TexomaOkie

I fish the north, or upper end of the lake primarily. Early morining and late evening, we look for sand bass (Texoma slang for white bass) and stripers on windy points chasing shad pushed on to the shallow points by the waves. During the middle of the day, watch for gulls out in the big water. Big Chug Bugs and Rattle Traps work great in either instance. At night, minnows or live shad fished around bridge piers are the best bet. I'm spending the last week of April on Texoma. I'll let you know how it goes.

A buddy and I got caught in the wake of a barge on the Arkansas in a small bomber style bass boat. It's a scary experience. When the boat was at its lowest point between the waves of the wake, you literally couldn't see over the top of the waves on either side. There was a wall of water in both directions. the boat "bobbed" up and over the big waves, but I don't want to do it again.

Texoma is over 21 feet above normal elevation. That is a huge number considering the deepest water in the north half of the lake is only about 60 feet at normal elevation. The lake has been running over the spillway for eleven consecutive days. I went down Saturday evening to take a first hand look and it is absolutely amazing! It was an almost unbelievable sight to see such a huge body of water with no boats anywhere. The marina at Bridgeview Resort is 300 yards out in the lake from the current shoreline. I talked to the owner and he said the Corp has told him they hope to have the lake at a managable level in about six weeks. And that's only if we receive no more flooding rain. The resorts have pretty much been without income since July 1st, and, in the best case scenario, aren't planning to be back in full operation until Labor Day weekend. Basically, the summer income that supports them the rest of the year has been lost. I wonder if it might have been Lewisville Lake. That's the lake I-35 crosses just north of Dallas. I know someone rode a jet ski over the spillway on that lake. Someone caught that on video and it was picked up by all the major networks.

Phil...where did you find the pics? The clarity of the water amazes me. With the conditions we have, I'd have expected it to be pretty murky. All resorts and marinas have been closed and all power disconnected. Damage has been extensive, not only to structures, but pocketbooks as well. One of the resorts on the lake said their revenue the same week last year was over $72,000. This year it was just over $8,000. The Corp contracts with private vendors to operate some of the resorts on the lake. Some of those folks likely won't survive the revenue loss. If they can cover their cost of operation until Labor Day, they're hoping a big holiday will save them. The Corps says there's no way to know when the water level will be back to a managable level. Needless to say, my family's planned camping and fishing trip on Texoma next week is cancelled. Last week in Branson will have to suffice!

vince...I think we've fished together. I live near Ada. The town has experienced flooding that none of the oldtimers have ever seen. We're on our 16th day in a row of rain and that has never happened in any month, of any year, since weather records have been kept. I'm not under water. My biggest nusiance is that I've not been able to mow for almost three weeks and my yard looks as if it needs to be baled. We're about to head out for the Lilley's to spend a week, so I can't imagine what the place will look like when I get back after going unmowed for four weeks. As far as Texoma goes, the flood gates have been open a lot this spring and I'm sure the crowds have been elbow to elbow below the dam. When it's that crazy, I let them have it. The gates are closed now to prevent further flooding downstream, but that likely spells trouble for the lake. We hope to spend a week there the end of July, so hopefully the rain will give us break and the lake level will be under control.

I'm curious about the weather there. I would typically keep up through Phil, but we all know where he is. Big trouble could be lurking on Lake Texoma. Even though the lake is rising fast, the flood gates are closed because of so much water already in the Red River downstream from the lake. If the corp is unable to release enough water soon, we might see the lake go over the spillway. In addition to the devastating flooding downstream, it adversely affects the fishery. No one knows for sure if that was the culprit, but the last time it happened in 1990, the number of really big stripers in the lake decreased dramatically. They've only begun to make a real resurgance in the last couple of years.

Bill, I experience the same uncomfortable situation everytime I'm on Taney. During the few days my family is privileged to spend at Lilley’s each year, I fish that area quite a bit. I expect to pass close to other boaters and expect them to pass close to me. When fishing with Phil, I’ve even observed him telling other boaters to move over closer to his boat and away from the dangerous shallow water. Some listen, some don’t. Some sheer props, some don’t! When fishing the area you're referring to it’s easy to distinguish those with knowledge of the lake from the novices. The reaction you receive when passing close to another boat will tell you all you need to know. The “lake knowledgeable” fisherman speak, or wave, and go back to fishing. The novices glare and look at you as if you are clueless. It bothers me to upset others and I find no pleasure in doing so. But, I also understand that in some cases it’s unavoidable. Forums such as this are great for educating other fisherman, but there will always be those on the lake who don’t really know it. I try to accept that fact and not let their lack of knowledge upset me.

Rusty...I don't claim to be an authority on televisions, but I'll share what I learned while shopping for my television. Have you considered DLP technology? It's the least expensive of the three and when comparing them in the store, it had the brightest picture for a well lit room. Also, screen burn is no consideration and the picture will not pixelate. Certain picture movement will cause ALL LCD's to pixelate to some degree and they are subject to screen burn. The only negative for me with the DLP is that, depending on use, I expect to replace its bulb every three or four years. However, as I'm sure you know, there's no perfect HD television. All three models have their drawbacks. By the way, I have a Samsung 46" DLP that I love. The detail of it's HD picture is amazing. I'd buy the same tv again.

I bought two 6' wood flag poles at Walmart. I use the big round knob on the top of the poles on the bottom of the seine and they work great. They've solved the problem I've had in the past with my seine poles sticking in mud or hanging in rocks.

Lots of rain and lots of high, muddy water! Didn't seem to bother the catfish too much, but did affect the striper and white bass fishing. When the water is muddy, shad are hard to find. When shad are hard to find, stripers are hard to find. Spent almost $200 on boat gas traveling long distances to clearer water to fish for stripers. Caught some quality fish of all three species, but not the typical numbers. Caught catfish on juglines baited with live shad and stripers and whitebass on Big Chugbugs and Rat-L-Traps. Biggest blue cat was 30lbs. and the biggest striper was 5 to 6lbs. We usually catch a few 12 to 14lb. stripers, but not this year. If the lake clears this spring, the striper fishing with artificials should be awesome. But, who knows if that will happen? Still an awesome trip! Spent nine blessed days on the lake with my 80 year old dad and my brother. My brother and I have our own families, so it's the only time just the three of us still get to spend time together. It's become an annual event for us and I hope God blesses us with many more!

I spent nine days on Lake Texoma this past week and a half and was surprised to find so many oak trees in that area that appear to be dead. We've camped in the same spot for over thirty years and three of the eight trees we camp under showed no signs of life. The reason I believe them to be dead is that the healthy trees are fully leafed out in that area. With permission of the park manager, we sawed up one of the trees for firewood and it definitely showed no signs of life on the inside. It's definitely an odd situation here. I have to believe last years extreme drought conditions in our area damaged some of the trees.

Phil, it's interesting how often we think on the same wavelength without discussing things in person. Should I be concerned? But....I couldn't agree more! As I mentioned in an early post in this thread, we can best influence our society one individual at a time, beginning with ourselves. p.s. beginning this Friday, we will be on Lake Texoma for about nine days. Fishing should be getting really good!

Brian, no one should EVER have a gun at school. I don't think anyone here is advocating that. Also, I don't view my concern about the moral decay of our society as a political issue. I believe it's an issue that can only be solved on an individual basis, not by government.

Terry, I apologize if you feel that I insinuated that I'm perfect. That was never my intent. I did say that I "try" to do the right thing. But, I understand I won't always succeed.

Guns aren’t the problem. It’s the deviant individuals produced by the moral decay of our society that are the problem! Saw an interview last night with a guy who was a school murderer at the age of sixteen. He claimed to be frustrated with being bullied and "picked on". He thought his rampage would bring him respect and put an end to his troubles. When asked about his feelings just prior to the killings, he claimed the only thing he felt was euphoria that his problems were about to end. He said he didn't consider the fact people would actually die because video games had distorted his view of reality to the point he believed people could be gunned down and would simply get up and "run away" without dying. I understand he could be lying to try to justify his actions. However, I've observed how children can become consumed by video games. I understand how the violence and immoral behavior portrayed by many of those games can desensitize people to violence and immoral behavior and distort their view of reality. Obviously, ridding our society of sensationalized and glorified violent behavior won't solve all our problems. However, I believe their acceptance is a perfect example of our society’s willingness to allow negative influences. More importantly, I believe it's a clue about where a society is headed when it can't draw a distinct line between right and wrong on any moral issue. There is an answer to our problems! History has documented what happened to the great cultures who didn't seek THE answer. Just my two cents. Now I feel better!