Lake Texoma is only three hours from my house, but I’ve only fished two tournaments on this lake and both of them were about 15 years ago. So, basically, I know very little about the lake where we’ll have our next Elite Series event this week.
I do know one thing; the extreme high water situation is going to have a significant impact on the fishing. As of the start of practice, the lake was about 7 1/2 feet above normal pool and that’s something you just can’t overstate.
See, 7 feet and rising actually can be good on some of these highland reservoirs where everything is very steep. But that kind of rise has a lot more impact on a relatively flat lake like Texoma.
Here, 7 1/2 feet above normal is like 15-20 feet on some of these highland reservoirs, because it spreads everything out. Typically on Texoma, everything is pretty shallow, and I think this high water will just extend that even farther.
That being said, I have no idea how this thing will set up. I don’t know if there will be a lot of fish caught or if it will be tough to get a bite. Maybe it will tough to catch a big one. I really won’t have a clue until after practice is over.
I had actually started doing some research on Texoma during one of my days at home, but once I started seeing the water come up, I stopped looking. I knew that would bring so much change that anything I found would be totally different by this week.
What’s funny is that at our last Elite event on Toledo Bend, all of us shallow water guys were talking about how the lake was coming down. It was only 1-foot high and we were all wishing for rain. Well, at Texoma, we definitely got what we wished for.
If the lake had been normal, we would have been saying there’s not enough stuff to fish and we’re all going to be fishing on top of one another. We have the opposite now. We may still be fishing on top of one another, but there’s going to be a lot of stuff in the water.
The way I see it, a few key factors will have a big impact on how this tournament goes.
Water color: There’s no question that there’s going to be a lot of dirty water, but there’s always some areas with better clarity. It may not be much, but any improvement can concentrate the fish.
Floating debris: Floods like this drag a lot of logs, tree limbs and other stuff into the water. This can be a serious navigational concern because if you hit something while you’re running, that could cost you a lot of time, if not end your day.
Boat traffic: Another big consideration will be figuring out where a lot of the boats are fishing. Texoma’s a big lake, and hopefully it’s a deal where we can spread out. But I really won’t know that until I get out there and look around.
Beyond these points, the biggest and most important thing will be finding the fish you think you need to win the event. Once you do find some fish, then you have to determine a couple of things: 1) How much pressure is that area is going to get? 2) Am I doing something that nobody else is doing?
With the water as high as it is, the fish are going to be scattered throughout all that flooded cover, but there’s likely to be some key areas that are holding good numbers of fish.
I can see this tournament going two ways: You might be able to establish a pattern and pick off one here and there, or you might be able to find an area that has a concentration of fish and just settle down and fish that area.
I do think we’ll see a pretty good assortment of baits producing fish this week. We’re early enough in the summer that it should be wide open.
I’m not sure if there’s still a shad spawn, but if there is, I can see a Booyah Spinnerbait and a Heddon One Knocker Spook coming into play. You might even catch them on a 10-inch YUM ribbontail worm.
I really don’t think this one is going to be a secret bait tournament; I think it’s going to be a secret pattern or a secret area kinda deal. The good thing is we’re going to be far enough off the spawn, that if you get around one, he ought to bite.