Fishing SW Okla

Fished Altus/Lugert friday caught 22 crappie;8 sandbass;4 carp? well they do put up a good tussel. I fished Tom Steed last week and it is still slow fishing water is murky no one catching much. I stopped by Lake Lawkona a few days ago to buy permits talked with some folks around lake fishing still slow but starting to improve. Permits are only available at a few places some of which are closed at this time,the Lawton city lakes dept near the lake has them check the Lawton website for contact info. People starting to catch them from the dam. That's a little different kind of fishing standing shoulder to shoulder cranking fish 30 feet in the air after you hook them, good tackle is a must along with a bucket to put them in and wind resistant clothes there are no wind breaks on top of the dam. A nice thing about Lake Lawtonka is if bite is slow Medicine Park Okla. is right near the dam with good places to eat and places to shop. The best part about fishing Lake Lawtonka is driving from Altus I get to drive through Witchita Wildlife Refuge so I can enjoy the scenery and critters.

sounds like a pretty good day mikie, congrats. you are right the scenery there is nice.

Not too many on board from your area. Welcome and keep it up. There could be some folks from other parts of the State want to come boost your local economy.

Welcome Mikie, do you ever go to Arbuckle lake? I'll always remember my grampa taking me there during the spawn. I can see it now, chunking corks an minnows to buck brush in a secluded cove. We absolutley killed the crappie. I've been hooked ever since.

Mikie glad to have you on board from SW Ok. I was at the dam yesterday and it was slow. It is usally better on the days that most people stay home. Its really differnt type of fishing. Ive fished it for years and its fun. Good luck fishing and glad to have you on board.

Hello, from Western OK myself, nice to see you had a good day! Keep up the good work! Last I saw that lake it looked like it was 20 feet down.

I think Altus/Lugert is about 27 feet down but that means fish have fewer places to hide. I went today and fished for about 2 hours with out any luck, not the fishes fault a little windy and I don't fish well so I need luck saw some bank fisherman catch a few. It stills beats the heck out of work.

Hi Mikie, I live in Altus and also fish Lake Altus and Tom Steed. Nice to see someone else from this area. Nice job on the winter crappie haul. That was after that week of warm weather wasn't it?

"The best part about fishing Lake Lawtonka is driving from Altus I get to drive through Witchita Wildlife Refuge so I can enjoy the scenery and critters"

Anybody know how the fishing is inside the refuge? I remember seeing some good looking ponds and small lakes while there a few years ago, theres a nice campground too. Might make for a fun trip sometime.

There are a lot of little large mouth bass in those lakes in the WMWR and I've caught some nice size sunfish from Rush lake. Years ago I caught crappie from Lost lake, but nothing recently.

I did not do so good last two trips fished where they were; where they used to be; where they once was; where I thought they might be; where they were supposed to be; where someone said they was oh well that's why its called fishing!

no what you mean mikie, that's what it's all about.

SW Oklahoma hear!! i fish ellsworth moslty. We do a lot of crappie fishin but right now the big cats are bitin way to good to stick a jig in the water! glad to see people from the area on here!

Went to Tom Steed yesterday it's a little low and murky temp low 50's caught no crappies but sure had fun catching a 38lb flathead on 10# line and a 1/8 jig. I thought I had hung on a rock until it moved, twenty minutes later it was mostly in the net then on the scales. "whew" and yeah me.

Way to go! Awesome catch, I've heard of catching flats when going for crappie, but never had it happen. That's an awesome day of fishing.

Welcome Mikie! I too live in Altus.

Does anyone know anything about the fish kill at Altus-Lugert? I stopped by Hicks Mountain yesterday to check it out and saw that it was mostly shad. However, there were a few other species included. There were also quite a few crappie killed.

Lake Altus Lugert


I googled the lake and it appears to have an ongoing history of a golden algae problem.


https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&t...w=1280&bih=826

Hi guys I fished Altus/Lugert lake yesterday Jan 1 got one bite and missed him. Wind about 20 mph from the north windchill in the teens it was brutal but Jan 1, I just had to try. Now about the fish kill. I saw a lot of dead and dying shad. Now I am not a biologist but I observed most of the shad were the same size indicating a single hatch or year class, I did see 2 dead hybrids and no other species in 150 yds of shoreline. I saw no algae in the gills of any of the dead fish. I spoke to someone who said they saw dead crappies and some other fish in another area of the lake. Shad sometimes die from severe temp changes and the water temps dropped a lot from the last cold spell. Tomorrow I will drive to lake Altus and try to talk to Park officials to see what's happening, I will visit Tom Steed and check on the lake conditions. I was at lake Lawtonka to buy my permits today and a few crappie are being caught at the dam. Don't forget trout are being stocked in Medicine Park Creek you can fish while the wife shops and then you can have a nice meal and tour the Wildlife Refuge.

Went to Lake Altus and Tom Steed today Altus first. Wind from the north for several days all dead fish blowing to south banks, Little Hicks Mtn boat ramp high and dry hundreds of dead and dying shad, walking shore found one area with forty or fifty dead crappie, they had been dead awhile dried out; eyeballs plucked out but they were really biguns. I stopped by Nature Center and talked with Sue Hokanson she informed me that Larry Cofer with Wildlife Dept told her it was another Golden Algae bloom. I guess there have been several. I don't really know, I have e mailed Ryan Ryswyk Southwest Fisheries Biologist and asked him for an update. Tom Steed very low and very muddy. I sure hope gasoline prices drop it seems I may have to expand my range.

Hi Mikie, the Altus Times tonight reported it indeed was golden algae. I guess we will just have to wait and see what the damage will be. I've been thinking of trying lake humphries over by Duncan for some winter crappie. Caught some nice ones there late last spring, but haven't been back since.

Thanks SlabHungry I don't get the Altus Times and thought it might be a big enough story to make it to some of the other media like the Wildlife Dept. website or channel 7 news maybe I missed it. Well it seems instead of a 50 mile round trip it is going to be fewer 100+ mile round trips to get my fishing fix or maybe take up some indoor sport, well maybe not, I know I could move to someplace with water but wait that would take a lot of money and that I don't have. I think the best plan will be to pray for rain that would help a lot more people. Good luck and maybe you can do a post on Duncan city lakes haven't heard much from that neck of the woods.

Sorry CrappieReaper I missed the link you posted it kind of said it all. Guess if I was smart I would be someone else!

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Originally Posted by Mikie

Sorry CrappieReaper I missed the link you posted it kind of said it all. Guess if I was smart I would be someone else!

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You're smart enough to be chasing crappie and that's all that counts around here. Good job on the reports!

This is unofficial but I think Lake Altus has suffered the final blow. I went to look around last week there were very large hybrids; blue cats; carp and assorted other fish dead along the bank. I noticed several small flathead catfish in about 6 inches of water gasping for air. There was a boat on the lake that was coming to the ramp I met him at the dock to find out if he had caught anything. The gentleman was from the Lake Meredith area of Texas and said he ran a concession on that lake during the summer, he said he came to Lake Altus in the winters for the good crappie fishing. I asked if he had caught anything that day, his reply made my heart sink. He told me he had been from one end of the lake to the other had visited every brush pile, drop off, channel, flats and miles of water in between and had not seen one fish on his locator. As I stood on the dock and viewed the numerous dead fish which littered the bottom of the lake in every direction I had no reason to doubt him. I would like to add that Quartz Mountain State Park is still a nice place to visit with the lodge and restaurant, hiking, biking and walking trails with many birds,deer and other wildlife to observe (not sure if the eagles will stay not much to feed on) and a great park staff. A visit with Miss Sue at the nature center is always fun and informative also group camps and nice cabins with winter rates you know. Tomorrow I may try Tom Steed lake or maybe clean my garage just don't know my fishing has been awful this year.

Mikie,

I talked to my brother-in-law today, he lives just north of Granite. He told me the same thing. He saw a LOT of dead fish, including large walleye and crappie. Very sad for SW Oklahoma to loose such a great fishing lake. We have fished that lake for many years, and I pray that it comes back someday!

Bob

nice to meet you mikie. I fish steed often also and am waiting for the crappie to enter the bottle neck. I have drove from indiahoma to steed the last two weekends looking for crowds at the dam but nothing so far. Cover is coming off the boat this weekend and jugs are going in. Steed looks pretty rough but I still had pretty good luck with the hybrids and blues all fall. I have just moved back to indiahoma from okc and dont know a ton about steed so I am excited to see this sw ok thread. thanks for the info about altus

Welcome CrappieBob and Opey thanks for your posts. I when to Tom Steed yesterday 2/28/2013 lake is low and muddy I guess I misunderstood the weatherman on his forecast for wind speed. I got off to a late start when I removed the tarp from my boat it looked like someone had a pillow fight in the thing. Judging by the wings there must have been 3 or 4 of those big collared doves eaten in the thing. The suspect left muddy paw prints on my throw cushion where I suppose it took a nap after dinner. I know the cat isn't killing the birds I have found them dead in the yard on the roof and there are no signs of trauma they just died. I had heard mothballs would keep cats out of your boat and I had bowls of them in boat, myth busted didn't bother kitty at all. Finally made it to lake and it's white capping but not bad so I launch boat, go park truck get in boat push off wave hits knocks boat into dock this breaks one rod holder and busts half the windshield off. Alright glad my luck is holding the boat didn't sink, I head to the canyon and arrive wide awake from all the cold spray in my face. My 30 year old 17ft Lowes aluminum is sea worthy but if it's windy you will get wet. I fished the brush and some drop offs could see fish on locator but caught none. Did snag some nice brush though which took my jigs, oh well I have way to many for the amount of fish I catch anyway. Headed out of the channel and found out wind had increased somewhat bigger waves more spray. Loaded like I knew what I was doing. Got home safely another great adventure WOW! Now if I could only catch a fish anyway it beats work. Look out Lake Lawtona your next Mikie is on the way.:Rofl

Well that sounds like a mess. Funny you should mention windsheilds. Wow have you priced them, just a bubble windsheild , which is just a pc of plastic , 200 to 300. Thats crazy. I have been searching ebay for one for my alumacraft .When i was a kid growing up in indiahoma, you could walk boat to boat in the bottle neck at steed in late winter . what has happened to the crappie pattern . There used to be 30 boats every weekend just slaying the crappie in the bottle neck. I realize the lake is really low which makes me think that the crappie would group up at the mouth of the bottle at prespawn, not to mention the wind has been hard from the north for a month.any thouughts? has anyone fished the timber on the sw corner which is about 12ft - 14ft of water?all this timber would seem irresistable i would think but with so much wind from the north it may be a war of the wills.......

hello from Rush Springs oklahoma

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Originally Posted by rudy74

hello from Rush Springs oklahoma

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Welcome Rudy74. glad to have you onboard!

Welcome Rudy74, have fun at Crappie.com it's a great place to visit and has a ton of crappie info.

Welcome Rudy...glad to have you aboard and enjoy Crappie.Com its a wealth of information....Ranger

Glad to have you on board Rudy! There is alot of great info and people on the board! Welcome

Hey Mikie, have you tried to fish Altus since the fish kill? Just wondering if it was worth a trip down there.

Hello Crappiebob I have not been to Altus/Lugert for several weeks the fishing reports say all fishing is sloowww, best bets would be Tom Steed which is very low and muddy but the fish will still spawn and there are nice ones in there that will have to spawn in main lake because both creeks are dry. I went to Lake Lawtonka last week they have pumped water from Lake Waurika to Lake Ellsworth to Lake Lawtonka so it is near normal I caught a small mouth bass a few white bass and saw some guys catching small crappie in deep water off the dam. I may run to Lake Altus today to look around and then over to Lake Tom Steed to see what's happening if I do I will let you know. Wife may have other plans?

Drove to Lake Altus today first I talked to the kid running the lake store he told me that someone had caught 2 big walleye and a big catfish, he also said a young boy had brought in two small walleye that were under legal length. I then went to the Quartz Mtn Nature Center and spoke with Sue Hokanson she stated the fish and game people were going to do two fish counts in April to determine fish species and size to help them with management practices in the future. Miss Sue also said they would advise people not to launch boats on Altus one day and another lake the next because of a chance of water left in live well transferring virus. The golden algae thrives in cooler water and is kept in check by warm water algae and since lake temps are still cool algae could still be active. Quartz Mountain State Park is still a nice place with the lodge many campsites and cabins; hiking and biking trails; offroad/atv area and I hear some serious mountain climbing at Baldy Mtn. Check it out some day or weekend the park people are great.

Thanks for the info Mikie. I will have to venture down there soon. Have caught some mighty fine crappie and walleye from there. Glad to know it's not totally dead.