Exploring Oklahoma Lakes With TravelOK – Lake of the Arbuckles

You may or not be aware of it, but Oklahoma has three national parks within our borders. I'm not talking about state parks, or even the federal wildlife refuge you've probably driven through a thousand times... Full on federally staffed national parks. Of course, there's the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the Fort Smith National Historic Site, and the topic of today's exploration, the Chickasaw National Recreation Area - AKA - Platt National Park. The campgrounds look like Yellowstone, the cool waters there run aqua blue, and the big lake there is home of South-Central Oklahoma's hottest fishing destination. Don't be hard on yourself for not knowing about Oklahoma's national parks, I didn't know either until I read up on it over at TraveOK.com

Lake of the Arbuckles is a pretty big lake by any standard. As a few creeks and rivers flow into it, it's rarely a clear watered lake, but it is full of trophy largemouth bass, including one of the 20 biggest bass caught in Oklahoma weighing in at over 14 pounds. I didn't have that much luck in the short time I spent on the lake, but the scenery is beautiful enough to pass the time as if they were biting.

Speaking of, Lake of the Arbuckles is beautiful. I mostly like fishing smaller bodies of water, but the rocky coves and water inlets are just begging for a Ted rig or shaky head jig to coax those fat bass out of their cover. The biggest reason I like smaller lakes is how the wind plays off your boat. If it's blowing just right, it can push you all around a lake and make running a trolling motor really irritating. Luckily for all of us, there is another smaller lake just up the mountain from Arbuckle called Veterans Lake. It's relatively shallow across the entire body of water, but lined with weeds, it's a bank anglers dream. We caught more that our fair share of bass on Veterans before the wind shifted and pushed us off that lake too. Not before we managed to catch these swimmers who'd blown way out into the middle of the lake though. Being solid dudes and living the anglers code, assistance will always be given to those in need on the lake.

Whether you'd like to take your fishing game to a new level travelling the Oklahoma Fishin' Trail, or you'd just like to find a new place to explore, your next journey begins over at TravelOK.com. Log on or download the app and plan your next experience today.