Quillback

A service of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Angler lands new Oklahoma state record largemouth bass A new Oklahoma state record largemouth bass was caught Friday, March 23, at Cedar Lake in southeast Oklahoma. The fish weighed 14 lbs. 12.3 oz. and was caught by Poteau angler Benny Williams, Jr. while on a camping trip at the 78-acre LeFlore Co. lake. Williams caught the bass at 11 a.m. on a ¼ oz. Striker King jig. This fish measured 26 inches in length and 22 3/8 inches in girth. Williams' fish breaks a state record held since 1999 when William Cross caught a 14-lb. 11.52-oz. bass from Broken Bow Lake. "Catching the state record largemouth bass in Oklahoma is a big deal and catching a fish this large is a big deal," said Barry Bolton, chief of fisheries for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. "It speaks to the quality of fishing we have in Oklahoma and also to the anglers who get out there and fish for them. We congratulate him on his great catch." The last two state record largemouth bass as well as several from the state's Top 20 Largemouth Bass List have been caught in the southern and southeast regions of the state. Fish are cold-blooded, so their metabolisms work faster in warmer conditions and they grow more rapidly. Lakes in the southeast region of the state tend to warm up earlier and cool off later in the year than in other regions, which affords these fish a longer growing season. According to Gene Gilliland, assistant chief of fisheries for the Wildlife Department, Cedar Lake has been known to produce big largemouth bass for anglers in recent years - not only because of its southeastern location, but also because it has a history of receiving Florida strain largemouth bass through the state's stocking program. "They grow pretty fast down in that part of the state," Gilliland said. "Cedar Lake has produced several double-digit fish in the last five years." Anglers who believe they may have hooked a record fish must weigh the fish on an Oklahoma State Department of Agriculture certified scale, and a Wildlife Department employee must verify the weight. For a complete list of record fish and the procedures for certifying a state record, consult the current "Oklahoma Fishing Guide" or log on to wildlifedepartment.com.

Nope different people. Sorry about the small font, didn't copy over too well, I'll see if I can copy it again and increase the font size.

I stopped by Lake Ann yesterday and yes it is almost full, couple of rigs in the parking lot, so it will get fished. I'm going to wait a few days to let the fish adjust to the change in water level and give it a shot. Fished Windsor yesterday morning, found a decent jig bite, but luck was not with me as I lost 2 big fish, one that looked to be in the 5-6 lb. range that jumped and tossed the jig (I hate it when that happens) and another that I never saw that I could not get out from under the boat, it found some structure, hung me up and broke off. Very frustrating, slapped the water with my rod a few times after that one.

Let's hope it's legit... March 23, 2012 A service of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Angler lands new Oklahoma state record largemouth bass A new Oklahoma state record largemouth bass was caught Friday, March 23, at Cedar Lake in southeast Oklahoma. The fish weighed 14 lbs. 12.3 oz. and was caught by Poteau angler Benny Williams, Jr. while on a camping trip at the 78-acre LeFlore Co. lake. Williams caught the bass at 11 a.m. on a ¼ oz. Striker King jig. This fish measured 26 inches in length and 22 3/8 inches in girth. Williams' fish breaks a state record held since 1999 when William Cross caught a 14-lb. 11.52-oz. bass from Broken Bow Lake. "Catching the state record largemouth bass in Oklahoma is a big deal and catching a fish this large is a big deal," said Barry Bolton, chief of fisheries for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. "It speaks to the quality of fishing we have in Oklahoma and also to the anglers who get out there and fish for them. We congratulate him on his great catch." The last two state record largemouth bass as well as several from the state's Top 20 Largemouth Bass List have been caught in the southern and southeast regions of the state. Fish are cold-blooded, so their metabolisms work faster in warmer conditions and they grow more rapidly. Lakes in the southeast region of the state tend to warm up earlier and cool off later in the year than in other regions, which affords these fish a longer growing season. According to Gene Gilliland, assistant chief of fisheries for the Wildlife Department, Cedar Lake has been known to produce big largemouth bass for anglers in recent years - not only because of its southeastern location, but also because it has a history of receiving Florida strain largemouth bass through the state's stocking program. "They grow pretty fast down in that part of the state," Gilliland said. "Cedar Lake has produced several double-digit fish in the last five years." Anglers who believe they may have hooked a record fish must weigh the fish on an Oklahoma State Department of Agriculture certified scale, and a Wildlife Department employee must verify the weight. For a complete list of record fish and the procedures for certifying a state record, consult the current "Oklahoma Fishing Guide" or log on to wildlifedepartment.com.

I'd go with white for stained water and silver or gold for clear.

There are crappie in that lake, I was thnking that without the normal spring pressure it could be good crappie fishing this spring. But I got an email from the POA stating that they are letting Ann fill up with the latest rain and it is now almost full, so it will get fished. Never had much luck with cranks myself, I usually drag plastics or jigs. I caught a 17" crappie (released it) on Avalon this winter on a jerkbait. I think that if a good crappie fisherman worked the brushpiles hard he could catch a few, not saying a lot, but might get a few nice ones. As far as slime, yeah Windsor is not too bad, Avalon is not bad either. I fished Avalon yesterday morning for a few hours until the rain hit, caught about a dozen bass, but all small 10-14" fish. Using a Zoom lizard.

Water's up almost 4 feet - good thing we did not get as much rain as predicted.

Drove over to Ann this afternoon, it has come up about a foot or so, with some brown water coming in from the feeder stream, but the rest of the lake looks good. Windsor and Avalon have come up a bit, but water is still the same color it was before the rain and the streams feeding the lakes are high but running clear.

They used to stock rainbows in Bull Shoals lake, lots of folks used to fish for them at night during the summer and there were guides with pontoon boats that took people out to fish for them, don't know if they still have that fishery, but it was fairly popular in it's day.

The heck with seeing a school of hundreds of 6 inch bass, I want to hear of someone seeing hundreds of 6 POUND bass in a school.

I might get out today if the rain holds off and I'll let you know what I see, but we only got a little over 2 inches here so I don't expect any problems. Windsor and Avalon are a little murky because of algae bloom, but definitely fishable. Jerkbaits worked for me on Windsor last Friday, but it seems it's a different bait every day this time of year. They were also chasing bait on top Friday. Lake Ann is still drawn down for repairs, they are supposed to start filling it starting 3/31. But if you have a kayak and don't mind carrying it across the mud flats by the launch, or I guess you could drop it in by the dam, you might have the lake to yourself and some fine fishing. Might be worth bringing the crappie stuff if you like crappie, I doubt they've seen much pressure in Ann this spring. Bluegills and Redears are biting also, saw some guys catch a bucketfull fishing in about 20 ft of water on Windsor.

There's some monster browns in the White below Beaver dam. The AR bios do an electroshock survey every year and they shocked up a brown weighing 25 lbs. last year. They say they see that fish every year in the same hole.

Stopped raining here in Bella Vista, the weather guessers are saying it's supposed to start up again with more wind, but if not I might sneak down to the lake.

Yeah the rain seems stuck over in eastern OK, every once in a while some of it moves over here, but not to the extent the weather guessers keep saying we're going to get. Not that we need any more.

Maybe it takes a bit before the rise appears on that gauge. White river and War Eagle are definitely rising with increased flow. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ar/nwis/uv/?site_no=07048600&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

What really annoys me is the guy killed the fish for nothing.

Watching the weather report this AM, they are now predicting 5-10" locally the next couple of days. A couple of days ago the corps said they weren't going to release any water ahead of the storm as they thought it would not rain enough to flood the lake. Seems we've seen this scenario before and saw the outcome. Of course the forecast could be wrong, let's hope so.

OTF, that is funny, the Duke fan obviously brought some bad karma onto his team. I admire your ability to maintain perspective, if I was an ardent Mizzou fan I probably would have thrown a brick at my TV at the end of that game. My team (Gonzaga) was bounced yesterday, they could've won, they had the looks in the last couple of minutes but could not convert. I have nobody to root for now, maybe I'll pull for Wisconsin.

Sounds like a great day to be on the water! Wow, water temps in the 60's already. Was that back in the shallow water? How about main lake water temps?

I've been fishing Senkos a lot the last year or so, wacky rigged. I like the Yamamotos, in GP, smoke, and black, with any variation of flake. If you're going to wacky rig, get some 3/8" heat shrink tubing, cut it into 1/4" sections, thread a Senko into each section, shrink the tubing to a tight fit, and run your hook through the tubing and Senko when ready to fish. This works much better than using the rubber O-rings as far as increasing the durability of a GYCB Senko.

I didn't watch the game, who wants to watch a 2 seed beat up a 15 seed?

You've got some good points Spahog. I'm not a tourney fisherman myself, and I'm not anti-tourney, but I would expect a relativeliy large tourney like Castmasters place more emphasis on fish survival. Weigh them quickly and get them back in the lake with a minumum of handling.

I'll have to stop by there myself, WC,do you do General Tso's chicken?

KIMBERLING CITY, Mo. – Michael Stetich of Omaha, Neb., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 25 pounds, 6 ounces Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League Ozark Division bass fishing tournament on Table Rock Lake. For his victory, Stetich earned $6,472. “I fished from Kimberling City to the lower end of the lake,” said Stetich. “I had 18 keepers, 14 of which came shallow off of transition banks in the morning. I was mostly throwing the Alabama rig and had a 17 to 18 pound limit. “Then I made an adjustment,” Stetich continued. “About 1 p.m. I started fishing deep, about 35-40 feet. I was able to get three bass over 6 pounds each using Dirty Jigs Tackle Football jig in peanut butter and jelly color. The difference for me was my Hummingbird imaging device. To win any tournament you still have to locate and pattern the fish and my Hummingbird was a major factor in my victory on Saturday. Stetich believed that Saturday’s bright bluebird skies and light wind prevented the big bass from going shallow. He indicated that the bigger bass seemed to have pulled out and suspended themselves later in the day. Rounding out the top 10 pros were: 2nd: Josh Busby, Rogersville, Mo., five bass, 24-13, $2,236 3rd: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 22-14, $1,492 4th: Tim Taylor, Nixa, Mo., five bass, 22-3, $968 Mike Webb, Ozark, Mo., five bass, 22-3, $968 6th: Ed Young, Harrison, Ark., five bass, 22-2, $820 7th: Mark Dunbar, Jefferson City, Mo., five bass, 21-8, $745 8th: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., five bass, 21-5, $671 9th: Billy Doak, Centerview, Mo., five bass, 20-10, $596 10th: Mike Eutsler, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 20-2, $522 Aaron Tripp of Russellville, Ark., weighed in a five bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win $2,236 in the co-angler division. Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were: 2nd: Jeff Davis, Rolla, Mo., five bass, 20-1, $1,118 3rd: Brian Jones, Villa Ridge, Mo., five bass, 16-14, $745 4th: Mark Anderson, Nixa, Mo., five bass, 16-13, $484 Dennis Spell, Desloge, Mo., five bass, 16-13, $484 6th: Kenneth Sorensen, Fremont, Neb., four bass, 15-9, $410 7th: Pete Mathews, Shawnee, Kan., five bass, 15-5, $373 8th: Josh Falke, Kansas City, Mo., four bass, 14-9, $335 9th: Shannon Garrett, Burt, Iowa, three bass, 14-7, $298 10th: Derek Felton, Republic, Mo., three bass, 14-2, $248 Warren Lichius, Eureka, Mo., four bass, 14-2, $248 The next BFL Ozark Division tournament is scheduled for March 24 on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Mo. After the fifth Ozark Division tournament is complete, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 11 - 13 Regional Championship on Lake Barkley in Kuttawa, Ky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the BFL All-American. The 2012 BFL All-American is being held May 17 – 19 on the Potomac River in National Harbor, Md. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart Series or even the FLW Tour.

Yes I am special, at least that's what my mom told me.