06-14-2007, 07:10 PM
The last 45 days have been some of the best striper fishing I have seen during my 30 years of chasing the silversides all over Texoma. Just the other day I was talking with my first striper fishing buddy, Ralf "Fireball" Judd, and he agreed that this spring has been super. We did see larger stripers in bigger numbers back in the 1980s, but this year has produced more limits faster than any year in the past. Especially the healthy 18" to 24" stripers.
The forecast for the next week is for lows in the upper 60's and highs in the upper 80's. It will be mostly cloudy with 5 to 15 MPH ENE winds with a 60% chance of thunderstorms Friday and Saturday and a 30% chance of thunderstorms Sunday and Monday. Striper fishing is just fantastic when these small thunderstorms blow through. The lake is high and goes down one day and gets higher the next. The Corps is letting the lake down slowly to keep from flooding farm land downstream of Denison Dam. It also makes the fishing better. With a very fast rise or fall of the lake level the stripers change their feeding patterns and can make it hard to locate where they are feeding. Bring a rain suit in case we actually get any rain. Remember, this is Texas and it could very easily rain all around Lake Texoma and the lake not get a drop. We have been lucky for the last month and a half. It has rained some nearly every day on the lakes watershed before and after our fishing trips.
We had 577 fishermen in May. They brought a total of 5,685 stripers to the cleaning table. Since the first of June 324 fishermen have dodged the rain and brought 3,025 stripers to the cleaning table. Many stripers were caught and released. Several 10 to 18 pound stripers have been caught on afternoon trips. You can see the pictures of the fish caught during May and the first 13 days of June on www.tinker.net.
We are leaving the dock as early as 6:30 AM for our morning trips. It is not getting dark until 9:00 PM. With the longer daylight hours our afternoon trips have been leaving around 3:00 PM. The stripers seem to be feeding better later in the day. The bottom line is that you can depart early or late and get a trip in and catch limits of stripers. The early morning bite is preferred by most hardcore fishermen. The late bite has been producing larger stripers.
As of 8:00 AM, Thursday, June 13 the water pool level was 621.37 feet; this is up 4.5 feet above the normal annual pool level of 617 feet. The water temperature is 78 degrees. The Corps of Engineers is generating 24 hours with the flood gates open discharging a total of 32,270 cubic feet per second. Sunrise this morning was 6:15 AM and sunset will be at 8:38 PM. There are 15 hours and 21 minutes of visible light. Yesterday's low was 73 degrees and the high was 91 degrees.
Our guides furnish tackle, bait and friendly instruction for you. Everything is furnished except food, drinks, licenses and rain gear. Tinker's private boathouses are always available for our guests to fish for catfish, striper, perch, crappie and bass before or after the guided trip
.<br />
Our bedrooms are comfortable, clean and fully furnished with private entrances and baths. All types of outside cooking facilities are available for your use. The game room has pool, card and domino tables, plus dart boards, washer boards, stereo and TVs with DVD, CD, VCR and surround sound.
We hope to see you soon, Tinker, Pam, Debbie, Alan & all the guides.<br />
We have Mike Blakely, Mark Banister, Jr., J C McCullough, Casey McCullough, Joey McCullough, David Escamilla and John Harris guiding for us.<br />
Reported by Jean Tinker Toney, Tinker's Striper Guide Service, 888-846-5377, 228 ILA Drive, Pottsboro, TX 75076.
The forecast for the next week is for lows in the upper 60's and highs in the upper 80's. It will be mostly cloudy with 5 to 15 MPH ENE winds with a 60% chance of thunderstorms Friday and Saturday and a 30% chance of thunderstorms Sunday and Monday. Striper fishing is just fantastic when these small thunderstorms blow through. The lake is high and goes down one day and gets higher the next. The Corps is letting the lake down slowly to keep from flooding farm land downstream of Denison Dam. It also makes the fishing better. With a very fast rise or fall of the lake level the stripers change their feeding patterns and can make it hard to locate where they are feeding. Bring a rain suit in case we actually get any rain. Remember, this is Texas and it could very easily rain all around Lake Texoma and the lake not get a drop. We have been lucky for the last month and a half. It has rained some nearly every day on the lakes watershed before and after our fishing trips.
We had 577 fishermen in May. They brought a total of 5,685 stripers to the cleaning table. Since the first of June 324 fishermen have dodged the rain and brought 3,025 stripers to the cleaning table. Many stripers were caught and released. Several 10 to 18 pound stripers have been caught on afternoon trips. You can see the pictures of the fish caught during May and the first 13 days of June on www.tinker.net.
We are leaving the dock as early as 6:30 AM for our morning trips. It is not getting dark until 9:00 PM. With the longer daylight hours our afternoon trips have been leaving around 3:00 PM. The stripers seem to be feeding better later in the day. The bottom line is that you can depart early or late and get a trip in and catch limits of stripers. The early morning bite is preferred by most hardcore fishermen. The late bite has been producing larger stripers.
As of 8:00 AM, Thursday, June 13 the water pool level was 621.37 feet; this is up 4.5 feet above the normal annual pool level of 617 feet. The water temperature is 78 degrees. The Corps of Engineers is generating 24 hours with the flood gates open discharging a total of 32,270 cubic feet per second. Sunrise this morning was 6:15 AM and sunset will be at 8:38 PM. There are 15 hours and 21 minutes of visible light. Yesterday's low was 73 degrees and the high was 91 degrees.
Our guides furnish tackle, bait and friendly instruction for you. Everything is furnished except food, drinks, licenses and rain gear. Tinker's private boathouses are always available for our guests to fish for catfish, striper, perch, crappie and bass before or after the guided trip
.<br />
Our bedrooms are comfortable, clean and fully furnished with private entrances and baths. All types of outside cooking facilities are available for your use. The game room has pool, card and domino tables, plus dart boards, washer boards, stereo and TVs with DVD, CD, VCR and surround sound.
We hope to see you soon, Tinker, Pam, Debbie, Alan & all the guides.<br />
We have Mike Blakely, Mark Banister, Jr., J C McCullough, Casey McCullough, Joey McCullough, David Escamilla and John Harris guiding for us.<br />
Reported by Jean Tinker Toney, Tinker's Striper Guide Service, 888-846-5377, 228 ILA Drive, Pottsboro, TX 75076.