Went to Texoma yesterday morning with Cliff Hilbert who out fished me three to one, I caught five fish, one of which was my first Smallie and this Striper my first on a 3 weight.
Pity these fish (Stripers)are so under nourished. The smallmouth are ok.

Sweet!!! Looks like a small top water popper in his mouth.

Wonder what the shad situation is like? Sounds like it might be grim.

Don't know if you have the same issue Elephant Butte did, we were catching many skinny stripers and the Biologist Casey said the drought, low water had reduced the food for the shad and thus the shad population. They are now very careful to only stock stripers every so many years to keep the populations healthy and in line with the food. Get out there and harvest some! The limit at Elephant Butte was 2 fish. ???

I know that Texoma is a much more fertile lake and with other issues, I hope it all works out. What is funny since they pulled back on the stripers, the walleye and crappie have come back strong. So lots of variables I suppose.

I haven't been in a couple years but it was the same last time I was there...paper thin...hardly enough energy to even fight.

Grey /White Clouser #8 They were blowing up on poppers but no hook ups.

Only big ones, those 25" and bigger do have some meat on them. I guess those big ones have plenty food to eat. Big stripers do eat small stripers.

My buddy works for the Oklahoma wildlife dept fisheries division. Said texoma, grand, eufaula and a few smaller lakes are trying to recover from a big shad kill.

I heard this too from a Texoma Guide in the spring. Dallas had the big ice storm for several days. My wife's minivan was under a sheet of ice for 3 days. It had to be worse one hour to the north at Texoma. I think Lake Grapevine had a shad kill too. Fishing at Twin Coves on Lake Grapevine has been noticeably slower than the two previous years.

Yes I am sure we had a very hard winter it took a toll on the shad populations but the fact that Texoma is one of the few lakes that stripers can really reproduce at a high rate is why they raise the limit so high to get it back to a Quality fishery. Simply stated the fish are stunted yes once They get to a certain size and they are the apex predator they will get plenty big but those unders need to be taken out in a hurry. I manage some private lakes for trophy bass and fish under 3 pounds there's no learning curve they are coming out and getting eaten. We have a tank in the back that there is no harvest done out of and you can catch a bass every cast in there and everyone of them is about three quarters of a pound they may be 6,7,8 years old but they will never grow as they only get food when the reproduce in the spring and eat the fry. Texoma is at it's carrying capacity I really think if people start keeping their limit of the unders it will become one of the premier striper lakes in the country. If and when we all pray that texoma goes over the spillway again you can catch those stripers every cast on the Clowser it is a fly fisherman's paradise but you get a lot of those skinny fish. To bad they are not better eating(my oppinion).

Hey Robert,

Got a bike question. Your mailbox is full again Mr. Popularity. Either that or shoot me a pm with your email.

Thanks,

The Old Man