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Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Wow! Encouraging to see Texas still produces giants.


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Just think what she would have weighed 4-5 weeks from now!

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Outstanding!!!

I guess you Texans have some bigger stuff....sometimes!!!


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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You guys may already know this but Brodey is sponsored by Russell Marine in Kansas and this fish was 1 of 5 he's caught there in the last 8-9 days over 14lbs.

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Originally Posted by Snipe
this fish was 1 of 5 he's caught there in the last 8-9 days over 14lbs.

That is actually even more impressive!

Anyone else up for a road trip to Texas?

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They should be getting ready to spawn really, really soon now. Full moon is March 18th, so if the water temp is correct, I'd want to be catching them in the next 2 weeks.


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Originally Posted by esshup
They should be getting ready to spawn really, really soon now. Full moon is March 18th, so if the water temp is correct, I'd want to be catching them in the next 2 weeks.

Thanks, esshup.

After I had typed my timing estimate, I realized I was working from a "Kansas" calendar. Then I thought I should leave it up, because someone will surely post on the peak weight timing for Texas LMB.

Once again, Pond Boss performs!


P.S. My father has had a leg amputated and is fighting off two cancers. We want to take him out for some "easy" and productive fishing this spring. We were thinking about going down to Texas while the stripers are running.

Anyone have good recommendations for some low effort/high catch rate fishing for this spring?

(He can still travel fairly long distances from Kansas.)

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Originally Posted by FishinRod
Anyone have good recommendations for some low effort/high catch rate fishing for this spring? (He can still travel fairly long distances from Kansas.)
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.

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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.

Last edited by FireIsHot; 02/25/22 10:34 AM. Reason: ADD

AL

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Zep,

Thanks for taking the time for such a thoughtful recommendation!

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

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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.)

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And another.....Texas Lake Record! (4 miles from our property)

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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.

Last edited by FireIsHot; 02/25/22 03:48 PM.

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Al,

Thanks for that link!

There are already lots of pictures from 2022 at Texoma with guys in cold-weather gear showing off big catches.

Those catches pre-date the spawn of the gizzard shad (barely?) and the threadfin shad, so the guides must have some other pattern that is catching fish. (I have never fished for stripers.)

When you are referring to the shad kill, are your talking about the bitter February 2021 kill, or has there been a kill again during winter 2021-2022? If the few TFS that survived Feb. 2021 got hit again this past winter, then there can't be too many left in the lake.

If the stripers are moving to their 2nd favorite food choice, does anybody know the revised estimated peak fishing date in that circumstance?

If so, I will try to book a guide for that window.

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I was referring the 2021 February kill. This winter was short and harsh, but the water temps didn't drop as much as last year.


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Originally Posted by FireIsHot
I was referring the 2021 February kill. This winter was short and harsh, but the water temps didn't drop as much as last year.

That is what I thought.

It will be interesting to see how the TFS populations respond during this year's spawn in the big Texas reservoirs. Hopefully, there were enough that survived in some temperature refuges to rebuild viable populations in your reservoirs.

I googled to see if the state had stocked any TFS into the public reservoirs during 2021. I did not see any relevant results.

Do you happen to know if the state stocking programs are helping out your TFS, or if the little fellas are going to have to do all of the hard work rebuilding by themselves?

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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......

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Thanks to all of the people that offered me fishing advice.

Have a guided trip reserved for early May to Texoma with my father and brother!

None of us have ever done that style of fishing before. Therefore, it is guaranteed to be a memory-making, record-breaking trip - regardless of how we do on the stripers!

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Originally Posted by FishinRod
Thanks to all of the people that offered me fishing advice.

Have a guided trip reserved for early May to Texoma with my father and brother!

None of us have ever done that style of fishing before. Therefore, it is guaranteed to be a memory-making, record-breaking trip - regardless of how we do on the stripers!

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!

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

Bass tournament HSB

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Originally Posted by jludwig
Did you guys see this HSB that a bass angler caught tournament fishing?

Bass tournament HSB


I think this is an actual striped bass, and not a hybrid striped bass?


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
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Originally Posted by FishinRod
Thanks to all of the people that offered me fishing advice.

Have a guided trip reserved for early May to Texoma with my father and brother!

None of us have ever done that style of fishing before. Therefore, it is guaranteed to be a memory-making, record-breaking trip - regardless of how we do on the stripers!
Now that's a great attitude. I hope y'all tear them up.


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Thanks to everyone that gave me good fishing advice.

We had a great time at Lake Texoma!

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com</div>
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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.)

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com<br><br>My father is already lobbying hard for another trip!</div>
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Good job!

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Outstanding!!! I'm liking that smile on your Dad's face.


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So, Rod, is that you in the camo waders??


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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Originally Posted by Sunil
So, Rod, is that you in the camo waders??

No, that is our guide!

I do have good pics of my Dad and his two boys. Unfortunately, both of us have jobs that generally preclude pictures on the internet.

P.S. I also have a short video of one of the guides cleaning fish - with one arm! I asked his permission to take the video. However, I did not ask him if I could post it.

Do you think it would be OK to post on Pond Boss if I did not post his name or location?

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I think you'd be OK.


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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FishinRod.....great catch. Fun memory with your Dad. Were you throwing slabs for the stripers?


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Originally Posted by Zep
FishinRod.....great catch. Fun memory with your Dad. Were you throwing slabs for the stripers?

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!)

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How big was the Blue Cat, Rod?


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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Originally Posted by Sunil
How big was the Blue Cat, Rod?

Just a 2-2.5# fish. However, it was the first blue that my brother had ever caught, so we counted that as a victory!

The boat behind us at the cleaning tables caught four 1# channel cats in with their limit of stripers. I could see the fat deposits on those little ones while they were being fileted.

It was a great lake. I would definitely fish there all of the time if it was closer to home.

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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.


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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.

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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... shocked

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