Spoonbill snagging (updated with pics)

Tuesday morning... Me, my wife, and our two boys are hitting Grand Lake for some guided spoonbill snagging. Fishings been hot lately but sounds like its gonna rain so who knows how it will be. It’ll finish off our mini Spring Break vacation after going to Wonders of the World at Bass Pro and Branson. Sounds like we are gonna be fishing the Twin Bridges area that some of ya’ll will be at next weekend. I will hopefully be posting some pics and a fishing report tomorrow evening.

If you dont have good luck there and you have time to spare hit fort gibsom dam great spoonbill snagging there. Just make sure to smash down your barb on the hook or use a barbless hook.

Guided spoonbill snagging? Didn't know there was such a thing. if it keeps raining they will be at Osawatomie and Burlington. don't forget Chetopa.

Yes we did go out with a spoonbill guide this morning. He had us on our first fish within a minute of putting the first line in the water. Didnt even get the third of four lines in before my wife caught the first 30 lber of the day! Fishing was hot right off the bat but slowed down quick as the fish started spreading out. We put in at Twin Bridges and headed toward the lake about a mile or so. Fished about an hour before the rain started in. No sooner than we got back to the ramp the thunder, lightning, and wind came in. We had a blast and caught some nice fish. Now i just need to buy me a boat! Here’s a few pics from our trip.

nice

Nice going looks like a lot of smiles!

If you like catching spoonbill you might want to plan a trip for Lock and Dam #2 on the Arkansas River in southeast AR. It is where the White, Arkansas, and Mississippi rivers meet. Not much in that area but one heck of a fishery for most fresh water species.

Thank you for sharing. Do you guys eat the spoonbill? My wife likes fishing and that is one fish we have never caught.

Yep we will be eating them. They were a blast to catch and put up a great fight. My 8 year old kept the first fish he caught, a 27 pounder, because he was exhausted. Got almost 35 pounds of meat between the four fish we kept. This was our first time spoonbill snagging but definitely wont be our last.

Thank Railroader sure looks like you guys had fun.

Looks like you guys had a great day!

If any of you happen to clean and keep your fish, could you please send me a message? Im looking to get a large head off of a spoonbill. Thanks and good luck fishin!

John-Chagnon, they are delicious. Have to trim a lot of red meat. No bones. Like sharks. Only bones are in the head. That red meat is good coon bait and fair on coyotes and cats.

Railroader, were you with Pritchard this morning? If so, we saw ya'll coming in to the ramp. We caught several today also!

Real nice fish. I want to get a European mount of one pretty bad. Did you troll to get them or just casting?

Priceless!

Danny - we had the Oklahoma Paddlefish Research Center come down and pick our fish up and clean them for us. They took all the red meat strips off the fillets and bagged them up for us at no cost.



Yep that was us with Pritchard. Glad to hear someone else was catching some as well. Good luck to you if you’re sticking around and fishing some more.

We were trolling for them. Yeah a euro would look pretty darn good in a guys man cave!
Yeah he was struggling to hold that sucker up.

That all looks like a great time.

You were about 15 minutes from my house. Nice haul!

Mike

What town do you live in Mike?

It looks like your family had a great day ! Congrats.

Afton

Mike

What does the meat look like?
Is it good to eat?

Our guide said it looked kinda like a pork chop and honestly thats about right. Havent eaten it since i was a kid so i dont really remember what it tastes like.

Sounds like the red meat isn't very palatable and gets chucked. Is the rest of the meat white like a panfish or dark like a bullhead?

It is a white meat after triming. This fish does not taste like most fish.

That red meat is nasty, eat any of that and you won't eat spoonbill again. Like Danny said great coon bait and full of oil. Put some in a pocket and create an oil slick.