catfishcentral
12-05-2005, 01:08 AM
Well I thought it would be cool to see everybody’s opinion on Oklahoma’s top blue cat waters. I know most people have there local waters as their favorites but there are so many dang good places to catch them these days. I don’t think there’s any bad lakes or rivers at least in eastern Oklahoma that you can’t catch a bunch of bluecats any time of the year. Since the ODWC starting stocking them in our lakes some 25 to 30 years ago they have really taken off. Most lakes and rivers I fish now that have bluecats, I hardly ever catch a channel. I'm defiantly not complaining I’ll take a bluecat any day over a channel. They taste great, fight hard and get huge. So what is your top picks for Blue cats? I divided my list between large lakes and our smaller lakes and rivers.
Blues thrive in big water. You can catch them anywhere but the bigger the bodies of waters seem to grow them more quickly.
1. Texoma. Everybody knows the world record blue and our state record blue came from Texoma. This lake always produces big fish. I have many friends that have either rod and reel this lake or jug it from time to time. Everyone always seems to catch at least one forty pounder. Most people don’t take notice if your blue cat isn’t over 60 pounds.
2. Grand Lake. This lake is catching more and more forty and fifty pounders on a regular basis. I rarely fish is lake because of heavy boat traffic but see lots of big cats being caught all the time.
3. Keystone. This lake in my opinion is a very close second to Grand. Keystone probably has about the best shad population of any of our lakes. They grow big and fat and do it very quickly. I read recently that In-Fisherman rank Keystone as one of the Top Ten blue cat lakes in the U.S. Stating that many sixty and seventy pounders are caught on a regular basis. I never seen those size fish come from Keystone but seen lots of 20, 30 and 40 pounders come out of Keystone. The upper ends lake on the Arkansas and Cimarron river get very shallow and navigation by boat can get hairy but I know there’s some big fish in there.
4. Ft. Gibson. I love this lake and just like many of our other lakes has no shortage of blues. I haven’t heard of any monsters taken out of there but whenever I fish the upper ends of Ft. Gibson in the spring I have to cull out the small fish because well catch too many.
5. Lake Hudson. This lies between Grand and Ft. Gibson on the Grand (Neosho) river chain. All three of these lakes produce large blue cats year round.
6. Eufaula. Being Oklahoma’s biggest lake at 103,000 acres it defiantly bigger than any other lake. I know there’s plenty of fish in this lake but I never hear any reports of huge fish being taken from Eufaula. I’m sure there are I just never hear of them.
7. Robert S Kerr. This is a very big lake and one that few people really fish. The only time I’ve personally fished it has been below the dam at Lock and Dam 15. I’ve talked to many long-term catfishermen who tell me of plenty of big blues taken from the lake and below the dam. Kerr is pretty far out of the way for most people in Oklahoma. This is especially true when there are plenty of lakes closer, this lake doesn’t have much fishing pressure on it. The lake is also known to be somewhat dangerous because of shallow waters, barge traffic and other hazards. I think if a person spends the time on this lake will be rewarded with plenty of big fish in part because of low pressure on the lake.
Smaller Blue Cat lakes
Well there’s my list of top big waters in Oklahoma but there’s a lot of great smaller lakes that have plenty of fish and I believe have state record size fish in there waters.
1. Sooner Lake. Many people on this board probably don’t know much about this lake but it has lots of big fish. OG&E owns Sooner Lake and the hot water discharge is a favorite to catch all kinds of fish year round. While I was going to school at OSU we would always make the ¼ mile walk from our cars to the hot water outlet. You never know what you will catch there but I caught my first twenty pounder at this lake. Another thing going for Sooner is this is ROD and REEL only. This keeps more fish from being harvested and I’ve seen the pictures of the seventy pounders that come out of this lake. I wouldn’t be surprised if a record didn’t come from Sooner.
2. Waurika. There’s not too many great blue cat lakes west of I-35 but this is one of
them. Before our last two state records that have been broken in the last two years this lake held the record at 85 pounds. When this fish was caught the lake received a lot of fishing pressure but has rebounded and big fish are being caught again.
3. Ft Cobb. This is the only other good lake west of I-35 and until two years ago had never
heard a thing about. I’ve have a buddy of my that I hooked on jug fishing a couple
of years ago that lives in OKC and now goes to fish Ft. Cobb in the winter. I didn’t
believe him at first about all of the twenty and thirty pounders he caught until he
showed me the pictures.
3. Copan. Since I fish this lake all the time I know it pretty well. My biggest blue from Copan is only 22 pounds but I catch my limit almost all the time. The upper end of the lake is nothing but a forest of trees but that’s where the big boys are hiding. Last March an 85 pounder was caught on a trotline and I know of many others in the sixty-pound range now being caught. I recently found a dead blue cat on one of the islands that live weight would have gone 80 pounds easy. This is also a great Flathead lake. The only fish survey I’ve ever seen on Copan was in 1997. They ranked Copan as the best population of flatheads of any Oklahoma Lake. If you ever drive around this lake you will see plenty of 20 to 60 pound flatheads heads sitting on fence posts.
4. Kaw Lake. This is the first lake that the Arkansas dumps into coming into
Oklahoma. It’s really not a small lake but it has plenty of big fish. I never heard
of monster blues but again I’m sure they are in there.
.
5. Pumpback Lake. This sits right next two Lake Hudson and is a deep lake. Since
Motorboats are not allowed on this lake pressure remains very low. I’ve heard of reports from this board and from others of lots of 40 pounders coming from this lake.
6. Skiatook is probably one of the prettiest lakes in Oklahoma. If you never been on it your missing out on a great lake. Whenever I go here I spend more time pulling a ski tube behind the boat but there’s lots of structure in the lake. Most of the pressure is on the hybrids but there some big fish also.
7. There are a few other small lakes I’ve fished like Birch Lake, which looks like a mini version of Skiatook. It’s close to my house and I fish it several times a years. It doesn’t get much pressure but I’ve also never caught anything over 5 pounds either. The far upper end of the lake may hold some bigger fish.
Oklahoma Rivers.
There is some of the best blue cat fishing on our local rivers. I really don’t know what order to put them in because they are all great.
1. Arkansas River. The Arkansas is almost like two different rivers in Oklahoma. The first is the sections between Kaw lake and Keystone Lake and the section from below Keystone to where it merges with the Grand (Neosho) river and the Verdigris. These two parts of the Arkansas are very shallow most times of the year. There’s really no boat ramps except for right below Kaw and Keystone where you can navigate only a short distance by regular boat. All of the big fish caught below these two dams come from these shallow waters. Those who are brave enough to walk long miles or have a canoe to find the deeper holes will catch the big boys.
2. Verdigris River. The last two sections of the Navigation Channel Lock and Dams
17 and 18 has lots of big fish and my personal favorite. Since moving back to Oklahoma almost five years ago I’ve spent a LOT of time on this 50-mile section of river. My personal best blue of 45 pounds and biggest flathead of 52.5 pounds have come from Lock and Dam 18. My buddy had a blue cat several years ago that got away after it broke a 6/0 hook off one of our jugs. I know it would have gone 80 pounds easy. Every spring is my favorite time on this river. Sometimes as many as half our jugs has doubles on each jug. There’s nothing better that pulling up a jug and having a twenty pounder on it and then another big fish on the bottom hook.
2. Webbers Falls. This is really more a lake than a section of river but I put it hear with the rest of the rivers. After the three great rivers of the Arkansas, Neosho and Verdigris come together at Muskogee the Channel really gets big. Lots and lots and Lots of great fish are taken from this section of the Navigation Channel. The last two sections of the Channel that I fish are pretty narrow compared to where these three rivers meet. Lots of wing dikes and other great structure for catfish.
3. Neosho. Not much of this river isn’t impounded by some lake before it dumps into the Arkansas. The eight miles from below Ft. Gibson always has great fishing. The section between Lake Hudson and Ft Gibson is one of my personal favorites in the springtime. Also the section from the twin bridges above Grand till it reaches the state line hold tremendous amounts of fish that go upstream from Grand each year.
Well there’s some of my picks. I know I left some other good lakes out of this post. Let's here about big fish from your home waters.
Blues thrive in big water. You can catch them anywhere but the bigger the bodies of waters seem to grow them more quickly.
1. Texoma. Everybody knows the world record blue and our state record blue came from Texoma. This lake always produces big fish. I have many friends that have either rod and reel this lake or jug it from time to time. Everyone always seems to catch at least one forty pounder. Most people don’t take notice if your blue cat isn’t over 60 pounds.
2. Grand Lake. This lake is catching more and more forty and fifty pounders on a regular basis. I rarely fish is lake because of heavy boat traffic but see lots of big cats being caught all the time.
3. Keystone. This lake in my opinion is a very close second to Grand. Keystone probably has about the best shad population of any of our lakes. They grow big and fat and do it very quickly. I read recently that In-Fisherman rank Keystone as one of the Top Ten blue cat lakes in the U.S. Stating that many sixty and seventy pounders are caught on a regular basis. I never seen those size fish come from Keystone but seen lots of 20, 30 and 40 pounders come out of Keystone. The upper ends lake on the Arkansas and Cimarron river get very shallow and navigation by boat can get hairy but I know there’s some big fish in there.
4. Ft. Gibson. I love this lake and just like many of our other lakes has no shortage of blues. I haven’t heard of any monsters taken out of there but whenever I fish the upper ends of Ft. Gibson in the spring I have to cull out the small fish because well catch too many.
5. Lake Hudson. This lies between Grand and Ft. Gibson on the Grand (Neosho) river chain. All three of these lakes produce large blue cats year round.
6. Eufaula. Being Oklahoma’s biggest lake at 103,000 acres it defiantly bigger than any other lake. I know there’s plenty of fish in this lake but I never hear any reports of huge fish being taken from Eufaula. I’m sure there are I just never hear of them.
7. Robert S Kerr. This is a very big lake and one that few people really fish. The only time I’ve personally fished it has been below the dam at Lock and Dam 15. I’ve talked to many long-term catfishermen who tell me of plenty of big blues taken from the lake and below the dam. Kerr is pretty far out of the way for most people in Oklahoma. This is especially true when there are plenty of lakes closer, this lake doesn’t have much fishing pressure on it. The lake is also known to be somewhat dangerous because of shallow waters, barge traffic and other hazards. I think if a person spends the time on this lake will be rewarded with plenty of big fish in part because of low pressure on the lake.
Smaller Blue Cat lakes
Well there’s my list of top big waters in Oklahoma but there’s a lot of great smaller lakes that have plenty of fish and I believe have state record size fish in there waters.
1. Sooner Lake. Many people on this board probably don’t know much about this lake but it has lots of big fish. OG&E owns Sooner Lake and the hot water discharge is a favorite to catch all kinds of fish year round. While I was going to school at OSU we would always make the ¼ mile walk from our cars to the hot water outlet. You never know what you will catch there but I caught my first twenty pounder at this lake. Another thing going for Sooner is this is ROD and REEL only. This keeps more fish from being harvested and I’ve seen the pictures of the seventy pounders that come out of this lake. I wouldn’t be surprised if a record didn’t come from Sooner.
2. Waurika. There’s not too many great blue cat lakes west of I-35 but this is one of
them. Before our last two state records that have been broken in the last two years this lake held the record at 85 pounds. When this fish was caught the lake received a lot of fishing pressure but has rebounded and big fish are being caught again.
3. Ft Cobb. This is the only other good lake west of I-35 and until two years ago had never
heard a thing about. I’ve have a buddy of my that I hooked on jug fishing a couple
of years ago that lives in OKC and now goes to fish Ft. Cobb in the winter. I didn’t
believe him at first about all of the twenty and thirty pounders he caught until he
showed me the pictures.
3. Copan. Since I fish this lake all the time I know it pretty well. My biggest blue from Copan is only 22 pounds but I catch my limit almost all the time. The upper end of the lake is nothing but a forest of trees but that’s where the big boys are hiding. Last March an 85 pounder was caught on a trotline and I know of many others in the sixty-pound range now being caught. I recently found a dead blue cat on one of the islands that live weight would have gone 80 pounds easy. This is also a great Flathead lake. The only fish survey I’ve ever seen on Copan was in 1997. They ranked Copan as the best population of flatheads of any Oklahoma Lake. If you ever drive around this lake you will see plenty of 20 to 60 pound flatheads heads sitting on fence posts.
4. Kaw Lake. This is the first lake that the Arkansas dumps into coming into
Oklahoma. It’s really not a small lake but it has plenty of big fish. I never heard
of monster blues but again I’m sure they are in there.
.
5. Pumpback Lake. This sits right next two Lake Hudson and is a deep lake. Since
Motorboats are not allowed on this lake pressure remains very low. I’ve heard of reports from this board and from others of lots of 40 pounders coming from this lake.
6. Skiatook is probably one of the prettiest lakes in Oklahoma. If you never been on it your missing out on a great lake. Whenever I go here I spend more time pulling a ski tube behind the boat but there’s lots of structure in the lake. Most of the pressure is on the hybrids but there some big fish also.
7. There are a few other small lakes I’ve fished like Birch Lake, which looks like a mini version of Skiatook. It’s close to my house and I fish it several times a years. It doesn’t get much pressure but I’ve also never caught anything over 5 pounds either. The far upper end of the lake may hold some bigger fish.
Oklahoma Rivers.
There is some of the best blue cat fishing on our local rivers. I really don’t know what order to put them in because they are all great.
1. Arkansas River. The Arkansas is almost like two different rivers in Oklahoma. The first is the sections between Kaw lake and Keystone Lake and the section from below Keystone to where it merges with the Grand (Neosho) river and the Verdigris. These two parts of the Arkansas are very shallow most times of the year. There’s really no boat ramps except for right below Kaw and Keystone where you can navigate only a short distance by regular boat. All of the big fish caught below these two dams come from these shallow waters. Those who are brave enough to walk long miles or have a canoe to find the deeper holes will catch the big boys.
2. Verdigris River. The last two sections of the Navigation Channel Lock and Dams
17 and 18 has lots of big fish and my personal favorite. Since moving back to Oklahoma almost five years ago I’ve spent a LOT of time on this 50-mile section of river. My personal best blue of 45 pounds and biggest flathead of 52.5 pounds have come from Lock and Dam 18. My buddy had a blue cat several years ago that got away after it broke a 6/0 hook off one of our jugs. I know it would have gone 80 pounds easy. Every spring is my favorite time on this river. Sometimes as many as half our jugs has doubles on each jug. There’s nothing better that pulling up a jug and having a twenty pounder on it and then another big fish on the bottom hook.
2. Webbers Falls. This is really more a lake than a section of river but I put it hear with the rest of the rivers. After the three great rivers of the Arkansas, Neosho and Verdigris come together at Muskogee the Channel really gets big. Lots and lots and Lots of great fish are taken from this section of the Navigation Channel. The last two sections of the Channel that I fish are pretty narrow compared to where these three rivers meet. Lots of wing dikes and other great structure for catfish.
3. Neosho. Not much of this river isn’t impounded by some lake before it dumps into the Arkansas. The eight miles from below Ft. Gibson always has great fishing. The section between Lake Hudson and Ft Gibson is one of my personal favorites in the springtime. Also the section from the twin bridges above Grand till it reaches the state line hold tremendous amounts of fish that go upstream from Grand each year.
Well there’s some of my picks. I know I left some other good lakes out of this post. Let's here about big fish from your home waters.