Spring River OK February 27 report

[curtisce]

did you have much company, I'll bet they will be out this weekend. Hard to keep a good bite secret.

[Phil Lilley]

It's that time of year!

[ollie]

I saw a couple of reports where guys were catching the crappie up by the docks on spring the other day. Figured it wouldn't be too much longer for the whites to show up.

[BilletHead]

              After @Phil Lilley great report after watching the fiasco at Roaring River we drove over the Bridge upstream from twin bridges crossing spring river. Need to take a look see to determine if we could launch there. At this CFS and river level our boat will be a challenge. There were some vehicles parked there but no trailers. Someone had been in the water with a boat trailer and dampness could be seen on the ramp from that traffic. A light boat on a trailer with small tires with trailer sitting low maybe. I have larger tires and trailer sits high. If it worked there would have to be waders involved and another old tougher than nails @curtisce pushing it off the trailer. Winching back on would be easier than getting it off. Some rain in the drainage would help immensely. What say you Curt for next week TBD?  I will not abuse my good sport @Mrs. BilletHead on trying but I would you . I can pay in an assortment of custom Clouser minnows LOL. 

[ollie]

Just launch over at conner's bridge and go around. Your choices are far and few between! lol I know you don't want to launch up at devil's promenade so you really only have three to choose from if you are going up spring.  

[Phil Lilley]

Guess they got enough rain yesterday to bring the river up. Video taken at the 10c bridge at noon today by Paul Crews. 
 

 

 

 

[BilletHead]

That would get you launched 😀. This will get the fish heading upstream. Thanks Phil.

[ollie]

My oh my, the ramps were busy this weekend down there. I was over that way on Saturday, so I decided to stop by and check out the ramps at Devil's Promenade and 10C. Both were extremely busy with rigs putting in and taking out. I will say though, I was disappointed to see guys cleaning fish right by the ramps and throwing the carcass right there on the bank. ☹️ Heck, even saw one guy feeding the black vultures as he was cleaning them from the table he sat up. So much for the idea of taking them out into deeper water or somewhere else. I saw a lot of white bass getting cleaned. Although I talked with a couple of guys who went down the trail to bank fish and they had only caught 3 all morning and it was around noon or so. Same with another guy I talked to as well. I didn't ask where the boats were catching them. I was too busy watching the circus of boats loading and unloading. I saw one guy drop off his wife and told her to drive down with truck to load him up. In the time it took her to get to the truck and get in line, there were four boats in front of her. That guy just stayed out there in the current running the boat waiting for her. I thought that was a little much since he could have just beached the boat and waited for her. He must have spent 20-30 minutes out there idling and waiting for her. I could tell he wasn't a happy camper! lol The time is now for sure.

[curtisce]

Tuesday I went down , @BilletHeadand Mrs. got there early and warned me I wouldn't be able to launch at the 10 bridge. Went down to twin bridges and paid my  $10 then ran up the river. Considerably shallower thatn last time and put a few nicks in my newly machined SS prop 😫. Had to use the trolling motor to get above the riffle t the gravelbar. Livescope showed lots of fish in the first pool. Caught a few but mainly small males. Marty was already clicking and putting nice plump females in the livewell. took a while but I started catching a few. Went up around the corner but not much luck, we all ended up  back in the same place. Two other boats were catching fish right and left. marty calls me and say a faster strip was the trick. We all started catching for quite awhile. with enough fish in the livewells we tried a few different spots and then headed towards the ramps. Lots of boats just below 10 bridge 

[BilletHead]

6 minutes ago, curtisce said:

Tuesday I went down , @BilletHeadand Mrs. got there early and warned me I wouldn't be able to launch at the 10 bridge. Went down to twin bridges and paid my  $10 then ran up the river. Considerably shallower thatn last time and put a few nicks in my newly machined SS prop 😫. Had to use the trolling motor to get above the riffle t the gravelbar. Livescope showed lots of fish in the first pool. Caught a few but mainly small males. Marty was already clicking and putting nice plump females in the livewell. took a while but I started catching a few. Went up around the corner but not much luck, we all ended up  back in the same place. Two other boats were catching fish right and left. marty calls me and say a faster strip was the trick. We all started catching for quite awhile. with enough fish in the livewells we tried a few different spots and then headed towards the ramps. Lots of boats just below 10 bridge 

OH yeah I forgot to share. Thanks Curt. It was another great trip. Except for the boat launching. Water had really dropped. I did take waders thinking I could at least push boat off of the trailer. Ugh no not exactly. Pat backed the boat and trailer down the ramp. We were first to launch pre sunrise but others were in line behind us. I told them go ahead, nope we want you to do it first. Okay boat showed water on the bottom on the trailer. I tried to push it off. Nope would not budge. I told Pat to drive up and back down and hit the brakes. Boat slid back on trailer four inches at a time. After four rounds of that I pushed it off. Pat parked and she got in big eyed how we get back on? I quickly responded no problem but in my mind it's like this is going to suck. 

  Then we fished. Started out slow but when it happened it was a hoot. We caught a bunch, nice ones. Wind blown bank. So thinking why. Either thinking about spawn or plankton gathering bringing up the shad thus a shad buffet for the whites. These fish were from on the bank out to three or four feet deep. A few caught out deeper but much better response shallow. Grey over yellow and white or chartreuse over white. Strip as fast as you could. Hard strikes and good fight.  Pat and I kept 20 whites and two big crappie. Bled them and on ice for trip home. Now to getting the boat on trailer. Pat backed out to the same spot. This time the bunks were actually out of the water. I pulled out the winch to the back of the trailer. Walked boat to the back and clipped it on. Then the winching began. Not too bad at first with wet boat bottom. Then it became the pits. Winch and rest, winch and rest. Finally within six inches of where it should be Pat pulled us up. Gathering everything for trip home and I got it the rest of the way back on trailer. No more launching of this place until a raise. Too darned bad. It's fixing to get awesome.