Newbie looking for bank fishing with a kid

Hey all. I'm new here and generally new to fishing. I used to drop minnows in my grandfathers boat slip on skiatook when I was really young. I'm just starting to try to learn to fish and get my 6 year old into the outdoors stuff. I recently started hunting also and my son is dying to go bird hunting with me... Eventually. Anyway, we live in Jenks and have fished our neighborhood pond and had a blast, but we want to get into some that we can keep. Veterans park has been extremely underwhelming. Has anyone had any luck with either Lake Jackson or Lake boren down by mounds? How about dripping Springs or okmulgee Lake? I would be fine with Keystone, skiatook, Eufaula or anywhere within an hour. The only thing about the big lakes is finding some decent bank fishing on all that shore line.

Wish I could help but that's not my part of the state. Someone will pipe in, I'm sure. When I was a kid I learned on the local creeks and had better luck than in the ponds. You might find some around you - also the "close to home" fishing lakes. There might be one nearby. Love to keep the youngsters interested in the outdoors!

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Originally Posted by TheCasa

Hey all. I'm new here and generally new to fishing. I used to drop minnows in my grandfathers boat slip on skiatook when I was really young. I'm just starting to try to learn to fish and get my 6 year old into the outdoors stuff. I recently started hunting also and my son is dying to go bird hunting with me... Eventually. Anyway, we live in Jenks and have fished our neighborhood pond and had a blast, but we want to get into some that we can keep. Veterans park has been extremely underwhelming. Has anyone had any luck with either Lake Jackson or Lake boren down by mounds? How about dripping Springs or okmulgee Lake? I would be fine with Keystone, skiatook, Eufaula or anywhere within an hour. The only thing about the big lakes is finding some decent bank fishing on all that shore line.

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You can drive to Ft Gibson in about 45 minutes. There is a lot of good bank fishing on the Grand River especially white bass and catfish. At certain times of the year you can catch some good crappie from the bank. Right now with as high as the water is, is not a good time to try to find a good place tho. I would start at Chouteau Bend about 4 miles East of Chouteau. We catch a lot of big blues in that area on shad. If you have any trouble locating an area on Gibson just give me a shout.

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Thank you! That's great info! I plan to make a trip or two on my own before I take the kid to be sure I know where works before he has a few boring trips and gets turned off. I'm traveling this week, but I'll make a trip next weekend. If I get stuck, I'll hit you up. thanks for the offer.

I sent you a PM with my phone number. If you don't get it let me know.

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I'm in Sand Springs... If Skiatook is a little low (Which I'm pretty sure it isn't now!) you should be able to comb the shore between the boat ramp and the dam.. I've fished it from an inflatable kaboat or my inflatable pontoon a couple times and caught a pretty nice smallmouth along with some smaller bass, sunfish, and maybe a couple crappie. There are a bunch of rocks in the water and submerged wood about halfway between that north ramp and the dam I think... If you walk the other way far enough I think there are some coves with standing timber. I just recently started fishing again and I've been hitting shell lake. I haven't caught anything large, but did get one 15" saugeye the other night plus 2 smaller ones and I've caught at least 1 saugeye almost every time I've gone which is a novelty for me so I've been enjoying that despite the small sizes so far. Also been catching a few small crappie, bass, and various sunfish. All of the saugeye were near the boat ramp mostly early morning or at dusk, no where else but the bass crappie and sunfish were all down the shore accessible areas. So far seems the Saugeye within shore reach seem to only like that ramp. Supposedly there are sand bass in there but I haven't caught one yet. Haven't tried for catfish, but saw a guy the other day catch a couple of buffalo off the boat ramp with what I think was dough bait. Live minnows, and Jerk baits, and crank baits have worked for me at Shell... Oh and beetle spins too. To be honest though I rarely fish soft plastics or spinner baits, so if someone puts in the time with em they may do just as well or better then I've been doing with my lure habits.

Before I became a depressed hermit withdrew from the world and stopped fishing for a few years (till now) I used to frequent Sahoma and Pretty water... Occasionally I'd get a nice crappie out of Sahoma and I know it used to give up the occasional good bass, as I think pretty water did too, (but not sure I've ever caught a crappie out of pretty water), but you'll find mostly dinks there I think, but lot's of shore access and fishing docks and enough numbers of fish at least a few years ago that you are pretty sure to catch something, especially if you're willing to stoop to a live minnow or worm and a bobber... Which I am, and that's good enough for most kids too. I have heard that people are still catching a few good crappie off the fishing dock on sahoma. Shell, pretty water, and sahoma like many of the city lakes are pay lakes so keep that in mind.

The other day I had to go to Bixby to have some work done on my Mitsubishi Outlander and stopped by to check out Bixhoma for the first time. Looks like a really nice lake and there was a bass or something jumping in front of the boat ramp, but sadly a huge wall cloud formed over the lake within 15-20 minutes of me wetting a line and I got drenched and was gonna wait in the car for a bit but started hailing so I got the hell out of there in case there was a tornado and/or the hail got larger. I'd like to go back... I hear it used to be a really good little lake but I'm having trouble finding much current info. It was fairly clear despite all the rain also, and I prefer that to mud holes like keystone, and even Shell (but I like those weird little saugeye, and it's close to me with good bank access). I think Bixhoma get a lot of people on it. There were probably at least 10 people counting kids running around at 530ish PM on a Thursday, including 2 on 4 wheelers... So if you can hit it during the week while everyone is at work that might be best. But there are 2 fishing Docks I think, and trails around about half the lake from what I saw on google maps satellite view, and I got the impression there was good shore access other places beyond the boat ramp area my visit was confined to before I had to escape nature's wrath.

You mentioned Lake Jackson and Boren.. I've never been to either but if you google "Lake Jackson Oklahoma" you'll see 2 results at the top: "Just one day to fish in Tulsa", and "favorite small lake"... being as I"m new here I don't wanna start off linking to another forum, but those 2 results discuss a lot of your local fishing options but the info is dated, so hard to say how good those places are now. Also might look into the 2 city lakes near Beggs. Again not been there but might be worth scouting out. As others said Ft gibson is within reach, and really Tenkiller and the lower Illinois sounds like they're within the distance your willing to drive so if you wanna catch some trout and maybe sand bass check out the river, and maybe hit up the lake while you're in the area. I've only fished Tenkiller and the lower Illinois one time each, but if I remember right there is some pretty nice rocky areas to shore fish from on the lake near the dam, and the lower illinois has several good access points for shore fishermen that aren't hard to find. Sadly the one time I fished the lower river the water was up, our trolling motor battery gave out and we crashed into a huge log blocking 3/4 of the river... Spent about 3 hours on that tree and had to be rescued by a lake patrol fan boat after the shut the dam off (JUST FOR US LOL) with a reporter on board snapping pics of me dripping in sweat wearing my tie dyed Aerosmith pump shirt, Co ed naked law enforcement hat with a cig hanging out of my mouth... No fish were caught, and She never sent us the pic/article after promising she would since we were apparently going to be in the Gore newspaper :)

One place I've really wanted to check out is Pumpback (Chimney Rock lake), but I don't know what shore access is like there, and I'll probably wait to hit that till I renew the registrations on my small boats I let lapse years ago, and probably lost all the paper work for too.

Other then the Arkansas River, I'd say if Bixhoma hasn't gone to hell over the last few years that's probably one of the best places to check out and have a shot at decent fish, but here is a link to the list of Tulsa Urban fisheries... Some of which might be worth a look (But I haven't gotten around to it yet)... https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/f...rban-fisheries

Oh they also stock Trout in Pretty water during the winter so if you're into that like I am, should be worth a visit (But I mostly go to Arkansas for Trout). Also if you are ever near Pawhuska that lake and the nearby bluestem I think are decent. I've only fished Pawhuska once back when they used to stock it with trout in winter since I was in the area to get a gaming license to work at Osage casino. I didn't catch anything big but a few bass, sunfish and several trout. Two old ladies in float tubes had several stringers full of keeper crappie and bass, so if it hasn't gone to hell and I'm ever in the area again I'd like to fish it again myself. I think Bluestem has walleye btw if that interests you, (Skiatook too). If you like trout and a shot at decent sized browns I'd personally try to at least get over to the beaver tailwaters (Spider creek resort is nice place to stay with good shore access), and if you really wanna shot at Trophy fish drive further to the White below Bull shoals, or the Norfolk tailwater nearby, or down to the little Red river... World class trout fishing there, but beaver tailwaters is closer and still pretty good so that's where I end up most of the time since my folks live in Bella vista.

Also if anyone here needs a fishing buddy I'm looking to make new friends, especially ones with boats!!! ;) I'm Almost 40, laid back, and willing to fish hard all day for pretty much anything as long as no one is gonna try to rob and/or rape me... Sadly my old fishing friends are all married with kids now and have become to lame to fish much anymore... even for their kids!!!! ...Won't they think of the Children??? ...The poor Children!!! (And me) :)

I'm Dave BTW, and I have a pet fox... If anyone was wondering about my screen name :)

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Originally Posted by TheCasa

Hey all. I'm new here and generally new to fishing. I used to drop minnows in my grandfathers boat slip on skiatook when I was really young. I'm just starting to try to learn to fish and get my 6 year old into the outdoors stuff. I recently started hunting also and my son is dying to go bird hunting with me... Eventually. Anyway, we live in Jenks and have fished our neighborhood pond and had a blast, but we want to get into some that we can keep. Veterans park has been extremely underwhelming. Has anyone had any luck with either Lake Jackson or Lake boren down by mounds? How about dripping Springs or okmulgee Lake? I would be fine with Keystone, skiatook, Eufaula or anywhere within an hour. The only thing about the big lakes is finding some decent bank fishing on all that shore line.

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Boren for big bass, fish the lily pad edges. Jackson for small bass and lots of stunted crappie, fish the corners of the dam and the bank after you cross the dam. Bixhoma for big bass and decent black crappie (you must buy the permit, the Bixby police check and the fine is 300.00+ $). Drive the road to the right as soon as you get to the lake. Fish that weed edge where the road stops. If you still find spawning crappie, fish the weed edges as you move up the creek arm on that side. Side note for later when your son is a bit older. All three lakes fish much better out of a kayak. You can buy them now for 200 $ new. You dont need to register and sticker them anymore. If you go that route it will open up Okmulgee and dripping springs lakes to you for some pretty decent crappie fishing. Also if your careful about crossing open water (speeding boats, sudden thunderstorms) You can fish certain places on Eufaula and tenkiller, below Greenleaf ect. ect. Good luck to you.

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Originally Posted by Fishers

Boren for big bass, fish the lily pad edges. Jackson for small bass and lots of stunted crappie, fish the corners of the dam and the bank after you cross the dam. Bixhoma for big bass and decent black crappie (you must buy the permit, the Bixby police check and the fine is 300.00+ $). Drive the road to the right as soon as you get to the lake. Fish that weed edge where the road stops. If you still find spawning crappie, fish the weed edges as you move up the creek arm on that side. Side note for later when your son is a bit older. All three lakes fish much better out of a kayak. You can buy them now for 200 $ new. You dont need to register and sticker them anymore. If you go that route it will open up Okmulgee and dripping springs lakes to you for some pretty decent crappie fishing. Also if your careful about crossing open water (speeding boats, sudden thunderstorms) You can fish certain places on Eufaula and tenkiller, below Greenleaf ect. ect. Good luck to you.

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I'm not the OP, but that's useful info to me too... so thanks :) ...I felt comfortable fishing between Skiatook point rec area and the Dam on my 1 man inflatable pontoon, and 14' inflatable kaboat (I used a Trolling motor on both), as long as there were no white caps.. I just hugged the shore. I did give up one day because the wind was so bad when I got there, but it worked out... stopped by the casino and won like $3000 so I couldn't complain about the drive after all :)

Wow. This is a fantastic forum! I have lots of places to try now. Thanks so much. I'll be sure to post my results.
Any other ideas?