We’ve had a rough winter so far in OK… making it hard to find conditions worth fishing in. Between the constant cold, iced over ponds, snow storms (still have over a foot in a few places in the yard), and a new job with longer hours (QuiBids.com, check it out if you’re looking for crazy deals on just about anything), it has been hard to get in quality time on the water.

The snow’s been keeping the golfers away, but the ice has forced me to find alternatives to the ponds… time to explore the creek that feeds the ponds.

No success, but it was fun to explore.

Fishy

In a different location it would be a sweet little trout stream.

Surprisingly deep

After a more than a few unsuccesful drifts I checked the depth with a stick and It was 6-7ft in the middle.

wasn't alone

Even the coons gave up on fishing. All the tracks were headed away from the water.

winter color

Or maybe they were only interested in the berrys??

so fishy

Confident this hole will produce for me sooner or later. It’s got to.

I like this place

Excited to see what I’ll pull out of these holes.

I was pumped just to see such cool water, fish or no fish, it was going to be a good day.  

Gonna bring a short rod next time...

Better lookin' than some of our "trout" streams

The water was stained from some precip earlier in the week, but not stained enough to keep us from spotting some fish. No monster class smallies were brought to hand, but they were some beauties nonetheless.

Looks legitimately unhappy to be hooked

Not quite the Cali clarity, but better than my typical brownwater stomping grounds

Standard

We got into a couple of pools that produced a juvenile channel catfish on every cast. Kept waiting to find mama or daddy cat, but no luck there.  I thought the sunfish were particularly photogenic though…

Being shy... but gave us a nice shot of his split tail?

Not bad for a longear

So colorful