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Robert Bain took home the hardware in the OK Crappie Anglers Club Championship on Broken Bow against a field of serious OK hammers! 🔨 He chased white crappie up the river with most of the field, and was casting the entire time!
He gave us the winning juice on fishing this clear lake, here we go:
Was it a sneaky deal that you were casting to these fish when long-poling is typically the deal in OK? [He didn't have a long pole on his deck the whole time in the tournament or practice.]
> "I don’t know that there was anything secret about it. In that clear water you've got to stay away from those fish.
> "I would zoom out [to] about 50' on my LiveScope, and when I got the fish within 30' of me, I stopped and cast to them.
> "I would cast past them, let my jig drop down to them, then start reeling...holding my rod tip up a little bit...and bring that jig right over them as slow as I could.
> "You could tell right away whether that fish was going to eat or not. He'd either come out and smoke it or else just follow it."
Follow up: How did you adjust to those clear-water fish being so spooky?
> "I just kept moving, continued looking for fish – you just had to keep moving."
What kind of cover were those bigger fish relating to?
> "I was fishing standing timber. You could tell the difference between blacks and whites – if you pulled up to a tree that had about 10 fish on it, you knew they were blacks. I could usually get one to bite.
> "If you pulled up to a tree with only 1 or 2 fish, they were generally white crappie, and usually you could catch both of them.
> "I couldn’t put a pattern together for why there were blacks here and whites there. You might pull up to a tree and it had whites, then go 30' and it’d be covered with blacks."
How did you figure out what area of the lake had the best fish?
> "I’d fished that lake a handful of times up in the river, so I had a pretty good idea where I wanted to go. But when I went Thurs, so many boats were in there. I kept looking and looking until I ran out of time.
> "When I got back to the cabin...I got out my maps and started looking, then pulled up Google Earth [Pro]. I went to historical images where the lake was down...and saw a spot that stood out to me.
> "I could tell from the historical images that there was standing timber there, so it was just a matter of marking them.
> "Right now, it’s kind of between summer and fall patterns. I knew the water depth I wanted – 20-25'. Usually, that’s about the depth they’ll be in. When I got there, that’s exactly what it was. It was perfect.
> "I went down through there looking, saw fish on them, and pitched a jig to see if they’d eat. I ended up marking about half a mile of spots.
> "Toward the end of that stretch, there was a tree that looked like another [submerged] tree had fallen into it – it was loaded with big fish.
> "I threw because there were probably 10 good fish on it. I caught one that weighed 1.63 lbs. I moved on another 50 yards, found another [unique tree], marked it and left."
Did you start out casting right away or did you first try long-poling for them?
> "I cast to them from the beginning. With that clear water, if you got right on top of them, you were going to run them off or they just weren't going to bite. I knew from the start that I needed to cast to them.
> "I never even pulled out a long rod – no braid, nothing – just straight mono and casting."
So finding the right fish was more about covering a lot of water than a 'spot within a spot' deal?
> "Exactly. Both of my areas had timber. I’d just go around in circles, hitting the same stuff multiple times.
> "A lot of times I’d go over a tree once or twice and come back to find a fish sitting there."
[After day 1, Robert was in the lead casting to the fish, even though his big-fish tree was completely vacant! 😳]
Did you do any kind of shake or extra movement with the bait or was it just a glide over them?
> "Once I found them, it was pretty straightforward.
> "I was fishing around 20-25', and most of the fish were down around 15-16' on those trees.
> "...just a glide. I cast past them, and when I got right to them I’d slow it way down – just hold my rod there and let that jig glide over their heads as slow as I could.
> "If you’ve never done it, it’s hard to describe, but you can really control it by feel.
> "[There was] nothing special [about the spots] like a channel edge or dropoff – just a flat with some old standing timber."
Were there any other tools that helped you with your win?
> "Power Brakes for sure. If it hadn’t been for them, I couldn’t have stayed off those fish.
> "There’s a lot of people who say, 'I don’t need Power Brakes.' I fished for years without them, but once I put them on my boat – it changed everything. They’re just like the name says: They’re a game changer.
> "I usually keep my trolling motor on about 6 or 7. When I see a fish 50' out, I just tap the brakes lightly to slow down so I’m not flooding it and throwing a bunch of backwash.
> "Once I’m slowed down, I drop the trolling motor down to 3 and just creep in.
> "If there’s a little wind behind me, I can bump my brakes and hold my distance perfectly. Boat control is key, and those Power Brakes help you stay in perfect position."
What was the biggest lesson you learned fishing all the OK Crappie Anglers Club tournaments?
> "My wife told me from the start, 'Stop worrying about everyone else and just go do what you do.' I didn’t listen at first [but] I did for this championship.
> "I’ve got my own logo that says 'Go Fish' with a picture of a crappie. She told me, 'Do that – just go fish and have fun.' That’s what I set out to do. Once I got in the groove on day 2, that’s exactly what I did – just fish, don’t worry about everyone else."
That's a lesson to keep in mind whether you're fishing a state championship or just trying to fill the freezer! Quit worrying about what everyone is doing, what kind of screens, boats, etc they have, and just go have fun! Good advice Mrs Bain! 🤠
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