Five or six years ago, on a warm Oklahoma morning, my brother parked his truck along the Wagoner County bank just downstream of Fort Gibson Dam. He unloaded two small spinning rods, a handful of 5/0 treble hooks, a bag of sinkers, and his two sons…Drake and Cole. No boat. No fancy gear. Just rocks, current, and a whole lot of paddlefish.
By lunchtime, the boys had each snagged, fought, and dragged up a spoonbill that was nearly as long as they were tall. My brother snapped one of my all-time favorite fishing photos: just the two dirty kids, arms wrapped around their fish like proud bear cubs, grinning like they’d invented the sport.
Digital Illustration. Not the real photo…obviously.
I wasn’t there to see it in person. I was living in China and had been overseas for years. That single photograph became the most valuable fishing report I never personally filed.
The Fishing Details (Because You Came Here for the Fish)
- Location: Fort Gibson Dam, Oklahoma
- Time of Year: Late April – early June (post-spawn run)
- Method: Shore snagging with 7–8 ft medium-heavy spinning rods, 65 lb braid, 4–6 oz bank sinkers, and 5/0 or 6/0 treble hooks tied 12–18 inches above the weight.
- Tactic: Cast straight out or slightly upstream into the boil line, let the weight bounce bottom, then reel up slack and give sharp upward rips until you hang a fish. When the rod doubles over and the drag screams, hang on.
Digital Illustration. Not the real photo…obviously.
The boys were fishing the classic “rock pile” stretch on the east bank where the current sweeps hard against rip-rap. It’s the same water that produces 50–70 lb fish every spring for anyone willing to lose a lot of terminal tackle and keep casting.
Why That Day Still Stands Out
Paddlefish snagging is supposed to be a grown-up’s game…heavy rods, sore shoulders, and plenty of stomping when a $12 rig gets torn off on the rocks. Yet here were two elementary-school kids doing everything the big rods do, except they actually put fish on the bank while most of the anglers that day went home empty.
There’s a lesson in there I never get tired of repeating: sometimes stubborn joy beats fancy equipment.
From Photograph to Picture Book
Because I can’t hop a plane every time I miss my nephews’ birthdays, I did the next best thing…I turned that day on the river into a little book for them.
The Bear Brothers: Drake and Cole Go Fishing is only 25 pages. It follows two bear cubs (guess who) and their dad on a single epic fishing day. They start at the farm pond, move to the lake, and finish in the big river where the paddlefish live. Dad strikes out the entire book until the very last page, when he finally hooks a “monster”… that turns out to be a sun perch the size of a silver dollar.
I illustrated every spread myself on a Microsoft Surface with a cheap stylus and even cheaper ambition. Nothing fancy…just bright colors and the same grins I saw in that photograph. The paddlefish-over-the-shoulder image is recreated almost stroke-for-stroke, except the boys have fur, claws, and whiskers.
The book is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle, and I have a PDF version here, available through Payhip if anyone would prefer that.
Turning the Experience into Something Bigger
Living abroad for nine years (and counting) taught me that distance doesn’t have to mean disconnection. Writing and illustrating that book from a tiny apartment in Beijing proved it. Self-publishing let me put a piece of home directly into my nephews’ hands without needing a publishing house, agents, or even a return flight.
That same process…writing, illustrating, formatting, and launching children’s books completely on your own…is exactly what I teach in my self-publishing PDF course:
From Story to Shelf: A Complete Guide to Writing, Illustrating, and Self-Publishing Children’s Books
It’s a step-by-step playbook built from every mistake (and occasional triumph) I’ve made getting multiple titles out into the world while living out of a suitcase. If you’ve ever thought about turning your own family stories or outdoor adventures into a real book for your kids or grandkids, those courses exist because I wish someone had handed them to me years ago.
Final Thought
Paddlefish season will be here again before we know it. The water below Fort Gibson Dam will boil with gray ghosts, grown men will lose expensive rigs, and somewhere along the bank a couple of kids with $40 spinning combos will probably show us all how it’s done.
If you’re lucky enough to be there when it happens, take the picture. Years from now, when you’re halfway around the world or just down the road, that photograph might be the very thing that keeps the river running through your family long after the lines are coiled up.
Tight lines!
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