Where are some good public spots to shore fish around OKC? I'd really like to avoid the city lakes with their permit, but if there are some good spots I'd break down.
From what i have heard hefner is an overlooked lake, but i havent fished it. A friend of mine would always take his boat and drift for catfish. He would clean up good.
I hsve been wanting to get out to thunderbird. I know north of alameda is very shallow and have never had any luck there
I've been out on Hefner 5 or 6 times now, fishing for just about anything, and haven't caught jack. It seems to be a very high traffic/fishing pressure lake, which does weird things to fish behavior. That being said, supposedly there's a marina on the west side of Hefner where folks get quite a few white bass. I see a lot of folks trolling/bank fishing the rock wall on the north end of the lake, haven't caught anything there either. Thunderbird/Draper depressed me, several trips there with no luck, haven't made it to Arcadia or Watkins yet.
Personally, I'll drive the little bit to hit Konowa/Eufala/Murray, never had a bad day on those lakes.
Hefner in the summer= walleye at night under the dock lights with jerkbaits. Sandies will be running up Little River on Tbird after the first warm rain. Other than that I fish ponds.
Hefner is still too cold right now, but will have decent walleye and crappie once it warms a bit. Overholser is good for crappie also. Arcadia is the only one that seems to have warmed enough for crappie right now.
I'm not fond of the taste of bass so I can't tell you anything about where to fish for them.
Hefner sucks for fishing period, unless you like wasting your time or have a boat to hit some of it's good spots. Good spot for largemouth bass, cat fish, crappie and hybrids would be the Oklahoma River. I've caught 8lb largemouth out of the river, 7 lb hybrid, 1-2lb crappie, 11lb drum and 4-5 lb cats.
Skip Hefner and go to the old "kiddie pond" east of Hefner. Take may to wilshire and go west until you pass the last house. Turn right and drive in to the cable fence and park. Walk down that east side and fish. Tie on two tube jigs about a foot apart and float them about 3 to 4 foot deep under a cork. Throw it out and reel it in slowly. I always did my best on blue/white, black/chartruese, black/pink, or red/white tube jigs. Skip the first 100 yards from the corner. That's about as far as most people get before they quit. So that's where I would start. I've caught a bunch of nice crappie there.
When the crappie start spawning, you can some in the main lake over by the lighthouse.
If you have access to a boat, I know a place north of Piedmont you can go. Teeeroy has been there. It's a semi- private lake. Just not much bank access.