Are you one of those folks who thinks fishing is a summertime sport? If so, you might be missing out on some of the most productive and exciting fishing action of the year.

Growing up in northwestern Oklahoma, I don’t believe I ever wet a line before March each spring, nor did I fish any later in the fall than the month of October.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I began learning about all the great fishing opportunities that Oklahoma waters offer during the winter.

Just about every species that swims in Oklahoma lakes and streams, with the possible exception of the smallest sunfish, can be caught in December, January and February just as easily, if not more so, than they can in the warmer months.

Oh, you might have to change your tactics a little, especially for black bass. But catfish, white bass, stripers and hybrids, walleyes and sauger, as well as rainbow and brown trout all provide lots of wintertime angling action for Sooner State fishermen these days. And even bluegills, redears and green sunfish can be caught with the right baits and techniques.

Let’s look first at black bass — largemouths, smallmouths and spotted bass.

While these large members of the sunfish family do tend to be a little less active in cold waters, they do continue to feed and move throughout the winter. You might have to fish a little deeper than you do in May or June. That’s because bass tend to move a little deeper to escape the near-freezing water temperatures at the surface during winter cold spells.

But usually in Oklahoma we have short periods of milder weather and sunshine, even in the coldest months, when sun-warmed surface waters bring bass back into the shallows where they can be pretty aggressive.

Most all of Oklahoma’s lakes and ponds hold populations of largemouths. Many are also populated with spotted bass. And native smallmouths can be found in many cool-water streams in the eastern third of the state. Smallmouths also have been introduced into many of our reservoirs — smallmouths with a little different genetic history that tend to do well in reservoirs.

And any of the lakes that offer bass action in the warm months can provide wintertime action as well.

Although I’ve seen surprisingly good topwater action with walking baits and buzzbaits as late as mid-November, most anglers do better at this time of the year with jigs fished around deep structure, or with slow-moving crankbaits or suspending jerkbaits.

And if we’re having one of those mid-winter warm spells, with several consecutive days of bright sunshine, you might find bass gathered in shallow coves, especially on the downwind side of the lakes, that will hit spinnerbaits and other lures fished around shallow cover.

Oklahoma also has two artificially warmed lakes that provide cooling water for electrical power generation plants. Both Konawa Lake near Ada and Sooner Lake south of Ponca City are owned by the Oklahoma Gas & Electric utility company, and both are open to the public for fishing.

While they are better known for their white/striped hybrid bass fishing, both hold good populations of largemouths. Konawa Lake consistently yields high numbers of largemouths when the fisheries biologists do their electro-fishing population samples.

Wintertime action for stripers, sand bass and their hatchery-produced hybrids can be good in several Oklahoma lakes and streams.

Tailrace areas below Keystone, Fort Gibson, Eufaula, Kerr, Texoma, Kaw and Webbers Falls can be excellent spots for the properly equipped angler to sack up the linesided bass when water is being released through the turbines at the dams.

Tailrace fishing usually calls for longer rods for making longer casts, especially if you plan to fish from the shorelines below the dams. At most of these areas, it’s possible for boaters to launch their boats at ramps a short distance downstream and motor upstream to tie up to or anchor near the cables that are stretched below the dams. The cables are there to keep boats out of the stilling basins at the feet of the dams.

Catch sunfish like bluegills and redears in winter? It can be done, says the author. Photo by Bob Bledsoe.

Stripers, hybrids and sand bass gather in the stilling basin areas to feed on stunned or dead baitfish washed through the dams. It’s possible to catch them with minnows or live shad, or with jigs and sometimes with topwaters or crankbaits.

One handy rig for this kind of fishing is a casting float or popping float — a weighted float from which a dropper line with one or more jigs or baited hooks can be attached.

Tailrace-area boaters should be cautious. The strong currents in the spillway areas can make for hazardous conditions, especially if anglers are using small boats without a lot of freeboard.

My personal favorite wintertime spot for catching all of these species is the Lower Illinois River, from the Highway 64 bridges downstream to the confluence of the Illinois and Arkansas River.

Most of the professional guides working that stretch of stream use live shad, live trout or other live bait to catch giant stripers and hybrids. But it’s also possible to catch stripers, sandies and hybrids using jigs or crankbaits.