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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2007 Last modified: Thursday,
September 27, 2007 3:10 PM CDT
Radebaugh and Topping finish year with a win
By Vic Allshouse E-E Outdoors Columnist
As the tournament fishing year winds down, many anglers have relinquished
their fishing rods for a shotgun. But many of the area’s top anglers are
trying to finish their fishing season by competing in the year-end events
from several state tournament trails before going afield.
This past weekend the Triton Boats Tournament Trail hosted their championship
at Grand Lake both Saturday and Sunday. The team with the heaviest weight for
the two-day event was crowned winners and received a fully-rigged Triton boat
valued at over 36,000 dollars.
At Sunday’s weigh in Mendell Radebaugh, formerly of Copan, and local
firefighter Larry Topping of rural Bartlesville let it be known that they had
done their homework and knew their job as they brought the heaviest stringer
to the scales weighing and impressive 34-15 for two days. Second place team
of Walter Andries and Ron Johnson were nearly four pounds behind with 30.33
pounds.
Other locals competing were Gary and Justin Hurd of Dewey taking fourth with
29.88 pounds and Paul Smith of Copan and Wayne Diffee with 6th place and
27.88 pounds.
Fifth place and big bass honors of the event fell to Kip Agee and partner Jim
Neafus with 28.16 pounds and big bass at 6.28 pounds.
Deer scouting report
Most archery hunters I have spoken to are seeing large numbers of deer
including some bucks that were guessed to weigh between 150 and 200 pounds.
Of course no locations were revealed in these discussions, but I would
imagine the larger deer are being seen close to the Kansas line.
If one wants a truly productive hunting season, one must do the pre-hunting
work of scouting out the planned hunting area. The only way to do this is to
spend time afield and by being very observant of the rubs and the trails the
deer follow.
Feeding areas may be a concern this year with planted crops, whereas the
natural food, acorns, may be plentiful as the season progresses. Only those
in the woods can decide which food crop will provide the best results.
Fishing excellent at area lakes
Yes, I know. I have reported this before, but after a trip like last
Sunday’s, it’s hard not to mention it to the readers.
Again, Rusty Rogers and I made the short trip to Bluestem Lake, west of
Pawhuska. We knew it would be different than the previous trip, mostly due to
the different weather we encountered that morning. Instead of foggy, overcast
conditions, the lake air was clear and the skies were forecast to be clear
with clouds forming later that day.
So we embarked at 6 am to make the 20-minute drive. There was more fog on the
highway than the lake, making it more like a 30-minute trip.
We started, as usual, at the cove on the north side of the lake and fished
for about an hour with no success. Heading up lake to the west and the flats
located on the south side of a wide point proved to be a good choice.
The flats were alive with small schools of minnows. Placing the boat in three
feet of water and making a 60-foot cast to the shore with a shallow crank
bait soon netted the first fish of the day - a 2-pound feisty “Spot”. Then,
another fish of almost four pounds, then another about 3.
I thought I might try a little deeper water and, turning my back to the
shoreline, cast as far as I could towards deeper (5 feet) water. As I reeled
in the Baby 1 Minus it suddenly stopped with a solid feel like I had hung up
on a log. As I pulled to free the bait, it suddenly started moving towards
deeper water, taking drag as it pulled. A split-second later, it pulled free
and left both Rusty and I thinking about and discussing “the one that got
away”.
We switched baits to lipless crank baits in chrome and blue and continued
throwing towards the edges of the weedbeds, with an alternate cast at times
to the deeper water. The wind was almost non-existent at the time, but what
little there was, was blowing directly towards the shoreline and the weedbeds
close to it. We continued to boat fish (Yes, we got them in the boat this
trip. Rusty modified his “catch and release” method to include getting them
in the boat to release them after unhooking them this time!) far into the
morning hours until they finally tapered off around 11:30am. But we still
enjoyed an excellent fishing trip that lasted far longer than we had
anticipated.
For those readers not familial with Bluestem and its location, simply take
highway 60 to Pawhuska and travel through downtown Pawhuska to the turn off,
three miles west of town. You will turn right (north) and once on that
blacktop road cannot miss the lake since there are no more turns. When you
get to the dam at the bottom of the hill, the road turns left. Follow it to
the boat ramp. The lake has a rules bulletin board at the ramp and if you
don’t have a city sticker, don’t worry. The caretaker, Frank, will find you
when on the lake or unloading and will be more than happy to sell you one on
the spot. This sticker is good for the year and entitles you to fish the old
City Lake as well.
Don’t forget the Wildlife Expo at the Lazy E Arena is this weekend and offers
a variety of things to see and do for the whole family. Admission is free and
so is the parking! Take the family for a great day! |
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