TheOkieAngler.com

Well, I keep saying it, but catching a Gar is #1 on my fishing goals for the summer.  I met up with Brent Monday after work to see if we could track some down on the OK/North Canadian River. Ended up seeing a few fish rolling around, but they were much too far away to reach. Unable to find tailers in the choppy mess that was Lake Overholser, we ended up at a golf course pond (grounds work on Mondays, we could actually fish the course sides of the ponds this time!).

I had given up hope of accomplishing my goal that evening, and then the next thing I know I hear something splashing around over in Brent’s direction. I got over there just in time to miss an impressive tailwalking and realized Brent had hooked into a gar… couldn’t believe it.

Botched a nice photo op...

Not only did I miss the tailwalking in the sunset… but my camera died after the first pic. Way to go Ward. Good thing Brent had one tucked away to document the surprising catch!

For you gar pro's... What species is this??

New adventure in fish handling !

Was pysched to see Brent drag this guy in… Gar are never really even on my mind when I’m on there (though I’ve seen one other gar ~12in), I’ll have to see if I can find more!

I’m feeling it, I’m going to knock another species off the (modest) lifetime fish list soon…. and it’s going to be a toothy one.

I took some time over the weekend to explore Lake Arcadia in hopes of locating some monster carp…

Panorama wasn't cooperating... bummer

I don’t know if the boaters enjoyed getting a close up look at a fly fisherman or what, but it seemed like every boat on the lake would make pass after pass right in front of me. I wouldn’t have even needed a double haul to cast into many of their boats as they would pass.   The wakes were rolling in high (and OFTEN), but the carp were still plenty willing to play around.

Refreshing... but oh so frustrating.

The wakes were a throwback to my Santa Barbara surf fishin’ days. Line control was definitely a pain, and detecting a strike in wavy water was no easy task, but there were enough fish running around that I could just move on to the next spot after I’d spook a group. Weighted red SJW’s and the trusty rusty Egan’s Headstand were both good producers, bringing to hand half a dozen in a few hours. None of them were the monsters that I had hoped to find, but the quantity made up for the lack of size!!

Small, but still knows how to run...

It seemed like the larger fish were all off the bank clooping, but I was had a terrible time enticing them with anything I was throwing. I spent over an hour working a few different groups of cloopers, no dice. I think I feel a new personal challenge coming along…

cloop cloop cloop

The constant waves made it hard for me to keep track of my drys, but I’m sure they helped me keep from spooking them so easily too… give and take I guess…

cloopin away

If you have any advice for foolin’ cloopers, please share… I clearly need the help!!

All in all, definitely a good weekend at Arcadia. Saw a few bait fisherman wrestling some nice cats and even a few nice looking hybrids (though I saw them from a distance so might have misidentified??).  I’ll close with a parting shot of some wildlife… time to go nurse my sunburn.

He was fast and I was far away