veloxseeker

Outing 27 April 2025…Monster Crappie!

We ended up coming back to this local lake in the evening because we tried to get to it in the morning but there were too many cars. The parking lot is completely underwater due to all of the recent rains as well as debris clogging the overflow pipe. Apparently, maintenance is not a high priority for the local water department.

We had to wade through waist high grass and contend with ticks to fish the shoreline and with the water level being so high, the fish were practically at our feet with almost all bites happening within a foot or two of the shore.

We had caught several smallish bass up to 2 pounds and had lost quite a few more in the hour we fished. Crappie jigs aren’t made for hooking a bass. Since we couldn’t get to our normal Crappie spot or even cast out to it, we just started hunting for them.

As we were about to leave, we decided to fish one more spot and that’s where the Crappie action started. It seemed like an odd place since it was 15 ft from a guy who was fishing and there were two boats being loaded at the makeshift boat ramp.

She was closer to the spot than me and was casting parallel to the shore when I heard her drag start screaming. Due to high weeds and small trees, I couldn’t really see what she was fighting, but I casually told her to tighten her drag a bit figuring it was just another bass. When she saw the fish I heard her yell, “Holy S*&%” and that’s when I reeled in quickly and started heading over to her. Upon her hoisting the Crappie up for me to see…I muttered the same thing in disbelief!

There before me was the biggest Crappie I had ever seen in person. What was more special was that it came from a small local lake and we had no idea they were that big in there. We managed to catch 5 more from that spot and all of them were 12 inches plus, but none as big as the one she caught. All were safely released back into the water to continue on.

True to form…She caught the biggest fish of the outing and a day later, she still has a big grin on her face. She takes her fishing seriously and a photo will be framed and placed on the wall amongst the others.

It Has Been Awhile…

All is well here and we have been fishing every chance we get. Trout season started late due to weather related events but we still managed to get to the trout pond multiple times and did quite well.

Most of the trout we caught were in this size range.

The weather has been all over the place this year. A typical week consists of winds 25-40mph, wildfires, temperatures ranging from 38F to 93F and intermittent rains. We squeeze in what we can, when we can. I will admit that since I have been working nights, it’s easier for me to get out before work and fish.

Several times a week, before work, I have hit the local lakes in search of Crappie and perch. One of our local lakes has an issue with the overflow pipe so it is still flooded and the parking lot is submerged. I’ve managed to catch a few bass but haven’t been able to locate the Crappie. Rather, I know where they are but just can’t get to them due to high water.

The other local lake has been a big producer and we have caught and released a pile of Crappie and perch.

We have only purchased a couple of rods this year and the only one of note (for me anyway) has been the Shimano Soare XR S510L-S and it has been a joy to fish.

I prefer a Light action rod due to fishing in current or heavy cover. The added “horsepower” helps set the hook or pull fish out of weedbeds or cover. This rod has been outstanding! Sensitivity is a 10 out of 10, hooksetting has been a 10 out of 10 and backbone has been a 10 out of 10 as well. It has quickly become one of my favorite rods.

My only real complaint for this year has been with shipments of goods. USPS, UPS and FedEx have been terrible so far. Missed delivery dates, re-routing packages to out of the way places that are non-sensical and other issues. Couple that with the inability to speak to a live person and frustrations mount. I wish they would stop putting “Expected Delivery” dates and times and just deliver the package. Most have arrived DAYS later and I have to wonder…what am I paying for??? USPS has been the absolute worst and I have received a litany of lame excuses. One example was the driver had bald tires. He delivered to our mailbox but wouldn’t leave a small box. Makes no sense.

Anyway…I don’t want to end on a negative note. Congratulations are in order for Mr. Nelson over at Classic Fly Tying for winning another award at the Fly Tying Contest held at Mountain Home Arkansas each year.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Bob over in Virginia who is always pushing the envelope on light tackle and coming up with creative ideas and solutions for panfish. He’s a wizard when it comes to these things and pushes me to learn and be a better angler. Cheers brother!

All in all, 2025 has had a good start and we have a few things in the pipeline in regards to fishing. Stay tuned for more. And if you are on Instagram, we post there quite frequently since it’s easier and faster for us.

#the_veloxseekers

Fishing With Spoons…

I was late to the spoon fishing game by all accounts. A very knowledgable gentleman by the name of Christopher Stewart was the first to open my eyes to the possibilities of using spoons for trout and panfish. It helped that he stocked and sold Japanese spoons as well as rods, reels and lines.

What many people do not realize is that there is a system. You need to match the rod and reel, as well as the line to the type of fishing you are doing and to the target species. And this is especially true when using spoons. We are NOT talking about Johnson’s and KastMasters here, simply because they are not manufactured in the weights we will need. In some cases we will be using spoons that tip the scale at 1 gram or less and fish them very slowly for panfish. I find trout prefer a more erratic action and almost always hit on the drop…or when I stop reeling and let the spoon freefall for a few seconds.

What I have discovered is that spoons allow me to fish almost the entire water column effectively. I can vary the speed, the depth and the action without changing lures often. And in cases such as this, I prefer a JDM Area Trout rod due to their being more of a moderate action rod specifically designed for light lines and lures. I have yet to find a US rod that comes close to being suitable for fishing sub-1 gram spoons and other various light lures. You have to remember that in the JDM (Japan Domestic Market) world, they make rods with ratings of Super Ultralight, Extra Ultralight etc etc. They are truly specialists in their fishing pursuits. This is why I harp on JDM tackle since it opens a whole new world of tactics and techniques and it is very effective.

Various spoons ranging from 1 gram to 10 grams.

Purpose built Daiwa Presso Spoon Wallets.

A wide array of spoons of different sizes, colors, weights, shapes and actions.

I would also like to give a huge shout-out to my good friend Robert in Virginia. He is a true Master of his Craft when it comes to ultralight angling. He is one of the most experienced and knowledgable anglers I know and is always on top of the JDM market. He freely shares information and tips which can be rare these days. I have hinted several times, unsuccessfully I might add, that he should be writing about JDM tackle since I think many people would enjoy the information, and it is hard to find good, reliable sources. He has tested more rods and reels than I could ever fathom.

Thank you for reading and if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer them or find the information. Cheers.

Outing 08 FEB 2025…

It has been a slow start to 2025 in terms of fishing. We have made several trips to a nearby trout pond and have found that it hadn’t been stocked, was completely iced over or some other impediment. But today we managed to get into them and catch a bunch. And I can tell you…it was good to finally catch some decent trout. Several of them pulled some serious drag and put up a great fight.

We are typically catch and release only and today was no exception. Fishing with spoons has proven to be very effective and I wonder why it took me so long to start using them on a consistent basis.

It was great to get out and catch some fish. I think both of us needed that, especially since the weather has been up and down. 80F one day and 38F the next.

However, we as sportsmen need to speak up and call out bad behavior that gives us ALL a bad reputation. Several fishermen have been observed keeping way more than their alloted 3 trout. Some have been noted as showing up at dawn to keep 3 fish only to show back up in the evening to keep 3 more. And they’ve done that all week. I’m sure there are arguments on all sides, but the rules are the rules. Ethics and sportsmanship matters! Don’t be like these guys…please.

On a lighter, more positive note…we are still out here fishing and trying new gear and methods. There will be future blog posts as well. Thank you for reading.

Happy New Year!

2024 was a wild ride and if I’m being honest, I’m glad it’s over. We could only squeeze in one vacation last year so we didn’t get to take any major fishing excursions. However, we did hit our goal of 50 outings apiece for the year.

With our youngest son being a Sophomore in college, funds were tied up in education which was way more important than fishing gear.

I was tempted to do a “Most Used Gear of 2024” post but not much has really changed. Besides, we fished for everything from Carp to Stripers so the gear list would be rather long anyway.

I did manage to purchase 3 rods last year. There were only 3 that popped up on my radar and I eventually got them. They were the Palms Egeria Native Performance EFNS-61L, the TenRyu Rayz Alter RZA-612S-LT and the MajorCraft Finetail Works Tune FGW-4102UL.

Palms Egeria Native Performance EFNS-61L

MajorCraft Finetail Works Tune Area FGW-4102UL

As for reels, I only purchased two new ones. The Shimano Twin Power C2000S and the Daiwa Airity ST SF 1000. Both are mid-tier and incredibly smooth reels. I’ve been very impressed with both.

Other than new Veles lures we bought throughout 2024, we continued to rely on the proven EuroTackle B-vibes in 2 inch and 3 inch varieties for most of our fishing. They are tried and tested and reliably catch fish when nothing else will. We are trying to find Tungsten jigheads in suitable weights to get away from lead heads.

We are currently kicking around several ideas for excursions in 2025. Possibly hopping on a plane to the Tampa Bay area to do some inshore wade fishing for Redfish, Snook and Speckled Trout. We will definitely hit some of our favorite rivers to be sure. As usual, we are pouring over maps and seeking out those “thin blue lines” that hold possibility.

Here’s to a successful 2025 to all! Thank you to everyone who read this blog last year, even though content has been hit-or-miss , we really appreciate it. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a hearty shout out to Darell over at Classic Fly Tying for being a faithful reader. We really appreciate your support and wish you all the best!

You Don’t Know If You Don’t Go…

I’m ready to see what 2025 brings. With the passing of my wifes mother, we have been dealing with lawyers, probate court, realtors etc etc. Plus, I have moved departments at work and now work second shift, so outings together haven’t been easy to arrange.

No worries though, as we have still been fishing. 2024 was a good year and we have high hopes for 2025.

November 1st is the official start of Trout Season in Oklahoma, but our local pond doesn’t open until December 1st since it’s a smaller body of water. True to form, we arrived at zero dark thirty only to find an empty parking lot which was very odd. After an hour of casting and only catching Crappie we gave up and headed home. Obviously we didn’t get the memo and started searching online to see what was going on.

Not a single jump, splash or ripple was spotted.

Neither one of us have FaceBook or anything like that, so we had no idea what the issue was. We should have looked at the Official website before leaving and we would have found this…

I completely understand the conditions that are required for trout. The drought ended in November when we received 10 inches of rain. In fact, the trout pond was actually 3-4 feet higher than we had ever seen it. After further digging we found that the price for trout had increased to $7.00 per pound and the State budget is $600,000 statewide. A few years ago we had a $25.00 fee for a trout stamp but they decided to eliminate that. Maybe one day Oklahoma will figure it out and realize that people don’t solely focus on Largemouth Bass.

Irregardless, we will keep going out and hoping for the best. Maybe they will extend the season or adjust the time. Instead of December 1st through February 28th, they will go from January 1st to March 31st. It is not outside the realm of normalcy to see 60F-70F in December, but you can count on January to be cold. But that’s just my two cents…

We hope everyone has a great Christmas and lots of tackle under the tree!

THIS JUST IN>>>>>

ROD: Smith Troutin Spin Multiyouse TRMK-423UL REEL: Abu Garcia Revo Beast running 4.6lb P.E. line.

A good friend of ours from Virginia just sent us a picture of his son with his PB Smallmouth Bass. This young man is a Two State, Two Time State Powerlifting Champion and has a bright future ahead of him. To say his papa is proud is a massive understatement! Well done young man and here’s to many more PB’s in the future.

Outing: 15 October 2024

Finally! The weather cooperated and we hit the river again. Saturday was 93F and promised to be the last hot day of summer. This morning we woke up to 41F and a chilly start, but it’s a welcome relief.

We have really missed fishing the river, but it’s been too hot and not enough rain to put it in prime shape. As I’ve stated several times, we don’t like to add undue stress to our beloved native smallmouth, so we leave them alone for the hottest parts of the summer. We also lost the Mother-in-Law at the end of September so we have had to deal with all that as well.

Anyway…we arrived at 0801 with 43F temperature and were geared up and on the river bank by 0815.

My first fish was a Crappie…not quite what I was expecting

It took us a bit to figure out where they were since they weren’t in their usual haunts.

We found them hugging the bottom so it required a longer drop of the lure than normal. This is why we carry a selection of jigheads from 2.0 grams up to 4.5 grams.

My rig for the day…Tenryu Rayz 632L and a Shimano Twin Power C2000S

My wife brought two rods this time. One for jigheads and one for hard minnow lures. Certain stretches of the river require hard lures due to the fact that they just won’t bite a jighead and soft plastic. Don’t ask us why…we are just as baffled as everyone else.

Once the sun was up and had burned off the mist, the bass started cooperating. Plus, it was nice to ditch the coats.

As usual, she caught the biggest fish of the trip. We had a great time and caught quite a few fish and hopefully can squeeze another river trip or two in before the weather turns cold. Even then, trout season will start soon so we have that to look forward too.

Catch you on the next one…and we will try not to make it so long between posts.

Return to the River…Outing 11AUG24.

Due to the heat and low water level we have left this river alone for a few months. When the forecast called for a high of 75F and light rain, we made plans to go.

We encountered intermittent rain on the drive and figured we might have the river to ourselves, which turned out to be correct. As long as there wasn’t any lightning we would be OK to fish.

Zip kept alerting to a portion of the river around the bend. We saw about 6 wild pigs crossing the river and more on the opposite bank. I started making noise and throwing rocks into the brush until they decided to cross back over while she put the leash on Zip. After a few minutes they crossed back over and joined the main group and ran off over an embankment. We were not in a good position since we were stuck on a small island and wild pigs were on either side of us.

She caught the biggest smallmouth of the outing…as usual

We ended up catching and releasing 60 fish between us in the 6 hours we were on the river. We covered 4 miles of new river for a total round trip distance of 11.56 miles. We were both sore and tired by the time we returned to the car.

Zip has turned into a REALLY good companion

Outing…12 June 2024

The other evening, I decided to pull up Google Earth and search an area that we fished near. I had seen people over there but wasn’t sure how to get into the area. GE and other maps gave us a rough idea so we made a plan and went for it.

This morning we arrived around 0730 and sorted our gear. I wanted to just explore but she talked me into taking a rod along. I’m glad she did! We located the trailhead, there are several, and commenced our hike. By using the “measure” feature on Google Earth, we had an approximate distance of 1.8 miles to reach our objective. We had no idea what lay in store for us but that’s how we like it. Keeps a sense of adventure about the outing.

It ended up being an old portion of a campground that the State couldn’t afford to maintain anymore and was completely overgrown. The “road” was more of a 4-wheeler track and had several mudholes as well as steep hills. Several sections of the trail were almost completely overgrown, but we kept going.

Finally we popped out on a sand point just above the lake and we noticed a concrete structure down further along the shoreline. It turned out to be an old boat ramp that had seen much better times. On a whim, we both started casting out to where we could see Shad jumping and something chasing them.

BAM!!! I hooked into something with shoulders! It peeled drag and bent my rod and the fight was on. It turned out to be a schoolie striper! I have never caught a striper from the shore, always from a boat, and was excited to say the least.

The action was pretty steady and a lot of fun. My rod was a more powerful rod than hers so we would switch off. She caught 9 plus a largemouth and together we caught 23 stripers and 3 large sand bass. We were both quite surprised that we were catching stripers but there was structure and baitfish so it made sense. Had we gotten there earlier in the morning we probably would’ve caught a lot more, but when the sun started beating down full force, the bite stopped.

I’m pretty sure Zip was still worn out from yesterday as he crawled into some brush in the shade and took a nap.

Once the bite quit, we decided to explore the area as well as the shoreline. We marked a few campsites on our map for future reference. As I’ve said many times, I enjoy exploring and seeing what’s over the next hill or around the next bend. I hope to continue doing it for as long as I can.

2024 has been a weird year for us. We haven’t been able to make any substantial plans like returning to the Cossatot River or even spending a full week anywhere. It has been very frustrating being tied to home. But we are managing to squeeze some outings in even if they’re only for 6-8 hours. We will continue to do our best. Catch you on the next one!

An Outing To The River, 10 June 2024…

As mentioned before, we love this river and although we don’t own it, we and others like us, did not appreciate the Oklahoma Wildlife Department putting this access point on TV as well as holding clinics here. We’ve come across some odd characters who were up to no good and in fact, 4 people were recently cited by Game Wardens for using nets and spearguns on the river. No, I didn’t call them or tip them off, I wish I did though.

Anyway, the river level was at 6.12 feet and crossings were really easy this time. The temps were in the 80’s and full sun so we got there around 0815. I wanted an earlier start but the misses vetoed that idea.

We opted to fish upstream this time since a flood had completely changed the river and removed a huge log jam that made going upstream last year a grim endeavour.

We were into fish within our first few casts and the day looked promising. We weren’t catching anything of size, mostly ones between 8-10 inches, but they were FAT. Some sections we would throw our standard 2 inch EuroTackle B-vibes and wouldn’t get a bite. Fish that same section throwing a minnow lure and the action was fast and furious. Other sections was the exact opposite and that is why we carry two rods, one is a baitcaster rigged with a lure and the other is a spinning rod rigged with a plastic.

I am so glad that I regularly walk 3-5 miles a day. It really helps, especially when wading upstream or even going out to retrieve stuck lures in fast current.

And as the day progressed and the sun climbed higher in the sky, it got hot! Zip spent an unusual amount of time swimming and basically staying in the water. Smart dog!

It seemed that the further up we waded, the bigger the fish were getting. About 2.5-3 miles upstream we started to catch some in the 12-14 inch range.

We really wanted to keep exploring further upstream but time constraints prevented it so we started back to the car. It’s funny how when you’re fishing you really don’t notice the heat but the minute you are just walking, you really feel it. And it hasn’t got hot here yet, but it will soon.

Thank you for reading…more to come

I Caught A Bluegill…

A friend of mine invited us to fish his pond, and only a fool would say no.

He told us that his pond has a lot of crappie and bluegill, and since we’ve been on a “crappie and bluegill kick” we took appropriate tackle.

In short order we were into bluegill and having a great time. I opted to move down the bank closer to the creek mouth. First cast and I hooked a scrapper of a bluegill. It took me left and reversed course to the right. It dove deep and I managed to get it to the surface only for the water to explode! Next thing you know, I’m trying to keep my rod from breaking and trying to maintain some semblance of control with my reel as the drag was screaming. I scream for her to grab the net and help me. Getting a fish out of weeds with a net is a classic Abbott and Costello skit let me tell you. Anyway, she got the job done and we drug the net, and the fish and a pile of weeds up onto the bank.

That’s my bluegill with the 2.5gram jig still in place. The bass was never hooked.

Have no fear! Both were safely released back into the pond alive and well. We caught several more bass before we had to go, but this was a memorable moment for me and I will never forget it.

And I can still hear Steve laughing from his porch as we brought that fish in. Well played Steve!

We Haven’t Been Slacking…

We have still been hard at it and have taken advantage of every opportunity to get out and fish.

This outing which was from 02 JUNE 2024 was us going back to a spot we haven’t fished in almost 10 years. The lake level was up, close 6 feet high, so wade fishing from the shoreline was almost impossible.

I wish I could say it was a good trip for me but the truth is, I hooked a largemouth but after a short fight it spit the hook and disappeared. She on the otherhand had a nice fish and a good fight. I think her smile says it all!

Any fish like that is always a bonus and I was so proud of her. It was an honor to net it for her.