Fishing Report

Sunday, May 18, 2003

Water pool level: 614.44, normal annual pool level is 617 feet.

Water temperature: 70 degrees.  Water clarity: stained to clear.

Generating one unit 2 PM till 10 PM.

Today was partly cloudy with a 5 to 10 mph south southeast wind. The extended forecast is for lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s. There is a slight chance of showers Tuesday thru Thursday.

Texoma is the only US Lake that has a successful striper spawn every year.  I was beginning to wonder this year.  The stripers have had their stomachs full of roe for two months waiting on fifty to ninety miles of flowing water to complete their spawn.  Texoma got .92” of rain in March, practically none in April and only .45” so far in May.  Last week our Red River watershed received a few inches of rain and the Washita River watershed got several inches of rain.  This should produce enough runoff to complete the striper spawn.

As soon as the large stripers complete their spawn they come directly back to the main body of Lake Texoma in search of shad.  Stripers can be found feeding along rocky banks, river and creek channels and high humps in deep water.  Texoma has already had one shad spawn this month.  In my opinion, our shad population is the largest it has been in five years.

For several years May has been the best spring month to striper fish with live bait.  Because of the late spawn this year, June may produce more limits and larger stripers than May.  If you weren’t able to get a day to fish in May, come out to Texoma and enjoy a great June day landing the hard fighting Silversides.

Smallmouth bass are in large numbers along the rocky cliffs between Grand Pappy Point and Eisenhower Marina.  Several brownies have been reported caught along the dam also.

Channel and blue catfish are working their way out of the deep water onto the flats and up the creek channels.  Limits of catfish have been being caught in the Mill Creek area and along each side of the Red River from the Willis Bridge to Two Rivers just south of Washita Point.

Guide Jason Harrelson took the Bill Schroeder party from Longview Texas out for a morning of fast and furious fishing Thursday, May 15.  They brought a limit of stripers to the cleaning table that took Jason as long to clean as it did to catch them.  The largest striper of the 70 was 6.5 pounds.  Don’t miss seeing this picture, it was a table full.

To see May's pictures go to: http://www.tinker.net/fishpics03/fishpics05.html