Do you remember back to when you were a kid, fishing on the bank of a pond, watching that bobber float effortlessly along?
Then bam! Fish on, and you were so proud of that dinky little bluegill. Now that sense of amazement is gone, and you curse those little guys. I am not sure where the idea of fishing morphed into being these “over thought-out, bring all the tackle you own” affairs, but I finally decided that I just wanted to fish, anywhere and everywhere. There are plenty of options close to home.
Come to find out Oklahoma City has quite a few options available to anglers, but many overlook these locations. We all know of the larger bodies of water like Lake Hefner, Lake Stanley Draper and Lake Overholser, but there are a number of smaller bodies of water that are still a great place to wet a line. One of the larger bodies of water that seems to get overlooked is the Oklahoma River, and with access points all over the place, is one of the easiest to visit if you are downtown. Others that might be lesser-known are Kitchen Lake, Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge, North Canadian River, Zoo Lake, Dolese Youth Park, Eagle Lake, South Lakes and more. Anytime I am headed to the City I check the Google machine to locate nearby fishing holes that I might not have visited yet.
Of course there are good and bad times to visit any body of water, and sure, if you go to some these places over the weekend, you won’t likely have them all to yourself. I am not suggesting that these local places take the top spot on your list of fishing holes. What I am suggesting, however, is that you give urban fishing a chance for a quick mid-week outing or even start taking your lunch break at a local pond. You could use the time to practice a new technique or hone a new skill you saw on YouTube.
It’s easier than you would think to start fishing after work or over your lunch break, and for me it started with always having some kind of rod and tackle in my vehicle for when I need to get away from life’s complexities. I would definitely suggest simplifying your tackle and only bringing one rod to accommodate a faster pace. In fact, on more than one occasion I’ve had an extra 15 minutes, so I stashed a couple extra hooks in the bag of plastic worms and set off to walk the bank. It doesn’t take much to get a fix when you are fishing more often and didn’t plan the trip weeks in advance. You could also consider changing the species of fish that you are targeting. Game fish get hammered pretty regularly, but there are many species that are equally as fun to catch, and in some cases more eager to bite.
Get back to that feeling you had as a kid. Not every catch has to be a trophy, but it just might be.
Watch this video for a special Outdoor Oklahoma feature on Tenkara fishing or visit this page to discover other urban outdoor recreation options in Oklahoma City.
