| Flywater
Tip
Striper Groceries
(5.14.08)
The key to successfully fishing any large body of water is the elimination of unproductive water. To push an old adage even farther – 99% of the fish are found in 1% of the water.
When fishing Lake Texoma, one of the best methods to find stripers (and largemouth & smallmouth) is to “key in” on the shad. Threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense) constitute the main diet of the Texoma linesiders most of the time.
During early summer (May & early June), the shad are in their spawning phase as water temperatures rise. It helps to know that shad are surface spawners – gravid females swim by shallow rocks, laydowns, flooded vegetation, docks, and other objects, while the males are trailing closely behind. The females release eggs that are very sticky and the eggs stick to the first object they touch.
During this spawning behavior, the shad are very susceptible to predator fish, like striped bass. And so, locating spawning shad along rocky banks, rocky points, and vegetative cover can really benefit the fly angler in pursuit of active stripers.
And one last tip, this pattern works predominately in the early hours of the day. As the sunlight increases, the shad tend to move off the banks and the fish are not as hungry because they are full. In other words – don’t sleep late, go fishing!
Steve
|
