Skip to main content

OKA Angler Spotlight: Chris Jones

By: Chris Jones

I was born and raised in Henryetta, Oklahoma fishing local ponds, Eufuala, and Dripping Springs. My grandfather taught me more than I can even remember, focusing more so on soft plastics than anything. This year was my first year with the OKA, and I used the knowledge that he gave me to secure 20th overall, and runner up for NOY.



 Chris Jones

I served in the Oklahoma Army National Guard for 10 years, finally 'retiring' at the beginning of this year, in which I now do finish carpentry for new residential housing. It gives me adequate time to prefish and fish in most tournaments. I hurt myself this year by not participating in the two monthly tournaments for the OKA in which I believe I could of maybe taken the first spot for NOY or moved up into the top ten for AOY. I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle for the most part by playing volleyball, softball, and golfing. When the weather doesn't permit the outdoor activities I enjoy, you'll usually see me sitting in front of my computer watching fishing videos, especially Greg Blanchard. Next year I hope to finish my setup so that I myself can start producing some quality fishing videos' along side Tj Johnson. Tj and I constantly learn and push each other through competitive fishing either in tournaments or just between one another and both of us have learned a lot fishing together. The main thing I learned this year was patience, I started slowing myself down, fishing a spot till I was completely sure nothing was there or biting there. 


    Biggin

How I typically fish is shallow, beating the bank, finding brush piles, submerged trees, rock walls or anything that will definitely snag me up. This year was my first year really throwing a wacky rigged senko and it paid off in two of the tournaments. The first one being the statewide OKIE Road Runner, in which I fished Bixhoma Lake, catching the first one on my first cast and proceeded to switch between a wacky rigged senko and a Texas- rigged sweet beaver. I tried punching the heavy grass at Bixhoma with no luck and decided instead of punching it to lay my wacky rig on top which proceeded to give me plenty of bites. The second tournament I had major successs with was at Birch. The bite was tough that, and I noticed early the fish wanted slow presentation, using a rock wall with a drop off, I would use that wall and let my worm slowly fall down til they hit it, and they would crush it. Next year I'm bound and determined to get better in colder weather, and using moving baits, more specifically crank baits. 


 Chris Fishing a Rock Wall

I started kayaking because I was tired of bank fishing, and not being able to afford a boat, but soon realized that in a kayak I could get into those super shallow areas where boats cannot. The Tulsa Bass-a-thon helped me realize how much I love the competitive side of it and the adrenaline that you get fishing against others. I fish out of a Perception Pilot, while I love it, and I love the price point of it there are a few things that make it difficult for me, but that just drives me my competitive spirit. 


This year I've been extremely grateful for the fishing. I caught my PB largemouth on the Chattahoochee River and Lake Seminole. My PB smallmouth came at Tenkiller the day before the tournament. Sadly my PB spotted bass isn't very big still but I caught it this year during the state championship. Next year I'm hoping to make it back to the state championship at Broken Bow and my goal is to finish in the top 10% in two tournaments, and get top 10 for AOY. If anyone sees me on the water they are more than welcome to chat with me about fishing and I love sharing techniques with my fellow anglers. 

Editors Notes: Go give Chris a follow on his Instagram page: @boofishing for the latest on his fishing adventures.


 PB Smallmouth


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lakes and Regions of Oklahoma

If you have ever traveled more than 2 hours to fish in the state of Oklahoma chances are you have crossed through, in, and out of several distinct regions of this great state. Oklahoma has 10 ecological regions that include: The Gypsum Hills, Wichita Mountains, Red Bed Plains, Sandstone Hills, Arbuckle Mountains, Red River Plains, Ouachita Mountains, and the Ozark Plateau. Each one of the ecological regions have different climates, annual rainfalls, soil, and landscapes that can and do effect the way we fish lakes in each region. Oklahoma has 52 major lakes that are 1,000 acres or more in size. Additionally, there are over 3,000 lakes and ponds that are 10 acres or greater in size, containing a total of 1,049 square miles of water and 10,384 miles of shoreline. Moreover, these waters are separated into Watershed Planning Regions. These regions are as follows: Panhandle, West Central, Southwest, Beaver - Cache, Central, Lower Washita, Blue - Boggy, Eufaula, Lower Arkansas, Grand, Midd...

Integrity Always Wins

By: Tom Hins In 2015 I discovered the world of Oklahoma Kayak Anglers.  I quickly made friends with members like Brent Wilson, Danny Bowen, Avery Metcalf, Jonathan Queen and other individuals. Having been a person who fished for table fare I hardly fished for bass before this. It has been a learning curve for me. The first year of tournaments I do not think I even submitted one scorable fish, but I was hooked on the competition aspect of these tourneys.  After that first season over the winter I watched more bass fishing shows and videos on the internet about bass fishing where my wife would walk by and say oh let me guess another fishing show.  The next year I started to catch some bass and started to feel I was at least respectable turning in scorable bass. In 2019 I finally cashed in a tournament with a 3 rd  place finish. Then came 2020 and Covid - 19 and two major projects at work, I have not fished most of the tournaments this year, in fact it has kept me from ...

2021 OKA POWER Rankings, AOY, NOY and Much More

The 2021 OKA season is upon us and if you thought the 2020 trail events were a big deal just wait until you see what we got going on in 2021! As normal the OKA trail will crisscross the great regions of this state with a large pool of talented anglers in tow. Last season the OKA came out with its inaugural Power Rankings listing the top 15 anglers who are on the rise for the upcoming season. With the record attendance of 2020 the OKA has decided to expand the PWR Rankings to the top 25. These 25 anglers are expected to fill the top of leaderboards, challenge for AOY, SPOY, KBF, and BASS Qualifications throughout the OKA trail season.  The top 25 will be at the bottom of this article but before you scroll past make sure to check out what else we have going on for 2021!  AOY Champion Jason Ray Angler of the Year Competitors top 5 finishes will be compiled and the angler with the highest score will be the 2021 Angler of the Year Champion. The AOY Champ will receive: $1,000 paymen...