Broken Bow Lake is one of my favorite places to visit in all of Oklahoma. Not only do you get to experience the beautiful hiking the Kiamichi mountains offer, but the reservoir and river are also some of the best places to fish in Oklahoma.
Broken Bow Lake is known for its big striped bass, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook the other species that call these clear waters home.
Let’s get started with the black bass species!
Broken Bow Lake Bass Fishing
Three species of black bass call Broken Bow Lake home and help make it one of Oklahoma’s best bass fishing lakes. They are largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass.
Each acts a little differently and needs a different approach to catch them, so that we will discuss them separately.
Largemouth Bass
Largemouth bass are generally the bass you’ll catch in the shallows, but not always. They grow bigger than smallies and spots but appear similar to spotted bass.
When targeting largies, I start on the northern end of the lake and in the coves.
Natural colors of soft plastics, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs are some of the best lures to fish near standing timber, points, and channels throughout the lake.
Look for hard bottom areas during the spring, where largemouth spawn. As summer warms the water, they’ll head for shaded areas. Look for overhanging trees, brush piles, and vegetation, or find an offshore depth change.
The fall brings largemouths back shallow as they feed on bait fish before they move back offshore in the winter.
It’s important to remember that this broad generalization varies significantly with the water temperatures and weather patterns.
Smallmouth Bass
Smallies are often found in deeper water, so I look for them along ledges and points. The islands scattered around the lake often hold some fish, but they’re also one of the most popular places to bass fish.
If targeting smallmouth bass, I recommend staying on the lake’s southern half. I’m not saying they’re not in the northern section, but a higher concentration is found in the lower portion of the lake.
Downsizing your lures is best since smallmouth are named because they have smaller mouths than largemouth bass.
However, the same natural colors still work for smallies. Crawfish, small baitfish, and larger insects comprise a smallmouth’s diet, so it’s best to imitate one of these creatures with your lures.
Smallmouth bass are very aggressive and more often found in schools than largemouths, so if you catch one, there’s likely another nearby. However, you might have to try a different technique to get the others to bite.
Spotted Bass
Spots tend to spend most of their time roaming the channels offshore. You’ll rarely catch one shallow (5 feet deep or less), as that’s generally where largemouths can out-compete them for food.
Fishing the main lake points and islands is where to begin your search for spotted bass.
Their diet is primarily shad, so imitating small shad using flukes, spinners, and swim jigs will yield the best results when trying for spotted bass.
Catch More Bass
We’ve named Broken Bow Lake to our list of the best bass fishing lakes in Oklahoma. Check the link to find all of the top bass spots in the Sooner State.
Check out the simple-yet-effective bass fishing techniques and tips in our how-to guide.
Crappie Fishing
Broken Bow Lake is one of Oklahoma’s premier crappie fishing lakes and home to two species of crappie, black crappie and white crappie.
While they have slight differences in preference for water clarity, they are generally caught in the same locations using the same baits.
They’ll be shallow in the spring along rocky shore or around standing timber and brush piles while spawning.
Once they’ve finished spawning, they move back to deeper brush piles for much of the high season.
I begin looking for them in 15-25 feet of water around brush piles during the summer and early fall. As winter sets in, crappie tend to roam a little.
On warm winter days, you might find them on a shallow flat with standing timber, and on cooler days, they’ll be suspended in deeper water.
Bright pink and chartreuse produce well when the water is a little murky, but clear or natural colors generally work best.
I love to catch these panfish using crappie jigs, but many anglers overlook trolling with small crankbaits in the summer.
The surest way to catch crappie is by using live minnows; nothing beats live bait around creek channels, points, standing timber, and brush piles.
Walleye Fishing
Because Broken Bow Lake is one of the clearest lakes in Oklahoma, you’ll likely find the walleye deep.
Your best chance of catching one is during the early spring when they’re spawning in rocky areas.
Once the spawn is over, walleyes move to deeper water, so most anglers have the best luck fishing ledges around the spawning areas with deep-diving crankbaits, jigs, live minnows, bottom bouncers, and crawler harnesses.
I have the best luck fishing for walleye in the early morning or late evening when the sun isn’t glaring down on the water. This is because they are very light-sensitive and primarily feed on small fish at night.
While you’re not going to catch the giant walleye as they do up north, Broken Bow waters will surprise you with nice-sized walleye, which are one of the best-tasting fish in Oklahoma.
You can cast from shore and catch them in spring since they’re in shallower water during spawning. But once they’re done spawning, you’ll likely need a boat to catch walleye consistently.
Trolling is my favorite way to locate them, but I also like to catch them jigging with minnows and jigs once I’ve found where they are.
Similarly to crappie, walleye respond well to bright pink and chartreuse lures. So I highly recommend mixing these colors with natural baitfish colors to entice a walleye into biting your lure or bait.
Catch More Walleye
Whether you want to troll, jig, or cast and retrieve, we have you covered with the best walleye fishing techniques and tips.
Catfishing in Broken Bow
The three species of catfish that call Broken Bow Lake home are channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish.
All three require a slightly different approach to catching them but don’t be too surprised if you catch all three in the same spot using the same bait, as they’re known to inhabit similar areas and are opportunistic feeders.
Catfish move into the shallows to spawn in the late spring and early summer; this is one of the most challenging times of the year to catch them as they’re not as concerned with eating.
After they’ve spawned, catfish move to the channels and deep holes during the daytime but often move into shallow water in the evenings and night to feed.
In the fall, catfish follow the shad onto the flats to feed in preparation for winter.
I use many techniques to catch catfish, from rod and reel to jugs and trotlines to noodling. Each has its thrills and benefits as well as drawbacks.
Channel Catfish
Channel cats are the smallest of the three popular species found in the lake, rarely exceeding 20 pounds.
They’re not picky eaters, which is excellent news if you’re looking to catch some catfish for dinner. You can throw on hot dog slices, chicken liver, worms, cut bait, or stink bait to get a channel cat to bite.
I use a 6/0 hook for channel cats because it’s small enough to fit in their mouth yet strong enough not to straighten during the fight. And yes, plenty of catfish will straighten light wire hooks.
As their name suggests, channel catfish are most often found in creek and river channels. Which means you can find them all over the lake.
Blue Catfish
Blues are the biggest catfish species in Oklahoma and can reach over 100 pounds. However, most that I catch are in the 10-25-pound range. 20+ pounders are not uncommon, though.
Blue catfish prefer cut bait, but I’m never shocked when I catch them on chicken liver, live bait, or worms because they’re still scavenger fish.
The main thing I do differently when targeting blues is using larger bait and hooks. I’ll step up to an 8/0 hook and cut my bait in bigger chunks to deter the smaller catfish from biting.
I regularly catch blues and channel cats in the same spots, but I search for deep holes near a drop-off when pursuing giant blue catfish.
I’ll fish the top of the ledge first and then work my way to the deeper portion of the hole if I’m not getting bites.
Flathead Catfish
Flatheads also have potential to reach close to 100 pounds, but most are 10-20 pounds in Broken Bow Lake.
I have the best luck catching flatheads with live bait. Generally, live bluegill is best, but I have also caught them using cut bait with an 8/O hook.
While I’ve attempted to noodle catfish, it’s not my favorite way to fish. But if you’re out of bait and in a shallow area with some nesting flatheads, it might be worth a shot to say you’ve caught a fish only using your hands!
Sometimes you’ll catch one in the same spot as a blue or channel cat, but I catch the most and biggest flatheads around brush piles up the creeks and river or by running a trotline across the bottom of a creek channel.
Catch More Catfish
Step 1: Find the best catfishing lakes and rivers in Oklahoma.
Step 2: Catch more of them with the top catfish fishing techniques and tips, including baits and tackle.
White Bass Fishing
As Oklahoma’s state fish, the white bass (or sand bass or sandies, as we locals call them), are pound for pound one of the hardest-fighting fish, and Broken Bow Lake is one of the best lakes in Oklahoma to catch sandies.
I love catching white bass during the spring spawn because they move up the creeks and the Mountain Fork River to the shallows, where they’re easily caught from the shore or by boat using anything that resembles small shad.
Once they’ve spawned, they return to the channels and main lake, and trolling with spoons or crankbaits is the best way to catch them during the summer and early fall.
Because they’re schooling fish, once you get a bite, there are likely many more in that area, so be sure to get your hook back in the water as soon as possible.
I’ve also caught a lot of sand bass on wind-blow main lake points as they push a school of shad onto a rocky flat to feed.
If you ever see a school of shad popping on the surface, throw a topwater out there and get ready for a bite. Topwater fishing for white bass is one of the best types of fishing, period.
Striped Bass and Hybrid Stripers (Wipers)
While Broken Bow was narrowly edged out of our top striped bass fishing lakes in Oklahoma, that doesn’t mean you should overlook it.
Stripers and hybrid striped bass are among the most popular fish to catch at this lake because, like their cousins, the white bass, they’re hard-fighting and ridiculously enjoyable to catch.
Stripers have a similar spawning pattern to white bass, meaning they move up shallow to spawn in the spring and then spend most of their time patrolling deeper creek and river channels the rest of the year.
If you don’t have any experience catching striped bass, I recommend hiring one of the many local guides to up your odds.
However, for those like myself who love catching fish with little help, here are some tips for catching wipers and stripers.
Trolling with shad-like lures is the best way to locate a school of fish. I like spoons and crankbaits best.
Once you’ve found a school, drifting with live shad when the wind blows 5-8 miles per hour works very well. I also like jigging, which is similar to drifting, except you’re using a jig or spoon instead of live bait.
My favorite is still using topwater lures around main lake points because of the incredible blowups you get once you’ve found a school feeding on shad near the surface.
I recommend using heavy tackle because these fish get much bigger than sand bass and are very strong.
Sunfish Fishing
The best fish to get anyone interested in fishing, especially kids, are sunfish. Bluegill and redear sunfish are the two most common species in the lake.
They are easily caught near the shore and found in large schools, so you’ll likely get a lot of bites once you’ve found them.
I’ve caught bluegill and other sunfish in all kinds of different areas, from weeds, brush piles, and rocky banks.
My favorite bait is earthworms, but crappie jigs, small spinners, and crankbaits also can be very good bluegill and sunfish fishing tactics.
Sunfish also make great bait for catfish, so you can catch a bunch with your kids and then use them as bait to catch a big ol’ blue or flathead.
Trout Fishing the Lower Mountain Fork River
Below the dam of Broken Bow Lake is the best trout fishing in Oklahoma, along a few miles of the Lower Mountain Fork River.
This is one of my favorite places to trout fish because of the scenery and excellent fishing.
Whether you’re fly fishing or prefer a spinning reel, there are plenty of opportunities to catch both rainbow trout and brown trout here!
I like to find a spot with a current break or deep hole and fish around it. The bridges in Beavers Bend State Park are where I’ve caught a lot of trout, but most people fish in the same spots, too.
Be sure to read my full guide to trout fishing on the Lower Mountain Fork.
More: Raise your coldwater fishing know-how with our easy guide to trout fishing.
Planning Your Trip
When planning your trip to Broken Bow Lake in Southeastern Oklahoma, you’ll likely want to know where to stay, how accessible the shoreline is, and where the boat ramps are, so I’ve rounded up a few places worth mentioning.
Boat Ramps
Because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages this lake and Beavers Bend State Park is here, several well-maintained boat launches are around the lake.
Whether you want to fish the river, or the main lake, you have many options on the east and west sides of the lake.
The Hochatown area of Beavers Bend on the lake’s west side has the most boat ramps but also the busiest.
Bank Access
The land surrounding the lake is entirely public, so legally you can fish from just about anywhere along the miles of shoreline. However, not all of it is easily accessible.
I recommend bank fishing at the public access areas like Holly Creek Area on the northern portion of the lake and in Beavers Bend State Park.
Where to Stay
Beavers Bend State Park is one of the best state parks in Oklahoma; I love staying here while visiting Broken Bow Lake. Tent and RV sites, as well as cabins, are available here.
This park has all the amenities you’d expect from one of the top parks in the state, with excellent showers and bathrooms, as well as a restaurant.
The Corps also has a few campgrounds you can stay at. Although I’ve never stayed at the Corps’ campgrounds at Broken Bow, I know they’re good places to stay for the weekend as I’ve stayed at many other Corps campgrounds around the state.
When looking for a more comfortable stay, you can rent one of the hundreds of private cabins around Hochatown.
These are much more expensive than the state park or Corps campsites, but I have had a good experience staying in them. They range from single-bedroom cabins to large 5+ bedroom cabins.