Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire You know spring his here.....spoonbill are running

Spoonbill are running in the river and I caught my first one. 44 pounder pulls a little more than our typical farm pound bluegills.

nice

Those are good eating! Congrats!

Sweet! I have always thought they were the most intriguing fish. I hear they are getting scarce? ..something about damming up the rivers?

Shad here!

I have always wanted to catch one of those.

We fish out of Oklahoma, they have a pretty intensive program going for them, and some call it the spoonbill capital. It is illegal to sell the eggs as caviar, but the state will clean and package your fish in exchange for the eggs (which they then sell and invest back in wildlife and parks) and the waste of the fish. When I watched them clean mine they cut the lower jaw bone out and put it in an envelope with length, weight, and location caught information recorded. Mine also had a band (think duck leg band, but this was in the jaw) that you call a number to give them the information. When the water warms up, and the rivers start rising, every redneck within 100 miles is on the river either fishing from the banks in the city park or from a boat.

Sister in law caught a 70 lb fish two weeks ago and her boyfriend caught a 35 lb fish. Mine was the only one today. About every 3rd or 4th boat we saw had a fish hanging off the side. The state in conjunction with their fish cleaning/research unit will also dispatch a boat to you to come pick up your fish and take it back to processing, or they'll send a truck to pick it up from the city park if you're fishing there.

The two I were with were from Neosho. Not much to it, put in at Miami city park or Twin bridges, and then fish up and down the river. Heavy pole, 5 oz weights, and huge treble hook.

Spoonbills the same as paddlefish? Pleading ignorance here.

My brother used to catch some giant paddlefish out near Bismarck ND.

Yes, same thing, I think spoonbill is the redneck name.

Today the cleaning board showed 50-60 lbs as the top ten fish for the day. The season opened up a few weeks ago, top 10 fish were in the 70's since it began. These were only the fish that people actually brought in though. Oklahoma state record was caught 2 years ago, 125 lbs.

Oh yea, the white bass and morels will be here soon.

Are the buds on the dogwoods the size of a squirrel's ear?

I actually have time to go this year, I just don't have any freezer space right now, I should have ate more waterfowl during the season instead of hoarding back a possession limit. Planning on hitting the trout streams as soon as I my raised bed garden going.

Caught a sixty-six a month ago on Grand Lake.



They were still deep when I hooked mine and caught it about 100 yards from Sailboat Bridge. Oklahoma is doing a great job managing the paddle fish IMO.

If they're up by Twin Bridges the spawn is on, or as I like to call it, redneck olympics!

Alright COOP!

Nice fish. Danged nice!

Wondering if those are like chasing ROCKS in the Bay.

You snagging them? Never seen a spoonbill caught per se? I used an arrow on mine in Yankton, South Dakota. One of the best fresh water fish I had ever eaten! Very nice fish in the above photos guys. I hope to arrow one like the above photo oneof these days?

here is my wifes from last year:


our season doesnt open till May 15

What a neat fish, and great to see conservation steps that are seemingly working. Congrats to the lucky anglers!

Sweet. We haven't left the house much in the past couple of weeks. Snow, some minor aches and pains, etc. Looks like you are on it. Walmart's had the Spoonbill gear out for awhile now. lol

Redneck Olympics is one way to put it. I don't think I've ever seen the amount of sleeveless t-shirts as what you do in Miami, Oklahoma's city park when the spoonbill are running. Its a whole family affair. Bring out the grill, the lawnchairs, grandma and grandpa with their oxygen tanks and still smoking their Marlboro Red's. The little kids on their leashes to keep them tied to the bumpers of their worn out 76 F-250. Fish on.

Sister in law caught a 35 lb and her boyfriend caught a 40 lb spoonbill yesterday.