Denison, Texas — I think most people fail to realize what an incredible striped bass fishery we have at Lake Texoma. Being one of 3 lakes in the world where stripers reproduce naturally, it is by far the most successful for spawning numbers and overall population. Striped bass, or stripers, are anadromous, meaning they travel from the sea up freshwater rivers to spawn so they are adapted to survive in fresh water though most lakes where they are stocked do not support their spawning requirements. Due to the slightly brackish nature of the rivers that feed it, Lake Texoma has just the right amount of salinity for a successful striped bass spawn year after year.
Lake Texoma has been touted the striped bass capital of the world, which as far as the success rate of how many fish are caught on a daily basis, may very well be 1. Attracting people from all over the world, Lake Texoma supports an estimated 20 million dollar fishing industry and has no signs of slowing down. It never ceases to amaze me how all of the guides can go out day after day and reliably bring home limits of stripers. At a 10-fish-per-person limit, I’m cleaning anywhere from 20-60 fish a day depending on how many people are on my boat and the other guides are all doing the same. Of course no one catches their limit everyday but when the fish are feeding, any guide worth his salt should have no trouble putting a limit of fish in the boat, there are just that many of them.
Right now we can reliably catch our limit of fish everyday, though it isn’t as easy to catch the bigger fish as they are mixed in with the small fish or scattered out and not as easy to target. As we move into December, if the annual patterns hold true, we will begin to catch a lot more of the big fish. I’ve had some of my best trips of the year as far as catching big fish goes from the tail end of December through February. During this time, the bigger fish will settle onto structure like a stump bed, ledge, creek channel, point, or rock pile.
Usually structure on structure is the best like a stump bed on a ledge. When you find these spots you can mark them on the GPS and go back day after day and catch fish. Fishing this pattern, we will hop from spot to spot all around the lake catching fish, some days its all big fish and since the limit only allows 2 over 20 per person within their 10 fish limit, it can often be hard to find smaller fish to fill out the limit. I love structure fishing, we cast glow in the dark sassy shad on a 1 ½ oz. jig head and reel them just fast enough to keep them from dragging the bottom. Unlike when the birds are broadcasting the location of the fish to everyone within 2 miles, with this pattern, if you have not put in your time to learn the lake, you will not know where the fish are holding so there is more of an art and challenge to finding them which I appreciate. With the reduced pressure from other anglers and the ability to target the bigger fish, this winter structure pattern is about my favorite time of the year to fish right next to fall topwater season in the shallows.
I’ve recently been getting into fly fishing and had an awesome time catching striper on the fly during the fall topwater season, I’m looking forward to expand the art to my winter structure patterns so if you want to bring a fly rod along you are more than welcome.
You can book your next fishing adventure online at our website at www.stripersinc.com or give me a call at (903)815-1609 and I’ll get you setup over the phone. With the holiday season just around the corner, I wanted to remind everyone that we do offer gift certificates which I can email to you as a PDF that you can print out to present as the perfect surprise gift. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Your Lake Texoma Fishing Guide, Brian Prichard
Stripers Inc. www.stripersinc.com (903)815-1609
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