Holidays and thanks
Jeff hopes everyone had a Merry Christmas (he missed last week's report) and wishes them a happy New Year. Thanks for tuning in to the Grand Lake Outdoor Report on KGVE 99.3, and thanks to the GRDA and other sponsors who have supported the Grand Fishing Report and Grand Lake Outdoor Report for many years.
Deer season wrap-up
Antlerless season is winding up, and Oklahoma hunters had a fantastic year. Check out the Oklahoma Bowhunter group on Facebook. Some of the bucks taken this year are outstanding, and the state's deer-herd management really seems to be working. Congratulations to everyone who got a buck or a doe. Jeff will archery hunt until January 15, trying for one more doe for summer sausage, then plans to get back in the saddle and fish a lot.
Paddlefish / Williams Guide Service
Haydn has had some really easy Paddlefish trips this past week. Most of his calls now are for Paddlefish, so he hasn't switched to Crappie yet. He's trolling mostly around Sailboat Bridge, and his clients really appreciate the heated enclosure on his boat. Look up Williams Guide Service Grand Lake on Facebook for lots of pictures of happy clients. Other guides are doing well too. The typical winter hot spot runs from the east side of Shangri-La back to the Gray's Ranch area north of Sailboat Bridge. It's a tug of war: warmer water and air move the fish up the lake to stage, and big cold fronts push them back toward deeper, bigger water down the lake. Somewhere between Sailboat Bridge and Shangri-La is usually great in January and February.
Crappie
It's been really great around Monkey Island, west toward the dam and at some of the big marinas. John Lewis has been catching really nice Crappie on a 2-inch soft-plastic jig with a clear body and red, white and blue flakes. In Grand Lake's clear winter water, blues, clears, pearls and Monkey Milk–type colors really shine. People were at the Twin Bridges ramp when Jeff drove through on the way to see his mom in Joplin for Christmas. A couple of weeks ago Haydn caught really nice roaming Crappie on Spring River. It took him a while to find them, but once he did, he pitched a jig and watched it fall on LiveScope.
Catfish
Good friends Matt and Christy Watson caught some really, really nice Blue Cats over the weekend. It was cold, but fishing deep water and deep ledges with Shad paid off.
Shad kill watch
It hasn't been cold enough for a shad kill yet, but the first hard, sustained, windy cold front could change things fast. Threadfin Shad usually die before Gizzard Shad, and that changes the Catfishing. When you see gulls diving at all hours, that's usually what's happening, and the shad kill typically sets in during January and February.
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Back on the lake
As hunting season winds down, Jeff is spending less time in southeast Oklahoma and more around Grand Lake, and the reports are good. Visit the Grand Fishing Report Facebook group for guide reports, videos and members' catches.
Crappie / Williams Guide Service
Haydn caught a lot of really nice Crappie this weekend, some in deep brush and some roaming. He finds them on LiveScope and drops a small soft-plastic jig on them. His two best colors this week imitate a baby Bluegill or Sunfish, and a clear bait with red, white and blue flakes for clear water.
He's using a 2-inch soft plastic on a 1/16 oz head, sometimes with a split shot ahead of it. He caught very few short fish. He's gotten so good at roaming Crappie that, in the right wind, he has clients toss the jig out on top of the fish, and if it's presented just right, the Crappie strike. It's hard for two people to fish that way at once, but you can take turns.
Paddlefish
Haydn also had kids out on some of their first fishing trips. He has pictures of young men holding really nice Paddlefish from the upper end of Grand Lake. He's guiding two to four days a week now and really goes after it past the middle of January. It felt good to be back on Grand Lake.
Catfish
Guys are catching Blue Cats deep on the south end, anchoring on deep ledges and edges. They throw Shad up on the flats in about 30 feet and down as deep as 60 to 80 feet. In winter you never know if it's a 2-pounder or a 50-pounder that's going to hit. Those 3 to 7 pound fish out of cold water are as good eating as you could ask for.
White Bass / Spring River
People are trolling for White Bass on Spring River between the old Seneca piers and the Spring River Bridge. The fish are staging there for their spring runs. It's part of the cycle at Grand Lake that Jeff, Lee Jeffery and everyone else who has done the report have talked about for years. Until there's a rise on the water, conditions are normal and stable and the fish are predictable. On 45 to 50 degree days with light winds and sunshine, you can have a great time on the Spring and Neosho rivers.
Below the dam
Not much news. It usually needs running water. If they start running water and leave it running a while, January and February can be tremendous for White Bass and Hybrids there.
Deer season / deer salami
Archery season runs until January 15, and there's a holiday antlerless season. Check the statewide regulations for open days and how many deer each unit allows. Jeff plans to take one more antlerless deer for burger. He and Patricia started making their own deer salami this year, vacuum sealed in little packages. It's a great snack, and they enjoy making it together.
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Back from deer camp
Jeff has been away with family over the holidays and deer hunting in Kansas. The family has had a great deer season, continuing the luck from bear season. From now until January 15 is one of his favorite times to be in the woods. Oklahoma has a secondary rut when many yearling does get bred. If you're lucky, "old mossy horns" will run out in front of you. Find a good food source when it gets cold (corn, acorns or whatever you're hunting over) and you can have a lot of deer come in.
Conditions
Fishing reports from Grand Lake are good. The water is extremely clear and stable. Windy weather is coming later this week, with a little chance of rain over the weekend.
Crappie in the docks
Enough cold weather has come to really bunch up the Crappie. They're often in really deep brush piles or the darkest places in marinas and big docks. If you have access to marina docks (or pay for it), or know someone with a good dock with covered slips in deeper water, now until pre-spawn is when you can really sack them up. There hasn't been a shad kill yet, so Crappie, Catfish and Bass are all feeding up hard.
Crappie reports
John (Lewis) has been catching some really nice Crappie on 2-inch soft-plastic jigs. Haydn with Williams Guide Service and his girlfriend Haley caught two limits in docks on the south end. He said it didn't really matter which jig color they used. Haydn fried up the Crappie for Haley's daughter's birthday party, and it's hard to beat fresh Crappie out of cold Grand Lake water. "That's life's simple pleasures right there."
Catfish
The GrandFishingReport.com Facebook group has posts of some really nice Catfish around Sailboat Bridge, a couple of them over 40 pounds, possibly caught from the bank.
Paddlefish
Guides are getting a lot of Paddlefish. Haydn plans to be snagging over the weekend as he gets back to guiding. If you've never snagged Paddlefish, hire one of the lake's guides and learn how. Grand Lake is just about the premier place in the country to snag them. Some lakes have bigger fish, but very few places in the U.S. have a Paddlefish population like ours.
White Bass / Twin Bridges
With clear water and no inflow on the Neosho, Jeff expects people to start catching boatloads of White Bass on the Neosho and Spring River any day now. Over many Christmas breaks he has caught a lot of Crappie and White Bass in clear water at Twin Bridges.
Lake Hudson
No news from below the dam, but at the headwaters of Lake Hudson, look for brush piles and old submerged wood along the Grand River channel in 10 to 20 feet. You can catch some big Black Crappie on the upper end of Hudson right now.
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A long tradition
Over the years Jeff has talked to a lot of people who heard Ivan Martin, Lee Jeffery or Jeff himself on the Grand Lake fishing report. It's a really cool Grand Lake tradition, and he's glad KGVE keeps it going.
Firearm opener
This is the biggest weekend of hunting season. Oklahoma firearm season opens bright and early Saturday, and with nice weather forecast, Jeff expects lots of harvest, maybe even a record. Western Oklahoma has big deer, but most of the state's deer are taken in the eastern half, from I-35 to the Arkansas line, where some counties produce a tremendous number of Whitetails. Families hunt together: husbands and wives, sons, daughters, grandkids and friends.
Local gear shops
Jeff buys his ammo at L&L Outdoors in Jay, which has a tremendous supply. He shoots .308 and .300 WSM, and Haydn shoots .300 Win Mag and .308. Laramie at L&L carries deer blinds, hunting clothes, crossbows and a gigantic selection of guns and scopes, a good stop for a last-minute firearm or scope help. Sam at Grand Lake Sports Center also has some firearms and does scope work, Jeff believes. David Hale at Honey Creek Outdoors is where Jeff always had his bow tuned.
Stable lake, predictable fish
Without a big inflow or strange weather, the cooling water of late fall into early winter puts fish in the same places year after year.
Crappie
Haydn says Crappie are moving toward the backs of the coves and up the creek arms, as they historically do now. Shad move to the backs of the coves in fall, and the Crappie and Bass follow them.
White Bass
White Bass should be getting closer to the banks. Try an inline spinners or small swimbaits.
Catfish
Guys are catching plenty drift fishing. Don't be afraid to drift 35 to 50 feet for Blues. Blue Cats usually tear things up from about mid-November until the first shad kill, which sometimes comes before Christmas but more often closer to mid-January.
Safety / Thanksgiving
Hunters, wear your orange and take your time. Jeff may not be back for a Thanksgiving report. Firearm season runs two weeks and three weekends, and unless the weather changes inflow on the lake, this week's report should carry over. Happy Thanksgiving and good deer season.
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Recorded at deer camp
Jeff and Haydn recorded from southeast Oklahoma and expect this report to hold for a couple of weeks unless strange weather or a big rise hits the lake. They'll be hunting much of November.
Seasons
Some nice bucks have been taken around Oklahoma with archery and muzzleloader equipment. Muzzleloader closes this weekend (Jeff believes Sunday is the last day). Then come several weeks of archery, followed by Oklahoma's most popular season, traditional firearm: two full weeks spanning three weekends.
Haydn's buck
Haydn got a pretty good buck a couple of days ago in Oklahoma. It was slow at first, but the cold front got the deer moving. The buck was checking and running does all day, and he had it on three different cameras across about 200 to 300 acres.
Rut timing
By Halloween things usually pick up. On the family's lease near Smithville in southeast Oklahoma, the pre-rut and rut seem to start a little earlier than out west. Northeast Oklahoma around Grand Lake tends to follow the southeast. Owen, Jeff's youngest son, is hunting western Oklahoma and seeing much less activity. On the east side you could see a big buck chasing a doe in broad daylight any day.
Crappie
Crappie are coming off main-lake structure and moving back into coves, where the water is a bit warmer. For Haydn that usually happens around October 15. Look in coves and cuts, suspended or on structure like docks and brush piles. Where the water is muddier, on the north end, more fish will be suspended and roaming. Where it's clear, more will be on structure.
Paddlefish
Sailboat Bridge to Gray's Ranch has been really good. For a while guys were putting in at Twin Bridges and catching them in the river, but Haydn's last trip around Gray's Ranch and the mouth of Wolf Creek did really well.
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Muzzleloader opener
It's the opening weekend of Oklahoma's muzzleloader season, and a cool front should bring relief from the warm, humid weather that anglers like and hunters don't. Jeff's favorite fishing guide on Grand Lake, his oldest son Haydn ("Slim") of Williams Guide Service, joins him while they set up for the hunt.
Crappie
Haydn's last day on the water was this past weekend, when the water was 68°F (about 66 in some places down the lake). The main-lake brush pile and dock bite is ending, and Crappie are moving back into coves and cuts where the water is 2 to 4 degrees warmer. Minnows still work, but the jig bite has picked up, and he caught a lot on small soft-plastic jigs, staying mid-lake around Shangri-La.
Paddlefish
Haydn caught a bunch of Spoonbill north of Sailboat Bridge, between the bridge and the mouth of the Elk River in 20 to 40 feet of water, mostly around the Gray's Ranch area. On two trips Saturday they lost count. He was trolling about 100 feet of line with size 107 divers and 12/0 barbless hooks. Remember, snagging hooks in Oklahoma must be barbless.
Deer rut
Haydn is seeing a lot of scrapes. He thinks it's about normal, roughly a week and a half before the first does come into heat and the chasing starts, especially with this cold front. No chasing yet, which is normal for a hot October.
Family tradition
Muzzleloader and firearm seasons are a tradition for Jeff's family and for families across the state. If you've never hunted, tag along with a family member who does and learn.
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A report with history
Tell your friends and family that the fishing report Lee Jeffery started many years ago is still going on KGVE 99.3. Jeff can still hear the old intro music. He remembers Lee, retired (he believes) from teaching or being a principal, running around the lake with a black cassette recorder with chrome buttons and a corded, chrome-tipped microphone. Lee would hold it up for you to talk, then talk into it himself, at Twin Bridges, below the dam or wherever the fish were. "What a class act." Jeff wishes more of the old reports had been archived to listen back through the seasons.
Crappie
Haydn with Williams Guide Service says Crappie fishing was a little tougher this week. He's still getting fish on small soft-plastic jigs, but he had to switch to minnows to catch a lot. Every day was different: warm wind, then cold wind, then a little rain. It's a fall transition, like February and March, when the seasons battle for dominance and bring more wind and volatility. The lake is still down, clear and normal.
White Bass / John Lewis
John Lewis caught a lot of Sand Bass on small swimbaits in front of Shangri-La. Years ago Jeff and John made a video wade fishing for White Bass running up on the banks this time of year. Lots of fish go really shallow now, with Shad up on the banks and more schooling action. inline spinners and small swimbaits are great choices, and sometimes schooling Kentucky Bass and Black Bass are mixed in.
Jim Wagner's popper rig
On shallow points, try the rig old Jim Wagner taught Jeff for fall White Bass: a white topwater popper with about 18 inches of line tied from the back hook to a white jig. Sometimes you catch two at a time, and when one hits the jig it pulls the popper under like a bobber. "If you don't like to watch a bobber go under, I don't think you got a pulse."
Paddlefish
Snagging is active on the upper end, as always. Jeff brags on the guides who get clients from all over the country on Paddlefish almost year-round.
Catfish
Friend Larry Barnett and his grandson were pictured on the dock with some really nice Catfish that looked over 30 pounds, probably caught on rod and reel.
Fall on the lake
There's very little traffic. Pelicans, Cormorants and Gulls are showing up as the lake moves into a fall and early-winter pattern. Locals, don't think spring and summer are the only times to fish. Fall and winter fish fries of Crappie and Blue Cats are hard to beat.
Muzzleloader
Muzzleloader season is coming up, and Jeff is excited about chasing big bucks and deer camp. Thanks to all the sponsors and local dealers who support the report.
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Recording with Nellie
If you hear heavy breathing, it's Jeff's dog Nellie panting in the back of the truck. He dropped his wife off at the store and recorded the report in the parking lot.
Fall fishing
It's fantastic. There are probably fewer anglers out now than at almost any time of year, the big boats aren't running, and it doesn't matter what species you target.
White Bass
Troll small swimbaits, little lipless crankbaits or inline spinners in the evenings, or throw them at shallow gravel bars, surfacing fish and diving seagulls. It'll keep getting better through November. Usually by the end of November the water is cool enough that surface activity fades.
Crappie
Good reports from Twin Bridges, where guys are finding nice limits around the bridge pilings. Haydn has slowed down on Crappie as he shifts to deer hunting, his usual time off.
Paddlefish / Bass
Paddlefish snagging is going on at the upper end. As the water cools, the GRDA allows more Bass tournaments, because it's easier to keep the fish alive out of the extreme heat.
Catfish
Catfishing is excellent. Prepared dip and fiber baits are great in shallow water. Get on big flats in 6 feet or less with a little wind blowing across, scatter several rods, and you can have a good time on manufactured Catfish bait.
Deer
Check the Oklahoma Bowhunter page on Facebook to see giant Oklahoma bucks being taken all over the state. Lots of rain this year made native browse plentiful and nutritious, which especially helped deer in western Oklahoma.
Family bear season
Jeff didn't bear hunt, but Patricia got a really nice bear, Owen shot a really nice bear, and Haydn took a humongous sow estimated at 475 pounds, all in southeast Oklahoma on the first day of the season. Patricia joins a very short list of women who have taken an Oklahoma black bear with archery equipment. They weighed in the first two bears of the season, and Jeff doesn't know of anyone weighing one bigger than Haydn's. Next up: deer season, including youth hunts for Haydn and maybe Patricia's first deer hunt.
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Gorgeous weekend
Archery season and bear season are opening, and people are still dove hunting. Low humidity, light winds, sunshine, and cool mornings and evenings make this Jeff's favorite end-of-September and early-October weather.
Crappie
Haydn with Williams Guide Service is absolutely slaying Crappie on main-lake brush piles with a small soft-plastic jig. The fish are really aggressive and come right out of the piles to hit it. He pairs it with a 1/16 or 1/8 oz chartreuse jig head, depending on the wind.
Paddlefish
Snagging is in its beginning stages on the upper end. Jeff thinks Grand Lake's guides are probably the best in the country at targeting Paddlefish almost year-round. Grand Lake of the Cherokees has a giant reproducing population, one of the best in the U.S., and people come from around the country and the world to snag them. We take it for granted here.
White Bass
The White Bass fishing is tremendous on shallow gravel bars and points in the evenings. With a little wind, the zooplankton moves up, the Shad follow, and the White Bass, Blue Cats, Hybrids, Black Bass and Crappie follow them. You'll see a lot of Shad on the surface. Troll inline spinners, small swimbaits, or chartreuse-and-white small lipless crankbaits and plugs. A small shallow-running crankbait (3 to 4 feet deep) is perfect for trolling this time of year.
Bear season
Archery opens October 1 (Sunday, Jeff believes). Patricia will be in southeast Oklahoma with Haydn and Owen, with bears baited on the family's hunting lease. Owen has never killed a bear either, though he has helped put a lot of people on them.
Sign-off
Thanks for listening to KGVE Grand Lake Radio. Post pictures and reports on the Grand Fishing Report Facebook group.
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Storm damage
Nasty weather again. Friend Jerry Cookson at Cedar Port Marina posted video of a tremendous amount of hail (it's on his Grand Lake Boaters Facebook group and shared on the Grand Fishing Report group). Jeff was working in Greenwood, but his wife reported a broken table, flipped chairs and grills and a split tree at their Monkey Island place. It's about the third time this year Monkey Island has been hit, with trees down in the resort and on the golf course. The straight-line winds weren't quite in the forecast. Don't take those big thunderstorms for granted.
Crappie
Haydn of Williams Guide Service has been fishing a small soft-plastic jig. In a video yesterday he dropped down six times on a deep-water brush pile and caught five Crappie. The color he helped design mimics a baby Bluegill or Green Sunfish: a chartreuse bottom, a really light tan back and green and other flakes. In clear water, Crappie were coming four or five feet up out of the brush to hit it. It's amazing what LiveScope shows about how far away fish can sense a bait. He's been limiting clients out.
Haydn's schedule
Haydn will guide for about the next 8 to 10 days, then go bear hunting in southeast Oklahoma with Jeff's wife Patricia, who's trying for her first bear. He'll guide again the first couple weeks of October, then take his vacation as archery season gets going.
Hunting
Dove season saw a lot of limits around Grand Lake. Heading toward October 1, people are hitting the woods with trail cameras, salt and corn. Some hunters shoot the first deer that comes by and some hunt trophies, and it's great that Oklahoma's tremendous deer herd allows both.
Paddlefish
A few fish are starting to stage on the upper end above Sailboat Bridge, which is typical for this time of year.
Matt and Christy Watson
Good friends Matt and Christy Watson had a really good trip toward the middle of the lake and caught nice Catfish, White Bass and Crappie.
Catfish / White Bass
Drift for Blues with fresh cut Shad over mud flats or deep flats from about 40 feet to 15 feet. White Bass are easy to target in the evenings on small swimbaits or inline spinners, or trolling points and shallow areas around Governor's Island, Sweetwater, the islands around Sailboat Bridge and Patricia Island.
Share
Post a picture on the GrandFishingReport.com Facebook group. You don't have to say where or what you caught it on.
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Labor Day recap
Grand Lake had a busy Labor Day weekend, and Jeff saw and heard of a lot of fish caught. Boat and fishing traffic complemented each other. The lake didn't get busy until about 10:30 or 11 and was packed by noon or 1 on Saturday and Sunday. Jeff and his wife live at Shangri-La and love watching the tubers, skiers, WaveRunners and cruisers, and chatting with anglers who fish past their dock. Back when he guided full time, big-boat traffic was often more than he wanted to deal with on trips. Even so, mornings, evenings and weekdays still offer great fishing all summer.
Crappie
Haydn with Williams Guide Service keeps sending picture after picture of limits of really big Crappie from brush piles. The Crappie seem to be past the finicky July–August stage and putting the feed bag on. Haydn says it's some of the most fun Crappie fishing he's had all year. He's dropping minnows into offshore main-lake brush, not in coves. He has put in a lot of work over the last two or three years cutting, hauling and sinking brush so he always has spots, and the day he talked to Jeff he knew of five brush piles holding Crappie. If you put the work in, you can catch all the Crappie you want.
Fish factory
Grand Lake proves it year after year: spawning runs of Paddlefish, Catfish and White Bass, plus lots of Bluegill and Sunfish, all support the fish factory.
Paddlefish
Some guides are snagging Paddlefish from the mouth of the Elk River over to about Wolf Point at the mouth of Wolf Creek, probably moving a bit upriver but likely not much past the Three Fingers coves. It's a fertile area with a tremendous amount of zooplankton, and Jeff thinks that's why so many Paddlefish live there.
Catfish
Drift fishing in the early mornings and evenings is great anywhere from 10 to 45–50 feet. Anchoring on flats in the evenings and at night produces Blue and Channel Cats. Cut Gizzard Shad is one of the very best baits. No cast net? Soak chicken breast (fresh, or frozen that hasn't been in the freezer too long) in a blood-scent spray and drift-fish it. You'll be surprised what you catch.
Fall ahead
With summer boat activity winding down, Grand Lake goes back to the fishermen until it gets really cold around the first of the year. Expect lots of good reports on the Grand Fishing Report Facebook group.
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Labor Day weekend
Great weather is coming for a really busy weekend. Labor Day is the third big holiday weekend and the wind-down weekend for a lot of folks. Lake activity drops noticeably once the kids go back to school, but the diehards who put in all three holiday weekends will be out running boats, WaveRunners and cruisers, swimming, tubing, fishing, barbecuing and visiting the resorts.
Crappie
Fishing is exceptional overall, though some people are having trouble catching Crappie, which is typical this time of year. Keep looking for brush piles. Some hold a lot of little fish and some a mix, but every now and then you'll stop on one with a bunch of big keepers and catch a limit or two. Some days it's minnows, some days artificial lures.
Catfish
Drift fishing is always really good for Blue Cats this time of year.
Black Bass
Fish topwater on main-lake points at night, in the evening and early in the morning. A lot of guys are fishing big plastic worms in brush, not very deep. Most active fish are above 20 feet, so they're usually not too hard to target.
White Bass
They're tearing things up and surfacing all over the place, with lots of reports of trolling success. Whether you're on a WaveRunner, Bass boat, pontoon or runabout, great Labor Day trolling spots are Governor's Island, Sweetwater, Goat Island, the humps around Bernice, the islands around Sailboat and Patricia Island. Governor's Island was the first place Jeff's parents and grandparents let him and his brother take the old 14-foot Richline out to troll for White Bass. Catching them in the evenings around Governor's and Snake Island goes back as long as he can remember. Grab some inline spinners or small swimbaits and head out around 6 or 6:30 in the evening.
Night safety
Wear life jackets, because the GRDA wants to see them. Remember there's a nighttime speed limit on the lake (Jeff thinks it's 35 mph, but check). Turn your lights on, and watch for broken-down boats without lights or with dead electrical systems. That's when accidents happen.
Thanks
Thanks to the area sporting goods dealers around Grove, the GRDA and L&L Outdoors for being industry partners.
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Rain and lake level
The lake got some pretty substantial rain, but the watersheds soaked most of it up. In August the watershed ponds and lakes are usually so depleted that there's far less runoff than when they're full. The lake is about 1.3 feet over normal at 744.33, with 1,260 CFS of generation below the dam. That should mean fantastic fishing down there, and the longer they run water, the more fish gather at the generators. Late August and September are the tail end of summer patterns and the start of fall patterns.
Crappie on TV
Haydn with Williams Guide Service did a show with Scott Turnage of G3 Sportsman. They caught a lot of Crappie in brush piles toward the middle of the lake on 2-inch soft-plastic jigs. His two favorite colors are a clear red-white-and-blue flake and a baby-Sunfish color. The show day brought a hard north wind, the one direction Haydn hadn't been guiding in, but he has so many brush piles marked that he got out of the wind and pulled off a nice show.
Catfish
Drift fishing is really good in the mornings and evenings, anywhere from about 40 feet up to 10. Drift up or down the slope and the fish will tell you the depth where they're feeding. Close to daylight and sundown, Blue Cats move shallower. Drift in 15 feet or less on main-lake points around Governor's Island, Goat Island and the islands around Horse Creek.
Spoonbill on LiveScope
Haydn had a client, from Kansas Jeff believes, who wanted to LiveScope-snag Spoonbill. They got three or four Spoonbill in a couple of hours, then went to a brush pile and caught about a limit of Crappie in another hour or so.
Night fishing under lights
People are fishing dock lights at night. Those green lights and fishing lights draw schools of White Bass and Crappie this time of year. Don't get on people's docks, hook their lights or tie up to their cables, but Jeff doesn't mind a few folks fishing his lights at night.
Coming up
Jeff is spending a lot of time in Greenwood, Arkansas, and is working on getting Haydn to help with the reports.
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Heat
It's hot, man. Hardly anyone is out midday except folks on Wave Runners, pulling tubers or floating by the dock soaking in the water, and even Grand Lake's water is warming fast, with surface temps pushing 85 to 90 degrees. The dog days bring light wind, but a little breeze and 90 degrees wouldn't hurt. Driving from Greenwood, Arkansas back to Wister, Oklahoma this week, Jeff saw 107 degrees on the highway. His sons Haydn (Williams Guide Service) and Owen (Grand Glass Cleaning) say it's been really warm at the lake too.
Guide news
Haydn has been on a well-deserved vacation in Florida. He and Jeff's youngest son Owen caught saltwater fish, including mahi-mahi and red snapper, and did some bowfishing for stingrays.
Catfish
Other guides around the lake are catching a lot of Catfish suspended or anchored on top of humps, fishing cut shad or live shad.
White Bass
Sand Bass fishing is on fire. With a little breeze early morning or evening, drag a small swimbait or a lipless crankbait around. They come right to the top in the evenings feeding on shad, especially where breeze blows plankton onto the banks. With a breeze blowing into the bank, Governor's Island in summer evenings is really hard to beat, as long as Jeff can remember. You can do it from a WaveRunner, pontoon or runabout. Watch your depth finder, because some of those points get really shallow. Don't get too close to the bank, and use the markers between Governor's Island and Snake Island to see where to stay. If you've never been, idle up and watch everybody trolling to get the idea. Take the kiddos out. Jeff has fond memories of summer-evening trolling there with his parents and grandparents when school was out. White inline spinners, small swimbaits and tiny lipless crankbaits all produce. Other good spots are Sweetwater, Goat Island, the shallow gravel bars around the Bernice Bridge and the islands from Sailboat Bridge to Patricia Island. South breezes in the afternoon and evening push plankton onto the banks, the Shad follow the plankton, and the White Bass follow the Shad. Get them home, clean them and cut out the red meat, and they're pretty dang good eating.
Dog days
It's the dog days of summer around Grand Lake, with a little cooler weather moving in. If Jeff misses a week, it's because there isn't much new to report.
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Thanks to the GRDA
Jeff thanks the GRDA for being a longtime supporter of GrandFishingReport.com. The GRDA does a lot on the lake that we never see, and he thanks the agents patrolling the water, everybody at the hydroelectric facilities and the executive and managerial staff for supporting Grand Lake and its fisheries.
Picky fish
Haydn with Williams Guide Service says the fish have gotten pretty picky, which is nothing new. Around the second week of July they've fattened up and the water is warmer. They're still feeding, but they're lethargic, not ravenous like they are pre-spawn or post-spawn. Once you figure out where the fish are from season to season, though, you can keep capitalizing on them with GPS.
LiveScope and boat control
Jeff ran a double LiveScope rig on his last Charger V-Mag: one transducer looking straight down in a static view and one looking forward off the trolling motor. Traditional 2D sonar (black-and-white or color) has a round cone. A fish anywhere in that cone shows up, but in 30 feet of water it could be in front of, behind or beside the boat. Forward-facing and down-view live sonar has a narrow, almost board-shaped beam, so you can put a jig or lure right in front of a fish you see. The farther from the boat and the deeper the water, the harder that gets, because of line sway and the boat moving around. Boat control is the key. If you struggle to keep your lure in the strike zone, it's not that you're doing something wrong. A lot of people buy this equipment and struggle with it. The right boat helps: low-profile fiberglass boats move around on the water much less than pontoons or high-sided aluminum boats.
Catfish
Drift fishing with fresh cut Shad across the flats is good and will stay good all summer. Anywhere from Sailboat Bridge out to Goat Island is a great place to try.
Crappie
Fish the shade in the docks. The farther down the lake, the deeper you need to fish. The farther up the lake, the shallower.
White Bass
Trolling is good. Try soft plastics, inline spinners and small lipless crankbaits in the evenings.
Community
No Spoonbill or Bass reports came through the Grand Fishing Report Facebook group this week. The group is approaching (or past) 17,000 members, so come participate.
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After the Fourth
Grand Lake had a lot of visitors over the Fourth of July weekend, and it was fun to see all the people out on the lake. With all the tubing, skiing and big boats running, the fishing can get difficult, but the economic impact of everybody showing up helps the lake and its businesses.
Broken-record summer
Jeff says the summer pattern gets into a rhythm where every report sounds like a broken record, and that's where we are now.
Crappie
A lot of people are catching Crappie in the dark spots of their docks and switching to minnows. You can still catch plenty on artificial lures, but in the dog days of summer Crappie get finicky, especially on brush piles out in the lake, and sometimes you need a minnow to get them to bite. Haydn with Williams Guide Service says it's the after-the-Fourth bite: fish come up and look at the bait without fully committing or hitting it very hard.
Seeing it on LiveScope
You can see that behavior on LiveScope now. Before, you never really knew what the fish were doing or how they reacted. Haydn runs a double LiveScope rig, so he and Jeff can talk through what the Crappie are doing. It's interesting how predictable they get from season to season when water conditions and weather patterns are the same.
Water and generation
Western Oklahoma got a tremendous amount of rain last week. Grand Lake got some too, but not enough to raise the lake. There's some intermittent generation below the dam. Grand Lake is fortunate to have constant inflows from springs, creeks and rivers: the Neosho, Spring River, Grand River, Duck Creek, Honey Creek and Drowning Creek. Even creeks that don't run much water run all the time. That lets the GRDA keep running intermittent generation and hold the lake at conservation pool through summer, which works well for people.
Catfish
Drifting for Blue Cats on the flats is one of Jeff's favorite things this time of year. Start at about 10 feet and drift out to about 40, or go the other way, 40 up to 10. Catfish are shallower in the evenings, at night and early in the morning, then often move to deeper water and suspend or hang near the bottom. Fresh Shad is a great choice if you can net some. Keep the boat at about a half mile an hour on your GPS. Anything over one mile an hour can be too fast, so slow down and control your drift.
Bass / Facebook group
No Spoonbill news, but guys are catching Bass, and pictures are on the GrandFishingReport.com Facebook group (close to 17,000 members). Jeff wishes more people would post reports, so share a picture of a fish you caught on Grand Lake.
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Fourth of July weekend
With the Fourth falling close to the weekend and a forecast of 95 to 100 degrees, light rain chances and lighter winds, Jeff expects one of the busiest weekends on Grand Lake in a long, long time. People will come from everywhere to enjoy this recreational paradise.
Big-boat waves
Down the lake, where the high bluffs line the shore, the water gets rougher. A wave needs a shallow, gradual slope to crawl up on the shore and die. When it hits a flat bluff it bounces back across the lake, like splashing water against the wall of a bathtub, so it gets really squirrely when the big boats are running. Do what the GRDA asks: wear those life jackets and pay attention to what's going on around you. Nobody wants an accident on such a wonderful Fourth of July weekend.
Crappie
If you fish, go early in the morning. Haydn with Williams Guide Service has been catching a lot of fish on a small soft-plastic jig in a clear body with red, white and blue glitter flakes. Clear-water Crappie are absolutely destroying it.
Catfish
Drift fishing should be great. Blue Cats are smacking from about 10 to 40 feet depending on where you find them. They move shallower at night, early in the morning and in the evening, and out to deeper water during the day.
White Bass
An absolute ton of Sand Bass are surfacing all over the lake. Catch them on small topwaters or small jigs, or troll in the mornings and evenings around Grand Lake's islands, the Bernice bridge, up to Sailboat Bridge, Patricia Island and the islands around Sailboat.
Summertime pattern
It's a typical summertime pattern right now. Grand Lake is a fish factory and we're blessed with all the fish there are to target. Stay safe and have a wonderful time.
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Something for everybody
Whether you're on a jet ski, a big cruiser, a Bass boat or a john boat, there's always something to do around the shores of Grand Lake. Barring a crazy rain, it's a typical June summertime fishing pattern. If you like trolling for Sand Bass, you're in luck. If you like catching Crappie in brush piles and docks, you're in luck too.
Catfish
Blue Cats are coming off the spawn and moving to points, underwater islands and submerged structure.
Paddlefish in summer
Believe it or not, it won't be long before some guides start targeting Paddlefish in summer. Jeff saw them do it last year, and they keep getting better at it.
Crappie under the bridges
Get out of the sun in the middle of the day and fish the shade under the Bernice Bridge, Elk River Bridge and Honey Creek Bridge. With a fish finder, scan the piers and shady areas for schools of Crappie, then turn around and cast to them. If you're lucky, you'll find Sand Bass mixed in.
Williams Guide Service
Jeff's son Haydn has been limiting out everybody. He's using a 2-inch soft-plastic jig in a baby-Sunfish color. Many of his clients this time of year are novice anglers, so he mostly fishes minnows. It's pretty easy to set up on a brush pile with slip bobbers, or fish straight down into the brush with minnows.
Bowfishing
The water's clear and there are a lot of fish up on the banks. Jeff highly encourages bowfishermen to take advantage of the endless supply of Carp, Buffalo and Gar. After those fish reach about a pound, they have no natural predators other than bowfishermen and the few Gar and Carp fishermen, so bowfishermen do the reservoir a great service by taking as many as they can.
Sign-off
From all of us at KGVE and the GRDA, thanks for listening.
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Predictable fishing
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, fishing on Grand Lake gets very predictable when the water is clear, low and stable with very little generation or inflow. Once you learn how to capitalize on the fish from season to season under the same water conditions and temperatures, you can count on it. And the heavy winds of February, March and April are mostly behind us.
White Bass
Folks are trolling around Governor's Island, Patricia Island and Goat Island, and running jigging spoons on the hump on the east side of Shangri-La and over in the Bernice area. The White Bass have filtered back out into the lake, usually by Memorial Day weekend. Jigging spoons and small swimbaits are great on the humps where they school. A lot of people tie a white jig above the jigging spoon and sometimes catch doubles. Expect more surface action. Those schools can be hard to catch when they're feeding on tiny fry, which are just emerging as prey for the lake's predators, so a really small lure helps.
Mother Nature mixes it up
Many of the Crappie that ran up the rivers to spawn are moving back into the lake now. A lot of Crappie spawn in the lake, and only a percentage migrate upriver, just as not every Paddlefish or Catfish goes upriver every year. That keeps the gene pool mixed and the reservoir's biomass healthy.
Catfish
Catfishing is right where it should be. When they generate below the dam, it's hard to beat that area. A few people are setting jug lines. Jugging slows in June and picks back up in July and into fall. By the Fourth of July most Blue Cats and Channel Cats are off the spawn, while many Flatheads will still be on the nest because they spawn later, in warmer water.
Crappie / Williams Guide Service
Haydn believes the Crappie are pretty well done spawning all the way down the lake, and he's really been sacking up fish. Jeff calls him a "Crappie whisperer." He fished with Jeff for years growing up and has expanded tremendously on Jeff's Crappie knowledge. There may be more Crappie in the lake than Jeff has ever seen. For Haydn to catch so many limits every day, often with novice anglers, says a lot about his skill as a teacher and about how healthy and productive Grand Lake is.
Summer at the lake
Jeff enjoyed watching a grandfather pull his grandkids around on a tube behind a pontoon, with a couple of wipeouts. That's what summer at the lake is about: fishing, family and fun.
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