Norman / OKC area for catfish

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beardking

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My friend and I are wanting to get into catfishing. I've always enjoyed fishing, but never have done a whole lot of it. He has always been into bass fishing from a boat. Currently neither of us have access to a boat, so we are going to try our hands at bank catfishing. Only thing is we don't really know where to go for the best results. I'm not asking for anyone to give me exact coordinates to their favorite honey hole, just what lakes within an hour of either the OKC metro area or the Tulsa area.

Thanks in advance
 

rockchalk06

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Point 13 and 12 at Draper work well for me for bank Bass. They are on the NE area when come into the park. Bit of walking, but it pays off. Especially if the wind is out of the south or west.

Overholser has produced decent Catfish for me. Mainly near the far south end and the north depending on wind.
 

thor447

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Another vote for the south end of Overholser. On both the lake and river side of the dam. It's been several years since I've been out there, but I used to routinely catch some decent catfish.
 

HoLeChit

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I have had great success on the south side of overholser above and below the dam. It might be a little outside of both your areas, but the deep fork river has some monster flatheads in it. The same night I was talking to a guy who talked about how he’s consistently pulled 30+lb cats out of there I hooked one who was big enough to bend my heavy 12ft pole almost in half and straightened out my 8/0 gamikatsu circle hook.
 

dennishoddy

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What I saw last year on Outdoor Oklahoma TV program was an ODW fisheries biologist out for a day of bank fishing for catfish.
The advice he gave applies to every lake in Oklahoma. It agreed with advice given to me by some fisheries biologist that were shocking Kaw lake for a survey when asking them questions.
Make sure you are where the catfish are. Every specie has a specific habitat and food sources.
Flatheads like rocky or woody areas with live fish as their main diet.
Channel cat are feeders of opportunity, bottom feeding or chasing live bait. I’ve caught them on top water lures.
Blues use old river channels in lakes like highways, coming out to feed on the flats with shad being their preferred food although they will also feed on other fish. Never caught a blue with a crawdad though.
Catfish move all over the lake at different times of the year. The old theory I grew up with was that in the summer you had to find deep holes.
In the summer, thermoclines develop in lakes from 12-20 feet depending on wind/wave action and currents. Below the thermocline there is almost no oxygen, so no fish stay there for very long.
The biologist told me to always fish the windy bank. Calm quiet coves don’t produce fish like windy banks. The waves wash the food like crawfish and small bait fish from their cover so bigger fish can feed on them.
I mainly target blue cat.
The places where the majority are caught are on flats near where the old river channel gets close to the bank or areas where sand bass are commonly caught. Those areas are hang outs for shad. You can find where the old river/creek channels run with a google search of lake maps.
Habitat and food sources are the key to finding them.
 

beardking

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Trapper's; just east of Meridian on Reno is about the only catfishing I am into.

Oh no. Definitely not going there. Might be a high success rate, but they look at you funny if you practice catch and release. And since I'm not eating anything that swims for a living, I'm definitely in the release category.

What I saw last year on Outdoor Oklahoma TV program was an ODW fisheries biologist out for a day of bank fishing for catfish.
The advice he gave applies to every lake in Oklahoma. It agreed with advice given to me by some fisheries biologist that were shocking Kaw lake for a survey when asking them questions.
Make sure you are where the catfish are. Every specie has a specific habitat and food sources.
Flatheads like rocky or woody areas with live fish as their main diet.
Channel cat are feeders of opportunity, bottom feeding or chasing live bait. I’ve caught them on top water lures.
Blues use old river channels in lakes like highways, coming out to feed on the flats with shad being their preferred food although they will also feed on other fish. Never caught a blue with a crawdad though.
Catfish move all over the lake at different times of the year. The old theory I grew up with was that in the summer you had to find deep holes.
In the summer, thermoclines develop in lakes from 12-20 feet depending on wind/wave action and currents. Below the thermocline there is almost no oxygen, so no fish stay there for very long.
The biologist told me to always fish the windy bank. Calm quiet coves don’t produce fish like windy banks. The waves wash the food like crawfish and small bait fish from their cover so bigger fish can feed on them.
I mainly target blue cat.
The places where the majority are caught are on flats near where the old river channel gets close to the bank or areas where sand bass are commonly caught. Those areas are hang outs for shad. You can find where the old river/creek channels run with a google search of lake maps.
Habitat and food sources are the key to finding them.

That's a lot of good information Dennis. I really appreciate it. As I appreciate all of the input received here. It's given us a good bit to start out on at least.
 

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