I like to fish but my wife isn't really into it. We bought kayaks and she likes to paddle around and see birds and other wildlife. When we were at Texoma on Sunday 11/6, I put a rapala floating 3.5" onto 12 pound braided and trolled behind my yak for a couple hours. (Probably 1-4 mph.)

While doing the trolling, talking, floating, and untangling, I was able to land 7 fish in just a couple hours. I would say it would only be about an hour of "dedicated" trolling. This worked pretty well for my wife too since she didn't have to worry about me stopping and inching plastics through downed trees.

The problem was the size of the fish. I caught 4 LMB that went from 5 inches to 10 inches really close to the weeds 20 feet from the bank and I caught a 7 inch striper and two 10 inch WB about 100 feet from the shore.

Is there a place or method I could use to get some more size to the fish? I don't want to go onto open water because I have found power boaters to be fairly careless in general and when I get hit I don't want to be sitting in a 'yak.

Thanks for any input.

Try down around the dam and make sure you have your rod tied down when you do it. If you work out about 15-20 yards from the bluffs there's some good scenery and some big fish. The smallies and stripers like shad raps in shad color and chartreuse. Try to distance yourself from the shore so that your bait just barely bumps into the boulders. Eisenhower is a good place to start, but you'll end up hanging up in the cables quite often if you are trolling.

Thanks for the input. Went out Saturday and stayed close to the shore due to the wind. My lures ticked the rocks a lot but I only caught 1 10 inch striper. I took the GPS this time and was going at 3mph when it hit. In moderately rough water, 2.5 mph is pretty easy and 4mph is possible. I have a fairly slow boat.

I would also try just east of the Highport marina along that rocky shore ledge. This time of year you won't have to worry about skiers if you can find a day that with out 3 foot whitecaps you should be good to go.
Also as the water cools maybe Juniper point around the Willis bridge and the flats off of Juniper East.

I usually cast those baits when I go up there now, but I used to troll that area and do a lot better than 1 measley fish (like 20+ even on the worst of days). Wonder why they werent biting for you. Did you even see any fish busting the surface at all? Were you there early in the morning? Sorry my advice didn't exactly pan out for you.

G

2.2 to 3.0 gps is just the right trolling speed for Striper (or most anything else.)