Doug Lay, Editor and Avid FishermanOklahoma anglers are reminded to renew their annual fishing licenses. All licenses expire December 31st unless exempt.
Anglers heading to one of Oklahoma’s designated trout streams around the state should remember to purchase a new trout license.
Complete license requirements and exemptions are outlined in the 2007 Oklahoma Fishing Guide.
All annual licenses and even a subscription to Outdoor Oklahoma magazine can be purchased at any license vendor statewide or online at
January 1 will mark the first day of trout season at Dolese Youth Park Pond in Oklahoma City. The sixth annual trout season is made possible through a cooperative partnership between the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the City of Oklahoma City as part of the ‘Close to Home’ fishing program. According to Gene Gilliland, senior fisheries biologist with the Wildlife Department, there will be no shortage of fish for anglers to catch.
Over the course of the season, (Jan. 1-Feb. 28), about 10,000 rainbow trout will be stocked in the pond, located north of NW 50th and a half block west of Meridian Ave. Fish will be stocked every two weeks during the two-month season. Stocking dates are Jan. 4, Jan. 18, Feb. 1 and Feb. 15.
Anglers should have success catching Dolese trout on 4- to 6- pound test line equipped with a slip sinker and small hook. Choice baits include salmon eggs, power baits, corn, worms, spinners, Panther Martins, and small crappie jigs.
View more information and a map to the park at:
Frank and his cousin went to Lake Texoma on Wednesday and reports the fishing was a little slow. But then he said they caught their limit in 35 minutes – that’s right – 20 fish in the box in 35 minutes! So he wants to remind everybody that if someone needs out of the house, although it’s cold, it’s time to GO!!
Editor’s Note: Gee Frank – the fishing was slow? You are kidding right?? Thanks for the report!
The sripers and the catfish are really on the bite the last few days and this trend will continue till the water temp gets below 40 degrees.
Till then, we’re gonna enjoy the great winter bite that Texoma is famous for…
Editor’s Note: A bit of an understandment, wouldn’t you say GW? What a monster!!
11/27/06 – What a day! After catching 30 to 35 nice Hybrids, this big boy came along. Of course at first I thought I was hung up. The line had slowly tightened, and the boat was moving quite a bit, so I didn’t think much of it. I decided to set the hook. Not much moved. Then it slowly came up a little bit. I still thought I had a log. But then it started to move a little bit faster and away from the boat. That’s when Tony and I both said, “It’s no log!”
About 25 minutes later, with all of the poles that were out now in, this monster cat surfaced. With one swift scoop, Tony attemped to get it in the net, but it was too big! I reached down and kinda stuffed it in. Once we got it in the boat and quit high fiving, we attempted to weigh it. The problem was my scale only goes to 50lbs and it was reading 32lbs (digital).
We just knew it was heavier than that, so we took measurements. And what I now know is this – it was 50 plus 32lbs. After Tony found the formula and we multiplyed it out, this cat weighed 82.68 lbs. After making sure it wasn’t some record we released it for someone else to have the pleasure of High Fiving!!!!!!
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the report and picture David. Wow! What a great day at the lake!! Thanks for leaving him there for me to catch too!!! If you would like to go fishing with David, call him at 918-724-6786 or 918-272-4441 or visit his site at:
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the report Mike. And yes, everybody, practice CPR fishing. Somebody pleezze get this man a scale!!!
Got out of the house this weekend and hit the lake. Fishing slow right now – slow on bass and hybrid. I can’t even seem to find crappie??? Seems as though all the fish are scattered right now and you just have to cover lots of ground.
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the report Mike. Anybody want to trade trips or team up with him on other lakes? Mike certainly knows how to catch the nice ones. Sounds like a lot of fun!!!
He says it’s the biggest smallmouth he has caught there so far, with most recent trips yielding nice size smallies in the 4 to 5 lb range (as pictured) using a Bomber model A (6 to 8 ft) diver in shad pattern.
In his opinion, Lake Skiatook is turning into a great smallmouth fishery.
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the report Keith. You got close to the
Last week Wildlife Department fisheries personnel stocked more than 100,000 channel catfish into
“We conducted several gill net surveys last month and we found out the fish kill was very significant,” said John Stahl, northwest region fisheries supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “The good news is that this has always been a productive lake and we expect the fish populations to bounce back over the next few years. In the meantime, we’re going to do everything we can to help Mother Nature along.”
In coming weeks biologists are planning on stocking an additional 40,000 channel catfish, each about 5 ½” long. The catfish should grow to catchable size by next year. Next summer, if water levels are favorable, Department officials will stock both blue and flathead catfish in the lake.
“We’re going to monitor fish populations in the lake very closely over the next few years and make management decisions to ensure this fishery is as healthy as it can be,” Stahl said.
Editor’s Note: Story compliments of the
An innovative concept to turn a commodity that is typically thrown away by anglers into dollars is currently under consideration by the Wildlife Conservation Commission. The idea involves collecting, processing and selling paddlefish eggs as caviar on the international market.
Historically, caviar has come from sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, however that fishery has essentially collapsed and will not be able to produce sturgeon caviar for at least 25 years. Caviar made from paddlefish eggs has proven to be a comparable, if not equal, substitute for sturgeon caviar. As the supply of caviar has decreased, the demand, and price, for a caviar substitute has increased.
Paddlefish are found in several river drainages in the state, but the population in the Grand River system has been studied for the past 25 years. Each spring thousands of paddlefish move upstream to spawn. This fishery, arguably the healthiest paddlefish population in the United States, draws anglers from across the state and the nation for the chance to reel in one of the huge fish, which can exceed 100 pounds.
Many of these anglers choose to clean their fish and take home the meat, however, the eggs are often discarded. The Wildlife Department proposed to the Wildlife Conservation Commission that the eggs be voluntarily collected from sport anglers so they could be sold to fund paddlefish research, management and law enforcement. Similar operations have been in place in Montana and North Dakota since 1989.
After discussion the Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to finance a feasibility study and business plan for the project to determine if the proposal would be financially feasible in Oklahoma.
Editor’s Note: What are your thoughts on Oklahoma Caviar – a good idea? Story compliments of the
