Lake Texoma Striper Fishing Blog

It tis the season and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and express my gratitude for your continued support, thank you for enabling me to live a life doing what I love!!! Winter brings a different world to Lake Texoma. The sights, sounds and the spirit of things are in constant flux, changing with the seasons to bring us this winter wonderland for our enjoyment. On especially cold days we are blessed with the beauty of ice sculptures along the bank where the waves have splashed ashore to freeze into magnificent creations. Migratory birds of all sorts show up to grace us with their presence and beauty. Bald eagles are seen on a regular basis and if you’re lucky, you may even see one grab a fish with its talons. All sorts of ducks, geese, terns, and herring are also present in large numbers during this time.  Perhaps the most excitement, besides a bent rod, comes with witnessing nature’s fish finders in action. Loons, cormorants, and seagulls will all flock together over a school of feeding fish to eat the shad the fish have chased to the surface. This makes the fisherman’s life much easier as he can determine what pattern the fish are in. If the birds are feeding, the fish are feeding and easy to locate, and if the birds are sitting, then the fish are “sitting” which, during the winter, means they hug the bottom in tight pods along the peak of a ledge or point in 15-40 ft. of water. 

 

This “sitting” pattern, which I call pod hopping, is the pattern the fish are currently in. This pattern is reliable and I hang my hat on it from December through March. Although you still may find them in a feeding pattern, it is not reliable so I feel blessed when I do find them feeding. To fish the sitting pattern is a methodical precision of finding pods, setting up the drift just right back through them, casting, catching, and repeat. Once you find a pod and set the drift, you’ll want to cast into the wind and let the lure fall to the bottom. I normally use 4-5” glow sassy shad on a 1 – 1 ½ oz head or chartreuse road runners. Then you will want to reel slowly, just fast enough to keep the lure about a foot off the bottom. When you get a bite, you will feel a series of very light taps, resist setting the hook during these, then you will feel a thud...NOW, reel fast, if it is heavy, set the hook and Fish On! Some days, this is awesome as you will hook up every rod on just about every cast while drifting through a pod. On others it is slower and you might only catch one or 2 fish with every pod you find but over the course of the trip they add up to a nice box of fish and usually a limit. This pattern also produces lots of big fish. I brought in a 10 and a 12 pounder on Monday, 12/19, and heard reports of a 15 and 18 pounder caught on Wednesday. 

 

 

 

The population of the bait and fish in Lake Texoma is now booming and fully recovered from the kill we had a couple of years ago. All the fish look like footballs, fat and healthy to yield lots of fillet. We are catching 4-8 pound fish on a regular basis while the bonus 10-15 pounder is becoming more and more common. This winter is shaping up to be one of the best winters we’ve had in years and should make for some exciting fishing. In the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of change as we move into the year 2012, I would like to express my appreciation to all those who follow my posts with the gift of fishing and friendship. As my Christmas gift to you, I would like to offer my services. Simply remind me after your trip that you have read my Christmas report and would like to accept my gift. You will be free to give in return whatever the trip is worth to you in monetary value or a return gift or service of your choice. Or simply pay the gift forward with whatever opportunity that presents itself to you. To book your trip, please visit my website at www.stripersinc.com or just give me a call anytime at (903)815-1609 and I’ll get you set up.

 

 

Merry Christmas with Love,

Brian Prichard

Stripers Inc.

(903)815-1609