Planning on taking my kids fishing on Texoma for vacation. I've never been there before, but here the striper fishing is good.

Was wondering if I should go with a guide or just try it myself. I've got an old 16.5' fish/ski with electronics.

Does anyone have any advice on places to catch decent fish?

Any suggestions on guides?

Thanks

This TFF thread has the recent pattern and JD is the right guide to go out with.
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...eks#Post3609329

If it is your first trip and with kids that expect to catch == Guide trip, then try it the next day on your own...

No no no NEVER use a guide on the first day

that way - sitting out on the water - you can enjoy thet scenery, smooch the Missus, pat the kids all the while your are not busy catching any fish.

Texoma is a huge and tough lake

lol....Stevenndallas now thats funny
i had a guy just last week call me in the middle of the morning as I was fishing...He said he was up there for a few days and was about 50 yards from where I was fishing at that time.. he said he wasnt gonna waste the rest of his vaca watching others catch fish so he wanted to know If i was open the next day to take him and his family fishing....
I get tons of people who come up with their own boat for a few days and try to fish with me the first day.. Then the rest of their vaca they can try to at least imulate what we did the day with me...
Also with a 16 foot boat you would pretty much be landlocked in any kind of wind much above 12 mph..which is about everyday
dont let all the great fishing reports fool ya...the fishing is great if-n ya know where to go and what to do...what people will tell ya happened last week or even yesterday really doesnt apply much to tomorrow..
Texoma is a huge lake and can change daily sometimes... then add the wind factor...Also if you dont have shad you aint gonna catch fish on lures.. especially with kids... sorry for all the doom and gloom...but Texoma aint as easy as some make it sound

Thats right JD there are time of the year slabs are great and some time of the year you better find a cove and get some shad.

I Always use a guide fishing fishing a strange lake or salt waters, Find a good en,

I've been blanked more times than I care to remember because I wasn't prepared to use shad.

Definitely get a guide for at least the 1st day. Especially if you are bringing the kiddos. Lots of good guides on this site. I've never been fishing w/ JD but met him once, super nice guy & very helpful w/ info & the latest patterns. Good luck.

Use a guide. Texoma is so big. In addition there sem to be "boat shows" all over the lake. I've never fished Texoma without a guide. we always caught fish -- nice sized fish -- and were never mired in a "boat show" situation.

Our guide would often anchor, we'd drop down our shad, and he'd say, "there's a creek bed down there, I don't see fish now, but they usually travel along here --- so, just sit tight a minute". Usually he'd say, "get ready", and it would be fish on.

There's no way to know that unless you've fished the lake a lot.

Get a good guide. Folks here usually give good advice (except for a couple of "smart-a**es".)

Getting a guide will be the best money you ever spend. You may get lucky with out one but the chances are pretty slim Those guides earn their keep. Texoma changes daily, I dont know how they stay on top off it so well.
Slingbait

The diference between fishing with a Guide and not.


From Fathers Day with Lyn...one of the great guides that work with JD. Lots of smiles on my daughters faces.

we went this weekend and jd is right no shad no fish we caught mabey 20 shad and thats a fight in its slef. we caught some fish trolling rattle traps they were small ones,and dont beleave the guy at the marina i dont think anything eats black salties no matter what finn you cut off. the bad part about it was we already new that and said we would never buy them agine and did anyway. did we have fun yes we always do at texoma. and the waves are crazy even in a 18ft boat.

My dad and I went out on our own for our first trip to Texoma back in November and used minnows and goldfish for striper along the dropoff on the southern side of the islands. We caught about 20 striper on the minnows and a 30 lb. bluecat on the goldfish.

All we did was use my electronics to locate dropoffs/structure and followed it until we marked fish then anchored up and caught fish. So it shows that striper will hit bait other than shad and you can find them on your own, but a guide does help quite a bit. I'll be out there with my cousin Friday with a guide as a matter a fact then on our own for the rest of the weekend.

I think its fun to give yourself a challenge now and then and go get em on your own.