Early spring can be
the prime time to catch big bass, just ask Jim Nunnally who caught a
10.91 pound largemouth bass on Sunday, March 24, out of Lake
Keystone.
"Over the years, our largest bass have always been caught around
this time of year," said Gene Gilliland, fisheries biologist with
the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. "With the warming
water temperatures and lengthening days, this can be a great time of
year to catch some nice fish."
The months of March and April have produced 15 of the top 20
largemouth bass in the state.
Nunnally, along with his partner Jim
Turner turned in a three-fish 17-pound stringer to win a bass
tournament being held on Keystone Lake, located in northeastern
Oklahoma. From statistics compiled by Department biologists,
Keystone was in the top ten of the best tournament lakes in 2001.
Over the past year fisheries biologists cooperated with bass clubs
around the state to gather thousands of hours of fishing data from
more than 700 tournaments on almost 50 different lakes. Biologists
analyzed the information and compiled an overall lake ranking based
on five fishing quality factors. Factors included average first
place weight, number of bass over five pounds, average pounds per
tournament and percent of successful anglers.
For more information about the Oklahoma's best tournament lakes
consult the "2002 Anglers Guide" in the March/April issue of Outdoor
Oklahoma or log on to
wildlifedepartment.com/basstourn.htm.
Excerpt from the ODWC weekly
newsletter. |
