After fishing 14 years on Lake Texoma, I've learned a few things. One, is, when people want to fish the most, is when the biggest fish are hardest to catch. Striper need cool oxygenated water to thrive. In the summer all the oxygen is up high in the aquaplane and all the cool water is down deep. July and August are always hard on an old guy like me. Especially since I don't chase the smaller fish, who enjoy the whole lake while the big hungry monsters are hiding down in the depths. This year I decided to just take it easy in July and August, and I worked on some indoor projects and added another boat to the Big Fish Texoma family (more on that later) This year the water temp stayed warmer longer. I see the bigs start coming up when the lake water gets under 80 degrees. They stay up and start into their fall pattern when the water temp stays under 80 for about 36 hours straight, because once it has been that cool, that long, it will stay under eighty until about the end of June. This year the water was above eighty until the beginning of October, and just a week ago marked the end of the 36 hour period, so that it is under 80 now, until end of June. Over the past three to four weeks, some impatient fish have eased up and gotten caught, but now the bite is on, and the water, as well as the world above it are getting colder every day. These big fish love winter. The crappier the weather is, the bigger the fish we catch. And even though its cold and windy and choppy on the lake, if you dress for it, I mean gaiters, gloves, face masks, earmuffs, and coveralls over two or three layers of clothes kind of dress for it, it can be an all out blast. This time of year we run 10am to 2pm on the 4hr trips, and 9am to 3pm on the six hour. And most of the days get sunny and spring-like so that you are peeling off the outer layers and stuffing them into the dry box by the end of the trip. After reeling in a two to three foot long fish, you'll warm right up. The pics in this post are all from late September and October this year. And the bite has been getting better and better, if a few weeks later than years past. But some days that North wind still blows us off the lake, and that brings up the Cowboy Crappie Jalopy. This year we are adding a pontoon boat with a super comfortable, individual fishing seat at each corner, and another spot opposite the Captain, mid boat. With it we will stay in Catfish Bay, which is fairly well protected from the wind, and we will drop live bait, jigs and cast all sorts of lures around the many boat houses in these protected waters. There are a few secret brush piles loaded with crappie and large bluegill (aka bream) Several boat ramps and other features hold large and small mouthed bass, and even schools of striper have been found feeding in the bay. There are also flat head, channel, and blue catfish, so we will set out a dozen juglines and check them twice, each trip, and troll between stops. I will be training a new guide, to run the Crappie Jalopy, and on my regular trips, if it gets too windy to stay out on the lake I will offer to finish the trip in the bay, so no one gets cut short on precious fishing time. Those of you who have fished off my boathouse's dock while I was cleaning your striper, have an idea of what the bay holds. My wife caught a 9lbs large mouth off our dock. Several 3-5lbs large mouth bass, hundreds of crappie, thousands of palm sized blue gill and several catfish up to thirty pounds have been reeled in by striper fishing clients, while I was cleaning their days catch, too. And my boathouse is just one of two dozen inside Catfish Bay. And this brings us to the sad news. The hull of my Blazer Bay boat, was injured in a boat lift incident, and on Nov. 20th it will be going to ColorPro, a fiberglass shop near here, to be fixed. Nothing terrible. I'm still using it now, but it will be out of commission up to three weeks. Don't worry, the Crappie Jalopy will be available and the big striper will be close by that time of year. We will take the pontoon boat out on the lake on the good weather days, but take note, if you are planning to book between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Luxury seating and 8 person capacity will be reduced to fairly nice seating and 5 angler capacity for that stretch of time. Maybe one of the admins will read this so I don't have to do all the tricky behind the scenes stuff they do to block off the other trips for those days. Hopefully it'll only take a week to fix, but they said three. Keep your lines tight, and don't be afraid to layer up and come have some winter fishing fun. These striper will be healthy and bulked up from the shad spawn that should be kicking off soon. Come get some! Captain Mike