Oklahoma City Waters 2017

I see all these great 'lake' posts around the state but nothing for OKC local waters (Hefner, Overhosler, Stanley Draper) or Thunderbird. I know T-Bird has crappie and I've pulled a few from Draper myself but mostly from docks. I haven't been out myself but it's got to be happening. Anyone in the OKC/T-bird region want a boat buddy or two? My wife usually likes to tag along too but it's hard to get her in the canoe if there's even a lick of wind since she stood up and took a swim in January. I'd love an update from anyone on these waters or an invite, I can bring minnows, and I have Fridays off.

Thanks,

~J. Babcock

I went to Thunderbird Friday (3Mar) with a friend I used to work with. He checked all the spots he's caught fish in the past, they simply weren't there. I think it is still too cold for his honey holes. The wind picked up more than either of us expected it to. I caught one tiny black bass to avoid being totally skunked for the day. We both got soaked fighting the cross wind across the lake. More to come as I continue to get out. Any other reports would be appreciated.

There are lots of small crappie along the dam at Hefner. Most guys are casting out, sinking to the bottom, and ticking the rocks coming in. You lose a lot of jigs. Fishing from a float tube is a lot more efficient. You're in the strike zone all the time, and you don't use many jigs. But if the wind is strong from the south, it's a no go. And there ARE some big ones among the little ones.
Anchoring a boat and vertical jigging works well also.

I got out of work a little early and booked it out to Draper, I had heard of some walleye being caught off the rocky points just east of the dam. Started getting hot and heavy into the sandies with a black back silver jerk bait from the bank until one of the stinkers broke me off against a rock. At least I won't go hungry tonight haha.

~J. Babcock


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Been catching walleye or two on the Hefner dam. They are few and far between right now. But catching big ones. Last one was over 25". My brother got into some crappie over the weekend in a creek channel on Thunderbird. Caught 20 keepers. (His version of a keeper may be a little different than mine but I don't know)

Took the canoe out to Draper, mostly because it wasn't windy and I wanted to tinker with a new to me old two stroke. Had a few issues with the motor but pulled a few sandies on the troll back down the dam with shallow cranks.


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Caught a 4lb hybrid and an average sand bass at the inlet of Draper tonight on a willow blade spinner bait, almost flipped the canoe in the waves heading back across the lake, the wind really picked up as the sun went down, pretty scary for a minute. Ended up beaching it and running a couple miles around the shore back to the truck but no harm done besides some wet breaches. Thank goodness I installed those stabilizers, I think that's the only thing that kept her belly down.

~J. Babcock


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I've fished the little river at thunderbird a few times over the last couple of weeks. Couple slabs including females with eggs but mostly dinks and not very many of them. Sand bass are biting too but also slow. Not really worth going out at this point except for the scenery.

I am going out to find them tomorrow. Maybe I will get lucky and find them hanging on brush in a channel somewhere? I can dream, right?

I've heard rumor of eyes being caught off the rocky points east of the dam on Draper, can anyone confirm this?

~J. Babcock


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I heard this 10 days ago. That's all I know about it.

Went to TBird over the weekend. That cold front messed us up. Ran up the river. Nothing. Caught a few dinks near a marina. Hopefully things pick up after all the rain we get this week.

Fished on Saturday afternoon, on the East side of the dam, off the rocks. I caught some walleyes, sand bass and 1 slab.

Tried Overholser before the rain. No crappie, but got a number of bluegills and perch. Other guys doing NG, except guys throwing shrimp were getting an occasional hybrid and some small sandies.

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Originally Posted by crappie_newbie

Fished on Saturday afternoon, on the East side of the dam, off the rocks. I caught some walleyes, sand bass and 1 slab.

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I tried yesterday evening and this morning caught nothing lost tackle in the rocks though frustrating i need to use stronger line

The spawn is close. I can feel it. I am hoping this rain will raise the hefner lake level a bit. Actually, I hope they have to let some water out of canton after all this rain and fill Hefner up. there are some good crappie spots I know of when the lake is full.

I hooked a nice walleye didn't have any pliers or gloves so I grabbed my line to pull it up and broke it off was fishing with six pound line that needed to be changed out a rookie mistake

My friend and I caught some walleyes between 20" - 25". We fished right at you park on the east side of the dam. The bites are best around 8-9 AM and 3-4 PM. We caught more fish on windy and cloudy day (Saturday). We just caught a few sand-bass on Sunday.

It's good to have a net when walleye fishing. But you can reach down and grab them under the gills. The big ones have a pointy gill plate so you have to watch out for it sticking you. Just grab them right next to the jaw inside the gill though. Like this Attachment 262281

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Originally Posted by sparky405

I hooked a nice walleye didn't have any pliers or gloves so I grabbed my line to pull it up and broke it off was fishing with six pound line that needed to be changed out a rookie mistake

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You sure that's not a saugeye? Awfully dark in color.

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Originally Posted by DrNip

You sure that's not a saugeye? Awfully dark in color.

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Same handling procedures


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My self and my kids have been to a handful of lakes and ponds in the area and are not even getting bites. I'm sure it's something we are doing wrong since I have coworkers that are catching nice fish.

I hit Draper for 3 hours Saturday morning due to fishing Big E all day Friday and over sleeping Saturday morning and not making it back. Lets just say it's 3 hours of my life I won't get back. Lake was up 6' or so since last time I'd been on it and North end looked like red clay water. Main lake was 55 and warmest I saw was 60 degrees way back in a cove. I tried shallow - 21 FOW and even tried the slips. Nothing. Lake is going to have to settle some and warm up before I get back on it.

I went to Draper Friday, April 14, in the evening. It was WINDY; so, I tried to get out of the wind by fishing the area around the inlet. I was fishing with my two oldest kids (5 & 3 years old), and we lost a lot minnows, but we never could managed to set the hook in time. There was lots of fish activity with fish jumping out of the water, and minnows being pulled off our hooks.

Fished my usual spot on Hefner yesterday afternoon. Thought for sure they'd be up on the bank by now. I guess all the water has them slowed down a bit. Caught a couple males up on the bank. Nice fish but not many of them. A couple of bonus walleyes made for a good day though. They should be moving up en masse any time now.

Nice to see Hefner full again huh? I have never figured out where to catch any from the bank. I tried fighting the wind Saturday slip corking on the Dam, but it was a battle. Have caught some off the docks in years passed, but have not tried there recently.

I've heard the rocks over by the restaurants have been good in the past but I've never tried there myself, I am always drawn to the dam and rarely do any good. Over the years I've pulled in some decent walleye when the moon is right but that's been pretty few and far between.


~J. Babcock

I too have heard about over by the restaurants, and have tried that pier north of the mexican food place, but have not had any luck there. Do get funny looks walking thru that area with armloads of tackle :-)

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Originally Posted by JimBobCooter

Fished my usual spot on Hefner yesterday afternoon. Thought for sure they'd be up on the bank by now. I guess all the water has them slowed down a bit. Caught a couple males up on the bank. Nice fish but not many of them. A couple of bonus walleyes made for a good day though. They should be moving up en masse any time now.

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FYI, in years past when I fished OKC area more I caught them on the bank and rip rap last week of April - 1st week of May.

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Originally Posted by goldflinger

I too have heard about over by the restaurants, and have tried that pier north of the mexican food place, but have not had any luck there. Do get funny looks walking thru that area with armloads of tackle :-)

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Try children's park or north side of the restaurant
Those are the places I caught 90% of my crappies there at Hefner last year


Ken

Just drove by Hefner. Can't believe how full it is. Way up since I saw it in December.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...93c41e5d0d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d03c4f0165.jpg

Point 19 dock Stanley Draper suspended in 8-10' of water, on minnows. 10-noon.


~J. Babcock

Wish we had a button for 10 likes Bab!!
Glad you got that boy out and on some fish!!
You should think about entering one of those pics in the calendar contest!

Love me some draper crappie. Can't wait to get in em.

Eli definitely looks happy. Y'all did much better than you or I did at Carl Blackwell yesterday. I wound up catching 111 yesterday, but only 1 was over 11"s. Still, a pull on the pole beats nothing.

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Originally Posted by Redge

You should think about entering one of those pics in the calendar contest!

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I'm not familiar with that, I'll look into it.



~J. Babcock

Anybody fish Arcadia? Been a couple times and doesn't seem to be worth fishing. Heard it was a pretty good crappie lake. Doing well at Eufaula but tired of making a 2 hour drive there and back.

That top pic of Eli is great! Keep it up J!

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Originally Posted by ike_hellbusch

Anybody fish Arcadia? Been a couple times and doesn't seem to be worth fishing. Heard it was a pretty good crappie lake. Doing well at Eufaula but tired of making a 2 hour drive there and back.

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Ive taken the kids a couple times in the last week the crappie are so small you cant catch them on medium size minnows guys are catching them on small jigs but they are very small . A waste of time for crappie fishing imo

I was afforded some free time this week and checked out a few different lakes before and after the heavy rain. Wes Watkins and Thunderbird were both slow for me, but Shawnee Reservoir was actually decent. Caught about a dozen crappie from the kayak, mostly in the 10" range with one around 13" and a couple dinks. Also caught some small saugeye, decent largemouth and sandbass. Can't say it was the best day I've ever had but the cooler wasn't empty. Had my best luck on 1/16oz jigs about 3' under a float with a black and yellow curly tail, but I didn't vary my approach up all that much.