Lake Okhissa Story
By: Bo Crawford
Bude, MS
February 17, 2008
TMTanglers held it's annual spring tournament on beautiful Lake Okhissa in the Homochitto National Forest near Bude, MS. Three boats made the trek from Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA. Accommodations were provided by the Days Inn in Natchez. We made a 37 mile commute to the lake each day. All anglers fished the lake "blind", with no practice having never seen the lake before. We were not certain exactly what to expect, but were willing to make the trip to visit the first "Bill Dance Signature Lake". This trip was all about the quest for a lunker bass. In the seven year history of our small club the largest bass caught during an official tournament weighed 6 lbs 3 oz (6-03). There were numerous reports of bass being caught in the seven to eight pound class on Lake Okhissa, it carries Bill Dance's name, February is big fish time of year, and we were there for three solid days with no agenda but to fish. Add all that up and we thought our chances of breaking the club record were pretty good.
The weather could have been better but it could have been worse. A nasty cold front passed while we were there. As the front progressed we had pre-frontal conditions on Friday, rain on Saturday, and blue bird skies on Sunday. The good news about the less than perfect weather was that we felt it kept many boats off the lake. Air temperatures ranged from low fifties to high sixties. More importantly, the water temperature stayed in the mid fifties for the duration of the trip--this is significant in that this is much cooler than any of us anticipated.
On to the fishing. Lake Okhissa has a 16'' to 20'' slot limit. This means that all fish caught in that size range have to be immediately returned to the lake regardless of whether you are catch and release tournament fishing or not. These fish are very healthy and some are downright fat. They look like Lake Guntersville fish for those of you who are familiar with that lake. I caught an 18.5'' fish that weighed 4-05. Based on this I am confident that there are 6 lbers in the lake that are still in the slot. All boats reported catching numerous fish in the 3 to 4 lb class range. When you view our weights you have to remember that we were forced to throw the big ones back and weigh-in only fish under 16''. (Well, at least those of us not lucky enough to catch a bona-fide lunker were forced to weigh-in only fish under 16''). Fish were caught on topwater, hard jerkbaits, soft jerkbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, stickworms, texas rigs, and jigs...forgive me if I left out a technique but you get the idea. The wide variety of techniques used does not mean that the fishing is incredible all the time. There are definitely slow periods where it is hard to get a bite. But for the brief times during the day, when the fish were turned on and feeding, everyone caught fish on their lure of choice.
Each team caught the largest stringer one day. All three teams won a contest. Trash fish was won by Aaron Bailey and Benson Murray with a 12 oz bream who was aggressive enough to bite a full sized crankbait. Jason Mitchell put his Dad, Butch Mitchell, on the right spot with the right lure and this resulted in a 5-11 which won Big Fish. (I'll bet Jason would have kept that lure for himself had he known his Dad was going to catch the big fish of the tournament with it). And Gary Morrison and I won 1st prize with a three day weight of 32-01.
In the end we didn't catch the all time biggest bass in an official TMTangler tournament--Butch's 5-11 brute, however, was a mere 8 ounces shy of matching that record and places at a respectable third on our list. Considering the lake has only been open since November presents exciting possibilities. What is the lake going to be like if all the three pounders we caught continue to grow? Hopefully TMTanglers will return to Lake Okhissa one day to find the lake remains beautiful and litter free, teaming with deer and waterfowl, and with just a few more over 20'' lunkers who can be fooled into biting our lures.