Thread: Why do our Lakes turn on and off???

Seems the colder the better up here In my opinion as well.

Originally Posted by Redge

Will be watching this, so I can learn something.

I certainly think the numbers do play a part. I don't have a clue so hoping to hear some logical ideas that will help me.

I can give one bit of input. On Xkiller last winter we were fishing 37 degree water for a lot of the winter and the fish were really schooled up. This year the coldest I have seen it is 44 degrees and the fishing hasn't been as good as it was last year. I know those colder temps relate to Kaw and Oologah also.

At Carl Blackwell, a number of guys have brought their electronics and noted that there were plenty of crappie and large balls of shad, even though the bites were few and far between. Nearly every fish I've cleaned has been full of shad, sometimes with tails sticking out of their mouths. Why they hit the jig when they are stuffed to the gills is a bit of a mystery. Is it possible that the slow bite at CB is because those fish have so many shad to eat that they just aren't hungry?

Crappie season about to bust wide open Caught last week (eufaula)

Originally Posted by Bigskyfisherman

At Carl Blackwell, a number of guys have brought their electronics and noted that there were plenty of crappie and large balls of shad, even though the bites were few and far between. Nearly every fish I've cleaned has been full of shad, sometimes with tails sticking out of their mouths. Why they hit the jig when they are stuffed to the gills is a bit of a mystery. Is it possible that the slow bite at CB is because those fish have so many shad to eat that they just aren't hungry?

What we have seen last 2 years

Lots of great answers guys

I do agree with Mark on the zebra mussell issue....the north end stays clearer than it ever has and yes they are everywhere....last year on the big E we saw more shad than I have ever seen around I40 bridge and they were always there....we would spider rig the rip rap and not do anything like we used to EB....the bait fish were there, the water temp and depth was the same but the fish werent....but when we found them in the new spot they would seem to repopulate that area after fishing it....but our old spots the fish just didnt seem to be there.

Andy

PS....remember "Crappie are gonna do what they wanna do when they wanna do it" and we have to adjust to that

I have been fishing tenkiller intermittently for 40 years since we have a place there.....making the trip 3-4 times a year now from Denver. It seems the sand bass populations are even more prevalent than they used to be. Those schools can be huge and hit everything in their paths and I certainly wouldn't be suprised if they also take out every small crappie in their path making repopulation tough. In the early 2000s for quite a few years the spawing season was just flooding season for the lake so that didn't help either. This past year I have seen more small crappie caught which is a good sign of what's to come.
I spoke with Dept of Wildlife 5 yrs ago to see if they would consider adding wipers as a sport fish and maybe make a dent in the sand bass population. They said they had tried and didn't take. Pretty simple answer that I find hard to believe unless they only stock frys which the sandbass would clean out in a hurry. They didn't seem overly interested in the discussion...govt...don't get me started.
Lastly, I've fished Canada quite a few times and the guide services say that lakes just vary as to the dominant predators such as as really good smallmouth lakes aren't typically great walleye lakes.
So, my take is that on this lake in particular as long as the sand bass gang trolls in big numbers the other species will play small roles. The Shad population isn't hurting in the lake at all. We use to try to find shad balls on the finder to find any kind of fish to catch...nowadays those balls are huge and everywhere. Ok, enough rambling with my $.02 worth.

I know the spring/summer of 2013 and 2014 were really wet compared to previous years where it was a drought. During the spawn and throughout the summerin the drought years I was killing them on T-Bird but the last 2 years not so much. I figured the fluctuation of lake levels due to massive amounts of rain during the spawn crapped it out the rest of the season. But on the flip side of that coin Oolagah lake levels were crazy because of these last 2 wet seasons but yet the lake is on fire now. I can't call it. Hope for a better year in 2015.