Texoma rocks

I'll get a more formal post up tomorrow, but here's a sneak peek of my weekend on the big Tex

Grandpa with a nice little striper

Bass were biting too, too bad I forgot to bring the fly gear with me!

Smallies, Suckers, and Stripers (Oh my)

I fished Texoma on Wednesday after some Stripers(Well, Tuesday and Wednesday, but Tuesday didn't go too well) and did pretty well. We got up and loaded the boat at a little after 4 and were on the ramp by 5. Glad we went, it was worth the trip.

Somehow I picked up my new PB River Carpsucker on a rattle trap fishing for stripers. It fought really damn hard though.

Plus I got a striper. Check.

And I got a nice Largemouth

Then I got into the SMALLIES! Smallmouth are kind of a rarity this far down the lake so it was pretty cool to see a few of these around here.

Another smallie! I love smallmouths.

Close up Bronzeback.

Only bad thing of the trip is I smashed my finger trying to re-adjust the trolling motor. Ouch!

Leaving for Florida Saturday!

Shad? check

Sunday morning I got up and loaded the boat up and we set out on Texoma on the search for a striper for the contest. 

We pulled up on my favorite point and there were hundreds of thousands of shad up on the point. I turned on the side imaging on the bow and all I saw was a solid wall of shad. I started throwing a 1/2oz rattle trap around the point. The shad were nipping at it for some reason, and before it got to the boat I pulled in a shad that was barely over 4 inches long hooked IN the mouth. I was laughing and grandpa said "That's over 4, isn't it? Well, it was, so I snapped a contest pic

Threadfin Shad- check


I caught about 10 more of these and pulled in a few nice sandbass but no stripers. I saw them busting around me and hooked into a few but lost them before they got to the boat.

We moved, and I headed over past highport. There were a ton of guides along the bank, and again I was seeing a ton of shad. First cast with the rattle trap got hammered, but not by a striper. It fought hard, and I pulled in a... What? 15 inch Gizzard shad. Hooked in the mouth just like it ate it.

Yes, this is serious, I got 2 species of shad in the same trip!


I kept going into the cove. Right in the back of the cove the sonar went nuts, marking big stripers 20 feet down. I fired a slab down to them and immediately got slammed. It broke off directly after the hookup... Big fish!
I tied on another slab. Dropped it down, and BOOM! I hooked up again, this time I fought it up a little, and it broke off. Those were big fish, 20 inches or more at least.

I tied on YET ANOTHER slab. Hookup!

No, mr sandbass, that wasn't for you.

That's about it for Sunday. 2 more species helps, but I have to go back for a striper. Next week will do it.

Jono's first smallie!

Saturday was perfect. About 85 degrees, just enough sun, wind, and humidity. The barometer looked good. It was a fishing day, so I started to case up my fly rods for Texoma, figuring I could get a striper and a smallie on Texoma for the contest. So, i'm getting ready and I get a call from Jonathan wanting to fish somewhere. We hooked up and were in the truck on the way to Eisenhower State Park before 3.

We got to the lake and it was nothing new. Low, clear, Zebra musselly, cold, and fishy. We couldn't wait to get out on the water. I launched, Grandpa parked, and we idled over to the Fina sign bluffs. No smallies, the water is like 15 feet low now and the big rock bluffs where the smallies hid before are 5 or 6 feet up the bank. Dangit!

A quick change of plans and we're over on Perot's bank, and there's a Hex hatch. Smallies hitting the surface everywhere. Finally, Jonathan yells "Get the net!" fromt he back of the boat as a sweet little smallie surfaced. Jono's first Smallmouth!

Nice smallie! On a chartreuse clouser on his new Rio smallmouth line no less!

Sweet fish!

Well, now it's my turn!

Uhhh, what? Yes, this Zeeb closed on my fly!

We trolled around for a while longer, hooking and losing a few more. I also messed with the new HDS8 on the bow of the bass boat. I must say i'm impressed! I has Sidescan and downscan on at the same time and marked a huge school of stripers in 29 feet of water right off of perot's bank. Another quick change and we're on to the dam.

The famed Denison Dam

Don't think the lake's down? Look at the water line!

We didn't do very good here either. I threw my 8wt for a while here, nothing wanted to hit anything we threw, so we loaded up and hauled back to Perot's bank

On plane and running nicely!

You wouldn't know it but this pic was taken going 60mph down the lake!

We didn't do very good for the rest of the day, so we kicked back and drifted around Eisenhower until dark then loaded up and went home. Not great fishing, but great company and weather. I think it was worth the trip.

If you haven't been  reading for long, this is my 100th post.I think this is a worthy 100th post! I just wanted to thank all my readers and followers for actually reading this crap I write on here!

Texoma 3/26

Ryan and I hit decided to hit Texoma Saturday to give our other swims a little rest. Glad we did that!!

Well, to start Texoma is almost 8 feet low, which is LOW! Really really low. Has it impacted the carp and buff fishing? Not one bit!
We got out there around 1:00 after running around to several marinas looking for some deep spots deep enough to set up in. We ended up going back to my favorite spot by far, the marina less than 10 miles from the Grandparents house. We were into fish within minutes of setting up.

Ryan's first common from Texoma, and the first one i've seen caught.

I break the buff streak with a common, a 16 and a new water body PB for Texoma! About here, I absolutely crushed Ryan in fish caught. I started catching and he started missing out.

Uhh, Bluegill??? On a pop up?

The biggest buff of the trip came in at 18lbs 4oz

ANOTHER 16. Is 16 the magic common number?

DOUBLE! I got a 17lb buff and a 22lb common double! Water body PB!

Ok it only gets better!

DOUBLE again! Ryan got the smaller buff... I let him be in the pic this time. A nice way to end the day!

If someone tries to convince you Texoma isn't low...

Don't believe them. It's low

We fished until 7. I ended the day with 17 carp and buffalo and 1 catfish. Ryan got 11 carp and buffs plus 4 catfish. I did the best on Strawberry, Cherry, or Banana maize on a hair rig or Grape maize on a D-rig. We also got a few on pop ups, fake maize, boilies, and a bunch of other stuff through the day. Awesome trip!

Texoma Tie in

I had a great time at Texoma tie in! I got to meet a bunch of people, tie a bunch of flies, cast a bunch of different fly rods, and show off my kayak today. I got to see several guys I knew, including the TFO guys, Robin Rhyne, George Glazener, Rex and Taylor Walker, Jerry Butler, Jerry Hamon, Les Jackson, Scott Bridgess, David Cole,  Russell Husted along with several other DFF, FWFF and RRFF members. We all had a great time, I tied like 15 clousers and a bunch of  minnows and Carp flies before Taylor dragged me out and made me cast a few of the TFO rods. I played with a BVK 4wt for about 15 minutes before getting out my Loomis and casting it alongside it. A played with a Mini Mag next, which has nothing mini about it, besides the short length and small number of false casts you need to launch the line into the next universe! I whipped around a Deer Creek 14 foot spey rod for a while which made me realize i'm pretty rusty when it comes to spey casting.  then, I casted the rod I have decided is my next rod- the Axiom 7wt. I was able to shoot all of the line out of that rod with 2 false casts while double hauling. It was amazing. I want it!

One of the many clousers I tied 

Joel Hays' Coyote Carp fly(substituted badger hair for coyote)

My Board

Flickin the spey

Casting

More casting

 More casting

More Casting

More casting. I'm beginning to love this Axiom!

And more!

Showing off the 'yak.

More yak swag

Zeebs

More Zeebs

Freeport before the freeze

I hit the 3rd freeport pond yesterday in search of a few bass before this next cold front moves in tomorrow. I wasn't denied but I didn't do that great.

Slowest day ever at Freeport. I have gotten 80 in one day there before. They are all small except for a few big bass(my biggest from there is 7lbs) and some giant bluegill that are fairly common. I caught on a Guadalupe Green tied on a jig hook with my new 4wt. Still pretty good considering my hands WEREN'T numb and my guides WEREN'T frozen.

Coming Events-

Texoma Tie in is this Saturday. If you live anywhere close you should come, it's a great event at a great place, Eisenhower State Park on Texoma. This is held by the Red River Fly Fishers, their site is www.rrff.org. I am ready for this event as I'll be tying as one of the tying demonstrators in the Rec hall. I'm getting there early to lead/follow a group of guys in kayaks and float tubes after Smallmouth bass along the bluffs, then I'll be either tying or fishing for the whole day up there. I'll have my Diablo up there so come get a look at it and paddle it for a little if you want. I'll have it close the whole time so if you've never been in one COME GET IN IT! it's amazing!

More info about the tie in is posted on the Red River Fly Fishers site listed above, so check that out. I plan on seeing a bunch of you guys there. I'll be tying really everything, mostly carp and bass flies with some bluegill and trout mixed in if I get tired of doing the same stuff.