Winter Fishing Arcadia

[Droberts]

has anyone had any luck fishing lake arcadia in winter?

i've tried several different spots all with good fish sign on the finder over the last 2 months but have yet to get a single hit.

i've fished bottom mid & upper mid in the 35-40 foot sections pretty heavily as they seem to have the most concentrations of fish on the sonar, mostly up & down the dam but also in the middle of the lake near the indoor fishing dock where its about 25ft.

baits so far:
live shad
dead shad
cut shad
chicken liver
chicken hearts/gizzards dipped in liver sauce
worms

temps so far:
40-48F, most of the time its around 46F.

I've also fished the southern cove pretty heavily one night with no success. when the water is about 43-50 they're pretty active, coming up & spreading out all over the place. i think the coldest i've seen the water temp was 38, damn near every fish in the lake was clustered up over by the damn in that 40ft spot. fish ball was so dense the fish finder said it was 25ft deep, dropped anchor right in the middle of it & they'd all scatter then come right back in. put bait down right in the middle of em for a few hours without a bite. seen some pretty big solid grey(not bait schools) monsters on the finder roaming around every once in a while. saw several cats feeding on the bottom on wed.

this is my first winter fishing arcadia from a boat and i gotta say its been kinda disappointing. 90% of all my fishing has been late evenings. might change things up & go for bass if i cant nail down winter catfishin from this lake. cant find any good ledges or channels anywhere.

i'd appreciate any suggestions from those that have been fishing arcadia longer than i have. never had this much trouble with winter cats in my life.

 

[Deer Slayer]

First off, it seems you were fishing in the middle of a school of shad. I crappie fish during the winter and it is normal to see huge schools of shad that will blot out the screen on your depthfinder. Second of all if you are after blues you are on the wrong end of the lake. We catch blues in 39 deg water in 10-11 fow on Kaw. One day my group caught just under 800 pounds of cats in 8 hours. The water was 39 degs and the blues were hitting the shad hard.

 

[Droberts]

hmmm, could have something there then. i haven't even scouted with the fish finder in the SW corner of the lake where all the dead trees are sticking up out of the water. that whole area's around 10-5ft deep. the SE cove is about 10-15ft depending on where you're at in it, decent fish sign but they weren't biting the night i was there, spot's REAL good in the summer, seems to have just died when the cold set in.

what time of day/night were you catchin em over that 8 hrs?

 

[Deer Slayer]

6:30 am til 2:30pm. Is your dad on the Edmond Wildlife Commission?? Big blues move shallow when the water temps drops below 55 degs and they winter there. Winter is the best time for catching big blues. I will be heading to Kaw soon to whup up on some big blues for a couple of days. I expect we will catch at least 100 pounds of fillets over 2 days catching our daily limit of 30 fish for 2 people.

 

[Huckelberry75]

No, Kaw is a dead lake, no good fish left in there....they have all been poached out by DeerSlayer and Dennis Hoddy...and a few select gents in a brown uniform. Them boys put a whoopin on ole mr whisker-skin.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Harummp!!! I dare say we did not poach them ALL out. We left 2 for breeding. How dare one say that 2 fine upstanding citizens of this fine state and board would do such a dastardly deed, besides Mr Hoddy did not accompany us that day. My speculation is that HAD we known him at the date of that subject deed, I feel assured that he would have been up to his elbows with us. Rest assured that this fine gentleman has more than a mild interest in the piscatorial pursuit of said whisker fish. A second assault is currently in the planning stages for execution in the near future. The weapons of mass collection are now assembled,cleaned and ready for the aquatic invasion. I have received word from confidential sources that the shad and whisker fish shudder at the mere mention of our names and cause panic amongst their ranks.. The ammunition has been assembled and is quietly lying in wait in the freezer until the appropriate time whence the weiners of mass consumption will be withdrawn,separated into 5 equal parts/weiner and energized with large quantities of garlic powder. The said ammunition will be energized with the new fangled, top secret, device known by a select few as "a microwave" for 2 minutes thence garlic is reapplied and nuked for 2 more minutes. THEREAFTER, under the cover of daylight, the mission will begin.SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH, don't tell,it's top secret.

Unless Ol' Timer's has set in prematurely, Huck you benefitted from that fateful day in March many moons ago

 

[Huckelberry75]

I did, but that sure as hell doesn't mean that I am gonna blab it all over the boards so every one else knows the secret. The only way that you can keep a secret is whisper it to you at low volume in your bad ear.

On a side note, them little whiskered fellas are mighty tasty after they take a short tour of Crisco Bay.

 

[Deer Slayer]

BBBBBAAAAAAHHHHHHH Humbug

 

[Droberts]

well hell i feel silly. time to fish the shallows! i'll hit em hard this next week & post the results. never did too bad fishing from the shore for em. im still somewhat young (32) & have only had a boat since aug, still learning the ropes of boat fishing vs 20 years of bankin. i appreciate the intel, i'll try the garlic wieners too, must beat the pants off shad netting in this cold.

my dad (if that was referring to me a few posts up) is not on the edmond wildlife as far as i know. he is a retired us army corps of engineers ranger from keystone though, he's active in a lot of conservation & archaeology groups though. im a tulsa native, all the family's still in the tulsa area, just me & the wife up here in okc area.