The Diary of
Douglas Detherow and Blake Ellison Prefishing and Competing on
Northeastern Oklahoma Lakes
By: Douglas
Detherow
“We are just a
couple of young fishermen limited mostly by our equipment, on a
limited budget, with limited amounts of time, but the only limits we
really care about are limits of bass!!!”
We have been invited by Greg to start keeping a diary
of our exploits on the water this year fishing tournaments around
the state. I will be writing an article after every event
describing, in detail, how we approached each lake. Both the
pre-fishing strategies, and of course the play by play action of
tournament day, whether we win or we blank. The intent of this
series is to hopefully give you a better idea of what or what not to
do when faced with similar conditions during your outings on the
water here in Northeastern Oklahoma. We just wanted to get more
acquainted with all of you, so I wrote this introduction piece to
say HI, and to let you all know who you’re really in the boat with.
Volume 1 of the series will feature Lake
Hudson during pre spawn. We actually catch several fish and I think
you will really enjoy it. That article will be available online
early next week.
My name is Douglas Detherow and I am a married, 27
year old father of two. I have been working in the petroleum
industry for the past eight years as a design engineering
technician. I raise Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, and fish every
chance I get. My partner Blake Ellison is a 21 year old, single
college student with full intentions of becoming a fireman, at least
until his professional bass fishing career takes off. We are
young, very young, compared to many off the most consistent anglers
in the area. Combined, we only have a total of 51/2 years experience
fishing the many lakes and rivers to be found in this part of the
state; for bass anyway. What we’ve discovered we lack in
experience and tricks we’ve decided to make up for with plain old
hard work and youthful tenacity.
We’ve heard all the stories of the 20+ pound
stringers; but can’t imagine that they are true, as we never fished
competitively before the virus. This has worked to our advantage
tremendously as I believe everyone has had to re-learn how to fish
water they’ve been on for years. None of the reliable holes are
working the way they had been. Kinda the old dog new trick syndrome
if you will. We didn’t know any different and just went fishing
trying to get a bite instead of worrying about a string of 4
pounders. In 2001 a limit of bass, any size bass, would get you a
real nice check. We got 3rd on Ft. Gibson in 2 day
tournament with 5 fish that weighed 11.83. (We blanked the first day
but adjusted and caught a limit on the second) We also won big bass
with a whopper weighing 3.28. The year before, on the same lake, a
man by himself won the Mid America tournament, (3 fish limit), with
over 21 pounds!
I have been on these waters my whole life, chasing
every fish on the Oklahoma Fishes I.D. chart. My dad, a bass
fisherman in his early years has since converted into a die hard
sand-basser. He however was never too picky about to what was
stretching his line as long as it was getting stretched, so we
usually just fished to be fishing. Most of these outings were from
the bank. We had a scamp, but there were 3 of us boys and to avoid
the hassle and arguing dad would usually go it alone.
We also had a large pond at home that I cut my teeth
on so to speak, when it comes to catching bass.
There, I learned the thump and run of a plastic worm
bite, and how to close my eyes when a big bass exploded on a
jitterbug not setting the hook until I felt him pull the rod down.
Every one of these little lessons learned long ago has paid big
dividends in recent times fishing tournaments. I may only have a
few years under my belt when it comes to competitive angling, but I
have been fishing since I can remember.
Blake is a different story entirely. He never
touched a fishing pole until after he was twelve years old. His dad
was not a fisherman. He owned a small business and spent seemingly
every free minute maintaining it. When we are setting around the
camp fire at night and I’m telling him fishing and camping stories
from my past, he always says that he went to work with his dad on
Saturdays.
Well, his family moved out into the country near his
grandfather’s farm, and he met a neighbor boy who was around his age
that took him fishing. Blake says that they were throwing
weightless plastic worms on Zebco 33s. He tells me that they must
have caught 150 bass that day out of a pond near his house.
He’s been hooked every since. That boy is the most
devoted student of bass fishing I have ever known. His room is
papered with the lake maps we are going to fish, he has a rack
bigger than the one at the gas station crammed full of probably over
1000 bass fishing magazines. If he isn’t in school, at work, or
actually fishing, he is reading or watching a how-to-tape on
fishing. When he’s tired of reading and watching, he calls people
to talk about fishing. I think by now you get my drift; this cat in
on the verge of needing a 12 step program for his bassahol problem.
As his partner, don’t really see this as an issue. In fact I aspire
to be as dedicated as he is. Of course he hasn’t had to climb the
real job, wife and kid’s mountain yet. That sometimes beats a bit of
that spunk outta ya for a while.
We’ve been fishing together for the past three years
qualifying for the State Tournament every year. It is hard to find
a good partner that you really “click” with. A partner that is
willing to pre-fish in a thunderstorm, make brush piles in January,
and study maps for hours looking for that one cut that may produce
another keeper. None of these things are always fun, but have to be
done when your competing against teams that have been fishing longer
than you’ve been alive.
We started out fishing very different styles. I was
more of a flipper/ finesse fisherman and he was a run and gun
spinner bait bandit. Both very effective means of catching bass,
but hard to do at the same time out of one boat. We struggled at
first, but have evolved into a very efficient team creating a style
all our own. He’s taught me plenty and I’ve tried to show him a
thing or two along the way as we meshed our two games into one. We
don’t really even have to talk in the boat anymore, one of us knows
what the other is thinking and everything just sort of falls into
place.
Well, that’s us. I just wanted to introduce our team
and invite you into the boat with us as we keep a diary of our
pre-fishing and competition days. We are fishing the Skeeter and
Tulsa Metro team trails this year on Grand, Hudson, Eufaula,
Keystone, and the Arkansas River. Hopefully we can provide you with
a little insight into how we approach the different lakes during the
different times of the year and try to catch some fish. You will be
in the boat with us through the good times and the bad, forgotten
plugs and all. (Blake said he put it in!!) We are just a couple of
young fishermen limited mostly by our equipment, on a limited
budget, with limited amounts of time, but the only limits we really
care about are limits of bass!!! Come go fishin with us!
We have been invited by Greg to start keeping a diary
of our exploits on the water this year fishing tournaments around
the state. I will be writing an article after every event
describing, in detail, how we approached each lake. Both the
pre-fishing strategies, and of course the play by play action of
tournament day, whether we win or we blank. The intent of this
series is to hopefully give you a better idea of what or what not to
do when faced with similar conditions during your outings on the
water here in Northeastern Oklahoma. We just wanted to get more
acquainted with all of you, so I wrote this introduction piece to
say HI, and to let you all know who you’re really in the boat with.
My name is Douglas Detherow and I am a married, 27
year old father of two. I have been working in the petroleum
industry for the past eight years as a design engineering
technician. I raise Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, and fish every
chance I get. My partner Blake Ellison is a 21 year old, single
college student with full intentions of becoming a fireman, at least
until his professional bass fishing career takes off. We are
young, very young, compared to many off the most consistent anglers
in the area. Combined, we only have a total of 51/2 years experience
fishing the many lakes and rivers to be found in this part of the
state; for bass anyway. What we’ve discovered we lack in
experience and tricks we’ve decided to make up for with plain old
hard work and youthful tenacity. 
I have been on these waters my whole life, chasing
every fish on the Oklahoma Fishes I.D. chart. My dad, a bass
fisherman in his early years has since converted into a die hard
sand-basser. He however was never too picky about to what was
stretching his line as long as it was getting stretched, so we
usually just fished to be fishing. Most of these outings were from
the bank. We had a scamp, but there were 3 of us boys and to avoid
the hassle and arguing dad would usually go it alone.
There, I learned the thump and run of a plastic worm
bite, and how to close my eyes when a big bass exploded on a
jitterbug not setting the hook until I felt him pull the rod down.
Every one of these little lessons learned long ago has paid big
dividends in recent times fishing tournaments. I may only have a
few years under my belt when it comes to competitive angling, but I
have been fishing since I can remember.
Blake is a different story entirely. He never
touched a fishing pole until after he was twelve years old. His dad
was not a fisherman. He owned a small business and spent seemingly
every free minute maintaining it. When we are setting around the
camp fire at night and I’m telling him fishing and camping stories
from my past, he always says that he went to work with his dad on
Saturdays.
He’s been hooked every since. That boy is the most
devoted student of bass fishing I have ever known. His room is
papered with the lake maps we are going to fish, he has a rack
bigger than the one at the gas station crammed full of probably over
1000 bass fishing magazines. If he isn’t in school, at work, or
actually fishing, he is reading or watching a how-to-tape on
fishing. When he’s tired of reading and watching, he calls people
to talk about fishing. I think by now you get my drift; this cat in
on the verge of needing a 12 step program for his bassahol problem.
As his partner, don’t really see this as an issue. In fact I aspire
to be as dedicated as he is. Of course he hasn’t had to climb the
real job, wife and kid’s mountain yet. That sometimes beats a bit of
that spunk outta ya for a while.
We’ve been fishing together for the past three years
qualifying for the State Tournament every year. It is hard to find
a good partner that you really “click” with. A partner that is
willing to pre-fish in a thunderstorm, make brush piles in January,
and study maps for hours looking for that one cut that may produce
another keeper. None of these things are always fun, but have to be
done when your competing against teams that have been fishing longer
than you’ve been alive. 