What is really going on with Texoma?

Where are all the stripers? Did they all really go over the spillway as some have said or are they just hiding waiting for cooler temperatures. It seems to be a tough subject because so many businesses and livelihoods depend on the fishing, but can anyone give an explanation on why we're not seeing any fish being caught and not many being marked?

I mean there isn't a definitive answer until the Game and Fish department does their net count next year, but to the people who know this lake, what do you all think has happened to all the fish?

Oklahoma wildlife department seems to think different, says striper fishing is good below the dam, along river channels and coves in their emailed report.....

Here is what the regional director sent me.

Hello Tim,

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you on your email. Myself as well as the Fisheries Biologists managing Lake Texoma, both TPWD and ODWC biologists, have been hearing similar reports as yours and we understand your concern. There are several things that could be attributing to the poor fishing right now and I will try to address those here:

1) We agree that some proportion of the population has moved downstream of the dam but we don't know the magnitude of the fish loss. We will have a better idea of what the current population looks like in the lake in February when we conduct our annual gillnet surveys. We will be able to compare this year’s data to past years and see to what extent the relative abundance, as measured by our catch rates, has changed. In order for us to make valid comparisons, we need to wait until February to conduct our gillnet surveys so that the data can be compared to the historical data which was collected at that same time of year.

2) The water condition does appear to be off compared to what it typically looks like and this could be the result of the flooding or the lake may be in the process of de-stratifying which can affect water quality as well. Dissolved oxygen below the dam has improved this week. Perhaps when this transition is complete and the water continues to cool the fishing in the lake will improve?

3) Based on our sampling data we know that natural reproduction and recruitment has been lower the past few years due to the drought and low water levels and river flows. These smaller year classes along with the loss of some portion of the striped bass population could both be attributing to the slow fishing. With that said, given the rains and river flows that we experienced this spring we expect a strong year class to have been produced this year but it will take time for those fish to grow and to show up in our data or in your catches. Also, the tremendous population of fish we had this winter can't be "rebuilt" overnight through stocking. There is no way our hatcheries can produce enough striped bass to even come close to what is produced naturally in Lake Texoma.

Both TPWD and ODWC are committed to striped bass management in Lake Texoma; if there were anything that could be done at this point which would realistically help the lake, we would be doing it. History will likely repeat itself with a thinning of the population and perhaps a reduced density for a year or two while the population rebounds. We saw a similar situation after the flooding in 1990 and after a year or two the population had rebounded. I hope this answers your questions but if not please feel free to contact me or I would encourage you to contact either John Moczygemba with TPWD or Matt Mauk with ODWC as they are the biologists currently in charge of the fisheries on Texoma. I have included both John and Matt in this email so you have their emails if you would like to correspond with them directly. Thanks again for contacting me and I certainly hope that fishing improves for everyone in the near future on Texoma!

Interesting read Tim, thanks for posting. Texoma has always interested me even though I have only been once.

I'm curious about the gill net survey and size. Does anyone know what size fish they are targeting to catch? Do they have a quota for the amount of fish they use for research?

Maybe they use different nets of different sizes to gauge different size populations? How long are the nets set for? Do some fish get released when possible?

Anyone have details on there surveys or a link I could visit? I found Six Old Geezers but couldn't find the answers there.

Thanks Tim. Great information. Does anyone have anything to add to the example he gave about what happened in 1990. Was there an immediate slowdown in fishing and then how long it took for the fishing to get better.

First really cold rainy day in the next few weeks will let us know if there is a fish-able population left in the lake.

Some encouraging news from Six Old Geezers site.
http://sixoldgeezers.forumchitchat.com/post/oct-5th-stripers-7748651?pid=1289480026

Most went over the dam Tim. That said, the ones that remain will grow and spawn like crazy.

I sure miss Texoma. I still fish there every now and then but it's not the same lake without all those big stripers.

All I know is a month ago we smashed them below the damn up to 20lbs....it was a kick.

Prolly caught 20 over 10 pounds in 4 hours.

Thanks for the info Tim. Good stuff

All I know is at least one Texoma guide has established residency at Lake Tawakoni because the catch rates are bigger and better...and he is a renowned guide on Texoma...Tawakoni now. Where did that big auction vortex take fish to at Texoma? If it is behind the dam...the. Easy to see why a bunch up them went back there. Texoma will recover, but it may take 5-10 years.

Is this an oppinion or do you have some historical data to support this? The Wildlife official stated in his email to Tim that he thought a year or two was what it would take for Texoma to rebound. This was based on what he thought was a very strong spawn this year.

To get back to big 20 lb fish like they were routinely catching this winter it will take longer than a year or two. Numbers of small fish will appear after this years spawn. It will take a few years for those fish to reach the large sizes we have been seeing for a few years.

There are still some big fish in the lake. But they are scattered. Until they water cools and they school back up it will be hard for them to really tell the impact of this year's flooding. But thousands went downstream.

it will be back. Give it 3-4 years. We had a flood in 07 or 08 and fishing was good by 2012.

At Pk, it took three years for the stripers they stocked to get to 16 inches. They might do a little better at Texoma but I expect you'll see fishing get really really good for box fish in about three years considering there was way plenty of water for a great spawn this year. Even PK had a spawn, as I'm catching way too many 6-9 inch stripers for that not to have happened.

it happens very fast I've been guiding 21 years and I've seen a lot of stuff but the turnover this year from all the rotted vegetation and the really poor water quality has a lot to do with it that when the water cools down it gets a lot back to normal.with that being said it has been very difficult and the amount of bait in the lake is absolutely unbelievable