Big Sugar/elk/indian Creek Report 6/1-6/3

[darbwa]

A group of 6 pulled off the Hog Heaven trifecta over the weekend. We set up our base camp at Hog Heaven on Friday at around 10:15 and Jean Ann had us on the Big Sugar at Crag O Lea by 11:15. The water was low but the fishing was good. We had a canoe by canoe wager and by the end of the day my canoe hauled in 30 bass (only bass counted for the wager) and everyone in the group had caught fish accept for one poor soul (for the purpose of this report we’ll call him Andi). On day one we caught only smallmouth although I did see several good-sized largemouth – I just couldn’t get them to bite. Most of the fish were small but I did get one 16” that ended up being the big fish of the trip. We got back to Hog Heaven around 6:30 and I don’t think we saw another person on the river outside of our group all day.

We got moving a little slow on Saturday. (Thank you to Russ for bringing down some coffee to help get me moving.) Saturday we debated doing the same float again or just heading out from Hog Heaven and floating the Elk down 8 miles or so. We knew it would be more crowded on the Elk but we had no idea how crowded. It was crazy. Very different than the previous day and very different from any other river trip I have been on but we managed to catch some fish anyway. Some fish we pulled out from beneath rafts of inebriated revelers. You could tell that some of those raft folk cared a great deal about the fishing because some of them seemed to be very quiet and motionless as we passed – almost as if they were not conscious at all. The fishing was tougher on Saturday but the winning boat still managed to haul in 20 bass and before lunchtime everyone had caught fish…except Andi. But the big highlight of the trip came late in the day when Andi landed his first fish. We were all very proud of him. I don’t think we caught anything over 14” on day 2. When we got back to Hog Heaven our fantastic hosts had hot dogs for us and even set up a ladder-ball game and even provided a backstop for our wiffle-ball game.

Day 3 had to be a short float because Andi had a plane to catch that evening. We went to Indian Creek to grab the trifecta. We put in at Lanagan and had pretty decent water thanks to a significant thunderstorm that rolled through about 4:30 that morning. The fish were hard to come by but I think the winning boat had 9 fish. We were off the river just after 2:00 and headed back to camp. We broke camp in under an hour. Our gracious hosts had Jalapeno poppers and fish tacos for us as we headed out to the Tulsa airport.

Overall I would say the fishing was decent as we only caught small ones but we had a great time and we definitely stayed at the right place. I wouldn’t consider staying anywhere else if I was in the area. Jean Ann and Russ hooked us up big time! Great trip, I am sorry it is only once a year that I get to do that.

Friday

Boat 1 (Bobby, Ryan) – 30

Boat2 (Brett, CJ) - 9

Boat3 (Andi, Dan) - 2

Saturday

Boat1 (Dan, Brett) – 20

Boat2 (Bobby, Andi) – 13

Boat3 (Ryan, CJ) – 7

Sunday

Boat1 (Bobby, Brett) – 9

Boat2 (CJ, Dan) – 5

Boat3 (Ryan, Andi) – 2

[ollie]

Got to experience the Elk on a busy day uh? lol and that wasn't even on a holiday! Be down there on a holiday weekend sometime. I think all the rain we had this weekend parred with no rain early on the season and fishing was just tough everywhere around the Elk.

[GloryDaze]

Great report..... Guess you didn't trust the report I gave from a few weeks ago about floating the Elk on a Saturday, hehe?? I guess unless you witness it first hand, it is actually hard to believe the craziness that goes on in that river! Would you believe before a few weekends ago, I had never floated it on a busy Saturday... I tried to avoid it like the plague. After I floated it, I have re dedicated myself to avoid it at all costs.

Personally, I am partial to the Big Sugar. I have never caught any huge fish, but am able to avoid the crowds and enjoy the privacy a little more.

I love the competition you guys had but maybe next time you should come up with a handicap system. Whoever has Andi gets spotted like 15 fish. But my observation would be that Andi, like myself may find just as much pleasure cracking open a cold one as catching fish??

[slayer of lunkers]

When I heard the river would be crowded, I was expecting to run into maybe a few dozen other canoes or rafts - I wasn't prepared for the procession of 1,000 + that we saw. It was definitely a different day of fishing on the Elk, but it was a blast nonetheless. I would love to go back and hit it during the week when it's much more quiet. Each float takes on a personality of its own, and this one had quite a Mardis Gras flavor on Saturday, with some decent bassin mixed in.

When the fish were hitting, they were hitting everything - top water, jig n pig, soft plastic worms & craws as well as cranking craws - that's what the boys who were catching em on Indian Creek on Sunday were using.

Glory Daze - we decided on the float that whoever bears the cross of Andi in a canoe is definitely Andi-capped. We just don't know what number of fish to allocate for having that Andi-cap. I'd like to say that knockin back cold ones is the reason for not boating fish, but if that were the case, none of us would've had any luck!

Ollie - love your signature quote...can't wait for the euros to start on Friday. Hup Holland!!!

Russ & Jean Ann's hospitality is unbeatable, and I hope to make it back there sooner than later. Unfortunately, I live in St. Louis so it's a bit of a treck to hit it multiple times in a year. Thank you both so much! Hog Heaven it truly is.

[dwiebenga]

Slayer, are you a Dutchman? I am a huge Oranje Army fan! I am also a big fan of the Elk and smallies! Not too often I find someone with that in common. I think we have a good shot this time

[ollie]

OK, now Slayer and dwiebenga have my attention! Anytime you guys want to talk fishing or soccer just hit me up!

[darbwa]

Too bad slayer has to ruin his image with that horrible avatar. You really should have a photo of you holding that beautiful smallie you caught last year on the Current.

Rock Chalk!!