ollie

I know all the outfitters in my part of the state do not rent jon boats or even have them available to rent. I don't know about some of the other rivers you mentioned though. Hard to believe any of them would rent those out anymore though. Simply because of the cost and transportation of them for the shuttle. You can get more tubes and kayaks on a trailer than jonboats.

I've driven past there a couple of times and always wondered how it would fish. Good info there, thanks for sharing.

I fish it occasionally, but it isn't anything like it used to be. There was major drought a few years back and the creek all but disappeared. I haven't done well on it in the last few years since then. I mean yes, there are fish in there, but the numbers and size isn't there like it use to be. JMO

Well, for me, life just got in the way this time around. I came down with Covid last week earlier on so it took me out of the game all of last week. Must have been an alright day, you didn't end up skunked! Which is pretty easy to do down there. I guess you won this year by default whether you caught anything or not! lol

Man, that was one tough opener for C&R. Not many fish caught this year. I'm used to catching some numbers down there on opening day, but not this year. It was slow and tough this time around. Not many fish to be seen even. There were some spots where fish were stacked up, but not many. I ended up catching 16 and the biggest was 17". Most of the ones I did catch had some size to them with only a couple of them being under 10". I ended up going home around 2. It was a beautiful day to be outside though so that was a big plus this year. Looking up and down the stream I didn't see many people at all catching fish. Not sure if low water was the factor in not stocking this year. I suppose they did stock, but if they did you couldn't tell at all. I will say this, it has changed since last year when I was down there. As in the pools look like the floods got the best of them. Oh well, still a better day than work!!

I don't know about hardest there is, but it certainly ranks up there pretty high. Congrats to her!

Yes, Grand will get even more crowded. I have a buddy that lives in Bernice and he told me there is a lot power land grabs going on right now. I would venture to say Vinita is looking to expand their city limits out that way as well. If you know where the turn off to the darn is off of HWY 60 to 82 that is where it will be. They just broke ground on the RV this past week I think.

I can relate. Have a friend that completely believed it was some sort of government secret thing going on to spy on all of us. Never mind that they can ping your cell phone at any given time and probably find you, but hey what do I know. I do know that a lot of people get paranoid like wrench said when something like this comes up.

RR hasn't been fishing like it used to IMO. Even during the C&R season you rarely even see any big fish in there anymore. Sure, you can rack up the numbers with the stockers, but very rarely do you see anything bigger in there. When I first started going to C&R it was about 15 years ago and I would catch at least one over 20" every time I went. Shoot, one year I caught over 3 of them in one day! Haven't had that happen in a long time.

For me, when I think about pro fisherman I think yeah, that's an easy gravy career to have. But, I also know there has to be a lot of grinding going on. As in schedules, driving a LOT, trying to keep sponsors happy and a family life. Those aren't necessarily physical issues, but more of mental issues. I'm sure they have days where they are being taxed physically, but I would think most of it would be mental. Hard to keep going out and not placing in tournaments knowing money is on the line and that is your source of income. I myself would never have made it had I went into the profession. That is definitely a job where you have to be upbeat all the time even down to the last minute. I couldn't do that I know.

Brian, I admire you for your efforts and commend you for them. I just gave up years ago. I used to be in charge of the stream team down here on Hickory Creek. Key word there is "used" to be. After cleaning up all day along the stream only to go back the next day and see more trash just finally weighed on me and I decided I can't anymore. I think the one that really got me was going down there the next day and seeing a guy throw a beer can into the creek right in front of me with no regards. I asked him why? His response was, "oh, there are some people who come through here and clean up every so often, so I don't worry about it". Needless to say, I was livid at that point. This was the next to last clean-up I was involved with. That is small scale compared to what you are talking about as well.

tjm, I remember exactly why they passed that county ordinance as well. Sheriff and his family were down there one weekend and a bunch of women were showing there ta-tas off in front of his wife and kids. No, they rarely enforce that one if ever. Why would they since money revenue is up for the county since the pandemic?

Even places I used to go to about 10 years ago have gotten out of hand with people. Elk in the summertime has been that way for years now. I wouldn't stay in any of those campgrounds. All pretty nasty from what I have seen. I'm sure with the Kings it has to do with the population explosion of NWA. Heck, any given weekend that is the majority of plates in the parking lots down on Elk or Big Sugar. I am constantly looking for new access points on the creeks around here. They are fewer and fewer anymore though. ☹️

I could see that on Grand, but I had no idea Beaver had them in there that big!

If you haven't heard the news yet, you should check this out. It will either be very successful or a complete flop and never make it off the ground. Big news around here for sure.

Fish for the moment, but I feel like you always need to push yourself for the PB. I don't think I have ever reached my PB. Most people have caught bigger fish than me so I am always wanting to catch that bigger one!

Got a good report that they were still catching nice fish up Spring to the last gravel bar upstream you could motor up to. I figured that was the second gravel bar upstream from 10C so I decided to check it out yesterday. Got there around 8 and hardly anyone was down there which kind of surprised me. This time I took the yak and went upstream. That will probably be the last time I do that one. Too much water and a lot of paddling just to get up there about 1 -1 1/2 miles. Anyways I got up there and didn't see another person. Great! got the place to myself. Too bad the fish weren't there for me. I threw a lot of different lures and only caught one dink until almost leaving. So I'm over by this fallen tree on the west side of the river fishing it and I start to hear a load commotion from behind me. I turn and see the water churning with whites! I am like 50 yards away and I jump into the yak and start paddling like crazy to get to them. Just as I get there the water goes calm again. -------! I missed them. I'm sitting there and all of a sudden they start back up to the left of me so game on! I throw out there and bam! instant hit from one and it is on. This fish is pretty big I tell from the pull of the rod. That and the fish I saw busting the top weren't your average sized whites. This fish was pulling hard. My bait caster was bent over and drag was going out. I have that drag set tight as well. Got a glimpse of the fish and can tell it is nice and a hybrid. When I finally got it close enough to the boat I saw he was hooked in the back fin. No wonder it was fighting like hell! After getting hooks out I measured it at 18" and it probably weighed around 5 pounds was my guess. The fish was fat and had a girth to it as well. That was the first time on Grand I have witnessed hybrids schooling like that. I have seen and been in the middle of white bass churning the water, but not with all hybirds like this.

The other article I read says they intend to bring back a lot of the older products. Even rods and reels it said. Who knows though what they will actually do. I would almost bet though that they bring back some of those.

I just read this last night on my feed from Grand Lake. Apparently Luck E Strike was up for sale and a new owner has emerged. Toby Keith the country star is now the guy in charge! While I'm not a huge fan of his music, I do think he is very passionate about fishing and will probably make this a success. It is an interesting story to hear about. Apparently one of the guides on Grand knows him and they are doing this together. Jeff Williams is the one who came up with FleFly and Team Catfish and then he sold those brands and had no control over them. Now he is going to be like an operations manager or something like that. It probably helps out the Toby has a house on Grand as well and likes to fish there. Heck, never really been a fan of Luck E Stike either, but now I may have to. lol Toby Keith Acquires Iconic Fishing Brand Luck E Strike - The Fishing Wire

Not the same one I was talking about but another one caught out of there not long ago. Anglers praised for removing massive carp from Oklahoma lake (usatoday.com)

Be careful of the ones you buy. I only say that because I had 2 of the cheaper models snap on me right at the bend in the flex. I own 3 Falcons still, but they are older models that the rods were actually made in Broken Arrow. The newer ones I bought were fast action and made in China. I just had a bad taste with those.

Did you see the other post with the smaller Big Head that was around 75#? Guy caught that one while trying to snag paddle fish. I'm guessing from this pic that is how this one was caught. They are invasive and can eat a LOT! I know if I ever catch one it won't survive another day.

I guess that will happen when you don't delete old messages! lol The inbox was completely full. Try again

Went back down last night after work and didn't do very well at all. It appears the big push is all gone from everything I saw. I caught 2 dinks on a pink rooster tail and that was it. Only 2 boats at the launch and 4 people total on banks fishing. I didn't see any of them catch anything as well. Were the white bass still out there? More than likely so, but not anything in numbers like we have seen. Doesn't help the water has gone down a LOT. As in the drop from the shoreline is like 8 feet from where it was last week. Pond water out there now and not much flow. I could have literally, probably waded to the other side if I picked the right spots. It is getting that low. Oh well, now is the time to get over to Elk and check out the run there. It always gets going after the Spring river run.

Outstanding Work!!