While waiting for the competition to kick off on Grand Lake, Thomas Allen and I were fortunate enough to be invited out to catch paddlefish on Fort Gibson with a couple of awesome Oklahoma anglers Shane and Keith. 1/30
With some rain in the air we loaded our gear and put on our rain suits as we launched the boat. 2/30
A look up the river towards Lake Hudson. 3/30
I began to check out some of the hardware we were going to be utilizing on our adventure⦠talk about some heavy duty â battle proven equipment. 4/30
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Keith had a big bucket of snagging gear ready to go. 6/30
Thomas posing with the hooks and weights. 7/30
The lucky combo. 8/30
We started out heading down river, graphing as we went. 9/30
No fish yet⦠10/30
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We stumbled upon some really awesome caves. 13/30
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Finally we came over a drop and located a big school of paddlefish. 15/30
We marked tons of fish, and some big ones too! 16/30
Keith grabbed a rod and began to cast and pull. 17/30
This isnât your average spinning setup⦠18/30
Thomas and Keith hoping to connect. 19/30
Shane moving his hook sharp and fast through the water column. 20/30
We aint smallmouth fishin anymore boys⦠21/30
Of course the photographer is the lucky one and hooks up first! 22/30
Keeping tension on the fish was key as it screamed towards the boat. 23/30
After a few minutes of fighting Keith was able to help me get the fish under control. 24/30
Keith joking that this one is just a baby and that these fish get much bigger! 25/30
Blown away by how cool these fish are! 26/30
Cheesinâ while Thomas took some beauty shots. 27/30
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That spoon bill. 29/30
A view from the hat cam just before releasing the fish. 30/30