[oucorry]

Hey coop here's our chance to be in the record books!!!


Donnie Jinkens thinks Oklahoma's new lake record program will keep him busy in the next few weeks.



Canton Lake, where Jinkens guides, is one of a dozen Oklahoma lakes where the state Wildlife Department is starting to officially keep lake records.

Jinkens, owner of the Canton Motel, is the record-keeper for Canton Lake, and in a couple of weeks the walleye record likely will be set again and again and again.

Canton Lake in northwest Oklahoma is arguably the state's best walleye lake.

When the water temperature reaches a constant 45 degrees, the walleye will start to come into the rocks along the dam to spawn, which Jinkens said should start happening in a couple of weeks. A similar walleye run soon will happen at Lake Hefner.

Anglers fish for walleye primarily at night and early in the morning. State wildlife officials have set a minimum weight of 5 pounds for a walleye to be eligible for a lake record, a target that will be easy for Canton Lake anglers to hit.

Jinkens specializes in crappie on Canton, and I spent the day crappie fishing with him on Tuesday. The winter bite is about over, and the crappie are about to enter the dormant state, Jinkens said.

But the crappie fishing will be good again this spring when they begin to spawn. As a general rule, the crappie will come into shore to spawn about the time the redbuds start to bloom, Jinkens said.

The same rule of thumb is true at other Oklahoma lakes, although the redbuds bloom earlier in southern Oklahoma than they will at Canton.

[shortbus]

I'm ready whenever you are.

During the week, the weekend, whenever.

[Marvin]

Too bad they didn't start this long ago, there have been some nice fish taken there. My dad for one took a nine pounder there about fifteen years ago.