Lake Texoma Striper Fishing Blog

 

Friday was a great day. I get down to the dock that morning to find my bait pump had gone out and my shiners, that I had bought for insurance 3 weeks ago and not used, had all died. I wasn’t worried in the least because like I said, lure fishing had been great. I had a group of 4 that morning and we easily caught our limit throwing glow sassys like I had been doing for the past 2 months. Nothing super fast but we were catching lots of fish. 

 

 

Friday evening was even better. I just had 2 people and we quickly put our limit in the boat in about an hour or so. I was fishing the same spot throwing glow sassys. I love putting quick limits in the boat because that means I can spend the rest of the trip doing what I love, looking for big fish. Luckily we were fortunate enough to have found a couple and we caught one around 10-11 lbs, one around 8 lbs and several more in the 5-6 lb range.

 

 

 

Saturday morning I went to the Tackle Box to renew my insurance policy and buy some more shiners. Unfortunately, all they had was small shiners and I didn’t want to waste my money on those when the lure fishing was so good the day before. I had a 2 boat trip with Mark Jr. and we left out around 7:30. There wasn’t any wind what so ever, the lake was like a shimmering mirror and there were boats everywhere. We head in the back of Simmons where I had been catching all of my fish to find that my location had been finally been discovered and there were 15 guide boats back there trying to catch fish. I spent a little time back there and caught 3 fish before I decided to go searching. I traveled all over the lake and could only manage a few more fish. The only other boats I saw that were catching fish were using bait, go figure. It was as if I was meant to not catch any fish on this day. The bait I had kept as insurance for so long just for this moment had died on me just the day before, and it was sold out so I couldn’t replace it. Oh well I was going to do my best with the lures. We fished our hearts out and managed to put 10 in the box. Mark Jr. did better than I and anyone else that I had talked to and brought in 18 fish using lures. I discounted the trip as much as I could and promised them we would catch a lot more fish when they returned in June.

 

Saturday evening I was helping Mark with a 2 boat trip. We were still using lures as there was no bait to be found or bought. At least by now I knew where I could catch fish and where I couldn’t from the morning trip. We meticulously worked the areas where I had caught fish over and over putting a few in the box here and there. We finally managed 32 stripers and 2 nice crappie before we headed back to the dock.

 

Sunday, the Tackle Box had been restocked with shiners so I felt a little better about my trips. I headed out that morning with a group of 3 and started off throwing lures and drifting shiners at the same time. We managed a couple of fish off of lures and after a couple of more drifts with 0 fish I decided to go look for something more productive. I traveled all over the lake drifting shiners and throwing lures and I couldn’t find another bite to save my life. We had wind today, there were fewer boats, and I had a tank full of bait so I didn’t have any excuses other than many of the fish were up the rivers spawning so we were working with a limited population of fish. We finally went back to where we had caught fish that morning to see if we could put a few more in the box. We fished as long as we could and headed back to the dock with 6 fish. I had to discount yet another trip and hopefully they will give me another chance. I won’t miss twice. 

 

Having nearly lost all of my confidence in catching fish at this point I depart with my evening trip with a group of 3. I head over to a flat that has been productive for me in April and start drifting bait and throwing lures in 20 ft. of water. We start catching fish on bait and lures. Not fast but fairly steady. Just one here and one there but we are putting fish in the box. I’m not marking any fish on the graph but we are catching them, which is typical for this time of year and while fishing in shallow water. We worked that pattern all evening until we finally put 30 in the box. Most of them were box fish but there were a few larger fish mixed in up to 8-10 lbs or so which we caught off of a glow sassy. I know my morning customers are going to love to read this because as they were leaving, they said “I know when we get home I’m going to read your report about how yall wore them out this evening”. But that’s fishing.

 

 

Monday I had a renewed confidence in catching. The guys from Friday evening had had such a great time that they booked my morning spot for Monday. This time they had brought a 3^rd person with them to get in on the action. I went back to the pattern from the previous evening of drifting shiners in 15-20 ft. of water on the flats and started catching fish. Again nothing fast but we had put our limit in the box by the end of the trip with another fish around 8 lbs, this time coming off of bait. 

 

 

 

Monday evening I had a group of 4 and it was the same thing. I made a long drift and caught 15. Then the wind started to pick up so I threw anchor and we caught 16 more before we had to run for cover to get out of the high winds. We drifted baits fishing the same pattern in a protected area and managed to put 7 more stripers and a sand bass in the box before we had to go in. Having just 2 fish shy of the limit, I’m not going to complain. 

 

 

April is a great month to fish and now that bait fishing is working, we should be coming home with limits on nearly every trip from now through the end of June with the occasional bad day thrown in here and there because it is fishing we are talking about. I have several week days available in April but all of my Saturday slots are booked and I only have a few Sunday trips still available. There are a few Saturday and Sunday slots available in May but they will go fast.

 

Your Lake Texoma Fishing Guide,

Brian Prichard

Stripers Inc.

(903)815-1609