Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Historic Black Bass day in Texas

Texoma might be a really good choice for your dad. I'd start checking PDQ though, as spring trips fill up pretty quick.

EDIT: Zep's suggestion is a good one also.

We used to slow troll 6"-7"+ Bluegill for Striped Bass (Not Hybrids) on Raccoon Reservoir in Indiana. I thought the 15#-18# fish that we caught were huge. I just looked up the record for Indiana and now it's sitting at 39# (Striped Bass) that was caught in Cecil M Harden Lake (that's the same lake, the name was changed). It measured 42.25 inches long with a 30-inch girth.

I just have to wonder how big they are now, that fish was caught in 2010......

Rod, somewhere I have a treasure trove of pictures with George and his wife Nicki at Texoma, years, and years ago. George understood that the stripers moved with the forage, and not the bottom structure. The catches they had were epic, and he made sure the guides saw it.

He had one of the old bull nosed Falcon boats back then.

FishinRod.....if it really is "low effort/high catch rate" I have the perfect fishing guide for you. However it is mainly just sand-bass. I've gone out with guide Don Novak at least 4 times for half day trips on Lake Grapevine and caught tons of fish.

The Sand Bass (white bass) are not huge, but it is literally almost a constant bite. Just drop a slab he supplies down to bottom, jig it a few times and boom FISH ON! You and your Dad would most likely catch 75-100+ fish on a half day trip. I did catch a nice catfish on a slab on one of these trips, but that's more rare. (see image)

Lake Grapevine is near DFW Airport, easy access, and quiet on weekdays and usually calm water.

Don is a great guy, has a nice boat, and he will not let you take your own fish off the hook. It's not trophy fishing, but it is a fun half day of fishing and being out on the water.

Luck O' Irish Fishing Guide - Don Novak - Lake Grapevine

ps: I've also gone out on two "Striper Guide Trips" with other guides and not caught near as many fish, but it was still fun.

Zep,

Thanks for taking the time for such a thoughtful recommendation!

I will definitely put Don's number in my list.

Al,

Thanks for the tip. I was looking at Texhoma as our best bet for a striper trip.

My brother has a client that said he did real well there last spring and had an excellent guide. My brother is trying to get the name for the guide service.

That is not my usual style of fishing, but I think it is our best option.

Are those lakes erratic in the spring (like alternating good years and bad years), or does good guide + good day on the calendar = good fishing trip?

(The exception being a strong cold front blows through right on your scheduled day, etc.)

FishinRod, Texoma striper fishing suffers when there's a shad kill. Last winter was obviously tough on this area, but I'm not sure how bad it was. I'm posting a link for you from the Texas Fishing Forum, and if anybody knows, it will be on there.

TFF Striper Info

Mark, that striper is a beast. Lake Tawakoni wouldn't be a bad choice either. It's loaded with stripers, hybrids, whites, and some of the biggest blue cats in the state.

Did you guys see this HSB that a bass angler caught tournament fishing?

Bass tournament HSB

I took my boy on a guided trip to Texoma a couple of February's ago. Spent all day catching fish too big to keep. It was a blast!

I think you'd be OK.

Thanks to everyone that gave me good fishing advice.

We had a great time at Lake Texoma!

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We caught our limit in just over 2 hours. The biggest fish were right at 5#. (The guide said the big ones were still spawning up the river and up the inlet creeks.)

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I believe there are 10 guides that work out of the marina we used. Only five(?) were booked on the day that we fished.

We all split up to start the day. After 20" at our first spot, our guide talked with two other guides. We then sped down to a different spot to join up with one of the other charters. The fishing at the second spot was significantly better.

I think they know to chase the forage. However, the guides were a little tight-lipped about how they find the stripers when I asked my typical 20 questions. Of course, taking out charters is their livelihood.

P.S. I don't even know what brand of boat we were in. (You might be able to tell from the previous pic with my father holding up fish.) There was just a deep well in the boat with no transverse seat benches at all. It was very easy for me to fish, but then pop up out of my seat and reach my father if he needed any help. That style of boat would also be awesome if you were trying to fish with a couple of smaller grandkids since it was very easy to move back and forth in the boat.

Just lip-hooking threadfin shad and fishing about 18-24" off the bottom.

We put on some 5" gizzard shad several times but couldn't entice any larger stripers to hit.

We also caught a blue catfish, two drum, and four white bass. All of which were right in with the schooling stripers.

(That was the first time striper fishing for all of us, so it was strictly amateur hour!)

As a little kid, I learned to swim in one of the creeks that feed Texoma. My parents loved to fish the white bass run, so decided to kill two birds with one stone by giving me swimming lessons when the bite waned! A bit chilly sometimes...