I'll post the results.

Report not good at all. I do absolutely love Lazinbacks deep V he bought. If there was a 50mph wind blowing on Oologah, I would be comfortable in his rig. Center console Aluminum, pushed by a 115hp Suzy. Great boat Lazin!

Anyway, we hit all my deeper spring, summer, fall spots that normally produce. I got to thinking, and I have never fished Talala area in the dead of winter. I need to spend more time exploring by myself. Wind was unfriendly trying to keep the boat anchored over some of the spots. None were holding fish. Then his MinnKota 65lb fried out, steering and motor were still working, but the smoke started billering from the mount area when the motor switch was engaged. He was going to check it out this evening. Acted to me like a weak interior connection that was getting stressed under power, thus the smoke.

We had been slow trolling some southern banks playing "fish the calmer waters" game when it went out. We ended up tying on some deep running cranks and started trolling with the big motor. I don't do that too often and the slowest we could muster was 2.5 mph. Drift sock was at his house and no bucket aboard. We ran those cranks all along Vada point and around till it shallowed up on us, took a ride to the North side of the Wiganon rip rap and trolled that and beyond. Nary a bump from any line we had down. We talked about it and decided to use the big motor to locate drop offs and brush and hopefull toss a bouy on top of them at the 2.5 speed. Tried two spots like that and it produced one sandy maybe 8" long. No telling what the temp was as we did not have a working thermometer on board.

Ventured back to whence we came in Talala Creek and anchored over a spot the normally one has to take a number to sit on. Lazinbacks friend and cohort, ED, hooked the lone crappie of the day. A whopper at around 7-8".

Talk about making myself look bad trying to show them some decent areas to catch some fish. Name change due from Reaper, to Jeeper should be in order. We went ahead and took a tour of Talala area and I showed him some areas to test out with his wife when the water starts to warm. Loaded the boat and headed out. I'll not live down the shame until I can stick him on some numbers.

Still love his boat though, it's one fine rig.
Thanks for picking me up Jeff and maybe next time, you'll be able to stick a few in the freezer.

CR- I would not feel too bad regarding today. There was a front that came thru today. I had scheduled a trip tomorrow to Gore for a day of catfishing with a guide friend of mine. He and his guide party encountered high winds, 4' waves and caught 1 small blue cat. The front hit him at 9:00 AM and he caught his lone fish at 9:30AM. His guide party stayed out until 3:00 PM fishless. He could not locate shad nor could he locate any fish. He is one of the most knowledgeable catfish guides I know. He does not miss. We discussed today's conditions and we agreed tomorrow would most likely be another boatride and that would be it. the All classic signs of a front. I canceled the trip. I have fished too many years and seen the effects of cold fronts and I rarely miss. I would not expect the fishing to pick up until Monday or Tuesday for keeper fish.

Reaper, thanks for the report. It has really slowed down for us also. The last couple of times the fish have not been where we normally catch them. We have used the last couple of trips to locate new areas and new brush piles. We haven't decided about today. Probably wait until after church to see what the wind is doing. If we go I'll post the report.

I am Jealous of all you guys who are fishing! I have to friggin work.

Sounds like you'll have better luck next time.

We had about the same results as Reaper had. We fished the south end of lake Oolagah because they said the wind was going to be bad. We found fish on the first brush pile but only managed to catch two crappie. We moved to another brushpile that showed fish and caught six with two of them between a pound and pound and a half. Pretty tough day as the last three weeks have been for us. Eight crappie is a tough day but it was better than sitting at home.

Today Lazinback and I tried it again. Had to go on a search and seizure run. Regular spots still not producing. We ended up anchoring over a drop off that went from 21' up to about 18'. We caught some dinks and put a few small keepers in the livewell. We changed locations a few times and still couldn't find the Motherload. We ended up straight across from the boat ramp. There were already about 5 other boats along the bank, so Jeff and I came up shy of the bank sitting close to some brush. We sat there till dark and tore up about 75 dinks dang near as fast as we could drop a jig. We both had double hookups. I had a rod in each hand and several times had both with fish on at the same time. Every now and then, we'd catch one for the livewell. I think the big fish of the day may have gone around 10.5" and most of the so called "keepers" were just barely big enough to take a knife to. Even though we never caught a really nice fish, we made it up in bulk. It was a really fun day. It didn't seem to matter what color you dropped on them either. No nibbles to tip the jigs, just some good old fashion jig catchin going on. Next time out, I'll be on the prowl for some of the bigger fish. That is a never ending quest for me.

Reaper we didn't make it out today. Too much to do around the house and the wind was a little strong for where we wanted to go. Sounds like you had a fun day. I am going to Eufaula for the first time this year on Tues. I don't know what to expect but am going to go in some creeks on the north end of the lake. Did you happen to notice what the water temp was in Talala Creek today? Were any of the guys fishing on the south bank catching any? Thanks for the report.