I freaking love this lake! The fishing has been off the chain. In the morning I am throwing 8 inch topwater plugs. I'm not walking the dog back, I am having everyone reeling the plug in at about 3-4 mph while twitching the rod making it pop a little. I am pretty much dragging it back on the surface but still making the lure pop here and there. It's driving the overs ( 20+ inch fish ) nuts.



About 30 mins after sunrise, if the fish stop responding to topwater, we switch over to a coho. For the secret coho colors I am using, quick link below.

https://moestackleshop.com/product/cocamoe-paddle-tail-swimbait/

Once I find a school of fish, we cast at them and let the bait hover 1-2 ft of the bottom with little twitches of the rod, not letting the lure hit the bottom. A steady retrieve is all that is needed. 1/2 oz jig heads chartreuse. Quick link below for jig heads we are using:

https://moestackleshop.com/product/rs-jig-head/

People are asking where I am catching fish at and the depths. My answer is the same I tell everyone. " they are everywhere!" It doesn't matter which direction I go, when I leave the dock. Just anything wind blown. Meaning hitting structure that is being pounded by the waves, cause by the wind. I have learned glass calm days kinda suck. We still catch fish on glass calm but it's a bit harder.



Yesterday, I followed a school of gar feeding on glass minnows. They were rolling on the surface feeding on glass minnows. 3-4 ft gar. I fished 10-15 yards on the outside of the school of gar. I would cast a coho five to 10 ft on the outsides of the gar rolling. Not to far out from them, the Striper were feeding below them. Never caught a Striper inside the rolling gar school, which was about 30 fish in the school of gar. The Striper were all quality box fish 15-19 inches. We had one gar grab a coho, only to let it go at the boat.

On another day, top waters were just ripping lips all day long. It was hard to limit with all the overs and no box fish. I was having my clients casting at any structure I could see: lay downs, stumps, boulders, anything. The fish were just sitting there waiting for something to come by, and kill. Polarized glasses are a must.



Like when I was 10 to 12 years old I learned how to fish bait slicks in Fort Myers Florida. I basically lived there for 10'years growing up. All I'd did was fish everyday catching 20 lb snook, 100 lb tarpon, reds and specks, and Goliath grouper. So I have brought a lot of saltwater tactics back to Texas and I use them for a lot of species I target here in warm water fishing. Three days ago, I found a slick about 1000 yards long, 10 ft wide. ( a bait slick is cause by a game fish regurgitating their food. They get excited and puke up their meal they ate previous, to just eat again. The oils from the bait fish float to the surface causing the water to sheen like- oil on the surface. I love to fish slicks if I can. Start upwind of the slick and work with it, letting the wind take you with the slick. Don't float thru the slick. Just on the outsides of them, casting to them. Sometimes there might only be one fish causing the slick. Or it will be a whole pod or school of fish. When looking for a good slick, a very small one or multiple small ones smaller than a hood of a car, are new slicks. Sometimes the wind will make a slick very large, only to find out there are not any fish left there. Long gone.) we fished that slick all day long. Casting to the other side of the slick and dragging the lure through the slick, was getting wacked every cast for hours.



The stripers are just tearing up my hands. Time for a glove.

I am also getting them on points that have a severe drop off near by. Cast at the banks and dragging back to the boat in the morning. Unless I see the birds working I'm hitting the 1-10 ft depths for topwater. Then I scoot out to 10-20 ft and switch to Cohos. If I don't get bit after five mins, I move.



The birds have been working every morning and evening in the deeper water for 30 mins to an hour. But most of the time 15-20 mins. If you see them way in the distance, working, you might be to late by the time u get to them. If you are getting fish where u are at, and you see the birds start to work, do not leave your fish. Never leave biting fish.

Some of these 18-19 inch fish are skinny. We don't even mess with them. They go right back in the drink. By the fall they should be fattening up. Lots of 3-4 inch threadfins balled up everywhere. Hopefully they don't get wiped out again during the colder winter months.


( 19 incher & 17 incher double on one topwater bait. )

Besides the fishing, the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Watching Ospreys every morning divebomb catching fish flying off, and perching in a tree, gorging themselves. Absolutely awesome. With the lake being so big there's always somewhere to tuck yourself in and have some water all to yourself ( except for Googans riding up our butt every now and then). Overhanging Bluffs lined with trees and huge boulders below make the scenery something for city slickers to just gaze at. - I still do.

I am catching lots of fish flyfishing as well. Throwing my own hand-tied Clowser's for when the top water bite is done. But in the mornings- is the most fun watching them crush one of my top water plugs.





In the above pictures, that is an H2O top water bait. To give you a perspective of how big these poppers are.


I can't get over how many fish are actually in this lake. PETA would freak out if they knew how many fish get filleted everyday on this lake. No matter the direction I take any morning, there are fish waiting to come aboard my boat. And, the amount of different species in this lake is even cooler for me. Time to break some lake records soon!



If you want to come out with www.StriperExpress.com and get a piece of this action, please book through them. I am not taking anymore Lavon trips till we get water back in the lake. All I do is go fishing now. I don't handle any hof the bookings. So call Bill Carey up, book a trip, and let's go have some excitement. The dock we launch from, is one hour 10 minutes, from downtown Plano. Right now trips are starting at 6:30 AM. If you're wanting to fish multiple days or just want to wake up and go fishing instead of driving in the morning, we also have cabins available for rent. Please inform Bill Carey that you are interested in one of the cabins as well.

Great Report!!! Thanks for sharing

I'm kinda getting the feeling that you like Texoma!

Carey, I knew you were catching fish somewhere. Looks like some fantastic fishing.

I share your excitement regarding Texoma and striper fishing. I knew you would like it.

Wow what a great report, just what I was hoping for, based on all your previous great reports on crappie, sandbass etc..

I feel like I owe you money just for reading it

Any future posts requesting advice , we should just point them here for weeks.

-rob

P.S. I am so sick, that I can't get back to texoma anytime soon.

Wow!!! Great report Carey!!

+1

Great report Carey! Good to see you are on the fish at the big Pond. I used to follow your creek adventures a few years ago. Very good read and very informative. Thanks!!!

Awesome Post!

Now THATS a fishing report! Way to go!

Great report Carey. Glad to see it's all working out for you.

Great report! I am really happy to see you are enjoy it. I guess it's time to put my swimming lures to good use now.

Ah guys, wait till it gets cold and he gives his clients the option of catching some of the fattest crappie in Texas. Texoma's got 'em! And T-fly will find and catch 'em! He's already found the smallies(spoiler alert!)

He's one of the top notch guides around, no doubt about it!

And Carey, wait till next month, when in addition to the Osprey, you will see Majestic Bald Eagles everywhere!

Enjoy bud!

Rudy

Wow, that's the best guide report that I have ever seen on this part of the forum. Lots of useful information. Any more and you would have a crowd following you around.

Thanks, very much appreciated.

BTW I'm trying hard to get 'em on the fly rod.