Broken Bow report 14 April - 17 April

[ʇuǝɹq™]

I fished Broken Bow Lake last week for 4 days with my best friend from high school, and we had a blast. I was prefishing for a company tournament that I fish every year with my dad.

Monday, 14 April

We got to the lake around 0900. The temp was on a steady decline that day. The day prior it was 74 degrees, and that morning it was at 49 and falling. The winds were blowing out of the north at a sustained 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. I launched at the marina and ran across the lake to last big creek on the east end. Started on a small secondary point and my friend instantly caught a small spot on a craw colored wiggle wort. Continued down the bank throwing the wiggle wort and I was throwing a craw colored DT6. Found a good bank line leading into a perfect spawning flat, and the fish (like they're supposed to be) were staging there. Caught two 4lbers in consecutive casts on the DT6, made a few more casts and caught a 3lber.

I decided to leave this area because I didn't want to beat it up too bad before the tournament. The run back across the lake was brutal. My little 18ft Skeeter took a beating, and we got soaked. Took a wave of water to the face and it went down the inside of my pro qualifier suit (I didn't have it zipped all the way up). Those suits do a great job keeping water out, and they also keep water in. The water pooled up in the seat of my bibs, so needless to say, my drawers were soaked. 

We made it back into the creek the marina was in, and started fishing similar areas I had found in the other creek. We fished these spots with the cranks and a carolina rigged green pumpkin trick worm. Caught around 15-20 fish ranging from small to about 3lbs. Majority of these fish came on the carolina rig. Good mixture of spots and largemouth.

Water temps were 56-58

Tuesday, 15 April

Woke up early Tuesday, and the boat was covered in frost so we decided to go eat breakfast and let it warm up a little. We got to the lake around 0900 again. Launched at the firefly ramp, and fished a couple coves close to there. We caught a few small spots on a flick shake with a watermelon trick worm. Water temps in these areas were 58.

I decided to run north to Linson Creek in search of warmer water, and possible spawners. Started on a steep bank line heading into a spawning flat and I caught several 1-2lb fish down this bank with a spinnerbait. Caught a few fish on the flat as well with the spinnerbait and the carolina rig, but nothing of any size. I motored farther into the creek to fish a bank line that we caught a 5lber on last year, and right away I hammered a 4lber on the spinnerbait. We continued down this bank and I caught several quality fish on the spinnerbait. My buddy couldn't get bit on the crank. I noticed pretty quickly were the fish were holding. This bank like is like a wave of small points. There was a small drop about two feet off the bank, and the fish were holding on the drop.

I decided to leave this alone and move to the very back of the creek and work my way out looking for spawners. I never found a bed, and I never saw any bucks up shallow cruising. I was pretty surprised by that. Anyways, as I was working my way back out we caught fish pitching a d bomb, and the flick shake to lay down and bushes. Nothing of any size, but it was fun. Water temps back here were 64-65.

From here I made a run farther north. The lake turns into a river, and it was pretty muddy. I tried flippin shallow cover with the d bomb and a jig, but didn't have any luck.

I left this area, and took off back south towards the main lake. I saw a good looking creek on my GPS and pulled into it. I idled all the way to the back and found a massive flat covered in buck brush. I thought I had found the Holy Grail. We started flippin the bushes with the d bomb and a lizard. We caught several fish in the brush with the biggest being 3lbs. I threw a yellow magic around the bushes as well, and caught a ton of small spots.

Wednesday, 16 April

Didn't fish that day. I had to spend time with my grandma.

Thursday, 17 April

Got to the lake around 0800, and this day my dad got to come with me. Launched again at firefly and there were a couple more creeks I wanted to check out, so we made a run to the farthest one away so we could work our way back. Right away we started catching them on a craw colored 1.5 and the spinnerbait. The fish were still holding on the main and secondary points. We caught fish on almost every laydown as well that we came to on the flick shake.

Made a run to another cove, and once again, same results. Still didn't see any beds, or cruising bucks.

When I went to leave this area to look at another one, I started having engine troubles. My motor wouldn't run for crap. Had a batch of bad gas, and I could barely get it on plane. We putted back to the ramp, and called it a day. Unfortunately, by the time we made it back to my dad's everything was closed, and we couldn't get the motor fixed and the tournament was Friday morning so we decided to not to fish it.

All in all I had a great week at Broken Bow. I really wish I lived closer so I could fish there more often. I'm planning on making a trip back this fall when the trees start to change.

[Mike Cork]

Sounds like a blast. Thank you for the fantastic report

[BassmanRudy]

Dang Brent you had a GREAT trip!!!! I've heard that lake had a TON of spotted bass and you sure WHACKED EM!!!! Really sucks you didn't get to actually fish the tourney BUT the time out w your Dad can't be replaced! That lake isn't that far away and I still have a Oklahoma license!! :-)

[ʇuǝɹq™]

I had a blast up there. Now would be the time to go. The average depth on that lake is 62ft, but the fish are up so it's not hard at all to find them. I wish I could sneak up there again real soon, but I'm having foot surgery on Monday so I'll be down for a little bit.