I’ve been out a few times after the deep freeze we had(water went from 52 down to 42) and boy does my boat have a pretty good stink on it right now! I did well right before the really cold weather got here, and now I can hardly get a bite. I’ve marked fish around the 60-70ft range and have tried dead sticking them, and I feel like I might as well be fishing in my bathtub. I have also marked some fish, which I believe were stripers, on the top of ledges in about 20ft. But when I circle back around and get close to them, they spook immediately and are gone. I see reports of fish still being caught, and that they are catching them on “structure”. Anyway, would greatly appreciate any feedback from you striper gurus on what these fish do when it gets this cold, and what tactics are used to put them in the boat. Thanks!

I hate fishing after heavy rains. Seems worthless to me. I'm going up next Wednesday through the weekend and will try and report

For me it is hit and miss this time of year. I keep fishing because I can’t help it but I won’t catch consistently until April. Other people load the boat I guess.

My boat is still in the shop. My buddy Jeff took me DSing today (Thursday) noon to 3pm. We started in middle of Little Mineral and water temp was 46f in 60ish depth. 15 mins, graph was blank. Then tried Preston point, nada, then NW of North island where the entire area filled with algea on the surface that looks like green pea soup. Never seen this before, anyone know why, water temp 43f there. Nada. Then hauled butt all the way north of hwy 70 bridge. Water temp 40f Brrr and still zero on graph. Then went southward tried several spots between there and the water intake near the dam at depths of 40, 50, 70, 80, and even 90fow. Wow nil, zippo, nobody's home! Lol

We raised the white flag and came in at 3pm. It was cloudy at the start and cloudier and colder as the day went. All the moves made it felt cold plus no sun.

My previous trip was 3 weeks ago on January 1st on ScottyP's boat and we did well north of hwy 70, boated 45 fish with 10 overs up to 8 lbs. Water temp was 50f that day. DS was still slow with 12 box fish caught, the rest were sassy chasing birds.

My ideal successful DS condition from last few seasons this time of year, water temp between 45f to 50f, depth 60ft ish, blue bird sky and calm days. I am hoping we will get a few days close to this from now to end of February and no algea.

Please do share if you are catching or not. Thanks. 

Good luck guys! 

Thanks for the reports guys. Todd, that sounds like a carbon copy of my day, except I started up north of RR bridge and worked my way back to the ramp hitting several of the same spots. I was marking fish(what I believe were stripers) just north of the RR bridge down to Washita point in the creek channel, but I couldn’t even get a sniff. As bad as it is, I keep going back for more trying to put the puzzle together. Thank you for sharing your experiences

It’s just bad right now. Water is 38-42 fish are lethargic and hard to make bite. People have told me of a random good report online but I do not troll the Internet and I do know a lot of guides on this lake and everyone I know is struggling on the days we can get out. We have not had a good day in 2024 so far

Well

Sorry, that got sent before I was done. Anyway, the blind hog found some acorns today, finally. The fish I marked on my last trip that scattered when I got on top of them were indeed stripers. I used a different approach on them today. I casted to them instead of sitting on top of them and it obviously worked. Fish were at the top of ledges that dropped into creek channels. I found several different schools today and pulled fish from most of them. Nice to have a boat that smells like a fish instead of a skunk….

Sorry to hear and thanks for chiming in, Chris. Glad you figured them out, Paul. Good tips, thanks. Next week's weather is warming up and i bet they will want to eat

Solid limit of sideliner's. Dragging or hopping the bottom with single jig and fluke is a game changer !

You seem to know your stuff gborg because that is exactly what I was doing. Making long casts and letting it sink to the bottom, then 5 or 6 cranks and let it go back down, 5 or 6 cranks let it go back down. They would typically grab it on the 2nd or 3rd crank. Though I did have some follow it up and hit it halfway back to the boat when I was reeling it in. Bite was very subtle, you’d just feel weight.

Thanks for the report!

We refer to the weight as heavy line over here in the great State of Weatherford ! Fish mouth the bait and hang on for a short time.

I went out on Wednesday. We launched at about 8:30 from Lakeside. I assumed fish would be deep. We hit the deep channels outside of Alberta wall. We got a few hits, caught 1 small fish deadsticking. We drove around, went between the bridges, nothing. We went to shallow areas on the east side, and the fish were feeding on gizard shad. We caught about 10 fish, 4 of them oversized but had to work for them. I guess we will have to wait until the water further stabilizes until we get some consistency.

At the risk of getting a lot of hate rebuttal, the pressure has fallen off the charts. My contention is, when the BP falls to 29.7 and below, don't go. If the drop is a drastic one, even worse. Yes, after 3 days of said pressure fish swim bladder has adjusted and feeding resumes. There is always an exception and someone will chime in and tout as such !

My suggestion is to visit Boyles Law and how it relates to a fishes swim bladder !