Recent warm weather makes anglers get out

The recent warm-up in temperatures prompted me to get up out of the recliner and off my duff. With the record-breaking spike in above average temperatures for the month of February earlier this week, you wouldn’t believe Punxsutawney Phil came out long enough to see his shadow which means six more weeks of winter weather if you buy into that sort of thing.

Regardless of what the little critter in Pennsylvania predicted, when it comes to catching that lunker bass of a lifetime the months of February, March, and early April are when records are broken.

While crappie fishing is popular for many, it’s the largemouth bass that’s king of the mountain in Oklahoma.

The current state record largemouth weighs an impressive 14 pounds, 13.7 ounces caught by Dale Miller of Panama while fishing little Cedar Lake located in southeastern Oklahoma on March 13, 2013.

Of the top 20 lunkers in the Oklahoma Wildlife Department of Conservation (OWDC) largemouth bass record book, three were caught in February and 15 in the month of March.

ODWC fisheries biologist Jon West said anglers, for the most part, need to look at bodies of water south of Interstate 40 with the exceptions Taft Lake located just west of Muskogee and Bixhoma, which is south of the town of Bixby.

When on the water, anglers need to seek northern banks, points and pockets with rock and pea gravel that catch southerly winds where the water is warmest and many times fish can be caught in two feet of water or less.

At the other end of the spectrum, southern banks on the lower end of lakes where the water tends to be a little clear fish tend to spawn out a little deeper.

Male bass get the party started by fanning out nests followed by females, who can deposit anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 eggs.

After fertilization, the males will drive the females and any other intruders, such as bluegills, until the eggs hatch. The fry will swim around in schools until they reach approximately one inch.

Using a medium heavy-action rod with 15 to 17 pound fluorocarbon line on a 7 to 1 gear ratio Baitcaster, my favorite lure this time of year has to be a ½ or ¾ black or brown hair jig tipped with a pork trailer.

A close second is a jerkbait using 10 to 12 pound fluorocarbon followed by a red rattletrap or some type of swimbait.

A number of fishermen I know are diehard fans of the Alabama rig which mimics a small group of shad and, in doing so, they catch some real heavyweights.

With the latest in new technology such as forward facing sonar, I fully anticipate for records to be broken this spring. Like it or not, the technology has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for fishermen to target offshore structures and suspended fish.

I will save my thoughts on the subject of technology for a column down the road.

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John Kilgore is the former Greenleaf State Park manager. He can be reached by emailing him at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com.