Charter Preparations-Lake Texoma Fishing Guides

Striper Fishing Lake Texoma-Winter Weather can be tricky and we try to use our time wisely. I am getting down to the dock an hour before the trip to start things off. Then get started on a list of things that need to get done before the clients arrive. Start with lowering the boat down off the lift, unhook the battery chargers, getting all the tackle ready, checking knots, put ice in the cooler, turn on electronics, and trolling motor. If I still have time, I will sharpen hooks, especially in the winter. Now that these things are all done, we are ready to attack some striped bass. I’m not here to make friends with the fish 🙂

1-11-20
Lake elevation 618.65
Water temperature high 40’s

This winter weather messes fishing up! Our go-to winter spots, creeks, river edges, and humps are off-color, and water temperatures have dropped. Mud lines and debris will be coming, and when it happens, this fast just hope for nothing drastic because we have seen the lake nuclear orange more than once or twice. It amazes me how a lake of this size can rise so fast, but two major rivers and over 200 runoff and feeder creeks can really let the water in because our watershed is extensive and huge.
Lots of rain and snow hit the watershed, and Lake Texoma has risen almost 12 inches overnight! This is some dangerous cold water rushing in…53,000 cubic feet per second coming in and 5000 going out. This is the standard generation, I believe. Lake Texoma will rise lots more, and we may have to relocate where we are fishing.

1-12-20
Lake elevation 619.05
Water temp 46-49

Striper Fishing Lake Texoma-Winter Weather-Change Your Pattern

The Striper pattern we have had dialed in the last few weeks is gone! I also noticed surface temperatures were several degrees cooler, so I decided to head to the Five Creeks area of the Lake Texoma as it is usually clear. I was correct and found clear water. I found a few fish in the creek’s here and there, but they did not want to bite anything we were offering! We started searching deep ledges and the very end tips of main lake points. Picked up a few smaller boxfish, I was thinking this is better than nothing but ended up we kept after that pattern for the rest of the trip. They were calling for the major feed from 2:30 to 3:30 on the Solunar table, and about 30 minutes before the major hit, a little bit of bird activity started locating active large Deepwater schools. These fish were not easy to catch, but we started hooking up a lot more consistently, even a couple of doubles! They were really staying out in 50 to 60 feet of water, but two different times they pushed up in the 30 to 40 feet, and it was a lot more productive.

1-13-20
Water elevation 619.10

Of course, they were nowhere in the same place after a couple of hours looking I finally found some activity way up one of the big Creek’s here on Texoma. Still, 40 to 60 feet of water and sassy shad was still the best bait to catch em. Once we found them, we filled out our limits quickly and called it a day.

1-14-20
Water elevation 619.16

Today was a short early morning trip, and the fish had relocated AGAIN. It took a little searching, but we found some and got some Caught.

1-15-20
Water elevation 619.19

Striper Fishing Lake Texoma-Winter Weather-Fog and Snow

Completely socked in with fog, one of the thickest I’ve seen in my 26 years of guiding. I spent a few hours trying to stay close, but after nothing much to show for it, I went striper hunting. I had to make a big long run but finally found some. These fish were in an 18 to 25-foot structure and hard to catch, but they were all very nice size. A couple of times, we pulled them off the structure and caught a couple floating all the way across the channel. It was hard to get a hook stuck in them; we were losing more than we were catching, but we ended up with some really nice fish. After using those heavy jigheads for a couple of days, we had to lighten up a little bit, and still, sassy’s and 5-inch paddle tail style baits were the best. We lost a couple of REAL nice ones. Weather was Incredible for January didn’t have anything but pants and jacket on, but that will all change tomorrow.

1-16-20
Water elevation 619.20

20-30 mph big north winds, major temperature change, and precipitation all day. It doesn’t look like they’ll be any fishing today…yep no go, we will have to reschedule for a later date. Tomorrow looks iffy as well. One of my sayings is we can fish in the rain, we can fish in the cold, and we can fish in the wind but if you combine all three we better talk.

1-17-20

Bad weather! It happens but it’s another lost revenue day! Days like today do some tackle chores or service reels and change the line.

1-18-20
Water elevation 619

Windy!!! Left out around 11 eating waves all the way over to the north bank. Spent a lot of time searching some coves some of the creeks and main points. Wasn’t much going on, so we went way west and only found muddy water but on the way back in a couple of spots and pulled some fish. They really wanted bright chartreuse as glows, shad, and ice colors were not producing.

1-20-20
Water elevation 618.61

Beautiful day out on the big lake, but ZERO WIND! We fished hard from 10:30-4. I would’ve stayed till there wasn’t one ray of light left, but guys had to be back in Dallas! We caught some fish, but it was very difficult. Fish seemingly wanted sassy shad ground along the bottom in 15 to 20 feet of water. We tried other things but just couldn’t get many responses any other way. The combination of post front conditions, floodgates running with the lake dropping, and high pressure combined with no wind never helps, but we got some fooled. For more information please follow Lake Texoma Fishing Guides.