One hour north of the Dallas Ft. Worth Airport is arguably the best-striped bass fishing in the United States. Lake Texoma is one of the few reservoirs in the U.S that striper will naturally reproduce. With the world’s largest striper spawn and generous 10 fish limit, Lake Texoma is known as the striper capital of the world. I have used live bait on Lake Texoma and caught my striper limit and enjoyed every second of it. Still, I knew there had to be more to striper fishing than sitting in a boat with 10 other boats, a shiner on my line and waiting for fish to bite.
The Thrill of the Hunt-Lake Texoma Fishing Guides
The August heat can be tough on bait, and striper fishermen spend a lot of time taking a dead shiner off and putting a live shiner on. I thought if there ever was a time to use lures to catch striper, this was it. A quick Google search, and you can’t help but notice Bill and Chris Carey’s Striper Express are the go-to guides for hunting striper with lures. Their “thrill of the hunt” slogan sold me, and I was soon on my way to Lake Texoma.
I arrived at the dock a little before 6 a.m. and met guide Chris Carey. He told me the morning before was a top 10 all-time fishing trip. The striper was hitting topwater, and every cast was producing fish. The water boiled as striper feasted on baitfish they forced to the surface. In many cases, the Cordell Pencil Popper had no more hit the water than it was struck by the big bass in the feeding frenzy. The bite lasted for an hour, and the fishermen were exhausted when it was finally over.
At this point, I am still skeptical. We have all heard the “if you would have only been here yesterday” stories from fishing guides. Chris did have an impressive video from the morning before, but I was worried that I was a day late and a dollar short.
Supernatural Striper
Soon everyone arrived and after a quick meet and greet we were on our way. The big boat cruised through the water and by 6:30a.m. we are slowing to a stop. Lake Texoma is a beautiful lake, and we were fishing in one of the most picturesque coves you could dream of. The oak trees line the top of the bluffs that surrounded us, and the cliffs slowly disappeared into the water. We were the only boat there, and the water was like glass.
Chris had his gear ready to fish and Tom, Bill and I started throwing pencil poppers in all directions. After 10 casts to the east bluff, I am starting to get worried. The bite the day before began at 6:35 a.m. and so far, there was no action. I liked the looks of the bluff I was throwing at. There was just something about the dark water with the bluff disappearing into it that seemed fishy. All at once, the water exploded and Chris yelled, there they are! It was like something from shark week. The striper had pushed baitfish into the cove and against the bluff, once the baitfish surfaced, the striper attacked.
The scene was supernatural, striper was hitting the shad so hard it was like we were fishing in a blender. My first cast sent a pencil popper right into the frenzy. Instantly it was hit, but I was late setting the hook. A quick jerk of my pole and the lure was hit again and again I missed. I made another quick jerk on the pencil popper and the third time I had him. I set the hook and the rod bent, almost jerking it out of my hand. With my drag singing, a 12-pound striper exploded on the surface of the water. The fight was intense all the way to the boat. I let out a big sigh of relief when the big fish was finally in the net. My relief was short-lived, I knew I had to get my lure back in the frenzy. Every time my lure hit the water it was hit, and with every set of the hook, I had another fight.
Fill the Box
When things of the supernatural end, they can end in an instant. We cruised around the cove, but 30 minutes after the topwater feeding frenzy began, it ended. I think this was when our guide Chris got excited. He went into hunter-mode. With a quick burst down the channel, we were back in the action. We were literally hunting bass. Chris slowed the boat and we started throwing. Again, the bite was on the surface, and we were in the middle of them. These were not the 10–12-pound stripers from the cove. They were 3 to 8-pound bass though and hitting hard.
As soon as we got the fish to the boat, it was netted and measured. Chris was quick to determine if they were keepers and he wanted us to fill the ice chest. It only took a couple fish to reach our limit and we went into catch and release mode. The water was erupting all around us now. I found myself casting as far from the boat as possible, so I could fight the fish the whole way in. I kept hearing Chris yell that Tom or Bill also had fish on, but I was too busy with mine to notice.
The second bite lasted much longer but eventually played out. It was no matter; we were played out too. We had our limit and probably threw back another limit. The big boat fired up and soon the cool breeze was blowing in my face and the magical bluffs were fading away. We pulled into the slip for pictures, bragging and cleaning. My new best friend Tom Bresnahan and I were all grins as they started pulling fish from the cooler. Tom and I are both veterans and were swapping war stories at the lodge the night before. We have another war story to tell now, a supernatural one you must see to believe.
My brother and I took our VFW Post Commander out with us with Chris Carey one time. We were hoping for the top water bite that morning. The top water did not produce so he went on the hunt. We found a school boiling the top of water and all we can catch was fish over the 20-in limit we caught our limits quickly all three of us with fish on. We didn’t come in with a limit ,but we had the time of our life because everything we caught kept getting bigger and bigger we were so exhausted. Chris knows how to find them.
Thanks William, come back soon.