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May 26, 2012

Green Country anglers discover diversity is key

Mike Carrels Muskogee Phoenix

Smallmouth, striper, sand bass. Largemouth, crappie, black bass. Catfish, trout, spoonbill. Walleye, bluegill and even carp.

The area offers a plethora of different fish for nearly every angler — and it offers a variety of water types to fish them.

“We live in a special area of the state,” said John Kilgore of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department. “We’re blessed to live in an area that’s so diversified. I challenge anybody to compete with the scenery that you can find in eastern Oklahoma.”

Kilgore, an avid fisherman, said what makes the area unique is its variety. There’s clear lake water and muddy lake water — sometimes on the same lake, just in different parts. There are large lakes and small lakes. There’s cool river water. There are fast-moving rivers and slow-moving rivers. And, of course, there are numerous ponds peppered throughout the area.

“It’s the type of fish, it’s the scenery, it’s the diversity that we have in water types,” Kilgore said. “There’s such a diversity in the types of water you can fish — if you like to fish shallow, if you like to fish medium depths, if you like to fish deep. There’s all types of water for anybody that loves to fish that can fit their style.”

Kilgore doesn’t have a favorite type of fish to chase. He’s like a lot of other area anglers, he said.

“It doesn’t matter as long as I’m fishing,” he said. “I really enjoy fishing in the early spring. A lot of the trophy and state record fish — as far as smallmouth and largemouth — all have been caught the month of March. It’s kind of the spawning season.”

Kilgore said even the types of fish being caught on lakes can evolve. “We went on a night fishing excursion to Tenkiller, and we caught all smallmouth,” he said. “Normally, you’ll catch black bass or Kentucky bass, but the smallmouth fishing on Tenkiller has exploded. It is just the native species in there so long, (smallmouth) finally decided to take hold.”

Because of the variety of fishing environments, Green Country is a popular spot for not only fishing tournaments, but also for tournament fishermen. “A lot of tournament fishermen come from Oklahoma,” Kilgore said. “There’s a lot of them, and a lot of it’s due to the fact we have such diverse fisheries. You have to learn how to fish river systems, you have to learn how to fish lakes, streams — pretty much the highs and the lows of it.”

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