Had a pretty good day. Caught around 50. Kept a few for Lake Crisco.
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Had a pretty good day. Caught around 50. Kept a few for Lake Crisco.
Nice, those are some good ones.
Between the wind and the fronts, fish have moved deeper this winter than I can remember in the past. Normally fish 12 to 17 ft in February but had to move into 23 to 30 fow this year. Talked to a lot of artificial minnow guys that are really struggling. With the water release, fish are holding just out of any current waiting on ghost minnows and shad to come by. All the fish we have cleaned are full of 3 to 4 inch shad and ghost minnows. Cover doesn't seem to be important as much as a ledge or drop off where the fish are out of the current. Water temp average is 36 to 38 deg. Need a break from the 30 mph winds. Something that may help on any Corps managed lake is always check to see if there is any water release before you fish or if there is any inflow. Crappie hate current. If there is current always fish the downstream side of any cover. Crappie schools will hold there out of the current waiting on baitfish.
Keep em coming, Tim.
Wind gusted out of the south yesterday over 30 mph and out of the north today over 30 mph. Gotta love Oklahoma weather
I have been trying a new method that I think is gonna work well. I am running my 12 ft rods from the side using a controlled drift at 02 to 03 mph along channels on drop shot rigs with minnows. Still playing with drift speed. Having to drift VERY slow in the 36 deg water. Never have been a fan of drift socks I use 5 gall buckets with multiple holes drilled in the bottom and replace the metal handles with rope I will sometimes drift up to 4 buckets and use my outboard set at angles for steering direction along with the trolling motor. Always trying something different makes it fun
Yes. The fish right now are not holding at any specific depth so I'm having to stagger them. Have a couple I'm bouncing the weight off the bottom and the others I have staggered at different depths. Using the lightest weight I can get away with to keep the lines vertical. 3/8 to 1/2 ounce are working best. I use straight 1/0 gold hooks. Found out when fishing in the winter I catch more fish downsizing to the 1/0 hook vs the 2/0 we use in the spring. Problem I'm having up here is getting minnows of any size. All I can get are 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inch minnows. Prefer them 3 to 3 1/2 inches. Don't fish for quantity so rather catch 10 to 15 big fish a day than a 100 small ones. The 6 to 10 inch fish are killin us on the smaller minnows. I will give you a hint that will help a lot when you make your drift buckets. The back end of your boat is naturally heavier and will drift slower because of the engine therefore the buckets you have back there will need more holes in them for less water resistance where the buckets off the front will need fewer holes that will create greater water resistance and keep your boat drifting straight. I make the ropes all around 10 ft long and adjust them in and out until I get the boat drifting the direction I want it to. I will show you a picture of one when I get a chance.
Thanks for the information and tip on the buckets, I'll keep an eye out for the pic.
Are you running Live Scope?
No not yet anyway. Doing ok without it. Most folks will never scratch the surface of what their current locators are capable of.
Ice, sleet and snow in northern Oklahoma. Ramps will be unusable for a few days. Lake will probably ice over by Saturday morning. We need a shad kill.
Nasty day today. Cold, rain and fog. Water temp in the mid 30's. Took a buddy out to show him how to use drop shot rigs with live bait. Short fish killed us today. Caught between 60 and 80 crappie. Managed to catch enough keeper fish for a good meal. No giants today just nice fish.
Cold high pressure moved the fish tighter to the drop offs in 22 to 26 fow today. Lots of short fish 7 to 11 inches. Bigger fish were harder to find
Had a heat wave today. Water temp hit 40 deg. Running glass rods out the side the boat. Caught a lot of fish. Kept a few. Caught most in 20 to 23 fow fishing from the bottom up to 10 ft. Lake came up some since yesterday. Water is murky north to clear south. Looks like the weather is gonna shut us down for awhile.
Finally got a couple pounds of bigger 3 to 3 /12 inch shiners. Now we will see if we can get the big girls to cooperate.
Sure r pretty minners!!!
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Sometimes catchin fish is a bonus. Really cold this evening. Did manage to get 19 in the boat but had to work hard to get them. Finally found some fish in 28 fow.
I’m thinking about coming up to Kaw tomorrow and staying the rest of the week. What’s the weather done up there today
Couple inches of sleet / snow. Don't know if the ramps will be usable tomorrow. Thursday should be ok.
Heck of a day. Love fishing on full moons. Fish were 22 to 28 ft deep today. Wind was tough. Found some big fish along drop offs. Had to keep the drop shots really still. Fish didn't want to chase it. Had some fish around 15 inches.
Nice job Tim
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Looks like winter is gonna hang on a while. Wind chills around zero today. Lake is running around 35 deg with a moderate shad kill. Still catching fish deep off of points and drop offs out of the current when there is a water release. Lake elevation is 1011.50 and falling. Release is around 6000 cf today. Water is clear to murky. Ready for warmer weather.
Day started out cloudy with fog and drizzle. Checked a couple of places in 17 to 20 fow and found nothing. Went to another area and found them stacked up in 25 fow. Caught several in the 1.9 to 1.12 lb range Caught most on drop shot rigs but had several good fish on hair jigs. Fish were feeding on 2 to 3 inch shad. Had to find that size to catch fish.
Had a pretty good day Monday. Water temp came up to 44 deg and had to fight the sandbass that's on the move. Still a big Garmin fan and always will be but not using livescope yet. May be a day I do but guess I'm a little old fashion.
That's some good looing pigs...
Wow great job Tim
Very nice!!
Lake came up 4 ft in the last 48 hrs. Between the wind and the rain in has the lake pretty stirred up. Inflow this morning still shows 20,000 cf. All 8 gates are open and they are releasing just under 13,000 cf so lake is still rising some. Hopefully the inflow will start going down sometime today. Gonna make fishing real interesting the next few days. A lot of current.
Finally got to take my son today and it was a tough bite. Lake came up over 5 ft in the last 3 days and it really scattered the fish. Water temp was 47 to 50 deg and from murky to muddy. Finally got some fish to bite in 24 fow about 12 ft deep. All 8 gates are open and still 12000 cf coming in.
Nice to get out with your son...bonus to catch some nice fish...how dirty is the water on the Washunga end?
Nice fish there! Glad you all got out.
Mud line has moved south of Sarge creek. Water is muddy north to stained up toward the main lake. Something people may not realize, when they pull water and bring the muddy water down the lake out of the river, creeks and flats, the mudline only goes down so deep so you will have clearer water under the muddy water near the surface. The muddy water was warmer yesterday and really pulled the fish up shallower.
Today lake was muddy and falling with an east wind. Hard to find tougher conditions but any day you can fish is a good day. I probably have learned more about crappie fishing over the years fishing the tough days than any other time. Caught fish today from 17 ft up to 8 ft. Water temp reached 51 deg this afternoon.
Thank you for the reports and pictures Tim. Interesting post about muddy/clear water stratification. I have never heard that...
They were hard to find but easy to catch.
Kept 37 and threw back about as many . 2-6' deep in 3-30' of water 1/4oz black and chartreuse.
Nice to meet you today TWC glad you caught fish. Kept a few with the biggest fish around 16 inches. Fishing 25 to 28 fow about 6 foot deep. Water temp went up to 53 and really brought the fish up.
Thanks for the advice today TimY. Hopefully I'll get back up there sometime soon.
Have the crappie and sand bass moved into the creeks and rivers yet?