Lake Texoma Fishing Report :: Still Catching Big Fish on Top!

This weekend has been incredible fishing. There are little fish all over the lake and I’ve been looking for where the big fish went but they have eluded me for over about 2 weeks now. No one else was catching them either but I kept searching until I found them and fishing was great this weekend. Morning topwater for BIG fish and then move on to bait to catch our unders which are all 18-19” After a quick limit of bait fishing we finish off the trip throwing sassy shad and hooking up at times on every cast.

Friday Oct. 23 PM (2 People) I had been off for 3 days before this trip and the larger box fish that I had been catching before had moved on me. It was very windy and after making several stops looking for larger fish we finally settled for the small ones that can be found everywhere. I threw cohoes and caught small fish and tried bait fishing all over the lake and caught small fish. At this point I’m wandering if there are any big fish left in the lake.

Saturday Oct. 24 AM (2 people) Determined to find the big fish I decide to go back to the early morning topwater and start beating the banks because the big ones are obviously not in the open water yet. After several stops I’m about to give up when I find them :) and it was well worth the effort! We ended up catching a couple of 8’s a couple of 10’s and a 12 with several others over 20”. We made quick work of our last 5 under 20” fish using bait and then switch to throwing cohoes. No takers, switched to a 4” glow sassy and started hammering them with 3 fish hooked up on several occasions. What a trip! This was what I’ve been searching for to get me excited again. I hate to catching little fish :)

Saturday PM (4 people) I had 2 little ones with me so we decided to bait fish the whole time. I threw one anchor and that was all it took. They were mostly all good fish with all of our overs. Fish stayed with us the whole time until we got tired of catching them

Sunday Oct. 25 AM (3 People) Back to throwing topwaters! The fish were there again but we didn’t get into the monsters like the previous morning. We had to settle for the 6-7 lbers today. We caught all of our overs and several more then switched to bait to finish up with our under fish which didn’t take us long. To polish off the trip we got into them throwing sassy shad until we got tired of catching fish.

Monday Oct. 26 AM (3 people) Man was it windy this morning and that lake looked like the ocean out there. Fishing was great! We fished topwaters, sassy shad, cohoes, and bait and had success with all of them. Biggest fish came off of topwaters up to 7lbs with an even bigger fish that got away.

Right now I have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening of this week off if someone wants to get in on some of the action! Guess everyone has Halloween plans :)







Your Lake Texoma Striper Guide,
Brian Prichard
Stripers Inc.
www.stripersinc.com
(903)815-1609

Lake Texoma Fishing Report :: Bring on the Fall Fishing!

Lake Texoma water temperature is now 80° and elevation is ½ ft below normal. The margins between the hit and miss days are getting smaller and fishing is becoming more consistent. Now, even on the slow days we’re still bringing home a limit of fish and we should continue to catch limits on almost every trip from now through the end of December. Fall fishing is my favorite time of the year. With kids back in school and hunting season kicking off, the lake becomes less crowded. Fall is also the best time to catch a big fish on topwater. This means you get to experience some of the best fishing of the year with out having to fight the crowds.

Recently, the high pressure system has brought back the heat and killed the wind. According to the forcast this will change heading into the weekend and we will have nice cool weather again. With the return of the heat and no wind, I’ve noticed the topwater bite has slowed down and bigger fish are less aggressive.

Tuesday morning the fishing was fantastic! I had 2 people and we fished topwaters most of the morning. I tried several spots and the only strikes I could muster were small swirls and half harted attempts by the fish to take the lure. I kept on the move until I finally found some aggressive fish. We ended up catching some nice fish but no monsters and managed to box half of our limit before the topwater bite quit. Now it was time to drop some baits down. I idled out a ways from where we were topwater fishing and set up a drift in 15 ft of water. After drifting for a few minutes with no action I decided to beat the water. Here they come! We were catching fish as fast as we could drop down and they stayed with me until I got out to 30ft of water. Half the fish we were catching were over 20” and the other half were small. Not many box fish and I was only keeping 1 fish for every 5 we caught but we only needed 10 fish anyway and I put our last in the box around 8:00. The bite quite around 9:00 but my customers weren’t ready to go in so we went looking for fish that were still feeding. I finaly managed to find some small fish drifting the flats in around 30ft of water and they kept us occupied until it was time to go in. Definitely a great morning on the water!

Tuesday evening I had a group of 4 that I picked up at Eisenhower at 3:30. Thankfully the wind had started blowing and we had a little cloud cover develop since I went in on my morning trip. I went straight to where I had caught them that morning and decided to throw anchor on a ledge since I had wind. The first anchor was unsuccessful but the second was the jackpot! 25ft of water and it was fast and furious. We were having to throw back 20” fish and we managed to put 27 in the box before the fish finally left us. I was about to pull anchor and move but my customers decided they had caught enough fish and were ready to go in and cook supper. We made it back to the dock at 5:30. I sure wish every trip could be that easy :)

Wednesday morning I had a group of 4. We had the same conditions as Tuesday morning, hot and still. I figured with the same conditions, I could fish the same spots with the same results. As it turned out I was wrong. The topwater bite was much slower. We only managed 3 fish with 1 over. I tried drifting several places in the area I had success in yesterday but couldn’t get a bite. The fish would come under the boat and just wouldn’t want to feed. I went to the flats and started catching small fish drifting 30ft and after putting several small fish in the box I left to go find some bigger fish. I spent a lot of time looking and we managed to get on some good fish briefly to put 10 decent fish in the box. That only lasted a minute and I could not find where they went. We finally ended up back on the flats with the small fish to finish our limit. We went in at 12:00 with our 40 fish limit. I wasn’t proud of a lot of the fish that we kept but at least my customers went home happy with a mess of fillets. We caught a lot of fish and had a good time and that’s what its all about.

The cooler it gets the better and more consistent fishing will become. When the water temperature hits 75°, every day will be a good day. Book your Lake Texoma striper fishing trip online at www.stripersinc.com or call me anytime at (903)815-1609 and I will get you set up.







Your Lake Texoma Fishing Guide,
Brian Prichard
Stripers Inc.
www.stripersinc.com
(903)815-1609

Lake Texoma Fishing Report :: Incredible Topwater Action!

Fall fishing is awesome on Texoma and now is the time to reserve your fall trip. Catching 10lb fish on topwaters is a common occurrence from September through the end of October and the bait fishing is as good as it gets. A typical fall trip will involve catching our big fish on topwaters at first light and switching to bait to finish up our limit after the topwater bite is over. Cold fronts will produce the best topwater fishing as fish become more active in the cooling water temperatures.

Currently Lake Texoma elevation is normal at 617 and the water temperature is 83°. Fishing is steadily getting better with the cooling water temperatures. Fish are concentrated in the shallow flats and on the river ledges. My fish have been comming off topwater at daylight and on bait later in the moning. With bait, fishing on anchor in 30ft on a flat or 45ft on a ledge seems to be working best.

Wed Aug 19: Lake Texoma came alive with big stripers blowing up on the surface today. It was the best topwater experience I have had all summer long. I had 5 people with 2 cute little girls today. The fish stayed on top for 2 hours and didn’t go down. There were 5-6 other boats chasing them but it didn’t seem to matter. They were gong crazy! I would pull up to a school, cast out 5 rods and have 5 fish on as soon at they hit the water. They really kept me busy today casting 3 of the 5 rods and taking all of the fish off the hooks, I could barely keep up with all of the chaos. The topwater bite subsided around 9:00 and we had 33 fish in the box, all good fish, and threw back several over 20”. We then threw an anchor just off of a near by ledge in 40ft and started catching them off of bait. Most of the fish on bait were over 20”. Around 10:00 the fishing slowed and the girls decided it was time to go in with a few fish shy of our 50 fish limit. What an incredible topwater day on Texoma!

I will be leaving for Colorado Sunday August 23 and will return on Sunday August 30. While I’m gone it will be best for you to reserve all of your trips online at www.stripersinc.com as I will not have internet access to book your trips by phone. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me anytime at (903)815-1609. My prices are $125/person. Children 12 and under as well as active military personnel are half price when accompanied with 2 full price adults and catch and release trips receive a 10% discount. Everyone is welcome aboard and everyone WILL catch fish.







Your Lake Texoma Fishing Guide,
Brian Prichard
Stripers Inc.
www.stripersinc.com
(903)815-1609

Lake Texoma Fishing Report :: July 17 - 20

Lake Texoma water temperature is 86° and the elevation is normal. Fishing is hot and cold right now. I’m catching 10-20 fish when it is cold and wearing them out when it is hot with lots of fish in the 8-10 lb. range. The fish are feeding the first 2 and the last 2 hours of daylight, at least for the big fish. You can catch little fish all day long but you have to be out there when the big fish want to feed to catch them.

Most of my fish are coming of slabs and bait. Most of the fish are located near or in the river channel in the top 30ft of water. The bottom depth doesn’t seem to matter much. There are some big fish on topwater up to 10lbs if you are in the right place in the right time. They will only come up for 30 seconds or so before they are back down again. Saturday is not the day to come fishing. There are too many boats and too many people trolling and it makes the fishing tough. Just when the fish try to school up someone trolls through them and the stay scattered out. If you can find fish away from other boats you can catch fish.

Friday morning I caught a ton of fish. All on anchor using bait in 35ft of water. We had to throw back a lot of 20” fish and they ate up all of my bait. I went in 2 fish shy of a limit.

Saturday morning I caught 10 fish all on bait. There were too many boats

Saturday evening I caught 17 fish up to 10 lbs all on slabs. I didn’t have a fish in the box until 7:30 Saturday evening. All 17 fish came in the boat in about 30 minutes.

Sunday morning I caught 21 fish, all on bait. The fish were averaging a little smaller today, I did not catch a fish over 20” but still good box fish. Still too many boats.

Monday morning I had a catch and release trip. There were not many boats on the water where I was and I got into the big fish. We probably caught 30fish with 3 fish in the 10lb range. All of the fish were over 20” with average being 6 lbs. I’m glad it was a catch and release trip because they would have all been thrown back anyway. I caught big fish on bait, slabs, and topwater. The big fish quit biting at 8:00 and we caught little fish on cohoes until it was time to quit.

Your Lake Texoma fishing guide,
Brian Prichard
Stripers Inc.
www.stripersinc.com

June Free Tackle Box Winner

Readi-Lure Tackle Boxes, made by Tackle Tech, are the most unique, versatile tackle boxes on the market.

Every March, June, September and December, a lucky fishing report subscriber will receive an Original Readi-Lure Tackle Box!

This quarter's winner is John J. from Yukon, Oklahoma. Want a chance to win a new tackle box? Sign up here!

Editor's Note: Congratulations Zak and good luck with all your fishing adventures this year!

June Free Lures Winner

Twice a month, www.SouthwestFishingGuides.com awards free lures & tackle to lucky fishing report subscribers.

In addition, once a quarter a lucky subscriber will also win an Original

Readi-Lure tackle box from Tackle Tech AND at the end of the year, one lucky subscriber will win an IM6 Hookhider Fishing Rod.

This week's lures and tackle winner is Gerry W. from Lawton, Oklahoma. Gerry will receive an assortment of lures & tackle from

Lead Babies Slabs, River Bottom Lures, SnapTail Lures, and our newest sponsor, Hawg Wild Custom Bass Baits, home of Larry the Lizard.

Want a chance to win free fishing lures & fishing tackle OR a new tackle box OR a customized IM6 Hookhider fishing rod?

Sign Up Here!

Editor's Note: Congratulations Gerry. Good luck with all your fishing adventures this year!

Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey Tops 10,000 Entries

Want to catch a big bass in Texas? Then check out this report from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department:

In May, the Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey continued its run as the most successful program of its kind. Since the survey began in March 2003, anglers have reported catching more than 10,000 trophy largemouth bass from the 27,000 acre reservoir. During its nearly 30-year history, anglers have braved the stumpy waters of Lake Fork in search of the fish of a lifetime- and many have been rewarded! The latest milestone for the Trophy Bass Survey confirms Lake Fork’s legacy as one of the finest trophy largemouth bass fisheries in the world.

The Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey, a voluntary program in which anglers report their catches of trophy largemouth bass on Lake Fork, has been collecting valuable information for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) fisheries managers for more than six years. This survey, which is a cooperative project of the Lake Fork Chamber of Commerce, the Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association and TPWD, provides invaluable details on Lake Fork’s world-renowned trophy bass fishery; information which cannot be obtained through standard fisheries surveys.

The Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey gives anglers an opportunity to record their catches of fish 7 pounds and greater. Anglers are asked to provide information at participating marinas on weights and lengths of these trophy fish. Each month, TPWD personnel collect the survey ledgers and produce a summary of the results. Not only does the survey generate good publicity for the lake, but it also allows fisheries managers and stakeholders a chance to cooperate in a successful project.

During its history, the Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey has recorded 10,127 fish over 7 pounds. Fisheries managers have estimated through their angler creel surveys that through May 2009, 8.1% of trophy fish reportedly caught by interviewed anglers were reported to the Trophy Bass Survey. If the numbers are expanded, that would indicate a catch of in excess of 125,025 fish over 7 pounds since March 2003! That’s a monthly average of 1,667 trophies.

Since March 2003, 8,423 of the Trophy Bass Survey entries (83%) were weighed, and 1,316 of them (15.6%) were 10 pounds or heavier. Fifty-six of the weighed fish were 13 pounds or better, with many of these fish being eligible for entry in TPWD’s Sharelunker program. Anglers measured lengths on 5,985 of their entries (59%) and of these fish, 33.3% were 24 inches or longer. This summary information provides compelling evidence that the slot-length limit is working on Lake Fork, since considerable numbers of fish are growing past the upper limit of the slot and not dying of old age or the effects of catch-and-release before they get to 24 inches.

The survey also confirms that the fishery at Lake Fork remains the most popular destination for anglers seeking trophy bass in Texas. Entrants from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and many foreign nations were represented in the Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey. As expected, residents of the home state participated in the survey at the highest rate. An estimated 62.6% of trophies were reported by Texans. Neighboring anglers from Oklahoma (6.7%), Missouri (6.0%), Louisiana (5.0%), and Arkansas (3.8%) accounted for a combined 84.1% of entries. Anglers from Illinois, Tennessee, Indiana, Mississippi, Kansas and Kentucky combined, accounted for an additional 8.4%. Despite higher gasoline prices and an economic recession, anglers are still willing to make the trip to Lake Fork.

For questions, comments and additional information concerning the Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey, please contact TPWD Inland fisheries management personnel in Tyler at (903) 593-5077.

Editor's Note: Yep, I caught one of those - a 7.5 lber on the Caney Steps (though that's not the one pictured above).