Fished on 3/6
Started out at 8am long lining areas of the lake that have been holding big fish using blue and silver thunder sticks. The fish are not gathered up enough in our end of the lake to catch a limit on bait or lures. All the fish caught were in 16 to 20 feet of water in creek channels. The big fish of the day was 15 lbs with several fish in the 4 to 5 lb range.

Purposely started out late this morning because time of day hasn't made that big of a difference. Took bait & lures. Headed toward the river channel out West and dropped anchor on fish. Fish just wouldn't turn on with the bait or flukes. We caught 1 fish on bait. A lot of other guide boats were moving around trying to find biting fish, as well. We finally got out the thundersticks and started long lining in the 21 to 17 foot water around ledges and it was GAME ON! Finished with a nice box of fish and smiles on the boat.

2/27/10
Went out in the afternoon with the new owner of Texoma T Striper Guide Service, Larry Kessler. He has even purchased my 2009 Falcon to add to his service. We headed South around the islands on the river channel to look around in shallows and creeks. Didn't find too much in those areas so decided to just hit the river. They were there like they have been. We didn't care about bait, so we dropped some flukes. We had several small bumps and a few takers. The fish were all healthy and nice sized box fish. We serached some different areas and Larry took us over to some humps on the East bank between Highport and Soldier Creek. We put out some thundersticks and long lined. We did very well pulling the lures over fish just sitting around the humps. Produced some really nice fish and had fun doing it. Warmer weather coming should just make it better every day.

Fished on 2/13/2010
We have had a lot of rain and snow. Had a 11" snow on 2/12. The water temp has fallen below 42 degrees which means that the threadfin shad are dying. Bait is all but impossible to find so I did not waste my time after getting reports from other guides and friends.
We fished entirely by deadsticking flukes. With all of the water flowing into the lake from the Red and Washita Rivers, there is a lot of muddy areas where we should be fishing at this time. The muddy water makes that near impossible.
We headed West and fished just out of the mud waters over the river channel in about 60 feet of water. We marked a large amount of fish but they just weren't going nuts today. We did well for Winter because it usually isn't fast and furious. I sprayed the flukes with shad oil and we dropped them down to 40 foot where the fish were hanging out. Caught some really nice fish and some smaller ones. I had 2 adults and 2 kids and if you look at the photo page you can see what we did for the day.

Have only had one trip that I fished in January. Man, where are you guys & gals? I have fished a little around my area to see if the fish were here like they should be. They have not been! The cold temps have run them out West or up North so I went after them today. I used bait and flukes to catch them. It wasn't fast, because Winter never is but I caught some nice fish in 35 feet of water. It was a bluebird sky day with very little wind and that makes it even tougher. The fish are still here and I posted a picture of todays catch for you in the photo section.

The computer and I have both had a little glitch in us, so here is a late report.
1/2/2010
Caught bait in 22 degree weather! Man was that fun. Had a trip of 2 guys and 3 tough ladies, so lures were out of the question today. Looked for fish in areas where I had been catching with no luck. Wound up on the river ledge around Cedar Mills and started catching in 48 feet of water. Not fast, but catching. After a while it was ladies break time so we headed into Big Mineral. After our break we found tons of fish but couldn't get them to hit us hard enough for a good hook set. We managed a decent box but it wasn't a great day for me. Weather is brutally cold right now and the lake temp is falling way too much. Hope we can get a warm spell at some point soon. 12 degrees out as I write this report.

12/17
Started trip around 8:15 AM with temps right above freezing and 10 mph South wind. Headed South to around the Islands where I had last caught fish. Birds tried to work North of the islands but never got going well. Went into a cove that is known to hold fish in these colder water temps. The fishing wasn't very fast but it was VERY GOOD! This cove has shallow areas with a nice area that drops off into 24 feet of water and the fish were laying in the hole. We were catching real nice box fish and some fish that ranged from 5 to around 13 pounds. We had our overs in the box already and had to release our biggest fish of the day, but not without getting a picture of it with my customers camera. We moved back to the central part of the lake to catch our last 3 fish because we needed something smaller to finish the box. Took a while fishing under the birds to get it done but we got them. Released a few smaller fish because we knew we would get the nicer ones if we were patient. Really great day of fishing and the fish are all getting larger and fatter! Time to come fish for those big ones! We fished with wildeyes of assorted colors, slabs (silver & blue), and day glow sassy shad with white heads & a yellow jig. We kept changing lures around as the fish dictated, but it worked.

Long stretch of unseasonably cold weather has changed fishing up quickly. Bait has moved out of the areas where I have been getting it and the fish have moved, as well.

Went out for a short scouting trip on 12/11 in the evening. Just wanted to see if the fish were holding in the same areas that they had been but a lot of them had moved. Caught a few fish on 5" shad and pearl colored wildeyes in 35' feet of water before it started getting dark.

Fished a trip on 12/12. There was no bait in my area of the lake so it was a lure trip only. Found the birds working around the islands and on the TX side of the Red River near the islands. Caught a few fish on the wildeyes and a few more on silver/blue slabs. Did a lot of looking around to see what the new pattern was going to be. Came back towards Soldier/Caney and had some birds working in 34 feet of water off the North Island. We were catching better using a white glow sassy with white heads letting them sink. Headed out into some 60 foot water and marked a ton of fish but they weren't very aggressive. Moved back up in the 34 foot water off the islands with no birds working but marking good fish on the bottom. We started slabbing that area and caught our best and most aggressive fish of the day there. The Winter pattern is starting so that means better on lures and long trips early in the morning to get bait. Fish are getting larger and fatter which is really good to see.

12/1 went on scouting mission for fish. My excuse to go fishing. Went with swim baits only just to see what was working. Found birds working in many areas from the North Island all the way to the Cross. With the amount of birds we were fishing under I thought we would have caught fish on every cast, but this wasn't the case. We used wildeyes and cocahoes as our lures. We fished in water from 34 feet to 7 feet deep. Our larger fish were caught int the shallower water but we still caught some nice ones in the 20 foot places. The 16 to 20 inch fish are starting to gain some weight finally but some of them are still too skinny to keep. All of the smaller fish are plump and healthy. Our first snow was this morning on 12/2, unbelievable. Not much of it, but it did snow! Going to be a much cooler week ahead and with 2 inches of cold rain the lake temps should drop and the fish become even more active. Catching is still relatively easy and should keep getting better as water temps fall.

Fishing on 11/27 was not what I wanted. Weather changed again with winds switching to South with no cloud cover and barometric pressure not good. It was obvious that smaller fish could be caught on bait easily, but we were looking for some nice lure fish! We started under birds catching a few small ones out in 58 feet of water. We headed to MANY areas of the lake at every depth you can think of. I just wasn't having any luck finding those lure fish we were wanting. We finally had to drop bait in the creek that is producing every trip drifting bait from 28 feet up to about 19 feet. We got hit very easily this way producing smaller fish that were fat. The nicer box fish were still skinny and not much meat on them. We need colder water so the big fish will come in and let us catch them. Good day of fishing, just not what we were planning on doing.