Catch and release
Got this email from Philip Maguire about the story on big blue catfish in the state.
“I enjoyed your piece about the huge catfish. I am an avid fisherman and generally practice catch and release. It seems a terrible shame to allow these great fish to die. They certainly aren’t any good to eat. Couldn’t they be weighed, measured, photographed and put back in the water like we do with largemouth bass?”
Yes, they can. Big blues are not easily replaced. It takes a long time for catfish to reach 90 pounds. I know of at least two catfish guides who insist that their clients release big fish. Of course, their livelihood depends on it.
However, if anglers are legally entitled to a big fish, it’s difficult to criticize someone for keeping one. But here’s hoping more anglers will choose to practice catch and release.
Bear Fight II
State wildlife officials are taking another stab at legalizing a bear hunting season.
A proposal to allow a black bear season in Latimer, Le Flore, Pushmataha and McCurtain counties is included as part of the annual public hearings on hunting and fishing rule changes. The public hearings on those proposals are scheduled in towns around the state beginning Jan. 12.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation once agains is proposing a restricted bear season where a total of only 20 black bears could be killed. Baiting and use of dogs would be forbidden.
State wildlife officials say the biological data supports a bear hunt, as the bear population is growing and nuisance complaints are increasing in those southeastern Oklahoma counties.
It is the same proposal that state wildlife officials made last year but could not get enough political support to pass it. Any bear season will have to be approved by state lawmakers.
Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, sponsored the bear hunting legislation last year. His bill made it out of legislative committee but didn’t make it to the House floor for a vote.
Dorman said the House leadership wouldn’t put it on the calendar for a vote of the full House.
Will there be any political support this time around?
Lake Stanley Draper gets new look
The new North Point Recreation Area will open next week at Lake Stanley Draper, complete with a new fishing pier, boat ramp, picnic shelters, volleyball courts and walking paths.
Included in the development are two new parking lots, a new playground, two volleyball courts, three picnic shelters, a walking patch with additional picnic areas and an American Disabalities Act-accessible fishing pier and courtesy dock.
“Lake Stanley Draper is one of our untapped recreation jewels,” said Wendel Whisenhunt, Parks and Recreation Director.
The area will open to users beginning next Tuesday following a ceremony. Regular hours will be 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Beginning Oct. 31, the three picnic shelters will be available for citizens to rent through the Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department. Rates are $ 20 for the first two hours and $5 for each additional hour. A refundable deposit of $100 is also required during the off-season from Oct. 31 – April 15.
The North Point (Pt. 10) Recreation Area is located on the north side of Lake Stanley Draper and is accessible from Douglas Boulevard. New stone entry portals at the Douglas exit greet visitors as they come into the lake road.
Additional signage directs visitors to the new recreation area, located approximately ¼ mile east of Douglas, at Point 10.
The total project cost was $2.39 million, with primary funding coming from the 1995 and 2000 General Obligation Bonds.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Federal Aid Sport Fishing Restoration Program have approved more than $500,000 in grant funds to assist with the project.
The grant money is dedicated to the new boat ram, courtesy dock, fishing pier and access road.
Still no trout
State wildlife officials still haven’t resumed putting rainbow trout in the Lower Illinois River below Tenkiller Dam, saying the water temperature remains too warm.
They had hoped by mid-October the water would have cooled enough to resume stocking the river with trout.
“Temperatures need to be 65 degrees or lower in the tailrace during power generation before regular stockings can begin again,” said Gary Peterson of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
No trout has been added to the stream since Aug. 12. Anglers are still having success at the Lower Illinois River catching largemouth bass on topwater lures in the backwaters and weed beds.
Striped bass fishing is good on cut bait and catfishing is fair on cut bait along the bottom of the river.
Red River Stripers
With the temperatures cooling off, the striper action on the Red River has been heating up again. Fishing guide Norman O’Neal reports big stripers have been slamming 8 to 12 inch shad below the Denison dam.
“I have been catching them with the water running and it is extremely fast action,” O’Neal said.
To reach O’Neal, call (903) 624-4900.
OKC Bass Fishing Blues
On Sunday, I wrote a column about Rose State College history professor Jim Hochtritt’s poor bass fishing in the Oklahoma City urban “Close to Home” waters.
State wildlife officials say money is the primary reason the bass fishing is so poor in the urban ponds and small lakes, which are primarily stocked with channel cats and bluegills.
Bass is too expensive to raise and stock in the ponds.
Hochtritt is not buying the “party line,” however, and had this to say about the state Wildlife Department’s response to his complaint.
“First, every single one of the Close to Home lakes has a sign that indicates that they have been stocked with largemouth bass, catfish, and sunfish or perch (I cannot recall the term they used for the panfish). They also indicate that the policy is catch and release for the bass. But according to Mr. Gilliland the lakes are “for the most part” home to channel cats and blues. He said that bass are rarely put in the ponds and in some cases the habitat is not there. Well, gee. Then why doesn’t someone create the habitat if they are going to the trouble of putting up a sign that says bass are in the lakes. What logic!Secondly, he claims that it costs about $4 to grow a largemouth bass to 12 inches. Why do the bass have to be 1 pound fish? Why can’t fingerling bass be placed in the ponds and lakes? They would probably die and survive at the same rates that natural fingerlings die and survive. And I can’t believe that a fingerling costs $4 but maybe so. I will have to check into the matter.Moreover, once a healthy bass population is put in a “catch and release” lake or pond, they will self-produce and since most people are too impatient to fish for bass on lakes that get a lot of fishing pressure and such, the ponds and lakes would become self-regenerating like the urban ponds I fished in the San Francisco Bay Area, smack dab in the middle of urban sprawl and congestion. They have had a nice bass population since I was a kid and I’m 55! And they are not, ever stocked, except for the occasion when they had to repair a dam and drain a lake.
I do agree with the bills he says have not gone anywhere. I know that people fight for every little piece of the pie and seeing that local ponds and lakes have healthy fish populations is probably not a high priority.
At the same time, that type of thinking is what discourages me about Oklahoma City. I have lived here for 17 years and I love this state and area very much, but at times, it fails to understand basic quality of life issues. All one has to do is see the lack of well-kept parks, bike trails, green urban spaces, sidewalks, and such, to understand that.
Eagle Lake in Del City is a prime example. It is a nice body of water. It has great fish habit in numerous places. There are catfish, bluegill, spotted gar, and, ah um, bass in it, but it is, I am sure, underfunded, and obviously not a top priority.
If the city cared about fixing it up or if the county did, it could be turned into a beautiful urban space with a paved walking trail around the whole lake, shore access around the whole lake, and green lawns and picnic areas.
Instead, it is garbage strewn, fairly dicey park at certain times of the day, and attracts the kind of people who do not care about themselves much less the park. It is, by all standards, a dump, but I fish it and catch nothing on a fairly regular basis because it is convenient and close to home. I look at a space like that and think, this is the mindset of Oklahoma. In almost any other city or state, that lake would be pretty instead of an eyesore.
Midwest Regional Park is a classis example of something done right. Years ago, there was not much there, but the city has spent a lot of time and effort fixing that place up and now, surprise of surprises, it is used on a regular basis by all kinds of people. It’s a beehive of activity from morning until evening.
People get very excited about a pro-basketball franchise, and deservedly so, but other amenities in the metro area are sadly lacking. Quality of life means many things, and just claiming to be a major league city because we have a NBA franchise is rather short-sighted.
Since living here, I have always found it highly ironic that I am in the “country,” if you will, and yet I had better places to fish in the San Francisco Bay Area or I can find better places to fish in the suburbs of St. Louis. All I can do is shake my head and laugh.”
Pink it and Shrink it
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting story today on female hunters, which has gained attention since the vice-presidential nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is a big game hunter and supposedly knows how to field dress a moose.
While the overall number of hunters have declined in the last 15 years, female hunters have slightly increased. The story chronicled how female hunters are now taken seriously by those in the outdoors industry.
One of the women interviewed in the Wall Street Journal story was Beth Ann Amico, who operates Deep Fork Retrievers in Choctaw with her husband, John.
Amico pointed out how outdoor manufacturers once assumed that slapping pink on such things as weapons and camo would get women to buy their products.
“Initially, their attitude was pink it and shrink it and women will buy,” Amico said. “We’re savvier than that.”
Stripers biting on Texoma
Steve Barnes, a fishing guide on Lake Texoma who operates out of Denison, Texas, reports the fall striper bite is already underway on Lake Texoma.
“The Lake Texoma fishing is back on track for this fall,” Barnes said. “We have been catching limits of decent size fish in the mornings and afternoons but the afternoons have been producing more bigger fish. No skinny fish like last fall.
“Most fish have been caught on river ledges in 30 to 40 feet of water with live shad and some topwater action early. The lake has early turned over (about three weeks early) so the fall bite has started early.
“The quality of the fish is much better than it was last year so I will mostly fishing the lake this fall but will probably still fish a few river trips. River fishing has been up and down. Some days you catch nice fish and other days they are small, but it should improve as the water cools.”
To book a trip with Barnes, visit www.txfishingguide.com
Two Okies in WBT Championship, Lake Fork has big bounty, and more
Two Oklahoma anglers have qualified for the Women’s Bassmaster Tour to be held Oct. 23-25 on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark.
Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, last year’s Angler of the Year on the Women’s Bassmaster Tour, finished fifth in the season points standing to qualify in the pro division.
Denese Freeman of Lawton, finished 17th in the co-angler points race to qualify for the event. The top 20 pros and co-anglers qualify.
Lake Fork, the famous big bass lake in east Texas, will have a 7-month long bass tournament beginning Oct. 1.
The tournament is open to all anglers who pay the $20 entry fee. If you catch a largemouth bass during that time that is one of the top 50 in Texas, you will win $10,000.
If you beat Texas’ 10th largest bass, you win $20,000. If you catch a state record, you win $50,000. And if you beat the world record with a Lake Fork bass, you win $100,000.
For complete details and rules of the Lake Fork Bounty Bonanza, visit www.lakeforkbountybonanza.com.
Backyard Bassin’ has set its fall-winter tournament dates. Nov. 2 at Lake Murray (north unloading ramp); Nove. 30 at Lake Texoma (Catfish Bay); Dec. 14 at Arbuckle (Guy Sandy Ramp); Dec. 28 at Lake Texoma (Catfish Bay); Championship, Jan. 25 at Arbuckle (Guy Sandy Ramp).
For more information call Vernon Ritter at (580) 220-8138 or email vernon@backyardbassin.com or visit www.backyardbassin.com.
The Oklahoma Fur Bearers Alliance will hold its 2008 fall convention Oct. 18 at the VFW hall on the northeast side of McAlester. For more information, call John Weygandt at (918) 645-5667.
Wildlife Expo coming up
If you are not an outdoorsman but think you might want to be, visit the Oklahoma Wildlife Expo this weekend at the Lazy E Arena and you can get a taste of it.
It’s a great event for kids and novices, although expect it to be crowded. With great weather in the forecast, I would expect it to be a busy weekend on the grounds of the Lazy E Arena, near Guthrie, where the Expo is being held.
The event is free, which also makes it a big draw. You can win stuff and even sample vittles such as buffalo chili, venison jerky and fried catfish.
Visitors to the Expo get to try a variety of outdoor activies. You can fish for catfish in a pond, shoot a shotgun and a bow, ride a mountain bike, build a blue bird house, paddle around on an indoor pond in a kayak, learn about camping, etc., etc.
The Expo is put on by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. State wildlife officials originally didn’t allow private vendors at the Expo, but so many people wanted to buy stuff they have added an Outdoor Marketplace so visitors can shop.
The Expo will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Lazy E Arena and on the grounds. The hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
Friday might the best day to avoid the crowds, although several schools in the state are taking field trips to the Expo that day and 4,000 kids are expected.
