what are current water temps on T Wok and Lavon? Is there an ideal water temp for acticv blue cats during winter?

Two weeks ago the temp on Lavon was hovering around 50F, and the fish weren't in their winter pattern yet. This past week I noted the temp had dropped down to 42F, and I spotted the fish were down in the deepest part of the lake, and caught a couple of blues between 20-30 pounds, and a handful of teener's.

This is my favorite time to hunt for the bigger fish.

I also noted that after the recent rains the lake has come right up, and is now only 6 inches below full pool.

I'm heading out again tomorrow, and will once again target the deeper water.

May start a war since i'm sending this opinion down from N of the Red River. When I get an itch for winter TX catfishing, I look for steady water temps on the main lake at and below 45 degrees (some literature says 45-50). You guys have Threadfin Shad, those tender fellas are certainly cold stressed at 45 degrees water temps and below. Prolonged cold stress starts first killing the weak and small threadfin, as the water gets colder or stays in the stress zone, healthier and larger shad slowly die off. Bluecat are fully capable of chasing down any shad in the lake, or they can wait for a hybrid or sandbass to injure a few but they sure won't turn down winter killed shad, matter of fact they seek out winter killed shad. As you drop closer to the critical temperature for threadfin, they die faster and faster, when you hit critical temp you have widespread shad kills. Most of what I have read on threadfin critical temp says 39-40 degrees, 1-2 days and it smokes them, very widespread kills. With that steady slow cold stress killing threadfin with water temps below 45, that's why you find blues hanging under large schools of threadfin shad in what most guys call the "winter pattern." People like fishing the winter pattern because it concentrates a big portion of the lakes fish in the deep water (under the threadfin schools that are trying to shelter from the extreme water temps that can happen in shallower water), sometimes 25-35 feet and deeper. Sort of the fish in a barrel deal at that point, lot less places for an angler to search to find fish.

Nice post. Where in NE Ok are you from? Originally from Claremore.

I’m near Barnsdall. About 40 miles NW of Tulsa between Skiatook and Pawhuska. I fish your ol stomping ground of Oologah quite a bit.

It is full of blues.

We’ve been in the winter pattern for the last month in Texas. We’ve hammered em every trip on my boat with our slowest day being 15 fish over 20 lbs and our best being 25 fish over 20 lbs yesterday even with zero wind. Fish being deep doesn’t make the winter pattern, the biomass makes the winter pattern, and it moves up and down the lake depending on weather patterns. As far as water temperatures, 35-50 are ideal temps for catching big blues because of the biomass, it has zero to do with activity or location. .

Now let’s talk about the shad kill, our last 2 trips there has been a pretty significant shad kill up shallow. Did we go shallow around the shad kill to catch our 40 big blues the last 2 trips? No we did not. In my experience the smaller fish run up shallow to feed on the threadfin kill. The smart fish and larger bait stay out deep to survive. Big bait and game fish will be piled up thick out deep and are very lethargic trying to survive.. The majority of big blues will not leave this biomass because it’s so easy to feed on these lethargic gamefish that are around the bait piles. I had lots of my guide buddies and friends that went shallow to fish the threadfin kill and caught a ton of eaters the last 2 weeks and only caught a few big fish the same days we went deep and caught 10 times as many big fish and no eaters. You can go fish the shad kill and have lots of success but it won’t be anything like fishing the biomass hammering giants all day.

I hear a ton of guys regurgitating old catfish information they read or heard somewhere. The catfish game has completely changed in the last 10 yrs because so many guys are willing to try and do new things. If you’re willing to be open minded you’ll find that those old ways are not the only way and sometimes less effective.

BFH, one of my buddies went to Texoma yesterday and had a very tough time finding shad. Actually, he didn't find any, and he's a really good fisherman that knows how to use his graph. He searched from the dam to the mouth of the Washita. He scanned everything from 80 foot depths to 3 feet and couldn't find any shad, anywhere. He did locate plenty of large fish in different areas, just no shad (which seems bizarre to me because I would think that the fish would be located in and around big schools of shad). Have you heard any talk up there about conditions at Texoma in the last week or so?

I have to agree with El Gato about the bigger fish focusing on the biomass in deeper water. That's definitely been my experience over the last two seasons. I do know that there are big fish that venture to the shallows for easy feeding though. There's a Youtube video of a couple of guys that absolutely smashed a number of really big blues in 3 feet of water at the mouth of the Red river one week after the "snowpocalypse" of 2021. It's been a while since I watched it but I'm pretty sure they caught a half dozen fish over 40 pounds in a couple of hours. I think in any really successful fish catching scenario, there are always certain contributing factors that are at play that might not line up the next time conditions are similar.

One more thing I'll say is, I'm curious what everyone thinks about the effect that a major shad kill has on a fishery, long-term. Good or bad, or both?

My thoughts on a major shad kill is it slows the fishing down for several days until the shad start to be non-fresh. When there is a major die off out deep then the fish have a buffet laying in front of them. The shad population will bounce back in no time though.

Last time I can remember there was a major shad kill on Twok was I believe 2015. We fished about 1 week after the die off and my dad and I both got our PB's. His was 69 and mine was 60. We caught so many big fish on that trip. The following winter big bait was hard to find because of the die off but there was still lots of 7-8"shad around.

My guide buddies and high level angler friends that fish Texoma are absolutely slaying the big fish up there the last week. The lake is fishing great from what they tell me. As far as catching shad they aren’t using shad for bait up there. They all use Striper because it’s legal to use if legally caught.

I remember guys going shallow after SmowMageddon Geno and they did well but we went deep and fished the biomass instead of the Shad kill and caught 900 lbs of big fish with 12 over 40lbs and 2 high 50s. Like I said some big fish will go shallow to scavenge but the lions share stays deeper with the biomass. I have a dozen guides and angling buddies that text me when they are doing well up shallow on days they know I’m deep and I know what they are doing. They think they are destroying us up shallow and are trying to make me feel bad but when I tell them what fish were catching out deep it’s usually them that end up felling bad. There is more than one way to skin a Cat and I take pride in doing things my own way. I’m not telling guys it’s the only way or the best way, only what works for us. I don’t rely on someone else telling me how I’m “supposed” to fish. I fish the way I like to fish and it works great on our boat. I share with guys what works for us and what’s made me a successful angler and some guys appreciate my openness and some guys it makes mad. We’re going to keep doing what we do which is fish hard every week, have fun, and share our journey.

Now back to the Shad Kill. They are part of the lake cycle. We had a fall spawn again this year and those 1-1.5 inch threads tend to stay more shallow in the nurseries and can’t handle the cold. They die and provide the smaller fish an opportunity to feed heavy and pack on extra weight. The bigger more mature bait goes deep and survives even the coldest years. Shad kills are good for our lakes in my opinion.

Great Information guys......I appreciate the input. Always trying to learn a few things and catch a few beasts...Thanks!

Chris, I had my two best days that year with close to 700 pounds total for those two days. I was pretty happy because I was only fishing 4 rods back then. I followed your advice that year to the tee and it worked out great. That was the year you showed me how to read the graph better. I follow that mindset 90 percent of the time. I do love to get on a shallow bite though, when I can. There's something about hooking a big blue in really shallow water that gets your blood pumping. Even when I do find that, I seldom catch the numbers of big fish that I get in deep water. I also think that the biggest fish are hardly ever going to be caught in really shallow water. I'd much rather catch one 70 pounder in deep water than ten 20 pounders in shallow.

There are days during the winter that I'll give the shallow water a shot just to mix it up. Usually, after 3 or 4 days of unusually warm weather, you can get on a pretty good bite. This week is looking like that but even if I do, it won't be for long because I think you're right about the lions share being deep.

As far as guys getting mad.....well, you and I both know that's more about jealousy than actual anger!

If I was ever going to go shallow in the winter Geno it would be after this warm up we’re having all week. It’s going to make the wonder what the heck is going on. Shortest days of the year but already spring like temps. Going to be pleasant weather for fishing no doubt but I’d take 35° and 15-20 tanks per trip over it any day.