"Shaken" not stirred...

[Agitated88]

With winds pushing 25mph all day with intermittent gust over 35mph we were defiantly “shaken” and Lake Texoma lived up to its nic name of “Lake Texocean.” It really didn’t matter, this was my 4th attempt in the last two months to do some Striper fishing and well, my kidneys and knee’s will heal…hopefully. Met the crew at the Norman Wal-Mart at 0300 and headed down I-35 for the three hour drive to the Little Mineral Marina on Lake Texoma in Pottsboro, TX. Pulled into the marina where Brian Prichard from www.stripersinc.com had the 23’ Falcon loaded and ready for our trip. For those of you not familiar with Falcon’s, just imagine the illegitimate ******* off spring produced by a Ranger bass boat and a Parker boat. These are purpose built boats for Lake Texoma, deeper with more freeboard than your typical Bass boat for handling the big waves, but without the flared bow that would be counterproductive in the ever present Texas/Oklahoma winds. Once loaded up, Brian pointed us north and dropped the hammer…ahhhhhh…I’ve missed that sound…Yamaha screaming, wave’s pounding against the hull, wind and spray blowing by at 60+mph…heaven!! We arrived at our first destination, rocky shore around the Dennison Dam, hell bent on some early morning surface action. With the strong southern wind pushing against and parallel the embankment, we could see ton’s of shad against the rocks and Brian shut her down and we had a perfect drift down the shore. Using poppers we’d throw against the rocks and work them back to the boat…we had numerous blowups and “chaser’s” but, could not get the hookup. After a hour or so, Brian wanted to try a few other spots, so began the theme of the day…running and gunning. Another hour of unproductive top water fishing and Brian suggest we switch to drifting some live bait. Head to Brian’s first spot, drop lines, and within a few minutes…tap, tap, tight line, I reel in the first fish of the day little 3lb Striper. Now, I understand that most of you would probably use this size fish for bait, but, aside from these being Stripers, this is an entirely different species/fishery. Lake Texoma is one, if not the only, fresh water lake with a naturally reproducing population of Stripers, unlike most, which are stocked annually by their respective states. Now, because of this, there is an healthy over population of small fish, and to combat this they have very liberal, and, unique regulations. Each angler is allowed 10 per day, with only 2 being over 20’…so, unlike most fisheries, the intent is to thin out the smaller fish for the betterment and sustainment of this fishery. Unlike previous trips, the fish were extremely spread out and we did a lot of moving around, and spent 98% of our time fishing and about 2% actually catching. We ended the day with 16 Stripers, 2 Sand Bass, 4 Channel Cat’s, and a very lively 4.5lb Black Bass that put on a pretty good show for me before I released him. Again, not the most productive day catch wise, but, a great day on the water, a great guide, and a couple good buddy’s.

23’ Falcon Striper Guide Boat




Early morning sunrise





“Wake” up



Weapon clt_capt inshore series rod



Big shout out to my flag ship sponsor…”Marolina Boats”…thanks Bo!


Lake Texoma Striper



Catch of the Day

[clt_capt]

Glad someone is fishing - Nice report - thought the rod in the sunrise pic looked familiar.

[Agitated88]

Glad someone is fishing - Nice report - thought the rod in the sunrise pic looked familiar.

Yup...it was a much needed escape! Rod worked great, even hooked into a HUGE cat back at the docks...easily 30+lbs...that took me all around the dock and eventually wrapped around a piling and broke me off, lost the fish, but, the rod gave him a workout and took it in stride!!

[gottaflylee]

What a great report and pictures, loved it. I see we chasing the same kind of fish right now...sweet!

[Agitated88]

What a great report and pictures, loved it. I see we chasing the same kind of fish right now...sweet!

Yes sir...I'd love to catch a little better grade fish, but, "when in Rome..."
Hoping to get back down in a couple weeks and try them again. Sorry about the pictures, my camera locked up and these are from the phone...hopefully, I'll have a new camera in time for the next trip.

[Robja]

Nice report Jesse. You could have jumped off the dock and noodled for that cat fish you lost.

[Agitated88]

Nice report Jesse. You could have jumped off the dock and noodled for that cat fish you lost.

Jay...it would have taken way more adult beverages than I had available for me to attempt noodling...I have to draw the line somewhere!