Lake Texoma Striper Fishing Blog

Having been at the Dallas Boat Show for the past couple of weeks, I tried to pick up where I had left off. I set out to go catch bait. I threw in Cedar Bayou, Rock Creek, Shepherd Annex, Mill Creek, Cardinal Cove, Eisenhower, and the back of Simmons Shores. I also got up before daylight and threw under the lights in Little Mineral and Grandpappy. During all of this time, I did not catch a single shad. Nothing has happened to them, they are all in the deep water. I can see massive schools of shad on my graph, I just can’t catch them when they are that deep. So I became a lure fisherman for the next few trips, which I am not opposed to doing, I just like to have a tank full of bait as an insurance policy.

 

Tuesday was my first trip after the boat show and the patterns had drastically changed. The spots that I had caught fish in before now were too muddy to fish and I could no longer catch bait. After fishing several spots I finally caught a few fish. We called it a day with 4 stripers and a 4lb small mouth which was defiantly the highlight of the trip. This was one of my worst trips of the year and just goes to show how much things can change in 2 weeks with 3 inches of rain and 8 inches of snow.

 

Wednesday and Thursday I spent my time scouting for my trips coming up on the weekend. I tried to catch bait but was unsuccessful, but I did however manage to dial the fish in for the lure bite.

 

Friday Feb 19 I had 3 of the guys from Nebraska back to do some more fishing and they expected me to put some fish in the box. I hadn’t let them down thus far and I didn’t want today to be the one. It was cloudy and windy with temps in the mid 40’s – low 50’s. We went out at 10:00 and we were throwing 5 inch glow sassys on a 1 ½ oz head. The bite was very slow and methodical. We were working 15-35ft on the humps and ledges slow rolling along the bottom. We would catch one fish in each spot but never really got on anything that I would call good. At the end of the day, which was 7 hours later, we ended up putting 26 fish in the box and released one that was over 20”.   All in all it was a successful trip, a lot of work, but well worth it.

 

 

 

Saturday the same group from Nebraska went out with me again. We were working the same pattern using the same technique. It was warmer but still cloudy and breezy. The fish had changed their location slightly but were still holding the same pattern so they were not hard to locate. Fishing was better than the previous day. We came home with 27 and 3 fish shy of the limit but released several that were over 20” with the biggest around 10 lbs. It was another long day with 7 hours on the water but it didn’t seem as bad with warmer weather and more fish in the boat.

 

 

 

Sunday I had a group of 2 and it was the first time they had been to Texoma to do some striper fishing. They were a young married couple and this was a birthday present for the husband. The weather was very sporadic through out the day. It stormed early, but the sun was shining and warm when we left at 11:00 with absolutely no wind. The wife hadn’t done much fishing so I took along a push button to make the lure fishing a little easier for her. Unfortunately, shortly into the trip, I broke the push button rod trying to get it un-hung. So I taught her to use one of the bait casters which, contrary to popular belief, are easier to teach someone how to use than a spinning reel. She picked it up like a champ and hooked up her first fish in no time and before her husband had caught one (most likely due to excellent coaching). It was hard to stay over fish due to the lack of wind. I would find them, we would catch 1 or 2 and then they would be gone. A couple of hours into the trip another rain shower came in so we went into the harbor to wait it out. We came back out and picked at some more fish. We were fishing the same patterns as the previous 2 days but the bite was slower. I finally got on some fish around 2:00 and we loaded 10 in the boat in 15 minutes. Around 4:00 the wind shifted hard to the north and the temperature started dropping fast. At this point I was promptly notified that it was time to head in. We finished with 17 fish and we threw back 5 over 20” and I was thankful that the weather allowed us a window of opportunity to get out and catch some fish.

 

 

With the days getting longer, the temperatures hopefully on the rise, and despite the snow that if forecasted for Tuesday, the fishing should continue to get better from here on out with a possible slow time during the spawning run. I love the lure fishing but I miss having bait with me for my trips and I hope I can catch it again soon. A few days with some warm sun shine on the water and I should be able to but who knows when that will be. My weekends for the spring are already starting to fill up so if you want a Saturday, you might want to think about booking soon. You can book online at www.stripersinc.com or you can call me anytime at (903)815-1609 and I will get you set up.

 

Your Lake Texoma Fishing guide,

Brian Prichard

Stripers Inc.

(903)815-1609