Fishing the twilight zone for white bass at Grand Lake in Oklahoma
Gene Pearcy was fishing in the calm before the storm.
The surface of Grand Lake in northeast Oklahoma was almost like glass, with only a few gentle waves breaking the calm. But Pearcy knew that was soon to change.
It was getting close to dusk. And for a white bass fisherman, that meant the magic hour was approaching.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve been out here when the white bass just show up out of nowhere when the sun’s going down,” said Pearcy, who guides on the 59,200-acre lake. “The water will be calm, then all of a sudden they’re surfacing everywhere.
“They’ll be tearing into shad, sometimes even chasing them clear out of the water. They’re like a big school of piranhas. You can even hear them slashing through those baitfish.
“It’s really an exciting way to fish.”
Moments later, Percy got a reminder. He heard a commotion behind the boat and looked over to see the surface churning with activity as a school of white bass herded shad to the surface.
He quickly launched a jigging spoon to the school and let it drift down. But it didn’t get far.
Before the spoon reached the bottom, Percy felt a tap at the end of his line. When he set the hook, that tap turned into a strong tug.
Percy fought the frantic fish for a few moments, then pulled a white bass that he estimated at 2 pounds to the surface.
But that fish wasn’t alone. No sooner had Percy unhooked the first white bass than he caught another. And then another.
By the time he was done, he had a live well teeming with good-sized white bass. And he again was singing the praises of Grand Lake’s summer white bass fishing.
“I don’t care how hot it gets, the white bass usually are chasing shad in the evening,” Pearcy said. “I’ve seen as many as two acres of white bass up on top, just slashing through the baitfish.
“I know that sounds crazy, but this lake is just full of white bass.”
Pearcy has no qualms about labeling Grand “the best white bass lake in the country.”
“I haven’t seen any other lake that can match Grand for both the numbers of white bass and the quality,” he said. “Our average catch is 11/2 pounds. And we’ll catch fish as big as 3, 31/2 pounds.”
Never is Grand Lake’s white bass fishing more on display than the last hour of summer daylight.
“It’s not unusual for two or three of us to catch 50, 60 whites in the last hour,” Pearcy said. “The action can be nonstop.”
Josh Johnston, northeast regional fisheries supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, agrees that Grand Lake has the white bass to provide excellent summer fishing.
“When it comes to the white bass fishing here at Grand, fishermen have evolved,” he said. “In the past, it used to be solely a spring fishery.
“We’d have big crowds in the rivers when the whites would make their spawning run. But now, this summer fishing is becoming popular, too.
“People know they can go out toward dusk and wait for the whites to surface and stand a pretty good chance of catching fish.”
So why is Grand Lake such a good white bass fishery? Johnston credits its major tributaries, which provide reliable spawning areas.
“White bass need moving water to pull off good spawns,” Johnston said. “Well, Grand has three major tributaries —the Spring, Neosho and Elk rivers — that have consistent flow.
“That’s why the white bass are very prolific and do well here.”
During the summer, Pearcy often looks for humps, drop-offs and ledges that will hold schools of white bass. Then he waits for the schools of gamefish to chase shad to the surface during low-light hours. He often retrieves shallow-running crankbaits through the surfacing white bass when they are on top. But even when they are surfacing, he often has his best luck on a heavy jigging spoon fished under the white bass on top.
“A lot of times, the bigger whites will wait under the fish on top, waiting for the crippled shad to drift down,” he said. “The key is to find good structure that is close to deep water.”
Pearcy, 59, has been fishing Grand Lake most of his life. He started off as a black bass fishermen, and did so well that he even competed on the national Bassmaster circuit in the early 1980s. He still fishes for largemouths, but he concentrates on white bass in the heat of summer. That, and getting ready for deer season.
He lives in little Rest, Kan., a town in the southeast part of the state that Pearcy jokingly says “he owns.”
Our family makes up the entire population,” he said with a laugh. “Two people, two dogs.”
Today, he runs a deer hunting business and hosts and produces two television shows for Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports South and syndicated channels — “On the Right Track with Gene Pearcy” and “Gene Pearcy Outdoors.”
The shows once centered on hunting deer, turkeys and other big game, but Pearcy is now adding fishing. And he knows right where to go when he wants to film a good white bass show.
“It doesn’t take long to do a white bass show at Grand,” he said.
To reach Brent Frazee, The Star’s outdoors editor, call 816-234-4319 or send email to bfrazee@kcstar.com.
Contact information
For more information on Grand Lake’s summer white bass fishing, contact Gene Pearcy at 620-926-2770.
The magic hour
The last hour or two of the day can produce excellent fishing at this time of the year. Once the sun starts to go down, baitfish become active and the gamefish often go on the feed. Here are some examples:
WHITE BASS: These are the poster boys and girls for fishing at dusk. The whites often gather in large schools and work together to push shad to the surface. Topwater lures, small crankbaits and jigging spoons can be deadly.
WIPERS: This cross between white bass and stripers are famous for their slashing strikes at dusk. At Milford Reservoir, they have been known to hit large topwater baits so hard that they will knock them into the air, then engulf them when they land. As the water starts to cool in September, the fishing often is at its best. But Milford produces good low-light fishing at times in the summer, too.
LARGEMOUTH BASS: Bass fishing can be tough during the heat of the day in July and August. But at the end of the day, when the water temperature will drop a degree or two and the lights are dimmed, they will often hit the surface and chase baitfish. Fishermen use Zara Spooks, buzzbaits, Pop’Rs, and chugger baits to catch fish.
SMALLMOUTH BASS: Some fishermen will wait until evening and night to cast for smallmouth bass on Ozark streams. They will wade different stretches and fish with topwater lures such as Jitterbugs, Hula Poppers and Sammy lures to lure big fish.
BROWN TROUT: At places such as Lake Taneycomo and the White River, the brown trout have nocturnal tendencies. Fly fishermen will use large caddis flies, woolly buggers and sculpin pattern flies to catch big browns in low-light conditions.
This story was originally published August 1, 2014 at 8:19 PM with the headline "Fishing the twilight zone for white bass at Grand Lake in Oklahoma."