Lake Texoma Striper Fishing Blog

Lake Texoma is one of, if not the most, abundant striper lakes in the world. This is because in Lake Texoma the stripers are able to have a natural and very successful spawn. Each year at this time, the stripers make a run of upwards of 60 miles up the Red and Washataw rivers where they spawn and lay their eggs which then need to be floated along with the current for somewhere around four days before they hatch. If they settle to the river bottom before they hatch, they will die. The rivers of Texoma have a slight amount of salinity which gives them more buoyancy and thus a greater chance of survival. When the water temperature is right and the rivers start flowing, the stripers make their run. They will not all run at the same time, they seem to go in waves and when they go is difficult to predict. Whenever, we get our first good spring rain is normally when the majority of them make the run and this could be anywhere between mid March to late April. Only the fertile fish will spawn and they start becoming fertile at around 18-20”. The storms that we had this past week appear to have triggered this year’s major spawning run which has drastically decreased the number of larger fish in the main lake. There are still decent fish to be caught but you really have to work for them and they are scattered out. Drifting live bait in 25-30 ft. has been the way to go for better fish and all the small fish you want can be caught on anchor in around 40 ft. of water.  Morning fishing has been much better than the evening fishing however I have not been able to get an accurate measure of the evening bite due to 0 wind or way too much wind.

 

Following a strong cold front and storms I had no idea of where the fish would be on Saturday morning on 4/16. I had a group of 3 and I went to the last place I had caught them to check it our first which produced nothing. I start moving and searching going the direction I expected them to go which ended up being the wrong direction.  I finally get a call that birds were working on the other side of the lake and having no fish in the box yet I figure it is a good idea to head that way. I get there at 9:00 and we finally start catching fish. We fish a few different spots before I find an anchor in 42 ft. that worked. We ended up with our 30 fish limit of decent fish by 12:00.

 

 

After finding fish and catching a limit, I was optimistic about my evening trip on Saturday which was with 7 guys and 2 boats. By the time we get on the water the wind was shifting from the north and trying to blow out of the south and finally quit all together. The lake turned to glass which normally means tough fishing. Unfortunately, that’s just what happened, the fish quit biting and 2 boats came in at dark after catching 6 fish each. I had even found a good school of fish at one point and we caught 2 nice fish before they scattered never to be found again. That’s how it goes sometimes.

 

Sunday morning, of course the fish were in a different pattern as the wind had finally shifted back to the south and started blowing. I had a group of 3 and I get on some fish right off the bat on anchor in 40ft. of water. Our first 2 fish were nice and then they got small so we left to find better fish. We pick up a few nicer fish drifting here and there but they are few and far between. I tried a few more anchors and they all produced small fish, so we went back to drifting for better fish. We finally came at noon with 20 fish for 3 people.

 

Sunday evening the wind really started to blow. I had a father and son trip and they wanted to give it a go so out we wet into the high seas. I warned them they would get wet and it would be a pounding boat ride and that is just what they got. The waves were big and we made a few long drifts which only produced one fish at which point they decided that they had had enough and were thankfully ready to go in. I hope this wind quits soon and we get our April showers.

 

Monday morning was very similar to Sunday morning, I even had the same guys in the boat. I decided to leave the little fish alone and started out drifting. Like Sunday they were better fish but few and far between. They called it at noon and we went in with 15 fish, which was half of our limit.

 

The fish should be back from their spawning run in the coming days and when they do fishing will hopefully get easy. Catching daily limits of fish using live bait on anchor should become the norm, however with the sporadic weather patterns, who knows what will happen. If you want to come out and give it a go, I will do my best to put you on the fish. Fishing during the week is best as you have less competition for the good fishing spots. You can book your trip online at www.stripersinc.com or just give me a call at (903)815-1609 and I’ll get you set up.

 

Your Lake Texoma Fishing Guide,

Brian Prichard

Stripers Inc.

(903)815-1609