FIN-S-R

South facing steep rocky points, or manmade structures. The key is like you always hear 45 degree angle, but what you dont hear is at least 45 degree angle but not vertical, though vertical is better than gradual. Bait is key, and right now in southern oklahoma the bait is down around 25-30' during the majority of daylight hours. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but right now I do better deeper earlier, and then a little shallower, and then back deeper by say 10 or 11 am. A crank cant be beat this time of the year. A BIG DEEP crank, and then pick up the 3/4 oz jig and knock off the stragglers in the area. Thats my strategy, and dont be mistaken, Its an athletic event to wind those Manns 30+ and DD22s for 5 or 6 hours, my shoulder still hurts from last weekend.............

Gotta luv that smokey joe DD22 on texoma aye DANCES.....Dont be givin out all the tex. secrets ;D

Ive had 12" smallies and green fish hammer down on a 10" castic shad. Never caught anything real big, but then again Im not really a swim bait thrower. Had other person in boat slow rollin a big storm S.B. and smack a 4+ smallie behind me while throwin a DD22, so I guess there are times......

Got to admit, I could give a $#!# if they can feel anything or not, as long as they keep kickin till weigh in and get me paid.

Get a 6:3:1 reel or a 7:1:1 reel. With a high speed reel you can take up slack real quick and keep pressure on the fish which will help quite a bit. To help you understand what is necessary to KEEP a fish hooked after you stick it think about a finnesse type hookset and the handling of the fish while fighting it. There is nothing power or fast about it. You simply maintain pressure and lead the fish where you want it to go, and like the guy before stated it only takes a couple of lbs of pressure to stick a fish with a sharp hook. The trick to maintaining pressure is to, like you said, keep your rod tip high (avoid obstructions, but down when they come up to jump), but also, you need to be aware of the angle the fish is moving in relation to the angle of pressure your putting on the fish. A perpindicular pressure angle to the direction of the fishes movement will lose quite a few for ya. Also, pressure exerted directly opposite the direction the fish is moving is likely to get the hook thrown. The optimal angle for keeping a fish hooked is just a few degrees left or right of the direction the fish is moving (picture the hook in the fishes mouth) , and then LEAD the fish where you want it to go. By doing this you will maintain the maximum amount of hook staying in the fishes mouth, ie. the part of the hook you will be pulling against will be the bottum of the curve. I got to learn this stuff the hard way while losing bedding fish left and right 1 day. But as I began to pay attention to the direction the were facing when I set the hook, and fought or played them in, it became really clear what was going on.

Grand lake in NE oklahoma is sort of the same deal. you will occasionally catch a smallie in the main lake, but the resident smallies from the neosho river stay in the neosho at the upper end of the lake. When you do catch a smallie out of the main lake it is usually down by the dam. I figure the reason for these lake positions producing smallies is due to the concentration of current. They (The ODWC) wont stock grand with reserviour strain smallies like you find in most of the okie lakes with good smallie fishin because they propose the native strain would interbreed with the resviour strain and then the native species would become all but lost as a specific species. This tells me that different types of smallies are conditioned to thrive and subsequently live in preferential SPOTS. Now largeheadz tend to be more versitile in making a living pretty much anywhere they can stay wet so the fact that you can successfully stick greenies but not smallies in the ares you fish suggests that the biggest deal is probably to change up areas you are attempting to stick the brownies. In my somewhat limited experience (all of which has been gained on multi bass species water) I find you will catch largeheadz in areas predominantly occupied by smalljaws, but rarely will you find brown fish in predominantly green fish water....the tactics will be dictated by the conditions, ie. cover/ structure/ weather, but the suggestions above sound pretty good to me, especially the mojo, splitshot, or the now known as "PETEY RIG" using gulp, robo, or yamamato cut tail worms, or dinger/senko type baits.

Lake murray southern Oklahoma- Clear/ Deep, and grassy with little to no current. Bluebird days throwin cranks shallow during July and august mid-day have produced the largest smallies for me there. 15 miles east of murray-Texoma-Semi turbid no grass with current, February for the biguns on the bank during storms...I dunno?? :-?

This weekend I caught a Smallie that was over 24 inches long but only weighed 4 1/2 lbs- less than an inch wide on the bottum of the belly (looked more like a small mouth snake fish. There were 2 others weighed in that looked like the twin to the 1 I caight, the heaviest of which was .12 lbs heavier than mine. The smaller brown fish weighed in were all really fat and healthy, but a number died really quickly after being caught. The lake has been high for an extended period of time, and the smallies have been shallow for about a month which is pretty uncommon for Texoma during August, and ther is tons and tons of really healthy 2-5 inch shad EVERYWHERE, so what gives. What would make the big uns' so poor, and the smaller 1s so fragile?

Stayin home is not an option....there is grass to mow, and a pool to clean and a list of hunny do's Ive been puttin off all spring and summer long....cant get caught up in that right now...GOTTA fish!!

C'mon guys, you gotta gimme somthin'????????????? Nobody out there with and outside shot at an idea?

Ran into this same scenario about a month ago up at grand, and now the same thing is happening at texoma. Extended period of high water has caused O2 levels to drop sharply due to veggie rotting. Lots of shallow flooded cover, but no fish...or dead fish, the gar and shad are even leavin the shallow water. Surface Water temps not too bad, somewhere around mid 80's. Fish kill has begun to happen in the last few days, and will more than likely run for a couple of weeks considering what Ive seen in the past on tex. Im seeing quite a few non micropertus species cruisin belly up. The lake has some current runnin through it to the tune of about 35k CFS which is not quite enough to form eddies on the surface on point and pilings, but enough to move your boat a little if there isnt any wind. So where are the BASS? I find huge piles of fish and bait sittin on a hard line at 17ft on or near the channel breaks as would be expected. Upon stickin some of these fish while crankin I find they tend to be Stripers, sandies, and blues. This is a must figure out situation due to the fact I have already paid the entry fee, and need the points for the championship. My thoughts: Head toward the dam and find- Predominant south wind= bait on north/ southerly exposed edges (banks and drops). Combine this with outside channel beds that intersect these edges for a wind current/ channel current effect which helps to escape the O2 depletion. Only deal is when I find and fish these spots (not just with cranks) I hit the motherload of paper thin stripers, and sand bass. There is an occasional smallie or spot mixed in, but not consistent enough to run a pattern. Also, I have around 50-60 brushpiles placed and located from the past several years and they are located in the areas I previously described yet are holding no fish or very few very small fish. The only keeper large head I have stuck had a 6 or 7 lb head and weighed right at 3...bones showin everywhere. Flippin/ Frogin is not an option, I have burned through miles of flooded willows, hardwoods, and "brush" without so much as a nibble. And here is another curve ball, 6+ inch rains in west and central oklahoma have swelled the washita and red rivers so instead of the lake continuing to drop...thats right its movin back up into the stinkin' rotting (literally) woods again. With H2O temps in the mid 80s (probably mid 70s at 15-17ft) those fish have got to eat and must be or they would all be cruisin belly up. SO what do you do...Im stumped, after a solid 40 or so hours over the past several days out there, all I can figure out is random fish and there, no correlation in the conditions or postions. HELP!!!!

If you can stand it, try looking up research articles from symposiums and scientific journals. Let me first tell you that the reading in these things is dry dry dry....not what you would call entertaining, but they contain largely or semi uninterpreted data..observations, that you can evaluate for yourself. Lots of this stuff can be found through a google search, but you might have to go to a library to actually get your hands on it. IMHO this is the best way to improve your skills as an angler because you'll be able to understand the concept containing all the little pieces in any scenario on the water. I have found that is it less important to have the hottest new baits, or best equipment than it is to be able to find fish and then decipher their current "mood" and possible angles to approach the situation from. It then will start to become clear what is going on when a fish is caught from a certain spot using a certain technique, and building a pattern from only a few bites becomes possible. This is conceptual learning , and it will make you much more versitile than merely being a memorize and regurgitate learner which is what you get from most magazines and videos. Not that the information contained in those mags and videos isnt helpful or good info, because that type of info can give you new ideas in approaches to different situations.

From back in young childhood I remember catching lots of pale blue crawdads that had recently molted. Also, While doing some shallow diving I have seen crawdads in and around shale outcrops that have dark blue and purple streaks, as well as black backs. Now as for color mattering, its probably a visibilty issue, when color doesnt seem to matter much...they just have to be able to see it. Now when color seems to matter its probably a function of a concentration of 1 type of forage in an area. Example: May tourney post spawners would only eat a light weight green pumpkin jig with matching trailer on heavy mono or FC for a super slow fall...took me 3 days to figure it out. And it had to have a rubber skirt, and be a certain lighter shade of green pumpkin to be the most effective. After a few of the fish I caught puked up 3-6inch blue gills that were exactly that color I began to realize that the Bream color was very important. I experimented with some other colors in likely spots and got nothing or maybe small fish, but it was probably a 10:1 ratio for any other color against the light green pumpkin jig. In the same spots after trying alternate colors, on the very next cast or a couple of casts later, I would produce a fish on the green pumpkin...color mattered. I got on a good vibe bite another time but they would only hit a vibe with the green scale pattern overlaid on a black back...the black back alone would get you nothing, and a vibe is obviously a reaction bite. Another instance was a very productive deep crankin bite I was on, was extremely good on a dark blue green back DD22 under semi low light conditions...any other color would leave you empty handed...and I tried other colors. Now when a cloud rolled in, They would quit the Smokey joe, but would absolutley crush a a green joe (same thing but with a chart line just under the blue green back). Color mattered. On the other hand, I found post spawners hangin right off the bank 1 day and absolutley smoked em with senkos. I started out with june bug, but ran out after about an hour. I changed to white and never skipped a beat. I started changin up just to see, and caught fish on ever color senko I had when rigged weightless, but not a single nibble on a t-rigged or shakey head, or drop shot. That instance was purely a technique deal, but I had good water clarity and anyting that was visible and presented a certain way got bit. Tim Horton commented that he has never been too hung up on color, if your around the fish and they are actively feeding, the right presentation will get you bit every time. This is probably correct for the most part, but I think color can be the difference between a good bite and a great day.

Thanks guys, I kind of figured that was what I was facing, but I didnt know if maybe I had just over looked somthing. I have encountered this situation recently on murray, and dropshotted them vertically with my electronics with great success, but those grand river LM are different. By the way 9 measly pounds got a check and there was only 3 fish over 5lbs weighed. Usually 9lbs is big bass weight on grand, and a 5 lber wont even raise an eyebrow. We got some help from Kreit on places and techniques, the fish were there, but I guess I left the mojo at the house. Anyway, thanks again for the input.

A number of 4 fish limits were caught (200 or so boats), but not many fish over a couple of pounds which is highly unusual for a lake that usually kicks out 20-25 pound winning sacks of 5 fish and sees lots of fish in the 6lb clas come to the scales. I think 16 or 17 won, but I think that was kind of a lone ranger weight, most bags hung around the 5-8 lb range. The bite was obviously way off, and plenty of guys blanked or like us had 2 or 3. It was brutal to say the least to see these 3-6 lbers comin up and crushin bait within a few feet of the boat and then not be able to catch any of em'. And hey RW, I didnt mean to come across sideways at you with the 2nd post, hope it didnt sound that way.