It has been quite the adventure here on Texoma over the past few weeks. Flooding out west caused the lake rise 17 ft. in just a couple of weeks to a crest of 636, just 4 feet shy of topping our spillway, this made for quite a lot of change to navigate. You have to enjoy life's adventures -- I have had to use a small boat to paddle out to reach my guide boat parked in my boat slip as the walkway and parking lot to get to my boathouse has been under water for several weeks now.
Also with the water high, our marina is not protected from wind and a storm destroyed the courtesy dock. Thankfully the rest of the boathouses suffered only minor damage. The hardest part has was navigating the fish. The flooding rivers coming into the lake coupled with the open floodgates allowed the lake to turn muddy faster than I have ever seen it happen and the fish were moving and changing patterns every day to adjust.
The stripers don't like the muddy water because they feed by sight, so, when the lake muddies, it is difficult to get them to bite. During flood years, we have to search for fish in pockets of clear water and those pockets disappeared faster than usual this time. As the lake was on the rise, fishing was good. We were fishing outside of the mudline and doing well but right as the lake crested and started receding, the pockets of clear water where we were catching fish disappeared which made it extremely difficult to catch fish.
Many of the guides left Texoma to fish other lakes but a few of us, myself included, stuck it out here on Texoma to make it happen. I had to explain to my clients that fishing was poor and gave everyone an opportunity to cancel or reschedule. But, for those willing, we went out and gave it our best. During this time our big fish were up river spawning so most of the fish we were catching were small and we had to work hard for every one of them.
It has certainly been challenging but we have made it though the worst part and things are starting to look good again. Luckily the poor fishing only lasted a couple of weeks and recently things have really started to improve.
Water temperature is around 72 degrees and the lake has already fallen 8 feet as they are releasing 40,201 cfs of water below dam, bringing Lake Texoma's elevation to 628 and dropping. We are still about 9 feet high of our normal elevation of 619 which is projected to be reached around the fourth of July under current outflow/inflow rates.
Our big fish have returned from the spawn and the mud is starting to settle and we can fish pretty much anywhere in the main lake now. Things are looking good again around here and we are blessed!
The fishing has really improved over the past week, I had a group trip on Saturday and we brought a nice mess of fish to the table with some big fish over 10 lbs. showing back up from the spawn. Then on Monday we went out and caught our limit with all of our overs while picking through smaller fish to bring home a solid box of fish for the table. We are fishing live bait on ledges right now. It is not as fast as it normally is this time of year but with the lake settling down things are only going to keep getting better and better.
Traditionally this is an excellent time of the year to fish so expect to see some really great fishing in the coming weeks, especially since the lake is virtually deserted of boats as many of the boat ramps are still under water.
We will likely continue to fish with live bait throughout the month of June; then by July, I expect to be able to switch to topwaters, slabs, and swimbaits for the rest of the summer, I love lure fishing! Fishing is about to get good, so it is time to book those trips and get on the water before the lake gets crowded again. I have this Saturday June 7 available as well as several openings next week.
Trust me, there is no better Father's Day gift than a fishing trip, I can get you set up with a gift certificate to book at his convenience or you can act fast and book now.
You can book your trip online at www.stripersinc.com or give me a call at (903)815-1609.
Little Mineral is still booking cabins and most everything around the lake is open for business. You can access boatramps at Highport, Buncome Creek, and Catfish Bay marinas, others will be opening soon as the lake continues to drop.
For the latest updates, check out our facebook page and give us a like at www.facebook.com/stripersinc.
I'll be looking forward to fishing with you!
Your Lake Texoma Fishing Guide,
Brian Prichard
(903) 815-1609
