The search continues...

Day Two

The next day provided an opportunity that we don't get to see very much as striper fisherman in Oklahoma...low water on the Arkansas River below Zink Dam. The low water pedestrian bridge and dam at 31st and Riverside in Tulsa provides awesome wade fishing WHEN and IF they actually close the flood gates on the dam. It doesn't happen very often so when it does happen, we always try to take advantage of it because great things usually happen. What happens during the striper run is the fish start to run upstream and Zink Dam basically stops them from going any further so what happens is you can find the fish stacked up in the deep holes and flats downstream of the dam where they feed on shad and spawn. It can be epic fishing...

Fellow addict Donny met me at the parking lot across the street from Zink Dam at 6 a.m. to get an early start on our search for the elusive striped bass. We started fishing below the east flood gate as there's a deep hole below the gate that opens up to a large flat that usually holds lots of fish. We worked our way around the flat while catching a new mess of sand bass and hybrids but no stripers were found.

We worked our way across the river to the other flood gate which has another deep hole below it but instead of a flat it has a spillway flowing into the deep hole from across the river from the other flood gate so the fish usually stack up in the deep hole or in the current where the spillway enters. We spent some time but only brought more sand bass to hand. Still no stripers. I talked to a few guys who were fishing with surf rods to see if they'd caught any stripers yet, nothing for them either! So we decided to keep heading downstream as there were a few more deep holes to work over...

We fished our way downstream, combing the depths of all the likely looking deep holes just hoping to find the fish but we were striking out. Frustration had started to sink in as we continued the walk downstream towards PSO when I noticed a guy fishing with conventional tackle that was hooked up with a fish...a fish that had his rod doubled over! Donny and I stopped to watch the guy pull in a nice striper off of a big flat just below PSO. Our hopes were renewed as we hiked downstream to the big flat and struck up a converstaion with the guy. Turns out he had 5 NICE stripers on his stringer, all of them over 10lbs plus he said he's caught around 15 fish in the 5-20lb range...all on topwater plugs! He also was a member of the OzarkAnglers fishing forum as he recognized me from pictures I had posted so it was cool to meet someone you only knew before as a username. He told us the fish had been chasing shad the last few hours, feeding heavily, but the bite had started to slow down. What a bummer...

Donny and I were determined though so we started working the flat with our clousers and deceivers, hoping for a strike. It didn't take long as I broke off a fish and missed a few strikes but then Donny got a solid hookset into a fish that made an impressive run. All Donny could say as the fish ran was "Oh my god! Holy shit!" along with a few other explicitives. It took all the line out of his hand and followed up by almost getting into the back. I'm trying to coach him while I quickly reel in so I could help with landing the fish when all of a sudden the line goes slack. Upon reeling in his line and inspecting the fly, we found that the fish had straightened the freaking hook!! It must of been a toad of a fish to say the least. Our confidence was once again renewed so we went back to ritual of the "chuck and duck" as we launched our big flies into the murky water.

Several minutes passed before all of I heard the same excited screams again from Donald as he had another fish ripping line from his reel! This time we were landing this fish! The fish made several hard runs all the while shaking its head like crazy...you could see the rod just throbbing in Donnys hand. Donny fought the fish like a seasoned veteran, wore the fish down, and brought the fish in close. Now the next issue was trying to land the fish with no net and being 50-75 yards away from shore. I walked out to the fish and tried to lip him a few times but couldnt get it done. Finally Donny got the fishes head up and started to pull him towards me so that I was able to tail the fish momentarily while I finally got my hand in his mouth to lip him. Soon as the slack line hit the fly, it popped right out of his mouth....we were extremely lucky! It was a nice male striper...long, lean, and just pure muscle! It was an awesome fish...



We were both extremely excited to land the 1st fish of the season and to get the monkey off our backs. After a few quick photos, we released the fish back into the murkey waters and set back to searching for more fish. Sometime had passed since Donnys fish with no strikes happening and we were considering calling it a day as other anglers began to exit the river as well. We decided to move downstream a little more to where the flat got a little deeper and was at its widest point. I made a long cast across the flat and let the deceiver fall into the depths before I started stripping the the fly back to me as fast as I could. The tell-tale "thump" of a strike followed shortly after which I set the hook instantly only to find my rod doubled over and all the line I had in my hand being ripped away. I got the fish on the reel and watched as it took foot after foot of my fly line. It stopped just a few feet into my backing and just sulked while it shook its head like crazy. I was almost positive it was a striper but you never know what you might hook in the Arkanas so I put the pressure on the fish and started to gain some line back. I'd gotten probably half my fly line back when I saw a huge swirl and splash while catching a glimpse of the tail of a BIG striper as it took all the fly line I'd just got back on the reel. I put the pressure on the fish but the 7-weight I was fishing with a little overpowered by the fish so it was quite the battle. I worked the fish over as best as I could, gaining line back slowly. Luckily, it never made anymore huge runs...just little bursts here and there. I got the fish close and we seen that it was a huge female striper. I finally turned her head and Donny got his hand in her mouth to lip her. Yes! She was a beauty. Big, strong, and healthy...her belly was HUGE either from eggs or shad. I was on cloud nine to say the least as this was the biggest striper I'd ever caught as well as being the biggest fish I'd ever caught on a fly rod. We snapped some good pictures and then revived her completely before turning her loose. Freaking awesome fish...




We fished for a little while longer before packing it up to make the long hike back to the truck. My arm was like a wet noodle from casting big flies on a sink tip line in the wind. We were both content though with the awesome fish we had caught. We'd just missed the action by maybe 30 minutes, if only had we walked downstream in the first place! Oh well, we know better now for the next trip to Zink! The spring run for the stripers in the Arkansas river has just now got into full swing so we'll have plenty of time to chase those big fish again. Also, with the weather we've been having, the striper run on the Lower Illinois is running behind a few weeks so we'll have the chance to catch fish there after the fish go back downstream on the Arkansas. Its looking like it could be a good spring for stripers...as long as the weather holds out for us and we don't get flooded out.

We have plans for this weekend to go chase stripers once again on the Lower Illinois or the Arkansas River, depending on the weather and generation. As long as there are no tornadoes or lightning storms, I'll fish in the rain if I have to. One thing is for sure, come hell or high water (literally), I'm going to keep searching for the next big bite...

Let the search continue...

Let the search begin...

Spring time signifies the start of lots of things in Oklahoma. For the outdoorsman, spring time means the chance to shoot a wild turkey, catch slab crappie as they spawn, or chase sand bass in our rivers as they make their spring run. For a select few though, spring time means it is time to start the search for probably the state's greatest game fish...the striped bass. This elusive fish, known more commonly as "stripers", is found in many of the states lakes but its the stripers who call the Arkansas river system home that those of us who suffer from the addiction pursue. These fish grow large and strong in the Arkansas river as they feed on anything that gets in their way all year until spring time rolls around and they start their spawning run.

To me, the striper is the Oklahoma version of the famed steelhead that so many people dedicate so much of their time to find and catch these fish. The fish can be hard to find sometimes, their feeding patterns are random at best, and, to make conditions even tougher, the best waters to find them are tailwaters that are subject to random generation schedules. From time to time though, everything falls into place...the water is right, the fish are there, and they are feeding! Its times like these that make all the searching, the walking, and the casting worth while...especially when you have a 20lb stripe at the end of your line.

For myself and my fellow addicts, our search began a couple weekends back on the Lower Illinois river below Tenkiller Dam. The LIR runs into the Arkansas river and tons of stripers make their spawning run up this little tailwater where they frequent the deep holes that are a long walk from any access point and gorge themselves on the rainbow trout that the Wildlife Dept stocks throughout the year. Under normal conditions, they start their run at the end of April and then return to the Arkansas about the middle of June . Joey Cloer and myself decided to make the drive down to the Lower Illinois to mostly do some scouting for stripers. I hadn't been down yet to do any scouting myself but I had heard that the conventional tackle striper guides were beginning to catch them at the mouth of the LIR and even were catching a few as far upriver as Gore Landing. So the early signs that the fish were moving into the river were good, just how far upriver they'd made it was yet to be found.

Day One

Joey and I met in Gore where he got his out-of-state license before we headed down to Marvals Family River Resort where we had decided to access the river. We geared up with big rods, big flies, and big hopes of tying into a big striper. We began our trek downstream to some deep holes that I'd caught stripers out of last year during the run. The walk downstream yielded some surprises as we found some holes had filled in but new holes had formed that looked promising. Joey was throwing a white/chart clouser while I was chuckin' a rainbow trout patterned deceiver, hoping to key in on the stripers primary food source while they were in the river. We dredged every deep hole, undercut bank, and deep run but never got a strike. As we continued downstream we came across large pods of buffalo spawning. When I say large pods, I mean hundreds of them schooled up for hundreds of yards, it was nuts. Joey couldnt resist so he tied on a brown/tan clouser and begin hopping it off the bottom through the hoards of buffalo. He quickly hooked up with a few nice 3-5lb buffalo that put on a great fight on the 8 weight. If we hadn't of had stripers on the agenda, we woulda spent the whole day catching those fish but we had bigger fish to fry!

All those black shapes are buffalo...

We continued our trek downstream...casting to every likely looking hole but coming up empty everywhere. Thoughts were starting to creep into my head like; "Are the fish even in the river yet?" "Are they even feeding because of the overcast and rainy weather?" "Are the flies we are using too big or too small?" I just couldnt figure out what the deal was...the fish had to be here! My answer came in the form of a fellow fisherman who came upon us and asked if we were fishing for stripers. We replied with a frustrated yes. He stated that the fish weren't running up the river yet and that he'd been down here the last few weekends looking for them, but the cooler weather has kept the fish in the Arkansas river. That information was a relief and a letdown at the same time for us as it meant we'd figured out why we werent catching fish because the fish weren't there!

We were about to pack up and head back to the truck when I made another long cast up next to a large log. I let the fly sink and began to strip it back to me when I noticed a large silvery torpedo came out from under the log to chase my fly. It quickly ran down my fly and flashed at it but missed it. I set the hook instinctively upon seeing the flash, obviously missing the fish but it kept swimming around looking for the fly. I quickly recast and put the fly right on its head! The fish whirled around and inhaled the deceiver instantly...I set the hook and the fight was on! The fish made an awesome run followed by a huge jump which allowed me to identify the fish....it was a freaking huge rainbow! She made a few more impressive runs, almost putting me into my backing before I was able to slide her into the shallows and grab its tail.

Big flies = Big fish!

It was the biggest rainbow I'd caught out of the Lower Illinois as well as the biggest trout I'd caught in a couple of years actually. She was fat, healthy, and full of color...quite impressive for a stocked fish. After some quick pictures and a little more admiration, I released her back into the river where she swam right back towards the log which she came from. We decided to call it quits on chasing stripers for the morning and made the long hike back to the truck.

We ended the day by putting away the big rods, breaking out the trout sticks and heading upstream to the Watts WMU access to catch trout for the remainder of the day. We each caught more than our fair share of rainbows so the day wasn't a total loss. We decided to give it a week or two and then come back to the Lower Illinois to start the search again...