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Capt. Steve Barnes
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September 29,2003
I am back home from a week of fishing in Galveston for Bull Red's. We caught 15
to 25 per day that were 20-40 LBS. Now it is time to get started on some Texoma
Striper fishing. October is starting to get booked up. I did not take any pic's
but my customers took some good pic's.
September 22,2003
We fished Red River today. Started off slow then we caught a few Sand Bass , a
25 LB and 10 LB Blue Cat then we found a hole that was full of big Gator Gar. We
were about 0 for 8 then I put some treble hooks on and we landed a couple that
were around 100 pounds each. You cant believe how big these fish look when you
pull one up beside the boat.
September 18,2003
We caught some nice striper on the Brazos today. Kept 8 and released the rest.
September 15,2003
My customers cancelled on me sunday. I don't have any fishing trips this week.
Does anyone want to go fish below the dam at Possum Kingdom , Eufaula or Texoma
for Striper,Bass or, Catfish? Next week is full so this would be the week to go.
September 13,2003
Started out topwater fishing today. the fish were not in the same area I caught
them in yesterday so I decided to go bait fishing. We boxed about 35 small fish
with only 1 over 20" and 1 over 60".The guy's on my boat today got out fished by
a girl, she caught biggest fish. At our last spot we were free lining shad and
this big gar pulled almost all the line of my spinning reel before we could get
the anchor up. We chased the fish and when we got close to it it jumped clear
out of the water. It took about 20 min. to land it on 8 LB line.
September 12,2003
Topwater fishing was very good today. We hit 2 schools of small fish then we
found some over 20 inch fish and caught about 30 over 20" fish and left them
biting. Ended up with about 25 in the box because we could not find enough box
fish.
September 9,2003
I fished Red River again today. Caught about 50 fish, striper, sand bass
,largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. I did not fish for catfish all I did was
throw lures. Caught these 2 smallmouth on topwater lures, they were right at 4
LBS and I lost another one right at the boat that was a little bigger .
September 8,2003
I fished the river this morning and caught this 41 LB cat. I also caught a lot
of striper and sand bass on topwater lures. I am definitely going back tomorrow.
A lot of people have asked me about striper/catfish combo trips so right now is
your chance to book one.
September 7,2003
Fished the lake today and it sucked. I think the river is the way to go for now.
September 6,2003
Since fishing has slowed down on the lake I have been trying to book most of my
striper trips for October and that means I have some time for me to fish. I made
a run down Red River today and caught a few catfish and sandbass,lost one big
cat that got tangled in another line. I also caught this 45 LB gator gar, they
really put up a good fight. He bit that rope in the bottom of my boat and would
not let go till I put him in the water.
September 5,2003
I can't wait for winter to get here so we can chase them big blue cat's.
September 3,2003
Fished a group of 2 today. Limited out on box fish. We caught most of our fish
on topwater. The fish stayed up from 9 am to about 11 am. I am trying to put
another week together at the coast ,Sept. 21-28. Anyone who is interested should
contact me ASAP.
August 29,2003
Same thing today but we could not catch many box fish. Almost every fish we
caught was over 20". My group called it quits at 9:30. I agreed with them
because who wants to go looking for small fish when you have been catching big
ones.
August 28,2003
Striper fishing was very good today. Anchored up and hammered them on live shad.
I was helping Dale with a group of 7 today. Everyone limited out on box and 20"
fish.
August 25,2003
We had great weather and caught a lot of fish at the gulf. Everyone who thought
about going and didn't should kick them self's right about now.
Click Here For 2003 Saltwater Pics
Thanks to Mustad for supplying all the hooks because we went through a lot of
tackle and broke 2 rods. I am back at Texoma now and ready to go Striper
fishing. My partner said the striper fishing is still good.
August 3,2003
I am headed to the gulf and will not make any reports until August 25th. I will
post some saltwater reports and pics when I get back.
August 1,2003
Another good day of striper fishing. lots of over 20" fish today.
July 31,2003
Had to take a couple of days off for some boat repairs. Fishing was good today.
We limited out on Box fish and 20" fish. The last spot we fished today was the
best , the 20" plus fish moved in and eat us up.
July 28,2003
Limited out today,60 fish by 10:30 AM. Not to many big ones today.
July 26,2003
Another good day. 60 fish in the box by 10:45. Limited out on box and 20" fish.
July 24,2003
Fishing was very good today. Fished till about 10:30. 35 fish in the box
and lots of 20" fish were released. I have tomorrow , this Sunday and next
Tuesday open and that's it for summer striper fishing for me. I am leaving for
the gulf Sunday August 3rd.
July 23,2003
Started off slow today for me then we found some fish surfacing and caught a few
box fish. I was reminded today the reason I don't usually chase surfacing fish
this time of year. Talk about boneheads. One guy drove right through our fish.
He is lucky I got a backlash when I threw a chug bug at him. I would not hit
anyone with a topwater bait but I sure might throw it at them or over them when
they drive right over the fish. Things got a lot better when we left all the
boats and found some fish that did not have so much pressure on them. We
anchored up in 45 foot water and wore them out. Limited out on 20" and box fish.
The fishing got better the longer we sat there. Had to let go some nice 25"
fish. Left them biting at 11:00.
July 22,2003
We fished a group of 13 today. 3 boats caught 72 striper. My boat limited out on
20" fish and boxed a total of 32 fish for 4 fishermen. We caught some good size
fish today, one of the boats caught a 29" fish.
July 21,2003
I have been asked how we rig a line for live bait striper fishing. I use a 2 oz
egg weight, size 3 Berkley McMahon swivel,15 LB Berkley Vanish leader, and my
choice in hooks varies a little depending on the size bait we are using. Lately
I have been using a Mustad Ultra Point fine wire beak hook #92604bln size 2/0
and 4/0. You may have some trouble finding this hook but believe me when the
fish get a little shy this is the hook to have ,because it is lighter than most
hooks the bait can swim more naturally. When I first started using this hook I
thought it might bend to easily but I have not had a fish straighten one yet.
They are very strong for a light wire hook. I also use Mustad Ultra Point
92568bln which is the same hook but is a 1X strong hook. Here is how to rig it .
Cut a 3 foot piece of leader, tie the hook to one end and the swivel to the
other using a Trilene knot. Then take your main line(15-20LB Berkley Big
Game)run it through the egg sinker and tie it to the swivel. I recently put a
LCX-15MT sonar/GPS unit on my boat and as soon as I learn how to use it a little
better I will record some fish on the graph and post it on here if I can
because a lot of people don't know what a fish should look like on sonar. I wish
I would have had the X-15 earlier this year when the fish were really thick
under the boat. 12 more days until I head to the Gulf and I am ready to catch
some big fish.
July 20,2003
Much better for me today. 36 nice fish in the box by 10:30.
July 19,2003
Fishing has slowed down the last few days and probably will not get much better
if we don't get a break in this heat. We have had a good striper season but it
looks like the party is about over until fall. You can still have some good
fishing out there now but it will not be near a consistent as it has been due to
the hot water which stresses the fish and makes them less active. Fish also move
a lot this time of year searching for cool oxygenated water making today's hot
spot tomorrows not spot and today's hero tomorrows zero. I was no hero today but
maybe I will be tomorrow. We ended up with 16 fish in the box today.
July 17,2003
Limited out on 20" fish today. Could not find enough box fish to fill the limit.
We caught a lot of 20" fish today. Quit at 10:30 with 25 or so fish in the box.
July 16,2003
Five fishermen today,50 fish in the box by 11:00AM. Limited on Box fish and 20"
fish. The fish we are catching right now are really putting up a good fight. The
fish are very healthy and a 20" fish can really pull some drag. We are still
fishing live shad.
July 15,2003
We fished a group of 12 today. My boat limited on 20" and box fish with 40 fish.
The other 2 boats limited on 20" fish and almost limited out on box fish.
July 14,2003
Had a group of 6 today. They wanted to split up into 2 boats so I had Dale help
me today. Everyone limited out on 20" and box fish. My summer striper fishing
season is almost over. I only have about 8 days left open for Striper fishing
before I go to the coast.
July 13,2003
Bait was hard for me to find today but I finally found some and we limited out
on 20"and box fish by 9:00 AM.
July 12,2003
Fishing yesterday afternoon was slow for me until about a hour before dark when
we found a big school on the surface. We ended up with 15 in the box. I was not
rigged for topwater fishing and when they came up I had to tie on some Top Dogs
and Chug Bugs and give my customers a crash coarse in topwater fishing. The girl
in this pic is a model ,maybe this will start a new trend because some of you
guys that I take aint much to look at.
July 11,2003
Fishing was good this morning. Caught a lot of over 20" fish and a lot of 19
inch fish. You really have to measure them close because a lot of fish are right
at 20" and the law reads 20" and over. I have another trip this afternoon and it
is going to be hot.
July 9,2003
Limited out early on 20" fish then went looking for box fish. Limited out with
50 Fish in the box at 11:15.
July 8,2003
Almost a limit today. Could not find enough small fish. Caught 20" fish
everywhere we fished. Fished water that was 22 to 65 feet deep. Ended up with 35
fish in the box.
July 7,2003
Fished a group of 4 this morning. We limited out on box and over 20" fish.
I have Thursday ,Friday, and Saturday open this week if anyone want to book a
trip.
July 1,2003
Limited out on over 20" fish today. Boxed 28 fish and quit at about 11:00. We
caught our big fish early in 67 ft. of water and had to leave to find some box
fish. We found some in 31 ft. but there were still a few 20" fish mixed in but
the shallow water fish were smaller on average. We had a couple of real nice
fish today one about 8 pounds and another about 10.
June 29,2003
I have written 3 fishing articles this year
texoma-striper-guide-articles.htm
and I am ready to write another one but I am having some trouble deciding what
to write about so e-mail me with some suggestions.
mailto:steve@txfishingguide.com
June 28,2003
Fished a morning and a afternoon trip today. We limited out on 20" and box fish
this morning but came up a little short in the afternoon when we ran out of good
bait and came up 4 fish short with 56 fish. We did catch all of our 20" fish. We
probably could have stayed and caught 4 more on cut bait but it was getting late
and I had a lot of fish to clean. Bait is very hard to find on the lake now.
June 27,2003
To many over 20" fish today. We kept 35 fish today and finally had to quit
fishing because we were hooking to many big fish. I am pretty sure there were a
lot of guides with the same problem today. I am not a supporter of the 2 fish
over 20 " law but we have to abide by it. We kill to many big fish trying to
catch small fish. Most 20" fish that are hooked in the summer time will die. I
wish they would not allow catch and release of striper in the summer time. Just
come up with a number of fish with no size restrictions and that would stop all
the useless killing of our fish. I will write more on this subject
when I get more time.
June 26,2003
Fished Texoma this morning. Caught our limit of box fish and 20". Bait was tough
to find today so I kept about 60 in my tank for a head start in the morning.
June 25,2003
I hooked up my airboat and took a little road trip , fished yesterday evening
and this morning. Caught a bunch of good size striper to 15 LBS and 1 big
hybrid. I am going to set up some river trips during the next couple of weeks.
If you are interested in a river striper trip give me a call at 1-866-776-4843.
This is a limited time offer so don't wait if you want to go. The price for
these river trips will be 325.00 for 2 plus 75 for each additional person.
June 24,2003
My business has slowed down but from what I am hearing we need to be out there.
Everyone has been catching a lot of bigger striper this week.
June 23,2003
I went fishing in the river this morning and had a good time catching small
striper on my spinning rod. I took about 75 shad with me and anchored up then
threw a hand full of shad out and the water started boiling all around the boat.
June 22,2003
I did not fish today but my buddy Dale fished Saturday afternoon and Sunday
morning and said they limited out both trips. I have started getting my stuff
ready to go to the Gulf. Only 40 more days till time to head south and I like to
have everything ready so I don't get in a rush right before I leave. I still
have 2 spots left open. You can check the dates here
texoma-saltwater-guided-trips.htm
June 21,2003
I Fished 2 two person trips at the same time this morning and it worked out real
good. I try not to have less than 4 people in the boat on my trips this time of
year because when you get on the fish you need to keep fresh bait in the water
and 2 people just cant keep up and you will lose the attention of the fish.
June 19,2003
I was going to sleep in this morning but Dale called me with boat problems so I
picked up his customers late and struggled to catch fish but we ended up with 35
fish. Dale got his boat fixed and we fished a group of 8 in the afternoon. We
limited out on box and 20" fish.
June 18,2003
Fished two trips today and really caught them good both trips.
June 15,2003
Another limit today.
June 14,2003
Fished a morning and afternoon trip today. We caught our limit on both trips.
The weather was crazy all day. We had no wind in the morning and to much from
thunderstorms in the afternoon. We were on some good size fish right before a
storm blew us off the main lake this afternoon.
June 13,2003
Friday the 13th but no bad luck for us. Had to release a lot of over 20" fish
today.
June 12,2003
We fished in between the storms this morning and caught a 60 fish limit with a
bunch of 18-24 inch fish. My afternoon trip started of good, as soon as we got
on the lake I spotted a huge school of striper surfacing. I drifted into them
and we caught 30 before they left. Found some more fish and filled our limit.
June 11,2003
Had more trouble finding fish today. We finally hit a big school about 10:00 AM.
June 10,2003
I had a little trouble finding them today but once I found them we loaded the
boat with nice size fish.
June 6,7,8, 2003
Fishing was good over the weekend. I fished 1 trip Friday,2 Sat., and ,2 Sun.
The lack of wind made the fish harder to find and catch but we limited out every
trip. we also caught 2 30" fish over the weekend. Here is a few pics.
June 5,2003
Dale and I fished a group of 8 in the rain this morning. We limited out on small
fish. My afternoon trip was better because we did not get wet and caught bigger
fish.
June 4,2003
I hope this good fishing holds out for a while. Fished 2 trips today with limits
of fish.
June 1,2003
Same as yesterday. We lost a big fish this afternoon, maybe the big fish are
going to start showing up now.
