Wayne's 2012 Lake Texoma Fishing Reports

Was it cold this AM? Sure glad I decided to stay home and not hit the lake again for a couple more days. In haven't been fishing much, just maybe 1 or 2 days a week and that has mainly been with friends. We kept a bunch for a fish bake last weekend. It was the 1st time my friends had tasted stripers prepared this way & loved it! Striper fishing is still good and the fish are getting fatter & fatter. Except for it being cold and forcing you to bundle up, striper fishing right now is hard to beat.
The only problem right now is the lack of rain and falling lake levels have closed some docks & ramps. This is usually the time of year when the lake levels are going up and not down. But, it still isn't a issue as long as we start getting the needed rainfall & higher water levels as the stripers head up stream as they prepare to stage for the spawn.

I helped a buddy with a large group working out of Willow Springs today. My boat ended up with Kip, his 2 sons Jeremy & Jason plus Steve and Dale. I think most were related but I know they all had spent many years fishing together. Besides fishing, we stopped at several spots so they could say so long to a deceased fishing buddy and release some of his ashes. This was the 1st time for me to be part of something like this, but it really seems fitting.
The fish that I had found easily Friday while scouting were nowhere to be found today, but we found a bunch of their whisker kitty cousins nearly everywhere we stopped. Today’s tally was about 2 dozen stripers and some of the bigger cats that we decided to keep.
These were great guys that enjoyed being on the water with a brew, catching some fish, joking around with Kip being the instigator and saying good-bye to their friend. A side note, I talked to some fellows that I fished with me on this trip the next day, Sunday, and they loaded up with big stripers at the same spots we were struggling at on Saturday. That’s just the way it goes sometimes as the fish need to win once in a while

James brought a mess of family down to fish Texoma stripers for the 1st time today. I had a buddy help me with this group and we headed out early on a cold but beautiful, calm morning.
The 1st couple spots only produced a few fish as we drifted and even tried dropping a anchor. Eventually we headed around Washita Point and headed west where we encountered birds, boats and striped bass. These fish were moving fast in both deep and shallow waters and we were constantly moving.
At the end of the day, JD and myself cleaned about 90 fish. All my guys caught a bunch, but the youngster up front that cut school landed our biggest fish. A nice 28 incher that went about 10 pounds. Nice going Derrick!
Again no pics. My new smart phone is nice, but using it's camera on a sunny day is impossible. I'm going to dig out my old camera for these trips from now on.

I'm back on the water after my boat was repaired. Bad starter for the second time within 6 months. Nearly a $400 repair bill that Mallory's warranty would not cover because the Marine Starter got wet. I'm confused? But that is what the manufacture said when I called.

I got up rly, got bait, waited for daylight to try some topwater fishing by myself. I then decided to move, but the boat wouldn't. SUCKS! I called a buddy to take my Monday trip and he killed them. Good for him & "my customers" but bad for my bank account. Especially since the boat is now in the shop for repairs.
Hopefully, I'll be back on the water in a day or two as fishing is really getting good

Today I again fished out of the Texas guide assisting a friend. In preparation, I was on the water at 0215 getting my bait prior to the 18 mile, night time and possibly bumpy boat ride. Bait was fairly easy so I was able to get over to Highport before the predicted winds made the ride too bumpy. Being early even left time for some socializing with the other guides while waiting for our 0700 customers. Mine included Papaw & Steve as well as 3 generations, Fred, Mike and 12 year old Sam.
Unable to see any early gull action, we1st tried a couple unsuccessful drifts behind the islands before heading a bit north. In deeper water we set anchor after marking some fish and with birds in the area. It was slow catching for us and the other boats in the area. While other boats moved east, we stayed and plucked away with several others. About the time I heard several of those boats that headed east said the fishing was pretty slim over there, the weather turned bad. Black clouds, higher winds & rougher water.
We decided to find calmer water closer to the marina in case the weather really turned nasty. We found a place to throw out a anchor, however, we only managed a couple fish there to go along with the 15-20 we caught at the previous spot. When the winds died down we headed west and tried a couple more spots that produced few fish before I was informed that several folks had a deadline to be back in Ft. Worth and needed to headed back. The others also decided to quit early at catch some of the OU/TX football game.
A great bunch of guys and a pretty good trip. Their early pulling the plug even allowed me to make the 18 mile return to Catfish Bay before the weather turned crappy. The waves were big going across the main lake but nothing like they would be later.

I fished with 2 couples this AM, Donna & Jim from OK and Tslil & Iness visiting from Israel. I had fished Thursday and found fish and birds early, not today. The fish were scattered, moving very fast and were gone by the time we got our lines down or shortly thereafter. We probably managed as many as most and would have hag more if the guys could catch fish as good as the girls.
On our last spot before hitting the cleaning station, I violated one of my rules and laid a rod down and not in a rod holder while I helped someone with theirs. I looked over just in time to see a fish pull it into the water. Between that and spending $114 on fuel today sure cuts into my food money.
It was a beautiful day and we had a great time which ended with Iness helping with the fish cleaning, especially those catfish we caught.

Wow! Was it cold this AM with temps in the 30's while I was getting bait. I sure hope winter isn't coming early. Doug and his crew were dressed for wet & cold conditions, except for their shoes. We spent the day running around chasing fish and always arriving a bit too late. Everybody caught some, I with we had more but they were all nice, fat, box fish.
While it was cold, a bright sunny day warmed everyone and it was a good day for a boat ride with Doug, JD, Mark & Luke. I was too busy to get out my camera while fishing but JD managed to take this shot of Mark with our biggest fish.

mark's big fish

It's been a while since I've fished or even posted. I've taken some time off to see my nephew play in a concert with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra, visit the Football Hall of Fame in Ohio and even see a no hitter pitched in Pittsburgh.
But now it's time to catch up on some great striper fishing. Today was NASTY! Fairly cold, no sun, periodic drizzle and most of all, big waves that really beat us up. The sudden weather shift from the north really screwed up what had been some pretty good fishing and forced us to do a lot of running around. My crew hung in there all day as we looked for stripers. Winds & waves somewhat where and how we could fish. Drifting was impossible and anchoring at times was even tough.
However, we managed some fish. The stripers & sandies were healthy as were the blue & channel cats we tossed into the box. Nothing like it had been 24 hours prior and nothing like it will be when the weather settles down. Sorry, way too nasty for photos.

It's been quite a while since I've updated my reports. I haven't fished as much recently as the high temps are keeping lots of folks home and while the fishing has been pretty good, it's over fairly quick as the daytime temps soar. The few following photos are from some of my July trips as well as those of 3 young girls from our annual Camp Cavett fishing trip. Volunteers take over very ill 100 kids from the OU Medical Center for several hours of striper fishing and boating.
Congratulations to Holly! Last year Mark & I had Holly as a patient and counselor trainee, this year she is a full time counselor.

Four guys got together to fish with me on another hot day.

I went out by myself this AM and fished an area that was really HOT during early June last year and it looks to be hot again. Cooler water temps probably delayed this great action a couple weeks. I'll definately check it out later this week.

Today’s trip was a last minute deal with John & Angel from North Dakota that were heading back through the area after their off-shore fishing trip was postponed due to the hurricane. Bait was easy and the 3 of us headed south at about 0600.
We soon found lots of boats, marked fish and saw fish busting the surface in TX. We put down some baits but not a bite. I guessed that these were small fish so we headed elsewhere. It wasn’t long before these experienced off-shore anglers soon had fish on. Big stripers from 70 feet of water. We landed 2 and lost a couple. When this died, we moved west towards “the cross” and started a slow windless drift. WE got our big fish limit and some nice box fish before we left biting fish to look for small fish in shallow waters. Again, 1030 and the bite was dead and the lake nearly empty. With temps climbing over 100 again today, we headed back with about 15 nice stripers. Great trip with a great couple of experienced fisherpersons, Angel & John.

Returned to my familiar bait catching areas and caught lots of shad the soon were put to use by a friend and myself catching some nice stripers.

My worst trip EVER & I’m embarrassed.
I returned to the other marina and after over 4 hours of searching and waiting for the bait to show up, I had about 20 extremely small shad that I NEVER use. This forced me to call today’s customers and tell them that I would be running about 30 minutes late as I called a friend to go to a tackle store and buy me $40 worth in minnows. I have never used store bought bait before on a trip and only had success with them several years ago when there was a winter threadfin shad kill and the stripers were starving.
We found fish, put down the store bought “Black Salties” and watched surrounding boats net fish while we never got any bites. After this happened at numerous locations, it was apparent that getting fish into the box today would require a miracle. Fortunately, I was able to get some baits from a couple friends that allowed us to soon start catching fish. However, the striper bite has been stopping around 1030 due to the heat and it did it again today just as we were ready to catch some fish. We fished till about noon hoping for more action that never came and we got top the cleaning station with only about 15 small stripers and still with lots of shad in my bait tank.
Overall, the trip sucked but the weather was good, the guys disappointed but great and understanding.

On a tip, I tried getting bait in a different part of the lake today as my usual areas have been getting tougher every day. It paid off, 50 shad in about 5 minutes. I then used them to fish long enough to put some nice fillets in my freezer.

Rob & Mary brought their 3 boys down to Texoma for a week and we went fishing today. It was a much calmer day than it has been and bait, at least where I catch it, was extremely tuff.
Again I worked my way south where there were quite a few boats and birds. We chased some fish, drowned lots of shad and caught some stripers and catfish that these Kansas folks love eating. The guys barely lost “Big Fish” honors to their Mom as her fish measured 21.5 inches and Wyatt caught the 1st striper as well as the most.
These guys sure kept me busy, even catching cats at the fish cleaning station.
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Because of the winds today, I tried spending the first part of the day fishing between the bridges but after an hour or so we decided to continue South. Due to the direction they wind was blowing we were slightly sheltered and we decided to continue West. We soon found birds, bait, boats and some very nice stripers, the biggest going nearly 10 pounds. Larry, Bill and Trent all reeled in some nice fat, strong drag-pulling stripers. We soon that are limits of big fish and were forced to leave these big biting fish to search for smaller stripers. After about four hours of searching, getting only nibbles and while burning lots of gas while searching for smaller fish we pulled the plug. Once again Texoma produced some pretty nice stripers that were fun to catch and put up a terrific fight. They also made some great fillets.

Kevin brought his wife Bridget and Dave up from Texas for some striper action today. Once again, I immediately headed South and started fishing those spots which have produced fish for the past week, including yesterday's big fish. However, those big fish weren't there and we had a hard time finding any fish other than catfish. We worked our way from tabletop to Mac Creek to Soldier Creek and then onto Caney before backtracking. On the way we caught some really nice catfish, while these folks like catching them, especially Kevin, they don't care for the taste so we threw those fish back. Along the way we did manage some stripers with Bridget catching the largest and claim being bragging rights for the majority of the trip. But Kevin had a lot riding on the “big fish” with Bridget and came through with a 27 inch striper near the and.
Another good trip on the books. We didn't catch nearly as many stripers as we wanted, caught way more catfish and big catfish that we wanted but it was a great day. Everybody had a good time fishing and eating Bridget’s homemade cookies and Bridget was rewarded with a really nice striper on her first striper fishing trip. Hope to see you guys and Bridget again.

Three guys got together to try a little Texoma striper fishing today. When they got to the dock at 6AM I was already worn out and worried because I had only 67 bait after throwing a cast net for nearly 3½ hours. Ideally, I would have liked at least 100 bait.
Our 1st spot produced nothing other than a $30 miss by Stanley. We soon headed toward a Mac Creek boat show where we managed only a few small stripers. After the action totally died, we went looking and marked some fish on Table Top. It wasn’t long before we had fish, BIG FISH! Both Robert and Stanley put some big fish into the box before Sam finally landed a big one. C&R again wasn’t working with these big stressed out fish so we had to leave big hungry fish in search of little hungry fish. We ran around and tried numerous spots and managed to find some but not many. Even keeper size cats were a problem and we ended with only 4 of those to clean.
Overall a great trip with 3 good fishermen that didn’t miss many fish and a the day’s catch is the proof.

After a gorgeous sunrise while waiting for a storm that never came, I fished a bit by myself yesterday after doing some boat maintenance the previous day. Didn't fish very long but I located & caught a few fish.
Today I went out with a friend but soon after leaving the boat ramp we turned around due to lots of lightning. We found shelter in a slip close to his and boy did it rain. Almost 1 hour of heavy, heavy rain but by 0700 we were heading south seeking dinner.
The 1st stop looked great but we had only a few nibbles and while the 2nd looked just OK, it produced fish. Lots of big fish and we soon had our over limit and after seeing the C&R wasn't going to work, we headed home with several nice box fish to go along with 4 big, fat overs.

Chuck brought his kids Jordan & Jeremy fishing today. We headed south and it wasn't long before we had all our lines helplessly tangled. I ended cutting every one to free them only to discover a big 24" fish on one line that ALMOST got away. But with all the lines out of the water these fish left, never to return. After sitting it that area for nearly 2 hours that now held nearly 100 boats hoping but not catching any stripers, we went looking. We spent the rest of the day burning gas, looking but seldom catching. Sorry kids, but the fish have to win once in a while. Weather wise, a great sunny, windless & warm day

Paul and Pat returned this year to see if they could catch those elusive stripers they hid from us last year. This time they were joined by Carl who came down from Baltimore to get in on some hot striper fishing action. We were a tad late leaving the Marina this morning as I had a heck of a time catching us bait. The full moon is a killer when it comes to catching bait. After three hours, I had only caught about 12 to 15 shad, luckily things improved slightly before daylight and I ended up with nearly 100 bait in the tank.
We chose to head south rather than heading West and it seems we made the correct choice as I set anchor in 75 feet of water and soon Carl had a fish on. It was a fat 24 inch striper and almost immediately Pat caught one even bigger. The action was fast and furious in no time we had four long fish. But soon everything stopped and all we could catch were small catfish that seemed to like stealing our bait. We then went looking and made several more stops but were unable to catch any more big groups of fish and only picked away at some smaller but nice size box fish. Along the way we also picked up one more long fish, a big fat blue cat to go with a couple smaller cats that were both blue and channel.
We headed back to the cleaning station with a full box of fish as we ran out of bait, the guys were wore out and more importantly, we wanted to beat the predicted afternoon thunderstorms. Then we hustled back to the dock after cleaning those fish and barely beat the storms as the skies were getting pretty dark. It was a great trip, we had a great time, Carl got to see the great striper fishing we have on Lake Texoma and the guys took on some much for bags striper fillets to enjoy.

Today I fished with Francis, Doug and his son, Cameron who arrived about 0545 after I had spent about 3 hours struggling to get bait. I guess that it was the full moon overhead that made it so hard. I ended with about 100, which is the minimum that I like to carry with 3 folks except for those times when the stripers are super aggressive.
We headed south towards where I had caught most of Saturday's fish. Our first stop produced 1 striper and a bunch of bait stealing small fish and small blue cats. After a bit of searching, we headed towards the islands but stopped along the north shore before we made it and set an anchor.
We stayed in the same general location the rest of the morning and picked away at the fish. We ran out of bait about the same time everyone had decided they had there fill of fishing.
We ended up at the cleaning station around 11AM just as the day's temps were climbing with about 25 stripers, mostly small buit fat & healthy, a couple sandbass and a big blue cat to go along with a nice channel cat. Cameron proved to be a "super fisherman" as well as a "Super Dad" as he caught the biggest and the most fish but Francis came on strong near the end and might have beat him out if we had fished longer.

There were lots of storms around with plenty of lightning north & east of Greg, Paul & Fred this morning as we headed towards the dam area around 0545 this AM. We slowly worked our way south while keeping a eye on the sky. We fished the 1st location anchored, then decided we would only drift fish while waiting for the lightning to pass. This would allow us to quickly seek shelter if we needed.
It wasn't long before we had 2 rods bent over to the water with a big fish on each. It took a while, but Greg & Paul each landed a beauty with the biggest nearly 27" and 9 lbs. with the other just a tab smaller. We soon landed another about the same size, then nothing. We stayed in that general area quite a while, sometimes drifting and sometimes anchored. Didn't matter as we couldn't buy another striper but again the smaller cats were out there stealing our baits.
We finally headed west and discovered where most of the boats went, but about the time we started to fish, the others left. Guess we were a little late arriving but we were catching quality NOT quantity stripers. We tried several spots before we located some fish, not big ones, but box sized fish to fill the ice chest along with the big drum that appear every trip along with some catfish.

I went out this morning scouting and looking for supper. Catching bait was fairly easy as was finding and catching fish. I got a couple nice overs and a couple small box fi9sh to eat and was back at the dock by 8AM.

I picked up Dave and his sons Joe & Josh at 530 this morning and headed South. I was hoping to find lots of nice fish down near the dam before the winds picked up as predicted. However, after three or four locations where there had been fish, we were unable to get any fish in the boat. I marked a lot of what I thought was stripers in the same location that I had caught fish last week, however the these all seem to be either catfish are very small stripers. Finally we started catching fish but they were the 10 inch catfish that had been pestering us & stealing our baits. I gave up on catching these stripers in this part of the Lake and headed back North to Oklahoma waters. We soon set anchor and started catching fish. No big fish, just small box fish that wore both me and the guys out. As we neared our 30 fish limit we decided to look elsewhere for some larger stripers to complete our box of fish. However, all we managed to catch were two large catfish and a drum. We kept a catfish that threw back a drum.
While we didn't catch any big fish today, I think everyone was happy with what was a birthday gift for Dave and Josh.

This morning I went to the lake around 4 AM to catch some bait and then to search for some stripers for supper and also in search of some larger fish in preparation for some trips later this week. However, the boat would not start. Instead of hearing the engine running when I turn the key, all I heard was click, click. I put the boat back on the trailer and headed home to await the repair shop opening. Unfortunately, everybody that has a boat needs work done this week prior to the holiday and the mechanics are backed up.
Good news! My boat was repaired and I brought it home Thursday evening. Nearly 500 bucks for a starter repair, what a bummer.

Three friends joined Barry for the drive down from Broken Arrow for some Lake Texoma striper action. These guys hunt & fish together, so I wanted to put them on big stripers together. Because the wind picked up this AM, we immediately headed south hoping to get there before it got too rough and it looked like quite a few of the other boats had the same idea.
Things started slow but eventually heated up. There was even one period when Jared, Chinaman, Dan and Barry all had a big fish on at once. Wow! That was both exciting & hectic. After getting our limits on big fish, we decided to leave looking for fish in shallower water and also smaller fish. We had tried to release a couple of our overs, but they just floated before we ended up putting them in the box. Big, summertime fish caught deep don't do good catch & release. We ended up in Mac Creek catching some box fish and even some nice catfish that these guys enjoy. When things got slow, we had lunch as Dan set up a mini deli and fed us with custom sandwiches. I had a great ham & turkey sandwich, peppers, fritos and a snickers bar for desert.
It was only when we left Mac Creek with a full ice chest of fish and hit the main lake that we realized the wind had really picked up. It was rough & wet heading to the Alberta cleaning dock. Everyone was quickly soaked, even those trying to hide.

Sorry, but I only managed only a few photos as when these big fish hit, there isn't any time for photos or else the camera is buried to keep it dry.

Marcus came with 8 friends from the OKC area and wanted 3 boats, so I had 2 friends help me this AM. Once again. we headed south to where the big fish seem to be congregated at about 0700. The weather forecast had been for 25 mph winds, it was windy, but nothing that serious & the ride south was only a bit bumpy.
We soon set up anchor in about 70' of water and picked away at some box fish. Soon the bigger fish came our way and Brent & Joe got in on the action and were followed by Marcus. We managed 4 or 5 fish before the big ones left and the small catfish moved in to harass us and steal our baits.
We pulled anchor and looked around for some more fish and finally anchored about a mile east. Here we managed some nice box fish before the guys decided to head home. It was a bit rougher and quite a bit wetter as we headed to the cleaning station with a bunch of really nice fish.

I went fishing with a friend this AM. WE did a little top-water fishing at daybreak then nwent south looking for dinner. We managed only a few small small on top-swaters but while heading south I caught a 23" striper and also a nice smallmouth bass on a spinnerbait before losing it.
After we hit the dam area, suppere came fast and easy.

Greg drove down from Tuttle with his dad and JR. Shortly after daybreak we headed south from Catfish Bay and it was a beautiful morning as the sun was coming up, very little wind and smooth waters. We stopped outside Lakeside and started to fish. We soon caught our first striper and that was followed by several others, including several long fish. Five-year-old JR was killing them, never missing a fish.
When things slowed down we headed west towards Mac Creek to find some action for JR. However, we had very little luck there and managed only one or two fish. We then decided to work our way south towards Texas and along the way we stopped the a few spots and always manage to pick up at least one fish per stop.
We again put down anchor but this time we were in 70' deep waters. It started slow here but soon the action really, really heated up! JR along with his dad helping him manage to catch and reel in several long fish from deep waters and finally a monster. This girl tipped the scales at about 10 pounds, Heck of fish JR! Soon we had our limit of long fish and were forced to leave this hot spot and try to find areas where we could catch some small fish, so we headed back to the area where we first started fishing this morning. Not much happening here, though Jim did manage to catch the last fish and a nice big fish it was. We then headed to the fish cleaning station and I was put to work filleting a full ice chest of big stripers and catfish.
We arrived back at the boat ramp around 2:30. Once again, it was another great day on Lake Texoma. Perfect weather, lots of nice fish with some good fishermen, but JR was clearly the best fishermen and also the best dressed. Greg, enjoy those tasty fillets and don't forget to try some of the fish recipes on my website.

Ron brought his family & Bernie down from the city for their fishing with me on Lake Texoma again. These guys come down here every year and we have a great time and usually catch a bunch of fish. This time, they were joined by some family members that came in from Colorado. We had the get a second boat to help so we split our fishing party into two groups easier to manage. I drew Mike, Ron JR. and was forced to take Bernie. Ron SR captained the other 3-man crew in Craig's boat. We then departed Alberta Creek heading south to fish. The weather was overcast but at least it wasn't raining and the winds were mild.
We soon dropped an anchor and started to fish & Bernie won the bet of the first fish in the boat, a great big fat drum Soon, Mike and Ron were both catching stripers. We were also catching catfish and landed several flatheads along with a couple small blue or channel cat fish. Before noon, we had our limits of long fish and were trying to catch some smaller box fish. We even tied up to the other boat so the family could compare fish and see each other. Ron senior's brother also caught a nice fish.
With a possible storm approaching, we soon headed to the fish cleaning station and proceeded to bag up lots of tasty fish fillets for the guys to take home for the fish Fry and Bernie he was happy he got the rocks from several drum fishes heads.

Two fellows from NW OK drove down this AM to fish Texoma for the 1st time. Damp, overcast, drizzly morning as we headed south at daybreak and we went less than a mile before we sell some fish and stopped. James & Mike managed to catch a couple small stripers with artificial fishing lures before we continued south and started bait fishing. We tried numerous locations, constantly catching fish, but none were real large.
We soon headed to the fish cleaning station with limits of tasty stripers. we were feeling pretty good at that time with our days catch, until another boat came in and started cleaning a bunch of bigger fish. I then realized, that we didn't try hit all the right locations at the right time.
At the end of the day, James and Mike headed back towards Woodward after having a pretty good day on Lake Texoma, weather wasn't the greatest but it could've been much much worse.

Nine fellows from a Plano business either skipped work or are going to be working tonight to make up for time lost while fighting wind, waves and water for some frisky stripers today. The north wind that rolled in has brought colder temps along with a change in fishing patterns.
We headed to where all the nice fish have been recently, only to find very few fish and rough seas that kept my anchor from holding when I did manage to find some fish. Looking for some fish and also hoping to find a calmer place to fish, we headed to Little Mineral. That was a rough & bumpy ride and nobody stayed dry. Not me with my waterproof bibs, nor Mike who wore shorts. We managed a few fish and then decided to cross the big water to the Okie shore knowing that it would be calmer there and also because we had to do it eventually to get home. We spotted a big bunch of fish and set anchor up in Mac Creek. It wasn't long before we had fish on multiple rods. Weren't big, but there sure were a lot and it was just what we needed.
By the time we approached our limit and Mike wanted to head back, A-Rod's blue cat was our big fish, beating out a largemouth that we landed a bit later by either Jason or Crocket. It ended up being another great day on Texoma. We didn't get the big fish and we didn't stay dry, but the guys had a great time and took back a bunch of striper for a company fish fry this week.

Wayne left his Dad home this time and instead brought his son to Griffin to try his luck catching Texoma stripers. After meeting me at 0545, we headed south to where the fish have been. Looked like a beautiful morning to fish with only a light wind with a slight chop to the water as we headed to Texas. We were one of the 1st boats there and had fish on before we had all the rods baited and down.
Griffin doesn't fish much but he soon caught on to setting the hook just like his Dad.

These early fish were box fish and we soon started getting some big girls to chase our bait while we sat in 81 feet of water. Wayne got the big fish and Griffin soon followed with one of his own. We added some more box and long fish to the ice chests before Wayne wanted to start home.
It was a great day to be on Texoma with some great fishing with a great guy and his son that we taught how to fish, set a hook, lip a striper but couldn't get him to eat a shad.

WOW! Been waiting for these kind of days since June 2011.

Two friends joined me for a long, rough, early boat ride down towards the dam. After nearly 30 minutes of not even a nibble, we started catching fish. Not quantity, but quality stripers from deep water. All 3 of us had a big fish on. Steve landed his, John's broke the line and mine just got off. Sometimes getting a good hook set when the fish is 70 feet deep is difficult. We ended the day by 1000 after we put our 6th long fish into the box with 1 "normal" box fish as we weren't able to do any catch & release as all these fish were worn out being pulling from deep waters. Especially the bigger ones that took quite a while to land. Steve's fish was nearly dead when we got her up & she measured 34.5 inches at about 16 lbs.
I sure hope that this is the beginning of a great summer of striper fishing.

I headed out this morning looking for topwater fish first, then any other fish returning from spawning upstream. I went north. BIG MISTAKE! There was nothing up there except for a couple light taps on my spook. I then tried near the RR bridge before working my way south to Texas waters. I got down by the Butterfly Coves around 0800 after squandering 2 hours up north.
I immediately picked up several fish but I could tell from the radio chatter that I may have arrived a little to late. I'll be here early Friday.

Clint got together a fishing trip for his soon to be married brother and 3 other guys. It was still windy, but I headed south below the RR bridge as I needed fish badly.
First we anchored on a ledge and started pulling fish, not big fish, but fish. Tony got my boat's 1st over in ages it seems and after the guys started changing seating, they all were catching fish.
We moved around looking for better fish but we never found them or any working birds. After a day of struggling with the anchor in the wind, we ended the day at the cleaning station watching Chaney catch a monster carp???? I ended cleaning about 42 stripers, 1 catfish and we released a bunch of smaller catfish, some small stripers & drum and one big ol' carp.
Great guys........enjoy your last 6 days of freedom Chaney & CONGRATULATIONS!

Tomas came up from below Waco to Texoma with 4 of his friends today. High winds kept us fishing north. We caught some small fish early then everything stopped after a big cat stuck his barb into my stomach. It took a pretty good yank to get it out & reminded me of the Crocodile Hunter and the fatal sting ray barb to his heart.
These guys were patient & hung in there, but we just couldn't find any biting fish after 0930. We did do better than some as we encountered an abandoned & overturned boat that appeared to be anchored just outside Catfish bay

Charles and John came south from Kansas to fish after stopping along the way for a pig hunt. Strong south & west winds kept us fishing above Washita Point today, but fish, while small had been everywhere.
Things sure changed today. Fish were hard to find and once we found them, they disappeared. We hit numerous spots, anchoring and drifting when the strong winds let up a bit. Usually the same results with maybe a nibble or two, except for the time I couldn't pull my anchor and had to cut it off. I HATE THAT!
After a long day we headed in only about 1/2 dozen stripers and several cats with one channel being a real nice size. We threw back some small stripers, lots of 10" catfish and at least 6 big drum. Probably my worst fishing day since February, but whenever the wind died down, it was a great day to be on the lake.

Today I fished with a couple of Kansas guys, Roger & Daryl. We left the dock about 0615 heading for some topwater fishing on a calm morning after I had earlier loaded the boat with bait by 0415.
The topwater action we had hoped for was non-exist ant and I'm still waiting for the 1st springtime topwater bite up here when the big stripers return to the main lake after their up-river spawn. We tried several locations and cruised the shoreline looking for some action, nada! Giving up on topwaters, we started baiting above the Roosevelt. We soon started pulling the smaller fish pretty constantly. As the wind picked up, e worked our way from above Bridgeview down to Burns Run then nearly over to Mac Creek before again returning to above the Roosevelt. Same story at every stop.....lots of smaller fish.
We finally pulled the plug around 1400 as even the little guys quit biting. Final count was 1 long fish, a nice big channel cat and around 15 bleeders as we only kept injured fish and returned more than we kept.

Three generations got together to come to Texoma and fish with me today with Randall flying in from Georgia. After coming that far, he deserved the 1st striper and he caught it. We met up early just as most of the predawn lightning stopped and the winds shifted out of the north and brought some windy & cold weather. At 3AM getting bait, it was 65 degrees with only slight rain & with mild southerly winds. This change in the weather changed all the fishing patterns and forced us to head south out of some of the wind.
We started drifting up on Platter Flats and caught some small fish. Periodically we we move to another spot but usually with the same results. We eventually made it to Table Top but found very little there and began working our way north. Once we hit Washita Point the waves got much bigger & rougher so I decided to hide behind the RR riprap. Again, we caught fish here but most were small with no overs. Shane did manage a fat 16 pound blue cat with everyone getting their share, even though Mathew was a "fish hog" at times and Jake misses a chance for the "big fish" while napping but still managed a bunch.
Overall, it was a great trip and these guys were fun and even brought some grub for Capt. Wayne. We caught a bunch of small fish that supplied a big bag of fillets as the big ones still appear to be up river spawning. With Randall being the catfish expert, Shane talked him into filleting it as there weren't any trees handy to nail it to for skinning. We even filleted a drum as they wanted to try it. I wonder if it will be on their fish-fry menu this weekend along with the striper, sand bass and blue cat? Shane, I'm sure we'll get some bigger fish for you later this summer if you make back.

The fishing on Lake Texoma is still good and appears to be getting better. I've been out with friends twice this week and while we have found small fish everywhere, we have also found some bigger ones too. While only keeping a few of these, all appeared to have spawned. Good news as maybe the remaining spawning fish will soon be returning down stream & heading to the main lake body.
I'm still not having any luck with early topwater fishing but I am seeing some shad looking like they are spawning along the shorelines at daybreak.

Lynn brought Cheryl down for their anniversary to catch some stripers even knowing the striper spawn was taking place on the upper part of the lake and the big fish were temporarily missing.
We met shortly before dawn and headed north looking for either topwater action or working birds which had been up there the past couple days. Today nothing!
We then headed south for some cleaner water and soon found and caught lots of fish. By the end of the day, we had covered lots of miles, fished a lot of water, tried numerous spots and all held fish, small fish. We ran out of bait about 2PM and headed in to clean the fish.
Overall, it it was a enjoyable trip. While most fish were small, we were all kept busy catching them and hoping that the next hard pulling striper was a big fish. We ended up with 30 stripers and some sandies in the box, none were "overs" while several were good boxfish and the rest the smaller guys. We released just as many uninjured stripers as we caught while keeping all the injured fish along with our bigger ones.
Today's weather was nearly perfect and Cheryl and Lynn were great company & fishermen. I imagine that when they return in October, big & hungry stripers will again be roaming Texoma.

I spent the past 2 days checking out the boat after having it in the shop for several days this week with starting problems. Looks like it's fixed. I've also spent time while on the water getting used to & setting up some new electronics gear. I'm ready to get back to fishing.

Four fellows from west of Lawton joined me to catch some stripers this AM. It was a bachlor party outting for Claye and the guys were pretty ragged when they joined me before 7AM to go fishing after a late night. While Robert, Nathan and Claye were in decent shape , Cowboy's fan Jeremy wasn't at first.
We headed south looking for clean water and our first stop was just below the RR bridge. We found lots of fish, all pretty small and stayed there a while, keeping some and releasing others. Throughout the day from Alberta to Tabletop nearly to Mac Creek and back up to the Roosevelt and down to Lakeside, we found plenty of fish but most were small box fish.
Overall, it was a great day. After some rain & lightning about 0330 while getting bait, the weather turned perfect with only light wind. These guys were a great group to fish with and while we didn't get any big fish, we got a bunch. I cleaned 44 and we released another 20 but while these fish were all fat & healthy, wish they were bigger.
Still lots of bait out there but you can only find them in clear or stained waters, not that muddy crap coming down the Washita. I'm also finding lots of them with eggs which means they should be spawning soon. For me, spawning shad typically means great TOPWATER STRIPER fishing.

I've just returned home after spending some time on the lake this morning. My new side imaging fish finder that I installed a couple days ago works great as does the GPS portion after I installed the Lakemaster chip yesterday.
Getting bait at 3AM was easy today and some of the shad appeared to be full of eggs which indicate an early shad spawn. For me, this typically means great striper top-water fishing.
The lake still is pretty muddy north of the Roosevelt but it clears up as you travel south. I fished this AM for a couple hours and while I kept some injured stripers for dinner, I wasn't able to locate any long fish. This years Wildlife Dept. gill net survey proves that those long fish are here, you just have to find them.

I committed several days to boat maintenance and installing a new hi-tech side scanning fish finder while allowing the muddy waters to clear a bit. With this nice weather, I almost regret it but I should be back out on the water by Tuesday and ready to fish.

Wes took advantage of my "Hot Fishing Deal" and came fishing today with his Dad, Mike. We were planning to fish Tuesday, but I called him to cancel after sitting at the boat ramp for over 3 hours Tuesday morning waiting for the lightning to stop. While Wednesday's weather was much better, the conditions were horrible. Catfish Bay was very muddy with lots of floating debris. Bait which had been there all year were now gone to clear water and much harder to catch. Over 3 hours searching for bait in cleaner, deep main lake water produced only 73 Threadfin shad.
We left the marina and headed north, finding only really muddy water where there had been fish. We then worked are way south while periodically stopping and fishing where I "thought" we marked fish. No takers! Maybe it just submerged debris I was marking. We finally fish some fish and drifted. Mike pulled a fat 8+ pound striper while Wes had 2 break off. That's discouraging, especially when fishing is rough and there are lots of lite hits and lots of small fish. We ran out of bait around 2PM & headed to the cleaning station before a possible storm. Mike did manage another long fish that had already spawned and we got a bunch of small fish and some sandies as well.
I think fishing and navigating will be tough the upcoming week & have rescheduled this weekends trips for a later date.

Mike's 8 pound striper

Another bunch of Texans came to Texoma from the pan handle this AM for some striper fishing. Tammy & Brent brought Justin & Jason fishing while leaving Casper & the little poodle to guard their truck.
I had planned a long run west this AM to begin with, but both the breezy AM & stormy afternoon weather forecast made me reconsider so I again headed north to start the day's fishing. I seemed to mark fish but catching was way more difficult as we kept trying many different locations before finding a few scattered fish.
It was quite a few hours till we finally located some hungry fish and we were fortunate that these guys liked sandbass. There was a huge school of sandies, most nice sized and some really big plus a rare striper. Everybody was catching, but I think Jason caught the most and Tammy definitely caught the smallest. We even managed to tangle 4 lines with 1 fish and later had a triple as these fish were hungry.We finally pulled the plug with the fish still biting when we ran out of my 200 shad.
While not the stripers we wanted, it was a great day with a great family and lots of fishing action and even the weather was good as the storms stayed away. We threw back a bunch of small sandies, a couple small stripers and even a catfish while we end cleaning nearly 40 fish.

I hit the lake about 0315 this morning for bait. It's great to be out there early when the wind isn't blowing and when the temps are around 60. Seemed the only drawback this AM was the noisy quacking ducks trying to out quack each other.
Dan and Mike came down from Purcell and we headed north. Action was slow, but Dan managed to land a feisty 10.5 pound striper that I was afraid would pull him into the lake.
After a couple slow hours of fishing, we headed 17 miles west as I was told that fish were biting there. We began a drift once we got to the cross and started pulling stripers. We finally had some action, but while there were some nice box fish and also another long fish, most were small. The predicted wind picked up, fishing slowed and after a couple hours we headed east into some bumpy waters.
We again fished northern waters but fishing was quite a bit slower. We soon quit after a typical March day. It was windy and fishing erratic and somewhat slow. It was the 28"+ fish that helped make this a great day for Mike, Dan and myself.

Mark brought his 5 year old grandson down to Texoma today for some striper fishing. All I can say is Carter should have skipped day school & been here last week. We had a rough day like most on the others fishing today. Have the big fish moved upstream to spawn? All we can do is fish, who knows, fishing may turn on as fast as it turned off. However, there still are big fish out there as I had a buddy in another part of the lake catch a monster.
At the end of the day, these guys went home with some tasty stripers, but not as many as we all hoped.
Carter was a real trooper as they arrived at the ramp before 6AM after a several hour drive, fished for over 6 hours and then began the drive home.
I did manage a photo of Mark and even Carter holding up some fish but somehow it got erased, sorry guys!

Wow! Things sure have changed for the worse all of a sudden. It seems the big fish, medium fish & most of the small fish have disappeared. I've been out for several hours with friends each of the past 2 days. Monday we got skunked, today we caught some stripers, though not the big ones. We did run into a bunch of big sandbass which kept us busy and were fun to catch,
Lots of spring break trips the next 2 weeks so I hope the stripers start feeding again.

Got up at 0230 today to do some fishing but the wind & rain sent me back to bed. The weather forecast also forced me to reschedule a trip planned this weekend. Hopefully, the nice weather will return in time for some trips next week. I sure hate to cancel or reschedule when fishing is as good as it is right now. But I guess that is the way march weather is.

I've been out fishing twice this week and Tuesday was GREAT but today was AWESOME!!! Two of my neighbors went with me today to fish. These guys aren't "real" fishermen as they didn't want to get up at 0230 to help catch bait but preferred to sleep in and met me at the ramp at 0715.
We headed north to the area that I've been fishing and started to drift bait across a very windy lake. Weather wise, things were looking up as it was sunny with temps already in the upper 40's at daybreak. That sure beat the upper 20's last week.
It wasn't long before we landed our 1st fish. It was a small box that would have been a really nice fish 6 months ago, but I had hopes for some bigger fish today so we released it. During the next 3 hours we were continuously rewarded with some big fat fish for supper. The guys missed some, but did a good job with these feisty, fat stripers that made us work up a sweat getting them into the boat.
We ended up keeping our 6 fish limit of long fish and 2 smaller box fish. Since most of the fish were caught in fairly shallow cold water and lip hooked without injuries, we were able to C & R quite a few. I imagine we released about 20 fish with most between 23 to 26 inches and all very fat. I've probably said this before, but these are the healthiest fish I've seen on Texoma for several years at least and I'm really looking forward to the fishing the remainder of the year.
Here it is only March 1st & after checking my notes & trip reports from March 2011, I think we caught more pounds of fish yesterday than I did the entire month of March 2011.

I spent several hours this morning fishing up north. Bait was fairly easy and I did manage to find some nice, fat and hungrey stripers for dinner tonight. I quit after throwing my 2nd injured long fish into the ice chest after previously releasing several uninjured long fish. These 2 kept another 6 box fish company on the way to the fish cleaning station. Didn't see any eagles today, just fish.

We have had some decent weather so I decided to try heading north looking for some hungry fish.
Big mistake. I couldn't find any fish, hungry or not. Later this week I will try mid-lake as that is where I have heard the stripers are. I was just hoping to find fish north to serve as a closeby back-up location to fish when the weather gets bad.
However, I did manage to shoot a short video of four beautiful Bald Eagles inside Little Glasses. I stuck them on youtube and you can see them at the following link

It seems winter has returned to Texoma after some nice weather the past week or so. Temperatures in the mid 20's along with 25 MPH winds forced me to cancel a couple trips this weekend and will probably keep me off the water for several more days.

First off, the lake has leveled off at nearly 616 feet after that very much needed rain last week.
I went out this morning looking for supper and I found it but only after spending about 90 minutes getting bait before daylight. Last Wednesday I fished for about half a day only using artificial lures and managed only 1 fish. So today I decided to fish a different part of the lake using only live bait.
Found lots of fat stripers in deep water at nearly every location I stopped from the Roosevelt Bridge to Table Top. I ended up quitting at around 11 AM with a limit of stripers and also released several long fish. The biggest I let go went slightly over 10 lbs.
I even caught & kept a big drum as several of us have been talking about if they are edible and curious how they taste. Everyone just throws them back, but for some reason there has been a lot of them caught in the past year. Anyway, I filleted it today and will cook it tomorrow. It was a big fish, with a big head, big scales, tough skin but not much meat.

We have received 6 inches of rain the past few days which has raised lake levels 18 inches and more continues to flow in from the Red & Washita river systems. At 614.99 feet, many of the ramps and boat docked that were unusable can now again be safely used.
In addition, the current blue-green algae problem that we have had since August is nearly gone. More information on this can be found on my home page as well as the links to the Corps of Engineers sites and complete, current algae testing results.
I’m currently catching up on boat repairs and maintenance, but plan to be out fishing next week……stay tuned.

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