I'm in...OKLAHOMA? Seriously?

[jimmadsen]

Yeah...seriously.

Hey everybody - long time no talkie-talkie. Having a second daughter and moving to a hot, dry, flat state will suck the fly-fishing chattiness right out of you.

Now that life has settled down and we've managed to dodge the latest set of tornadoes to go through Norman, I want to find where all my fly fishing stuff is packed and get out and do a little fly fishing.

I know there's some cold water fishing to be had in some tail waters in the far reaches of the state from Nov-Mar, but I want to be able to go out for an afternoon and not a day. Which means I'll be tossing in warm water.

My question is - I have no experience fishing warm water. I assume there's bass and bluegill and who knows what in the lakes and ponds in central Oklahoma...what do I toss at them? I'm assuming that all the copper johns and PMDs I've tied over the past couple of years will need to be replaced by something else...any ideas?

THANKS in advance...

[jeffnles1]

Jim,
Good to hear from you! The flies you have will work for bluegill for sure. Heck, I caught an 18" bass last summer on a #12 Adams and a 3wt rod. That was a lot of fun.

Over the winter, I posted a number of flies I use in warm water on my blog (see my sig line for the link).

Poppers work great on warm summer evenings. Woolie buggers and woolie worms work amazingly well for bass, bluegill, crappie, and the occassional catfish. One thing about warm water fishing is it is quite addictive. There's just something about watching a bass explode on a popper that will get your heart thumping.

Bass and bluegill can be just as picky as any trout when it comes to what they're keying in on.

Also, any fly that has some flash and resembles a minnow will work.

Jeff

[jimmadsen]

HEY JEFF!

good to hear from you too! I'll definitely go out and check out your blog. Good to know I can start with what I have in my flybox before having to set up my bench...there are no basements in Oklahoma so I don't have a good place to set up my bench.

I'll be sure to post pics when I get out....hopefully there are some other folks on the board from OK that I can hook up with. Hate to think I'm the only fly fishing fool in Oklahoma.

[mahanvey]

Hello Jim,
You'll be glad to know that your Copper John's and your PMD's will work down here too... fish are fish and bugs are bugs. The bream, bass and few trout in our area will also take you up on those. The large poppers are great for Large Mouth bass. Welcome to the warm water and use what you have until you come across a few other fly fishers to see what they have.

[Breamchaser]

jimmadsen, glad to hear Y'all dodged the nasty weather there. As what to use in warm water for bass and bluegills, trout flies will work very well. San Juan worms, wooly worms and buggers work very well also. Foam flies aer sudden death on gills, black, green and yellow seem to be the best colors. Take care and enjoy warm water fishing, John.

[Fisherman John]

I am basically a cold water fly fisherman but my favorite warm water fly is the Jack GartsideGurgler. I've caught lots of sunfish, small-mouth bass and large-mouth bass with it. Go to FAOL Fly Tying Fly of the Week #90. I tie it with yellow foam and sometimes use various colored chenille for the body.

Good luck.
John

[soloman]

Welcome to Oklahoma. There be flyfishers here. The tailwaters of Broken Bow and Tenkiller (the lower mountain fork and lower Illinois respectively) are open year round for cold water species. Just about any nymph, woolly bugger or popper will catch sunfish.

I do my flyfishing from a kayak on lakes and ponds. Haven't been out this year due to shoulder surgery, but one of these days.

I am in Edmond - on the other side of OKC from you. Sound's like Thunderbird (dirtybird to the locals has some tornado damage) You might try the lake at the public hunting area near norman (The lexington wildlife management area). check WWW.wildlifedepartment.com.

Lake Murray - South of you is clear and it has small mouth bass.

I know there are other Oklahomans on here that can give better advice than I can.

[Mato Kuwapi]

You'll grow to love warm water fishing. If you don't have one yet...get a float tube. (I use a FishCat4Delux) I'm not sure what is in your water there but lets assume bluegill and other assorted pan fish and a couple species of bass. ...actually I'm taking a look online and you have some pretty cool species to go for. http://www.okiefish.com/OkieFISH1.htm
In flat water (lakes, ponds, oxbows and slow rivers) I have three or four flies I always use. #1 is a damsel fly nymph...I use one of my own (derby winning) patterns but any will do. #2 Woolly Buggers, #3 Muddler Minnow (Marabou or regular) #4 Flash back PT Midge, #5 Puke Fly...and a couple of others but none are as important as that damsel fly nymph. I use that almost 100% of the time. It just plain gets fish. If your looking for big surface action with black bass, then a mouse or any popper type fly will do the trick. Gurglers are great as mentioned previously. You have catfish there...Cat fish are fun on a fly rod (big black flies like woolly buggers and rabbit leaches work well) ....as well as carp. Not sure if noodling is legal there but you do have Flathead catfish and that's the fish you see in this video.


For those thrill seekers out there...this is a dangerous sport and folks die attempting it. Not something to do alone for sure.


Here are some good Okie fishing sites where you can get some info.
http://www.oklahomafishingguides.com/
http://www.okiefish.com/

[EdD]

Deb, I'm told that noodling/grabbling/grabbing isn't dangerous if you do it right. If you do it right, it's suicidal.
Let's review, you are in warm water sticking your mitts into underwater holes in hope of grabbling the jaw of a catfish and NOT the jaw of a cottonmouth, beaver, 'gator, snapping turtle, muskrat, regular rat, softshell turtle, otter, gar etc... and that the catfish isn't big enough to pull you under and hold you.

Ed, whose idea of noodling involves lasagna

[jimmadsen]

Hey folks - THANK YOU!

Glad to know that in the year hiatus that I took off the board, we're just as friendly and helpful as ever!

Nice that I won't be starting from scratch, either, and I'm thankful that I will be able to deploy my float tube - hard to use in the fast flowing knee deep water that I'm used to fishing. Good to know that the $$$ I paid for it all those years ago will finally feel like they weren't wasted.

SOLOMAN - Thanks for the tips on cold water fishing - that's where my heart is but at this point I'll take any fishing over no fishing. And besides, I grew up fly fishing for bluegill way back when so it will be good to get a few slabs on the line because when they get sideways in the water they feel like a 20 inch brown heading for the gravel.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP and as soon as I get out on the water I'll be sure to post pics.

GREAT TO BE POSTING AGAIN!