Where to fish, and what to fish for?

In Oklahoma, your choices are many. But not every species of fish cooperates equally well throughout the year. So here's a look at some of the more promising choices that can provide many fun and productive days of fishing -- as well as bags of tasty fillets for your freezer -- throughout the four seasons in the Sooner State.

JANUARY
Eufaula Blue Cats
When I began fishing for Eufaula's whiskerfish, channel catfish dominated the catch. But as the years passed, blues began to take over as the dominant slick-skinned species on this 102,000-acre reservoir sprawling across the map of Eastern Oklahoma.

The best way to start probing Lake Eufaula for winter blues is by finding schools of gizzard shad and throwing a cast net to capture enough of them to provide bait for the whole day. They don't have to be kept alive, but it helps to keep them on ice so that they stay fresh for several hours. Big shad can be cut into 2-inch pieces; smaller shad can be used whole.

A drifting rig -- a bell or spoon-shaped sinker or "bait-walker" sinker on the bottom of your line with a baited hook tied on a 12- or 18-inch dropper about 18 to 24 inches above the sinker, using a three-way swivel -- is great for drifting the flats, which is an excellent technique now as it is throughout the year.

But in midwinter, anchoring and fishing submerged channel edges or deeper structure can also be good. Some productive spots can be found on the downcurrent sides of highway bridges, where baitfish get swept through the channels beneath the bridges. Sonar can show you other spots that catfish lurk in.

Be sure to dress warmly. And a pair of textured rubber gloves can come in handy for handling those cold, slimy cats once you bring them to the boat.

FEBRUARY
River Stripers
The Lower Illinois River may be the best wintertime striper hole in Oklahoma. Oh, the tailrace fisheries below several major dams can be good also, and the Tenkiller tailrace at the upper end of the Lower Illinois can be good whenever high flows continue for a while. But that area below the Highway 64 bridges (two spanning two river channels) downstream to the mouth of the river is a bountiful fishery.

Because the Lower Illinois from the Tenkiller dam down to the highway bridges is a trout fishery, water is typically being drawn from the lake to keep that river in a comfortable temperature range for trout. Thus, it's usually cooler in summer there than in other area waters, and warmer in the winter.

That warmer water in January and February draws lots of game fish up from the bigger Arkansas River. Stripers and sand bass are sometimes drawn there in huge numbers.

If you really want some fun, rig a spinning outfit with 8-pound-test line and throw small jigs -- 1/8 to 1/4 ounce -- in the river. You may fill your limit of stripers and fill your livewell with big sand bass and the occasional walleye or sauger as well.

If you're seriously trying for a big striper, free-drifting live shad or small rainbow trout for bait can yield big results. A number of guides work the area that way.

You can launch at Gore Landing on the Lower Illinois or across the Arkansas at the Webbers Falls landing to navigate into this area.

But remember: If you fish above the Highway 64 bridges, you'll need to have a current trout fishing permit as well as a license.