As Thanksgiving approaches and holiday meals are being planned, I find the dish I look forward to the most are my wife's striper cakes which have become a holiday staple in our family. She blends striper fillets, brined of course, in the food processor for a couple of pulses along with celery, onion, bell pepper, and egg. Then she forms it into patties pats it in bread crumbs and fries it in the iron skillet, finishing it off in the oven until fully cooked in the middle. If you are only familiar with fish cakes made from canned salmon, these are in a different league entirely and one of my favorite ways to prepare striper. They really shine next to some Thanksgiving dressing and gravy, I can't wait! Of course you will need some fresh striper to try this out and what better time to come than when all your friends and loved one's are in town for the Thanksgiving break, I still have several trips available, including this weekend but you will want to act fast.

Most days, the fishing has been incredible. There have been a couple of slower days mixed in but we still managed to bring home 27 and 29 on those days. All of my other trips we have easily caught our limit and then played catch and release for a while. The birds are here in large numbers; they are nature's fish finders and make it easy to find where the feeding fish are located.

I'm catching all of my fish on slabs right now. The fish are biting best where you can find the birds working in water that is 15-30ft. deep then jig slabs up and down off of the bottom letting it hit the bottom each time. If you find them deeper you have to rip the slab through the fish reeling it fast through the water column then letting it fall again. They will often take it on the fall so be ready. You should also try jigging it at the depth where the fish are suspended at. If you are not familiar with this pattern, I'm happy to do educational trips and teach you all that I can while out on the water.

Your trip is about you so just let me know what your goals are. The folks fishing live bait are also doing well but anytime I can do well using lures, that's what we'll be using. It's a lot more fun and rewarding to put a mess of fish in the box that way.

After this cold front, I plan to cut off all of my topwaters and tie on my glow in the dark sassy shad swimbaits. I love casting swimbaits and I'll be excited to add these to my arsenal for fishing under the birds. Somedays they will outperform slabs depending on the mood of the fish, especially as it gets colder.

This is a great time of the year to fly fish with sinking line. I usually post up into a group of feeding birds and cast a clouser into the wind allowing it to sink as the boat drifts extending the cast. I count out about 30 seconds then rip it back at a good speed through the fish. Then get ready as this can be some of the most productive fly fishing you will experience all year. If you are the only one in your group into fly fishing, no worries. We often do combo trips where we have someone casting a fly rod in the front of the boat while the rest of the group is in the back of the boat using conventional equipment and it works quite well.

As we get into December, the big fish will start coming out to play under the birds, I have had some of my best days catching big fish in late December casting sassys under a group of birds. By January, the fish will start to settle into their structure pattern where we can target big fish on structure like brush piles, ledges, and creek channels. This is one of my favorite times of the year to fish, not only do we get to reliably target big fish, but we have the lake all to ourselves!

Keep us in mind with all of your Christmas shopping and remember that we also offer gift certificates. There is no better gift than a fishing trip for that angler in your life. You can book your trip online at www.stripersinc.com or give me a call or text at (903)815-1609 and I can get you setup over the phone and answer any questions you may have. I'll be looking forward to our next fishing adventure!

Your Lake Texoma Striper Fishing Guide,
Brian Prichard
(903)815-1609
www.stripersinc.com