Top water action at Canyon has begun. Only problem with it is that it�s alll 14-16� striper. Hopefully the keepers start up soon too! It�s a blast catching these guys though.

Yep those are always a blast. Sometimes the bigger ones are just below them. If you can get a bait under them some big ones will play.

I would suggest over sized top water lures to draw up the big ones. On Belton the whites are schooling the same way and big top water lures will bring the larger hybrids up through the schools of whites. That is a great picture and looks like a lot of fun.

Nothing beats a school of top water eating fish!

I�ve always hoped the bigger fish would be under them.. and believe me I�ve tried everything to try and get them. The problem is they just simply aren�t there. This particular day they were on the surface over 125ft of water. There�s just nothing under them. Nothing on the graph and nothing hitting the live perch under the boat about 20ft down. These little fish will pick at the perch but can�t get the hook. I�m gunna keep trying to prove the �bigger fish under the little fish� theory right though.

There are times when the big boys and girls aren�t hanging with the teenagers. Does canyon lake have trees in that deeper water? If so those biguns May be in those trees. I have clients in Arkansas and Carolinas that fish 180+ water with trees and thumping helps call the fish out of them. Then again those schools of larger fish could be at the opposite end of the lake. The more I think I know the more I realize I don�t know.

Amen, jbobo.

Nice! You can not beat that pic. Thanks for sharing.

Great report Steven. And that pic !

My blood is now boiling just like those fish.

Last year was so amazing. Can't wait to try it again !

Was that morning or afternoon? We were out in the morning and saw some activity but not that much.

Early morning. They don�t do like that every day. I just happen to pick a perfectly calm morning to be out there.

Steven, Have you ever tried 'thumping' on Canyon Lake? Folks up near Dallas swear by it for sandies....

Yes, when fish are scattered or hard to get a bite I�ll do it. Typically our water temp doesn�t get cold enough to really establish a thumping pattern. Our temps basically gets down to the spawning temps. I�m catching spawning fish in Jan while in north east Texas they are dead sticking and thumping. Canyon is just a different animal in general. I�m from east Texas and grew up fishing tawakoni. The tactics from there work, but the patterns and seasons are different

What�s weird is striper fishermen on the east coast thump all summer long but don�t during winter most times. They say the water is so hot the fish are way deep and the only way to catch them is to thump them up to around 25 to 40 ft so they can get their baits deep enough to catch them. When the water cools in winter they say the fish are �shallow� at 30 ft or so and easier to catch. That may hold true for canyon also.