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Spotlight on Broken Bow Lake: : Visitors guide, what to expect for boating, fishing, camping, etc
May 22, 2024
This video is about Broken Bow Lake in Oklahoma. Located in the Ouachita Mountains, Broken Bow Lake is a popular place to visit. Simon breaks down the what and why, and gives you a few tips on how to best enjoy the lake.
Start your adventure here: https://www.brokenbowlake.net/
Don't miss these videos about Broken Bow Lake...
Broken Bow Lake Boat Ramps - https://youtu.be/IIKn-rrZuPA
Broken Bow Cabin Review - https://youtu.be/2rJUUiJZnZg
In this video:
0:00 - About Broken Bow Lake
0:42 - History of Broken Bow Lake
0:57 - Broken Bow Lake Amenities
2:06 - Fishing Broken Bow Lake
2:55 - Boating Broken Bow Lake
3:34 - Broken Bow vs Hochatown
5:09 - Ouachita Mountains
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0:00
What's up everybody is Simon from Lake Hub
0:02
Today our spotlight features on beautiful Broken Bow Lake in southeastern Oklahoma
0:09
This is an absolute gorgeous gem of a lake. It is rock bottom so it is crystal clear blue water
0:18
Just one of the prettiest lakes I've ever seen in my whole life. It is so gorgeous and it's no surprise that over a million people visit this lake every year
0:26
So this lake is about 14,000 acres and it has over 100,000. over 150 miles of shoreline and much of that is totally wild. I mean it looks just like this as
0:36
you can see pine trees hills islands all kinds of places to explore. So this lake was built in the
0:44
1960s not only for water supply but also for hydroelectric so there's a hydroelectric plant
0:50
on the dam and it kind of goes into and interacts with the state park. As far as many of these go
0:59
there's only one marina but it's a good one you can see right here behind me it's called beaver's ben
1:03
marina it's a private marina and it actually changed ownership last year and it looks like they're
1:09
putting some money back into it so there's been quite a few quite a few improvements made in the last
1:15
year on this marina including new payment on the parking lot boat ramp that sort of thing you can rent
1:22
boats you can rent houseboats you can live on a houseboat here it has a lot going on at this marina
1:29
As far as boat ramps there are a lot of boat ramps that are accessible from 259 the state highway that kind of runs north and south but to the west of the lake But they all kind of concentrated basically right here behind the marina So there a state park where you can camp and stuff kind of on all these points right
1:52
over here. We're in the corner of the lake. The spillway is right over here behind the camera
1:57
The dam is right around the corner behind that. So all of the activity in the lake is kind of concentrated to the southwest
2:03
And then the rest is just completely wild. Something else that's unique about this lake as far as being in the south is concerned
2:12
if you consider Oklahoma the South, a lot of people do. I don't know if it's technically correct, but a lot of people do
2:20
is that there are pike and walleye and sturgeon in this lake
2:26
because it's so deep and it's cold, clear water. I think the max depth is around 160, 180 feet
2:33
and so it can support, you know, cold. older water species which is really unique for this area it's also known for small mouth and large
2:41
mouth so it really is a great fishing lake and is commonly on the uh kind of eastern oklahoma
2:51
large mouth tournament circuit as far as boating goes this lake is awesome there are so many points
3:00
and coves and places to explore and islands to hang out on uh it is just a really
3:06
really, really cool boating lake. If you want more information on where to access
3:12
Broken Bow Lake, if you have a boat, we have all that done in a totally separate
3:18
video called very creatively Broken Bow Lake boat ramps So oddly enough the nearest town with all the amenities like restaurants bait and tackle shops places to stay rental cabins and so forth is not Broken Bow Oklahoma
3:37
So when people say they're going to Broken Bow, usually they mean they're going to the lake
3:42
Broken Bow, the town is, it's like small town America, right? It has a high school, has a Ace Hardware, you know, grocery stores and that sort of thing
3:54
Has kind of like an historic Main Street, you know. But when people say they're going to Broken Bow, usually it means they're coming to the lake
4:03
They're going to drive, if you're coming from Texas, you're driving right, through Broken Bow, Oklahoma. If you're coming from Oklahoma or somewhere in the north or Arkansas, you might not even go through Broken Bow at all
4:13
And where you're going to be staying is Hoachetown. Hocetown is kind of the vacation spot, right
4:19
So it used to be, you know, not even a map dot, but lately it's really blossomed
4:25
There's all kinds of restaurants, breweries, distilleries, wineries, all that kind of stuff
4:30
All the fun stuff. There's places to see live music. You know, there's a saloon
4:37
There's like a steakhouse, like all kinds of fun stuff. There's fun stuff for the kids to do
4:43
Petting Zoo, go-car tracks. mini golf, you know, just all kinds of things to do, things to do, places to eat, and so forth
4:55
So that is just to the west of where I'm at now
5:00
So just southwest, to the southwest corner of the lake. That's where all the stuff is
5:06
And so that where people go when they say they going to Broken Broken Bow Lake is also set in the foothills of the Oaxataw Mountains
5:16
So I learned recently that Oaxita was kind of a name for a hunting party of Chalktaa people
5:23
who were relocated here during the whole treaty and kind of relocation situation between, you know
5:33
the U.S. Army, U.S. government. and all the Indian nations. And so Choctaw people were originally from Mississippi
5:41
So that was their land. Got relocated here to southeastern Oklahoma. This is their area
5:48
This is their country. And Oaxataw Mountains go all the way up into Arkansas
5:54
and that's really what they're known for. But this is kind of where they start
5:59
So if you're coming into this area from the prairie land, from the west
6:03
you know it starts to starts to get hilly you start to see pine trees you know and then and then it's like
6:10
boom mountains and the lake and so we we really are on the on the kind of western frontier of the
6:17
watchtile mountains uh but it is there are mountains there's you know loaded up with deer i just saw
6:24
a buck this morning driving over here i mean like a nice one uh black bear and all kinds of fun stuff
6:31
So this really is a really cool, naturally beautiful kind of wilderness type of lake
6:38
And I really encourage you to visit it. You can start your adventure by planning at brokenbowlake.net
6:47
I'll put some links down below and a couple other videos you've got to see if you want to come up here and visit
6:52
I'm Simon from Lake Hub and we'll catch you next time
#Fishing
#Boating