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Well I gave Tenkiller another try this morning. This time I went north from Pettit, eventually making my way under the bridge to Dry Creek, fishing various coves and some brush piles I saw along the way.
I started the morning catching two 4-5lb catfish on my crappie rig and a small sandbass. And wound up catching 4 keeper size crappies 12-14", and a handful of smaller ones. I released the keepers yesterday and today since I didn't feel like cleaning only 3 or 4 fish (I'm sure I would have felt differently if I didn't have crappies in the freezer :) ). I fished mostly 20fow and less today.
In Dry Creek there was what I'm guessing is a research team with a boat that had a bunch of tentacles hanging off the front on each side and a generator or something running. A guy was driving and a guy was up front with a big net scooping up fish as they went along. And back in the cove about half way there was a big area with bouys all around it that looked like a research operation too.
I never really found a consistent pattern to the fish on Tenkiller in just two days of fishing, but both were great days to be out crappie fishing on a beautiful lake.
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I also fished tenkiller yesterday.. It was a grind but I caught a limit with a pretty even mix of white and black crappie. Some nice sized ones too.
The pattern I found was fish on pole timber in 15-25' depth. The timber wasn't loaded with fish, rather I'd find one here and one there. Lots of fish would follow my jig and then quit. I'm certain minnows would've produced more.
I found the most success near burnt cabin area.
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Good job Big Jake.
Assuming by pole timber you mean submerged trees that are sticking up from the bottom and the fish are suspended on them somewhere in the middle of the water column? If so, that's pretty much the same pattern I was fishing on gibson with success the past couple weeks. I am just not familiar enough with Tenkiller to know where all the different kinds of structure is. And frankly, I probably wasn't moving nearly often enough when I wasn't finding fish. I have a habit of staying in a place too long trying to force fish to appear :)
Since you were so much more successful than me it's a good learning opportunity for me, if you don't mind answering a couple of questions. Were you dropping down vertical to them inside of 10 feet from them, or casting to them? I had tons of fish that I thought were good sized crappies that seemed to spook and move when I get within 15-20 feet of them. And, is there any particular kind of jig color or size that works best in the relatively clear water of Tenkiller? I started with 2-2.25 inch plastics that normally work well in the muddy waters I have been fishing on gibson and eufuala, but had lots of fish look at it and swim off, or just plain swim off immediately. I tried minnows and got some bites, but found most success or 1/32nd oz. hair jigs like the one pictured below.
Thanks for the report!
Attachment 376073
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Tenkiller 2019
Glad to see you all out enjoying the fishing!
OD, BigJake.
Very seldom can you go sit on top of xkiller fish.
I have seen them leave when I get within 35 feet of them.
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Yes, OD, that's exactly what I meant by pole timber. And, I'll add that those old trees that still had a big limb or Y in then usually had a fish or two on them.
I usually pitch to the target, 15-20' out and work my way over the top if they don't spook. I did notice that I would pitch and they would follow the bait back toward me and sometimes I'd get them to bite almost under me, but not always.
I did catch a few roamers. They were aggressive but far and few between.
As far as jigs, nothing dominated. I caught some on plastic and some on hair jigs. Pictured below. I always keep a variety on the ready and if I can't get them to look at one thing I switch real quick. Jig sizes ranged from a 32nd to a 1/4. Haha
I hope I didn't come across as arrogant, that wasn't my intent.
Fishing TK by boat is still very new for me. Just searching around and building my knowledge of the lake. As a kid we spent a ton of time at the lake but almost exclusively dock fished. I'd love to locate more brush piles.lol Attachment 376098Attachment 376099
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Thanks, BigJake and Redge. No, you did not come off as arrogant at all. I am just glad I got the chance to ask questions of someone who out fished me on the same lake and same day. I have had many full day skunks in a row before on various lakes until I finally figure it out on my own. Being able to talk to someone else who did something different is extremely valuable for learning, whether they caught a limit or got skunked.
Super helpful and a big lesson learned for me from this. In retrospect, I was on fish the first day but hadn't figured out that I needed to cast to them. Had I known that, I wouldnt have wasted hours chasing them only to see them dash off or retreat to bottom and disappear forever, haha. Oh well, now I know what to do next time in the same scenario.
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Not sure if you follow Mark McGuire on Facebook but he reported fishing Tenkiller yesterday.
Looks like he and another caught a double limit. Here is a screen shot of his report. Attachment 376177
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Wow. They have it figured out.
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Ranger (Mark) was a long time participant on CDC till they went over solely to Facebook. A few of us don't participate on Facebook. Mark's a great guy and guide.
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Mark is a great guy and a guide!
Anybody needs a guide, I’d recommend him.
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