I have been fishing texoma for over a year now and the shad population has been great. We went fishing on one trip and i kid you not i could have filled my entire boat with shad in one small spot. My sonar was lit up from top to bottom in about 20 feet of water. We threw 4 times and filled two five gallon buckets with 6 to 10 inch gizzards. The guides on that lake and everyone else that fish it could not make a dent in the shad population or the striper population. The guy you talked to is just filling you with bs. Any day of the week you could fish a boil that is as big as can be. Jm2c

good read

run at the net!

Agree, it took me a long time to realize how many fish a body of water can support. Most people don't realize how immense the number of fish really is. I have 3 boys and we love fish. We can fish the same school of whites at the same place for a month keeping 50-100 fish a week during the summer along with several others in a very small lake and catch them just as fast or faster the last day as the first. Still our fish are long and skinny, I wish we had some guides for population control. The price of popcorn at movie theaters is to high, paying a man to benefit from his years on knowledge, thousands of hours of time on the water, and you learn from him in the process is not to high at almost any cost. I don't understand how people can figure a few bills is to much for quality instruction and knowledge.

Very cool that cats are eating the zebras. I believe the crabs are called mud crabs. They started in saltwater and managed to adapt to fresh, an invasive species. Introduced accidentally by fish stocking? Colorado city lake has them or used to.

The guides I know about ( which are the best and always booked )don't charge 500 dollars for two people. ( 20 fish ) If you know of one that does , I wouldn't use them and would shop around --LOL--

Texoma is on the way back to being stellar. Shad everywhere and stripers too. Kuddos to the catfish eating the zebra muscles. The Water district is the only one complaining because now they are actually going to have to put their tool belts on and do some manual work by cleaning the water supply pipes --LOL--

Pseudo post by DAN-O possibility.
He read a few post, threw this bs together.
Without any proof to substantiate.

My family and I have used guides on Texoma over the years during the family reinion, including JD. I stated in my post it was not a knock on guides. I was hust stating observations and relaying info from a local baitshop owner. Congrars to those of you who can catch shad 24/7 on Texoma. I was just reporting that I did not and I use an 8 foot thrownet in depths from shoreline to 25 feet and nada. Yes, the crabs are mud crabs and a google search indicated they were first found in Texoma in 2008. They compete with the zebra mussels and shad for the photoplankton and zooplankton. There has to be some kind of affect on the ecosystem of Texoma. Just trying to educate myself on the ecosystem significance of them. I have an opinion and thoughts....sorry if they are not like yours. Good day and enjoy big T...will be back there next June to have another go at it!

Dan-o what area were you,
maybe someone can point you
areas to catch shad. It's nice you take
your family to Texoma for vacation.
With millions of stripers the family
would have a really great time if you
caught a few. Family vacations are the best.
8' castnet legal on Texoma? Might check.

Tried Lakeside, Platter Flats, and Burns Run East.

You can use any size net you want on the oklahoma side i know that.

Harris mud crabs and yes it takes 400-500 a trip to maintain this kind of operation. Guides do this for the love not the money. Sniffing corporate butt pays way better but my office view not so shabby lake texoma is awesome and all who don't think do stay away...better for all. Also dang jd that was almost sweet as I was reading this I thought here we go

He said sniffing corporate butt

lol to funny. I envy the guides that get to do this everyday

Read Lake Lewisville thread in the catfishing section.

http://www.kten.com/story/15293975/crabs-invade-lake-texoma

Crabs have been here for a few years.

I first heard about zebra mussels in Kansas in 2006. I'm not a biologist, but what I've heard is they mess with the dissolved oxygen level in the lake. Maybe that's true, maybe not. But I rely (and have always relied) on the opinions and facts expressed in this forum by charter guides and by TPWD. If I had the ability, skill, knowledge and willingness to get out of bed after two hours of sleep I would love to charter fishing trips myself. Theirs are the first positive thoughts I've heard on zebra mussels so I think those of us who do not fish these waters EVERY day should sit and listen. And if a man wants to charge $10,000 for four hours of his time...and you pay it, fish or no fish... That is not HIS problem
Also, I threw a 7' net twice two weeks ago and had more shad than three of us could use in two days...
Also (part 2), its phytoplankton... Not photo