We had a wonderful morning on Grand Lake in Oklahoma snagging spoonbill paddlefish with first time guests, Greg and Ben, from Wichita, Kansas!!!
It was cool this morning, so we put the top up and started the heater this as we set out on our adventure. After a quick instructional on how to battle these prehistoric freshwater beasts, we took a short boat ride to our first area.
***Note this story has been shared with GrandLakeLiving.com and first appeared at http://lancesguideservice.com/.***
We used our Lowrance HDS 12 fish finder to scan a channel where spoonbill paddlefish spend much of their winter. We marked a few, but they were too scattered.
We decided to get out the Team Catfish Extra Heavy rods and begin our long troll in the channel along its edges in search of spoonbill.
It didn’t take long to drag a few lines over a couple and “roll” them, but no hook ups. We passed several other anglers trying their luck and skill at trolling the channel also. However, we didn’t see anyone else catching and our Lowrance was telling us the fish were just too scattered for a truly successful day. 
Now what?!?!?! We left the area and headed to another typical area where spoonbill paddlefish spend their winters and marked a few, but they still were not grouped up.
If they aren’t grouped up fairly tight at a certain depth, it proves to be very difficult to snag them. Much like a “needle in the haystack” situation. Well, if they aren’t deep in the channel, look shallow…er.
Shallower meaning less than the 40-60 ft channel we were looking in. We headed up out of the channel onto a 20-35 ft deep flat and the Lowrance started showing spoonbill paddlefish stacked in groups of 5-8 suspended just off the bottom. It was game on!!!
We circled back to get the lines into the water and troll through the fish we had just seen. As soon as we went over the fish…bam…the line was peeling out and we had a fish on!!! Ben battled this prehistoric female beast to exhaustion, himself included. It was his first spoonbill paddlefish as well as the biggest fish he’s ever caught.
After some quick pictures and high fives, it was time to get the lines back out and let Greg try for his first spoonbill paddlefish. It didn’t take long and Greg was battling a big male! We took some pictures and relived the moment. Moments like these with happy customers are what makes guiding the perfect job! 
They wanted to keep their first fish, so our spoonbill paddlefish trip was over. Time to go blue catfishing !
A quick run to catch gizzard shad and we were off to where we marked some good groups of blue catfish earlier in the day. Unfortunately, after scanning for what seemed like an hour, we never did find a good group of active fish. We settled on a small school and caught a couple of blue catfish for their evening meal.
It was a great day on the water with first time guests, Greg and Ben. We look forward to future adventures. Thanks guys!
If you would like to experience catching a fish of a lifetime, call/text 918-607-7357. Also check out our Facebook page at Lance’s Guide Service.
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