Clayton Lake begins three-year trial run with initial stock of rainbows Oklahoma’s winter trout areas will open Wednesday and trout anglers will get a new destination this year: Clayton Lake.
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Clayton Lake is being stocked with rainbow trout for the first time as the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation begins a three-year trial run on the southeastern Oklahoma lake.
Members of the Little Dixie Community Action Agency, which manages Hugo, Clayton and Raymond Gary lakes, pitched the idea for trout fishing in Clayton Lake to the state Wildlife Department and is paying for a quarter of the costs.
The rest is being paid with Sport Fish Restoration funds, federal taxes on outdoors merchandise that are collected by the federal government and divided among the states.
Johnny Moffitt, associate director of the Little Dixie Community Action Agency, said local anglers have been asking for a trout fishery and predicts it will be very popular.
“We have been wanting to add some activity for that lake,’’ Moffitt said. “The park manager gets asked a lot about trout fishing.’’
State wildlife officials do not want to make Clayton Lake a permanent winter time trout area until they see how popular the fishery will be.
“We want to see how it goes,’’ said Kim Erickson, chief of fisheries for the state Wildlife Department.
Moffitt thinks it will be a huge success.
A new handicap-accessible fishing dock has been built at the lake, and the shoreline has underwent an extensive cleanup recently, he said. The lake offers cabins for rent, hiking trails and has an on-site park manager.
“It (the lake) is really a lot nicer now than it has ever been,’’ Moffitt said. “The lake is up and in nice shape. It’s a very quiet and very serene lake.’’
Rainbow trout will be stocked in the lake every two weeks. Because it’s not designated as a state trout fishing area (the Little Dixie Community Action Agency is managing the trout fishery), anglers will not need a state trout license to fish there.
The 95-acre Clayton Lake is located 36 miles north of Antlers. A good bass fishery, Sardis Lake, is nearby. Anglers could package a weekend trip for bass fishing at Sardis Lake and trout fishing at Clayton Lake.
Clayton Lake State Park offers cabin rentals from $55 per night to a full-kitchen equipped, two-bedroom lakefront resort cabin at $100 per night with a two-night minimum stay. Campsites range from $8 per night for primitive sites to $15 per night for preferred RV campsites with water and electric. The town of Clayton is four miles away. Trout fishing will be allowed at Clayton Lake through March 31. For more information on trout fishing at Clayton Lake, visit www.littledixie.org.
Lake Carl Etling
Trout fishing will return to Lake Carl Etling in the Panhandle this year. Last year, there were no trout put in the lake because there was no water in the lake. But Erickson said there has been enough rain to fill 30 surface acres in the 159-acre lake, so there will be a trout season this year. “It’s enough (water) that we can put some fish in there,’’ he said. The lake near Boise City will only be stocked twice in the season, but both times will be “heavy,’’ he said. Some bluegills and channel catfish have already been put in the lake, and bass will be added later, Erickson said.
New trout rules
State wildlife officials will ask the Oklahoma Wildlife Commission next month to establish new trout fishing rules on parts of the Lower Mountain Fork River and parts of the Lower Illinois River, Erickson said. On the “Evening Hole’’ section of the Lower Mountain Fork River and the newly constructed “Lost Creek,’’ anglers could harvest no more than one rainbow trout and only one brown trout 20 inches in length or longer. Tackle would be restricted to artificial flies and lures only and barbless hooks only. The same regulations are being proposed for half of the nearly mile-long stretch of the Lower Illinois River along the newly acquired Lower Illinois River Public Fishing and Hunting Area near Gore. In addition, at January’s annual public hearings on regulation changes, state wildlife officials plan to propose a special “catch and release’’ only trout fishing area along the Blue River. It would be on a small part of the stream on the north end of the Blue River Public Hunting and Fishing Area, above SH 7. Only artificial lures and barbless hooks would be allowed. “Not many people fish there now,’’ Erickson said. That proposal, if approved, would not take place until next season, he said.
