Archive for the ‘Fishy Stories’ Category

Out of the Way Places

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Sometimes the fishin’ buddies seem to pick the most out of the way spots. But you know, there’s a reason they do choose the places they do.

Maybe they’ve been there before. Maybe as a kid, maybe last month, but they ‘know’ that there’ll be good fishin’ there as well as no crowds. Maybe the fishing hole was featured on one of the tv fishing shows, or showcased in a magazine, but most of the time, it’s just word of mouth. Someone’s uncle fished here once and caught ‘the’ big one.

There is nothing worse than Oklahoma red dirt and muddy bottom clay sticking to a new pair of white tennis shoes! The ‘person that does the laundry’ would have a stinkin’ fit! So instead of my ‘usual’ white tennis style shoes, this time I chose a new pair of Walking shoes, brown ones. Shoot, with a brown pair, you can just tap off most of the dirt and no one will ever know where you’ve been…

I broke these new walking shoes in walking around at Sams and the electronic store last week, as well as mowing the lawn. The reason being that you should always break in a new pair of shoes before you do any extended walking or hiking in them. You sure don’t want to get blisters when you’re out at the fishin’ hole - the guys would tease ya half to death!

What kind of shoes are they? Hawkshead. Nice manly name and they’re lightweight WITH waterproof construction. The outer parts are breathable suede and mesh upper made for keeping these feet dry and comfortable. Inside there’s a trail sole and absorba-sole insoles for durability & comfort.

As it was, the guys didn’t even notice my new walking (fishing) shoes, but my feet sure appreciated them!

Now, if the guys could just pick a fishing hole that’s NOT two miles off the road!

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Harrah Heritage Park

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Harrah Cub Scouts Pack 65 recently worked with the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Department to build permanent fish habitats in the waters at Harrah Heritage Park.

The project helped the boys earn their World Conservation award.

The group sank concrete blocks filled with concrete and tubing, creating many small fish habitats. Fish will utilize the structures almost immediately.

Kudos to Pack 65!

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Bassmaster in Oklahoma

Friday, June 18th, 2010

I ’so’ intended to get over to Lake Thunderbird this past weekend for the tourney. I wasn’t going to enter, but, I wanted to at least see the results…

I missed that one but I sure don’t want to miss the Bassmaster Elite Series. It’s coming back to Oklahoma after skipping us for the last two. The tourney began yesterday on the Arkansas River, with the Muskogee Chamber as host.

Weigh-ins and launches will be at the Three Forks Harbor in Fort Gibson.

Fishermen will be fishing along a hundred mile section of the river from Catoosa to Kerr Lake.

The Sooner Run winner will net a hundred grand.

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Horizon Relief

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Remember when people were selling little vials of Mount St. Helen’s ash?

Now some business savvy folks are scooping up blobs of oil off the gulf’s beaches, bottling it and selling it. “Some” has reached prices as high as a thousand dollars!

A local charity, Horizon Relief, has stepped in and is selling bottles of the messy blob to raise money for local fisherman, oyster shuckers, deck hands, day laborers. They are calling them ‘Bottles of Hope’ and selling them as souvenirs. Smaller vials called ‘Vials of Opportunity’ can be acquired for $25 with the monies also going towards the same causes.

Horizon Relief is also selling smaller bottles, called “Vials of Opportunity” with $25 donations.

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Fishermen Heroes

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

Rescue fisherman aboard the French fishing boat, Ile de La Reunion, pulled 16-year-old Abby Sunderland from her capsized boat in the Indian Ocean. The fisherman heroes found her 2000 miles east of Madagascar, Africa, and and 2000 miles West of Perth, Australia. The weather calmed enough to allow a dinghy to make the transfer.

Australian Search and Rescue,Wild Eyes,Qanta airbusAbby’s dismasted 40-foot sloop, Wild Eyes, had been spotted 24 hours earlier by Australian Search and Rescue volunteers aboard a Qantas Airbus. The crew spoke with her briefly by VHF. The aircraft found her by homing in on the two emergency rescue beacons Abby had activated.

There has been no word yet about the fate of Abby’s boat, which still is adrift, but her quest to be the youngest solo circumnavigator is over. She made it about halfway around, and she became the youngest to round Cape Horn alone.

Abby set sail from Marina del Rey, near Los Angles, California, in January, 2010, in an Open 40 sloop designed by Scott Jutson for just the kind of seas and weather Abby would be likely to encounter, but had to put in at Cabo San Lucas when one of her automatic pilots failed. After completing repairs she left Cabo on Feb 7 to continue her journey, rounding both Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, and then sailing across the Indian Ocean before a series of storms finally put an end to her quest June 11.

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Oklahoma Fish

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Oklahoma fishing is as diverse as it’s weather!

State records have been made this year on such unusual sounding fish as the black buffalo and the river redhorse.

Records have also been set on these ‘different’ fish:

smallmouth buffalo
common carp
river carpsucker
northern hognose sucker
flathead catfish.

Actually none of these are classified as ‘gamefish’ and most fishermen wouldn’t recognize one on their line, but they still are sought after fish, right here in Oklahoma.

The record winning carp weighed in at 48 lbs and 13 oz. He was caught May 16th at Broken Bow by Scotty Littles.

Richard Williams of El Reno reeled in a 78 lb 8 oz record flathead catfish and Jeffrey Ray pulled in a 50 lb 4 oz smallmouth buffalo.

These are some HUGE fish!

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Fish Tried to Land a Big One

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Location: Pensacola Beach: Bob Sikes Fishing Pier
Time:Friday afternoon
Who: Nice married woman

Circumstances: While trying to net her husbands redfish catch, the fish decided for one more getaway try and ended up pulling Patricia Tenuto into the water. She fell a good 20 feet into the water.

Her spouse, tossed down his pole and called 911 but stayed on the pier with their toddler son. Down under the pier, Patricia hung onto a piling and awaited help.

Lifeguards quickly retrieved her.

As for Paul and Patricia? They say they’ll be back. They’ll be after the one that got away.

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Bass Fishin’ in Oklahoma

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Oklahoma has great bass fishing all over the state, but some folks say ’some’ places are better than others.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation does electronic fishing surveys on most of the lakes and they also gain lots of information from the many bass tourneys across the state.

Bass live 10-12 years and Oklahoma’s bass seem to have a steady age range. There’s a little bit of everything. In 08, at Chimney Rock, the ODWC tallied 71 bass per hour with the biggest weighing over five pounds. Grand Lake had a rate of 83 per hour with the biggest weighing over six pounds.

In the middle of the state the five bigger lakes were measured with Eufaula winning the count. They counted 88 bass per hour with the biggest over five pounds. Arcadia pulled in a low 21 and Thunderbird faired worse with just 16 per hour, but the biggest was over nine pounds.

Northeast’s winner was American Horse with 88 per hour. The Southeast’s was lower with 36 per hour at Sardis.

Bass are a given in Oklahoma and sometimes it’s a toss up as to ‘which’ lake to choose to fish. But surveys show there are decent sized fish in most of the lakes and we won’t find them if we don’t ‘go fishin’!

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Utah’s HB 141

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Utah’s governor, Herbert signed into law House Bill 141, the stream access bill.

The bill limits access to waterways…

The way I understand it, the current rivers are open to fisherman provided they ‘enter’ on public lands. The new law prohibits access to private streambeds. This would require getting permission from the landowners on the river or stream.

Talk about a headache!

fishing

fishing

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Chandler’s Bell Cow

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Just a little ways north of OKC is Chandler’s Bell Cow Lake. Bell Cow opened in the 90’s and is still relatively unknown.

This lake is purported to have an excellent sized bass, not tons of fish but quality fish.

In the spring, the bass move into the flats before spawning, so fishing is good then. A good spot to check (and catch) bass is off the north bank of the lake as well as the lakes ditches and creeks.

Why not try Bell Cow this weekend?

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