Weather
Short cold blast then warm nights/days — no thermal shock/gulls yet; Twin Bridges still open (often iced by now). Mild stretch through Christmas expected. Join GrandFishingReport.com Facebook group for Twin Bridges pics (Elk, below dam, Hudson, Spavinaw, Eucha count as Grand area).
Catfish
Peak ledge — upper 20–50 feet, south 30–100; nice keepers to eat.
Twin Bridges / soft plastics
Swimming minnows and ⅛ oz Scrounger + 2½" Lucky Bug on bottom (crankbait wobble) crushing whites and Crappie — small Scroungers still “mysterious” here. Live Motion minnows (3½" and 5½") built for that rock; DOA plastisol (animal-fat based). Baby Hoey 10", Sneaky Snake 8½", Roland Martin Salty Sink, trout worms. New Tie2 jigheads — top + bottom loops so you don’t knot two loops; dropper length exact; 1/16–¼ oz. Push-button spin-cast combos and 4'6" micro-spin dock rod for Christmas.
Paddlefish / hunting
Guides dragging east of Shangri-La. Archery + antlerless ongoing — orange if rifle; check antlerless regs.
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Hunting
Firearms season wound up (~100k+ deer pattern); archery through Jan 15; holiday antlerless ahead — check regs by zone. Freezer meat: summer sausage, snack sticks, bacon-wrapped tenderloin/backstrap on the grill.
White Bass / Hybrids
Twin Bridges put-in folks catching scattered whites trolling the Neosho on Fish Lucke G5 (wigglewort-style — Jeff’s biggest lake Crappie, 16¾", came years ago on a white wigglewort west of Patricia Island). Clear winters without ice = daily river bites for whites and Crappie (Spring or Neosho). Soft plastics below Pensacola Dam by the cable on intermittent generation; quarter-ounce Dinner Spinner works in that shallow water — know your boat/ramps if generation drops and water falls hard.
Catfish
Peak ledge season — Dec 10 historically favorite. Upper ledges 20–50 feet; south end 30–100. Anchor on river-channel edges with shad; cast flats 25–35 and deep 55–70 until blues tell you the depth. Blues stay aggressive; channels/Flatheads slow. One over-30" fish/day rule protects ~10-year spawners; keep under-30s for the grill (cut the red meat).
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Hunting
Firearm season wrapping last weekend/next; solid bucks and weather; OK tops 100k deer many years with strong genetics. Late-season bow over attractants/corn; Jeff wants Power Punch back via Gear for Deer next year (likely Power Boost). Fixpandable at Honey Creek Outdoors (David Hale) and L&L Outdoors (Laramie) — fixed + expandable, bows and crossbows. Wear orange; freezer meat and homemade deer salami/sausage.
Crappie (Haydn)
Creek arms — Honey, Drowning, Duck, Horse — 3–5° warmer than main lake for the next 3–4 months; docks, brush, and roamers mid-cove. Main-lake Crappie usually wait until late April–May.
Catfish
Buddy still drifting (not anchoring); Oct–Nov was 30–40 feet on shad, now 50–60 feet main lake through creek channels and ditches.
Paddlefish
Majority south of Sailboat — Weed’n Bad / mouth of Carey Bay to Shangri-La through mid–late Feb, ~40–60 feet. Trolling Dipsys 150–200 feet of line; Magnum Divers better once past ~40–45 feet.
Fish Lucke Christmas
New Toby Keith combos (5'6" spin-cast push-button Jeff loves + underspin) and Everyday kits — Walleye, White Bass, Bass, Crappie, trout — fishlucke.com / Fish Lucke Amazon. Phone omitted for Haydn.
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Reach
Report heard to Pittsburg KS, south of Joplin, sometimes Pryor, west of Vinita, Decatur AR. Thanks GRDA and KGVE.
Hunting
Modern firearm / gun season weekend — warm, windy, rainy first days then yucky again midweek; still big opener + Thanksgiving afternoon/Friday tradition. Outdoor Oklahoma ~130k whitetails (~40% antlerless) — ODWC doing well; Oklahoma Bowhunter page for caliber. Patricia and Jeff bake deer “salami” / snack sticks (no casings). David Hale at Honey Creek Outdoors now stocks 100-grain Fixpandable broadheads (bow OK through gun season).
Fishing
Early winter same as always. Blues drifting 25–50 feet (often 40–50). Bass in cove-back shad — American-made STX jerkbait; reports of ½ oz Scrounger + 5" Live Motion minnow (Spiced Olive / black) on points. Crappie bunching — structure up-lake, dark docks / big main-lake brush mid–south; Lucky Bugs and swimming minnows. Whites mixed with shad in cove backs and windy points — quarter-ounce Dinner Spinner. Still fish on Jeff’s green monster dock light at night (usually quieter by now). Need cooler weather to lock winter pattern.
Dealers
Dinner Spinners, Redman, STX jerkbaits — dealers, fishlucke.com, Fish Lucke Amazon.
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Thanks
GRDA, KGVE, Fish Lucke, Williams Guide Service, Grand Glass Cleaning, VIP Day Spa on Monkey Island.
Pattern
Tail end of Indian summer after warm calm October; waiting on a hard freeze/wind mix for early winter. Lots of shad in cove backs with Crappie and Bass mixed in. GRDA winter pool ~741–742 — lake down a few feet.
Catfish
Best window Nov 1–Christmas (esp. Thanksgiving–Dec 10) for big blues before thermal shock. Drift flats 25–50 feet (shallower up-lake, deeper south). Bill Douglas (Chicken Elise, Monkey Island): nice blues on cut bait near dock/channel; one broke 25 lb Big Game before the rod cleared the holder.
Paddlefish
Moving down-lake with cold — Shangri-La toward mouth of Elk River. Luke Hitt covering Haydn’s deer weeks; congrats to Luke on a solid Bass tournament.
White Bass
Banks with quarter-ounce Dinner Spinner — Jeff Sunburst, Haydn Black Max.
Crappie
Dark dock spots — Lucky Bug / swimming minnow; try vertical drop-and-reel.
Hunting
Muzzleloader ended Sunday — saw deer, no mossy horns. fishlucke.com — Jimmy Houston Redman, Roland Martin Salty Sink.
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Weather / lake
Lousy early week — rain slowed fishing and hunting; lake coming up fairly quick. Rising water often sends Paddlefish north of Sailboat Bridge and makes cats/Crappie bite better.
Guides
Haydn mostly deer hunting; Luke Hitt running the second boat (first fall with overflow coverage). Luke on Spoonbill; Haydn fished hard the prior week — good. Spoonbill mostly north of Sailboat; Luke still catching more Live Scope than Dipsys. Cats when Haydn was on: Shangri-La–Bernice, drift 40–60 feet.
Crappie
Coves — docks and brush; channel-swing cove mouths for roamers/suspended on shad.
White Bass
Dinner Spinners on windy points, gravel bars, main-lake rocks in Oct–Nov — heavy vibration like an old Redman.
Hunting
Cameras OK and KS — not full chase yet; scrapes better than corn (big acorn year); rubs/scrapes in creek bottoms not ridges. Next week strong for scrapes. Second weekend of muzzleloader historically wonderful. OK can take a buck muzzleloader and another firearm/bow plus antlerless — quality keeps climbing (Oklahoma Bowhunter page).
Contact
fishgrand.com for Haydn (phone omitted).
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Weather
Beautiful — light winds, cool mornings, warm afternoons, light weekday traffic.
Catfish
Haydn drifting underwater islands slow on shad — limits of mostly under-10s; 5–7 lb blues Jeff’s favorite eat (even over winter Crappie) if cleaned right. Channel = brownish olive, longer/streamlined, whitish-yellow meat; blues = slate blue (“white cats” in mud still blues) — cut red lateral line and red side meat; Flatheads — save belly meat between ribs and skin. Best blues late Nov–Dec rival spring shallow cats.
Paddlefish
Haydn strong at mouth of Elk River; year-round guide skill — barbless trebles, permits, keep days.
Crappie / White Bass
Brush piles producing; Jeff hot on quarter-ounce Dinner Spinner Sunburst — heavy blade, minnow body, two-tone marabou (most colors); casts far, runs deeper, big vibration. Ask dealers; Fish Lucke Amazon / fishlucke.com.
Hunting
Bow opener yesterday; Oklahoma Bowhunter Facebook lighting up. Fixpandable at gear4deer.com; wear a harness.
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Lake mood
Quiet midweek — football, kids in school; great fishing weather overlooked. Remembers Jerry Croft (South Winds Marina, dock service) — fall bluff Crappie from the dam to Shangri-La: small stick-ups on drop-offs, boat in 60–70 feet, brush in ~20 feet; pitch swimming minnow or Lucky Bug from 10–15 feet off without parking on them.
White Bass
Old Jim Wagner fall pattern — popper with white Lucky Bug trailing, or Dinner Spinner cast tight to the bank (right on it, not 10 feet off) as water cools; backs of coves and windy banks. Light winds, no sweat — put 2–3 people with different lures until something clicks.
Catfish
Drift Sailboat Bridge–Goat Island; Jeff’s old guide sweet spot Patricia Island–Shangri-La, 30–40 feet, humps. Spot-lock into the wind ~0.5–0.6 mph.
Hunting / tackle
Fixpandable broadheads at gear4deer.com. New Fish Lucke soft plastics: 10" Baby Hoey worm, 8½" Sneaky Snake, Live Motion minnows, Roland Martin Salty Sink, trout worms, ringworms, Live Motion craws for Scrounger. Ask dealers — Jeff and Toby sent you — or Fish Lucke Amazon / fishlucke.com.
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Paddlefish
Catching on the lake (~30 feet) after a summer of strong river fish; cooling water moving them out of the river to stack in the lake — Dec–Feb cold stacks are the year’s biggest with big fish. Still plenty in the river.
White Bass
Surfacing mouth of Honey Creek, Kerry Bay, mouths of big hollows/coves; another report of lots in backs of coves. Main-lake bite tougher as nights hit 60s/50s — Largemouth and others pushing cove-ward by late Sep / mid-Oct.
Water temp
Mornings ~77–78°, days still to 90s some days so afternoons can push 80–81°, but generally hanging in the 70s with 60° nights.
Catfish
Drift fishing blues with cut shad — Carolina rig, float ~3–4" above hook, 5/0 for eating-size (1–5 lb). South of Two Tree Island: 25 lb and 19 lb blues plus several over 15 lb on one drift — released the big breeders, then moved for eating fish. ~0.5 mph, 4–5 rods; best lately 35–40 feet (was 25–30 a couple weeks ago); by October look 45–50. Starting fall cat trips; Crappie soft so cats back in rotation.
Crappie
Scanned piles — tons of little fish, not many big; future bright in ~two years if they make it.
Guide
Year-round cats, Crappie, White Bass, Paddlefish, bowfishing — Williams Guide Service / fishgrand.com.
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Weather
Dog days — hot, little wind. Early deer prep starting (trail cams); Fixpandable broadheads back at gear4deer.com (100 grain). Weekend cooler mornings for feeders/stands, then swim or fish.
White Bass / Dinner Spinner
Haydn’s Facebook / Grand Fishing Report video — anchored rock pile, quarter-ounce Dinner Spinner Black Max (marabou tail, heavy blade, minnow body); five–six casts, five–six nice whites. Toby Keith Signature 6'6" spinning rod (seal of approval pending; release later this year). Jeff fished Red River, NM with 1/16 oz Firestorm Dinner Spinner for stocker rainbows; Toby Keith trout kit — bubblegum hot pink trout worms crushed in clear mountain water.
Guides
Haydn busy; Luke helping on overflow trips (strong Bass guy too). Couple Crappie limits on Lucky Bugs on brush — deep and picky (classic Aug–Sep). Brush piles loaded with 6–7" Crappie — big recruiting news; many should hit ~9" by year-end and 10–11" next year.
Dealers
Ask area dealers / Walmart for Dinner Spinner (quarter-ounce Black Max or Sunburst); fishlucke.com / Fish Lucke Amazon.
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GRDA
Longtime sponsor since Ivan Martin / GrandFishingReport.com days with Lee Jeffries — wave when the blue lights aren’t chasing you.
Spawn / lake temps
Middle of the lake still cold ~57–58°; coves hit 61–62 and excite everyone, but the big bank push waits for a solid 60–61° morning mid-lake reading. A few fish trying to spawn; not lake-wide yet. Haydn guiding every day (sometimes two) — still lots in deep water.
Crappie with Haydn
Sailboat Bridge coves looking for spawners; Live Scope roaming fish mid-cove. Quarter-ounce jig heads (get down / stay on fish in wind) with 2½" Desert Hero Lucky Bug (brown pumpkin, Haydn’s baby-Bluegill flake design) on chartreuse-and-white head. Grilled Crappie tacos for Patricia: room-temp dry fillets, melted butter (half stick per 15–20), hot grill, season after — works for blues and Sand Bass too.
Bass
Not spawning yet; Jeff caught 3–4 small ones casting bank with 1/8 oz Scrounger + 2½" Moonshine Lucky Bug while hunting spawn Crappie.
Cats
Shallow-water season — blues should rip rods; bay boat in SE Oklahoma for later cat trips.
Paddlefish
Winding down; no big river push yet; weather possible end of week.
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Weather
Brutal consecutive March wind — gusts 35–45 mph; Haydn’s had enough. Classic OK four seasons (vs late summer when you can’t buy a breeze for drifting/Sand Bass).
Crappie
Haydn’s first Crappie trip of the year yesterday — about four limits, docks and deeper brush, not shallow yet. Bank spawn historically ~April 8–15 (as early as April 1 with steady warm; closer to the 15th after cold fronts like this backside cool-down). Spawn window often stretches April 8 into early May — north/murkier end first, then south clear/deep. Excited to try 1/16 and 1/8 oz Scrounger on the bank (more weedless, slower than a jig — clear bill; 2" Lucky Bug on 1/16, 2½" on 1/8). Also great when whites return to banks. Bass anglers’ ledge/flat secret expanding to Walleye, White Bass, Crappie.
Shad kill
Biggest part over — fewer gulls/reports. Cats should get excellent shallow latter March through April–May.
Rivers
Strong White Bass and some Crappie posts in the Facebook group — 2½" swimming minnows; Crappie Magic crankbait across holes/gravel bars (whites slaughter it).
Paddlefish
Haydn good weekend — Shangri-La to Grace Ranch and a bit farther. One or two warm rains and many Paddlefish in the Neosho at Miami — barbless treble required for snagging.
Dealers
fishlucke.com — ~40% American-made with Toby Keith’s family; ask dealers.
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Tradition
Outdoor Report lineage from Lee Jeffries with cassette recorder interviews for KGVE — now an MP3 email from a phone app.
Rivers / White Bass
Strong up Spring and Neosho. Moonshine (chartreuse/white) 2½" swimming minnow on 1/8 oz doing well (bought at Walmart). Fish staged from old railroad bridge below Twin Bridges up toward Ten Sea Bridge; Neosho deeper/harder but bigger/concentrated schools — Miami still a bit early for whites all the way up, but Crappie in Tar Creek and creeks back to Twin Bridges. Spring River clearer = more pressure.
Bass
Some square-bill reports this week.
Paddlefish
Still really good — Haydn mouth of Elk River to Shangri-La; cover water then Dipsy depth once found.
Catfish
As shad kill fades (about a week past the hard freeze; 2–3 weeks + warm wind ends it), blues move 2–5 feet shallow and smash — use a solid rod holder (Jeff’s longtime pick: Driftmaster Pro Duo ½" — 30° or flat; Sports Center may stock). Ask how he knows about splash-downs.
Crappie
South-end docks still affected by threadfin shad kill — turning soon. Rain/flow into rivers should pull more fish up.
Dealers
Ask for Fish Lucke — “stuff Toby Keith fished with”; fishlucke.com.
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Fish Lucke
First-quarter push on American-made hard baits — LES/STX jerkbait, square bill, G5, Crappie Magic, Jimmy Houston Redman, Vibra Swing, Scrounger, All American Rattler. fishlucke.com, Amazon, Grove Walmart; more dealers asking for pricing.
Lake
Crappie took a whipping from the nasty cold then warm yo-yo (normal late Feb). Shad kill is real — lots noticed, still a drop in the bucket vs what’s left. Haydn Paddlefish; Matt and Christy on nice blues; some dock Crappie reports.
Twin Bridges / rivers
Moonshine swimming minnow on pink-and-white 1/8 or 1/16 oz head; cable-guard weedless heads (four colors/sizes) for stump/brush. Dark dock spots. Whites should be great in rivers. Trolling: Crappie Magic or All American Rattler; shallow — Crappie Magic with big split shot ~16" ahead to tick rocks. Underused: 1/8 oz Scrounger with 2½" Moonshine or Old School (black/chartreuse) Lucky Bug, optional split shot ahead, slow across bottom.
Paddlefish
Sailboat Bridge toward Twin Bridges; warm days move them fast day to day.
Thanks
GRDA; KGVE.
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Weather
~0° morning, heavy steam toward Honey Creek, fog; hard N/NE wind after east wind/snow. Multi-day cold dumping lake heat — shad kill extended; possible bank wash-ups. 60–70° days possible next week.
Crappie with Haydn (south end)
Fish ~30 feet, on or within a foot of bottom. Moonshine Lucky Bug (chartreuse/pearl — matches threadfin) on 1/8 oz white/black two-tone red-eye head; new Fish Lucke cable-guard heads help in dock brush. Trimmed ~¼ of 2½" bug body for more tail action. Posted Microspin Crappie rod video on the Facebook group. Saw 2–4" threadfin in thermal shock; gulls working them — one of the bigger kills in a while, likely another ~two weeks unless big warm-up.
Outlook
White Bass/Crappie in Elk, Spring, Neosho after this cold. Mid-February — ~two months from ~April 15 Crappie spawn kickoff. Cold packs Crappie in huge open-water schools (Shangri-La toward dam, coves/bluffs) — slow swimming minnow through them for easy limits. Watch sonar for non-shad schools.
Thanks
KGVE, GRDA, VIP Grand Lake, Haydn, Owen, fishlucke.com, Grove Walmart / dealers.
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Weather
10° morning, lake steaming, north wind — dock/boat fishing unlikely except Jerry Croft types. Warming toward the 40s should put boats back out. Guides with enclosures still snagging for out-of-town clients.
Fish Lucke
Moving into second full year in April. Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin coming on; Roland promoting Scrounger and new Salty Sink (salty Cinco-style). Jimmy Houston Redman spinnerbait hit #8 on Amazon fishing tackle. Miss Toby every day — his vision coming true.
Rivers
Twin Bridges will pack when ice melts — need state park parking pass (yearly if you fish a lot). Haydn weekend Spoonbill: mostly Patricia Island–Sailboat Bridge; one day Shangri-La, next Sailboat — they move with wind/sun/zooplankton.
Crappie / cats
Dock bite should improve after cold; cold may reinforce shad kill briefly. Cats quiet in reports for now.
Sponsors
fishlucke.com; VIP Day Spa / vipgrandlake.com (lunch at Chicken Elise); area dealers for Redman, Scrounger, swimming minnows, Lucky Bugs.
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Lake
GRDA data — normal/down, small inflow, clear. Very beginning of fish staging in Neosho and Spring; Elk materializes later when those rivers wind down.
Twin Bridges
Classic Jerry Croft window — brush on channel edges, whites schooled in channel (swings, inside/outside). Swimming minnows; 2–2½" Lucky Bugs; 1/16 and 1/8 oz heads. 1/8 oz Scrounger with 2½" Moonshine Lucky Bug was a killer last year — Fish Lucke YouTube; ask dealers / Heath at Grove Walmart.
Haydn
Great Paddlefish week; new soft-top cover + heater (hardtop fought wind for Crappie work). Booking into May — don’t wait. Dock Crappie picky on south end (shad kill); same at Shangri-La. Twin Bridges fish less affected by lake shad kill. Some cat action.
Dealers
fishlucke.com.
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Community
Grand Fishing Report Facebook group growing; good guide pics. Thanks GRDA (ecology, safety, tournament organization); Grove Walmart; L&L Outdoors in Jay; fishlucke.com.
Crappie
Not seeing heavy gull dive at Shangri-La — unsure how deep the shad kill is. Dock fishing Lucky Bugs on 1/16 oz — Moonshine (chartreuse/white) on a white head; no Live Scope, just fun. Always start in the darkest spot in the dock (boat lifts can make it hard). Tri-color jig heads; new painted cable-guard weedless heads coming (four colors, four sizes) for brush.
Paddlefish
Good — power trolling to depth. Boats around Sailboat Bridge; historically that stretch to Grace Ranch / mouth of Elk River.
Bass
Nice tournament fish showing (Andy Littlejohn / Po Dunkers–type posts) — bluff walls, long deep points, shad + structure; Live Scope and small swimbaits around shad schools.
New product
Live Motion minnow for Scrounger — Al Fisher design, segmented tail; 2½", 3½", 5"; jig or Scrounger.
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Holiday
First report with both boys. Merry Christmas / Happy New Year.
Owen
Grand Glass Cleaning — commercial/residential windows, expanding to construction/residential cleans; Tulsa to NW Arkansas.
Haydn
Booking winter Spoonbill and late-winter/spring Crappie trips — colder water stacks Paddlefish.
Lake / shad
Finally cold; lake mid-40s heading to low 40s / upper 30s. Gulls diving; expect shad kill to start. Bumper shad crop last year made summer fishing tougher (Haydn). Teens at night / upper 30s days keep dropping water temp.
Hunting
Rut done; bucks bachelored, feed-to-bed. Big deer often shed first couple weeks of January. Duck hunting good last week and a half on farm ponds; when ponds freeze, lake hunting picks up — gadwall, mallards, some teal; lake birds include hooded mergansers, shovelers, geese. Season ends ~Jan 28–31. Owen trapping: coyotes, bobcats, coons, possum (~5 coyotes, 2 bobcats so far).
Outlook
After this cold, Spring and Neosho rivers for White Bass and Crappie. fishlucke.com; area dealers. Contact via fishgrand.com / Grand Glass Cleaning sites (phone numbers omitted here).
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