Drove my wife's car out to her at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma from Southern California last weekend. While we were there we hit up Stanley Draper just to scout it out. We went out off one of the fingers and I caught a 13" Spot on a Pointer on my fourth cast (I'm pretty sure it was a Spot, could be wrong, really don't catch many in So Cal). It was pretty cold and windy so a couple of casts later we decided to get back in the car and just check out more of the lake. When we ended up back at the marina and talking to the guys in the shop he had a hard believing I caught that fish because he said it has been so slow out there. Then he went on how there aren't any big fish in the lake. I guess to get to my question, is Stanley Draper worth putting time in to figure out or should we make the extra drive down to Thunderbird? Or any of the other lakes in the are for that mater. BTW, we will be shore bound out here and my wife will be out by herself a lot.

Thanks!!!!

Of all the OKC lakes Draper is one I havent fished much. If your after bass you should go to Wes Watkins, Its the best bass lake in the metro area, standing timber, grass, not sure how you would do from the bank but the fish are there and its not far from Tinker .

Lake Hefner in north OKC is easy to fish from the bank. The rip rap on the north end will be good with jerk baits , swim baits and shad imitating lures. You can pick up smallmouth, largemouth, and walleye along the rocks this time of year. Also over in East warf by the restaurants is a good spot.

Thunderbird is a great lake if you know how and where to fish it, but you need a boat unless you want to fish the points or rip rap.

Good luck hope this helps.

You are wasting your time at Draper.  I suggest you go to Watkins as suggested or Thunderbird if you have a boat.  Neither one of them are great, and I don't have much luck at Thunderbird except for sandies in the summer.

It really depends if you are fishing off the bank or in the boat.  Hefner is one of the better places to fish off the boat docks, or by the ramps for a variety of fish I think.

Thanks very much for the help!  

There are several great lakes in oklahoma, if you have a boat.  Lake eufaula, grand, ten killer, ft.gibson, a really nice like even though it isn't that big is dripping springs.  Granted all those lakes are in eastern oklahoma.  Those are all lakes I have fished and done real well on.  Plus if you have a boat there are several jackpot tournaments, actually they are everywhere.  Sooner lake is real nice also, hit up basszone.com, they are oklahoma based and you can get some help from there.

Thanks Fat Man!

You should think about joining our club when you get here. I am a non-boater and have had a great time fishing with others. Its a great way to learn the local lakes and its a great club. Oh yes, I am retired AF and we have a bunch of G.I.s in our club.

does hefner have some good crappie docks ? iam from chickasha and currently our local lakes arent doing very good. my boat is out of commision right now so all i can think about is a good crappie dock  ;D

Hey Brian, I been hitting Overholser & Hefner at least 2 times a week for the last month, the crappie have yet to move up to spawn, Its weird, they should move in any day now, when they do I'll let you know,you wont need a boat, they will be on the rocks spawning.

Gonna hit Overholser in the morning for some hybrids and crappie. I'll let you know how it goes.

Infidel save your time and money and go to thunderbird rather than draper. there is hardly and cover in the lake at all.(grass) the electro-surveys have been aweful the past ten years or more. im sure there are a few nice fish in there somewhere but the time and effort you would spend there is just not worth it. danceswithbass is right about wes watkins. the only thing people dont like about it is you have to pay $7 to fish from the bank and another $7 to put your boat on there. the plus with that is it keeps the parties and teenie boppers away. mostly just hardcore fishermen there. good luck...

robbie

choctaw ,oklahoma

Fished lake Thunderbird by the restaurant, took the trail from the parking lot by the time we reached the water we and our tackle were covered in ticks. By covered I mean I had ticks on my eyeball and every two square inches of my privates. After five hours of fishing with live bait, plastics and spinners with three lines in the water... Not a single bite!!! Except for the 39 ticks I my wife pulled off of me, 29 off of my son, 21 off of my daughter, 18 off of my wife... she left early (107 total). Day two we are all discovering more ticks so 107 and counting. I was going to sit down until I saw what I thought were ants all over the ground, upon closer examination I discovered the largest tick migration known to man. > do not fish from the banks of lake Thunderbird. ...Your welcome >

nastiest little critter on the face of the earth.  I've gotten into em b4 but nothing on that scale.  Just 107 more reasons to avoid Dirtybird

Thanks for the additional help.  I'm heading out for the 4th of July and will definately be hitting up Wes Watkins.  I will also make sure I get some bug spray, ticks are not my idea of fun.  Never really had to worry about them here in California.  I've spent over 20 years crawling through bushes and what not and have only had two ticks on me my entire life.